Just turned the PC on and it booted up to desktop but in really low resolution. This has happened before and a simple restart has solved it in the past. However after a few restarts and a full shutdown, the problem persisted, so I went into display settings and changed the screen resolution back to 4K. Everything seemed normal again… until I tried to load the sim. It ended up freezing, with the sound going all ‘blippy’ (I can’t think of any other word). So I pressed the reset button and it rebooted the machine. I updated the AMD drivers to the latest but on completion of installation, it claimed the instal was successful but there was an issue with my device. I closed the tab and started the sim, and got a notification that my device doesn’t meet the minimum required spec. I went into device manager and noticed that my GPU (Radeaon 7900XTX) was disabled so I enabled it… but to no avail. Device manager doesn’t seem to recognise that I even have a GPU now (says something about no GPU being installed).
Being hopeless with computers, I’m now panicking because it seems my (not cheap) PC is broken. Is this the case or is there a simple solution?
If you have an on-board GPU, you can switch your monitor to that one.
In the BIOS, you can Load Optimized Defaults, and restart. If Windows comes back up, you can click Start, type Reset, and look for Reset this PC. You have two choices: reset and keep your files (but not your programs) or reset and start fresh. Use a USB to backup your files, browser bookmarks, and passwords first.
If this is a new PC, you might check that everything is seated correctly, especially memory and the GPU.
If all that goes well, plug the monitor back into the GPU, and reinstall the sim.
You can always take it into a shop for professional help.
There are some reports out there that the latest Windows update is causing a lot of problems for some folks. If you have that, you may want to uninstall it.
My tip: Get someone there who knows a thing about computers. It’s really the only way.
You can try it yourself, but from experience I know what takes a computer-savvy person less than a second, will cost you 10+ minutes. And that is with every step of a 10-step solution for you to try.
These things are sometimes very simple, but it can also be a way more complex problem which takes some digging around.
Best case it’s a simple driver-reinstall (with DDU), worst case your GPU has given up. And everything in between.
OP take the side off your PC case. Check and see if there is any dust inside. It sounds as if your graphics card is overheating. The sound you had “blippy” and the PC freeze are classic signs of overheating. You might also increase the speeds of your GPU fans to avoid this in the future.
