Windows keeps crashing while watching HBO and Netflix

Hey there. I'm running Windows 10. Dealing with this annoying issue where my PC just resets whenever I'm watching stuff on Max or Netflix. No Blue Screen of Death, no error messages, nothing. The screen just goes black, I hear this weird buzzing sound from the speakers for a few seconds, and then the whole system just reboots itself. My parts aren't exactly brand new, but honestly, the rig feels snappy and works great otherwise—except for this one headache. Anyone have a clue what's going on? Thanks! Here's the specs:

- Intel Core i5 processor
- ASRock motherboard
- 8GB HyperX RAM
- 256GB GIGABYTE SSD
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 2GB
- 500W power supply, not sure which brand

Maybe give turning off hardware acceleration a shot.
For instance, if you're running Google Chrome, just hit up that main menu—you know, those three little dots in the top right corner—then head into Settings and find the System tab.
Just toggle off the option that says "Use hardware acceleration when available"

What gentlecyclist16 wrote makes sense. Only thing is, that processor isn't exactly top-tier, so it’d be nice if a relatively modern, capable GPU could actually handle video playback without issues.

Wipe the old drivers first using the DDU removal tool, then install the new ones.

https://www.guru3d.com/files-details...-download.html

There's also a chance it's a hardware issue—maybe a faulty PSU, the GPU, or something along those lines. But that's a much bigger headache, and video playback alone shouldn't be crashing the whole system, especially if you aren't seeing the same thing while gaming.

wiredotter14 said:video playback shouldn't be crashing your system, especially if you aren't seeing those same issues while gaming.

Haha... I don't really game. Just basic web surfing, YouTube, and Max since I can't get it on my TV. I'll try toggling off hardware acceleration and see if that fixes things. If not, oh well. It might just be a driver issue—whenever I do a clean install of Windows, everything runs fine for a bit. Then eventually it grabs some updates and starts acting crazy. Either way, thanks.

What drivers are you running right now? The latest ones available are from mid-2022.

Run Furmark and see if your PC crashes during the stress test.

Usually, issues like this get fixed with a clean driver install—like I mentioned above.

So I shut down HA and just let a show run on HBO. Managed to get through a couple of episodes without any restarts. Usually, it's impossible to watch even one single thing. Seems fine for now. We'll see if it actually stays this way.

Could you walk me through exactly how you went about disabling hardware acceleration?

Mozilla Firefox or Pale Moon are way better than Google Chrome and all that other Chrome crap where you basically need a high-end gaming rig just to get a damn video to play in the browser...

Andrew Hill18 said:- GPU Nvidia GeForce GTX 2GB

Exactly.

I honestly think you should just toss that thing straight into the trash. And if I were you, I’d probably never touch anything with an AMD graphics card ever again.

Kenneth Cruz67 said:Exactly.

Just toss it in the trash. Honestly, you should probably just steer clear of anything with an AMD graphics card from now on.

I think you're talking nonsense here, because I've personally used AMD cards for as long as I can remember and I've honestly never run into a single issue.

Look, hardware acceleration isn't some magic trick the browser pulls off—it’s entirely about whether your drivers actually know how to pass those software requests over to the video card properly.

I mean, how does anyone even function without 3D acceleration? You could technically just flip the switch and stick to 2D if you wanted, though honestly, unless you're deep into 3D modeling or something heavy-duty, you barely touch the 3D side of things anyway.

The real fix here? Just find a decent driver. It’s pretty obvious that if a fresh install of the OS runs smoothly for a bit, the original driver isn't the villain—it’s those annoying patches, whether they're for the driver or the OS itself, that mess everything up.

The reason everything "crashes" when you turn on hardware acceleration is because video drivers are built for raw speed. They run in ring0, basically sitting right next to the OS kernel like old-school DOS. Because they're running at that level, if something goes sideways, the OS can't step in to catch the error.

shadowlynx102 said:You're talking nonsense. I've used AMD graphics cards my whole life and I've never run into any issues.

Well, in my lifetime, I don't think I've ever owned an ATI card that didn't give me some sort of headache. It was always one of those things where either the 2D performance was lackluster, or the 3D was buggy, or the memory acted up—it was either overheating or the drivers were just poorly optimized. I remember with my last one, the 2D clock speeds were so low that I actually had to use this overclocking utility just to bump them up every time I booted, otherwise, I'd get these weird lines all over the screen or the image would just start distorting. For the last six or seven years, I've stuck strictly to Nvidia. You just turn it on, fire up the PC, and everything works perfectly. I guess I'll never let an ATI card near my rig again, not ever.

But sure, looking at it broadly, I suppose I am talking nonsense—though maybe I'm not more or less nonsensical than anyone else.

If he actually wanted some helpful advice, I'd probably suggest he check his system logs and event viewer to figure out what's actually causing the machine to crash. 😛

Jack Cook7 said:Hardware acceleration is really all about the drivers properly translating software requests to the hardware on the video card, rather than being an issue with the browser itself.

I mean, how can someone just choose not to use 3D acceleration? You can always disable it and stick strictly to 2D. Honestly, there are very few applications outside of gaming that actually lean on 3D, unless you happen to be working in 3D modeling or something along those lines.

The real fix here is simply finding a stable, correct driver. It seems pretty obvious that if a fresh OS installation runs smoothly for a while, then the culprit isn't the original driver, but rather some subsequent patch applied to either the driver or the OS itself.

The reason things tend to crash when hardware acceleration is enabled is that video drivers operate in ring0 to maintain speed—much like how DOS used to work—which means the OS loses its ability to control them if an error occurs.

I was under the impression that most video applications have been using D3D surfaces for rendering video frames by default for quite a while now... I thought we were specifically discussing disabling hardware acceleration for video decompression...

Even browsers tap into 3D acceleration to handle web page rendering now (I know for a fact Firefox does it, but honestly, pretty much any modern browser will). And man, you can really feel the difference when it’s actually turned on versus when it’s dead...

Thanks for all the help, everyone. Everything is still running smooth and my PC hasn't shut down once