Constant Kernel Power 41—what could it be?
Hey everyone, how’s it going?
So, before we get to the facts, a little background:
My computer is driving me completely crazy (and leaving me broke, too).
For some time now, my system has been acting up when running combined CPU and GPU operations for long periods of time.
I use Windows 11 for work, because unfortunately I still rely on Adobe for 100% of my editing work, and a switch to DaVinci is simply not feasible right now—it would require an absurd investment of time and money to recreate the over 40GB of models currently in use.
Now the facts:
What happens?
During combined tasks that demand a lot of computing power (CPU + GPU + RAM under heavy load), the computer tends to reboot after 30 to 40 minutes of operation; the Windows event log always reports “Kernel-Power 41.”
This always happens in these combined scenarios, but never in isolated instances.
The problem isn’t temperature; the processor stays cool, and 75 degrees is the limit it reaches at 100% usage.
Hardware specs before implementing the solutions I’ve already tried (which I’ll explain shortly):
Processor: Ryzen 7 5800X
RAM: 48GB DDR4 3000MHz (2x8 GSkill; 2x16 GSkill).
Graphics card: RX 7700XT ASRock
Power supply: 700W Redragon Full Modular
Motherboard: Biostar B450GT3
What I've done so far:
Well, I'm not the tech I used to be, and honestly, I'd never run into such a persistent and frustrating error before, but I tried to troubleshoot the possible issues that might be related to it. So, after talking to some people who know more about this, they pointed out a few potential problems.
First: It could be something related to my motherboard, which wasn’t keeping up with my processor. They recommended switching to a more robust model, so I replaced the Biostar B450 with an ASUS TUF B550M.
Result: The problem persisted.
Then I was told it might be an issue with the storage device where Windows was installed—a SATA SSD of questionable quality. I replaced it with a 1TB Samsung PRO, performing a completely clean install of Windows and all programs.
Result: The problem persisted.
After that, they said it was an issue with the graphics card, because another thing that happened was that after this Kernel-Power event occurred two or three times, the AMD drivers would simply stop working, and I had to use DDU and perform a clean reinstallation of them.
In that case, I took my old RTX 2080 and swapped it out—again, a clean swap: DDU in safe mode, and driver installation also in safe mode.
Result: The problem went away for a while, but it came back.
Then I was told it was a power supply issue; the fact that it went away for a while was possibly because the RTX 2080 consumes fewer resources than the RX 7700 XT, but at peaks, consumption can rise significantly, causing the Redragon power supply’s lines to fail.
I checked the sensors and the voltage spikes were indeed very irregular; on the 12V line, there could be a 0.7V variation between the minimum and maximum. So I switched to a high-quality 1000W 80 Plus Platinum Mach1 power supply, a Teclab product. Voltages are 100% stable now, buuuut, the problem persists.
Current hardware:
Processor: Ryzen 7 5800X
RAM: 48GB DDR4 3000MHz (2x8GB G.Skill; 2x16GB Killsre)
Graphics card: RTX 2080
Power supply: 1000W Mach1 Platinum
Motherboard: Asus TUF B550M
Honestly, I don’t know what else to do. I’ve already replaced the motherboard, storage, graphics card, and power supply, but the problem persists.
The worst part is that it’s not a system shutdown—Windows doesn’t even show a blue screen. It’s a complete, instant reboot that takes no time at all to boot up.
I’ve run Memtest on all the RAM sticks, and no errors were found.
Isolated tests with high CPU and GPU loads don’t exhibit the same behavior.
Honestly, I’ve even thought it might be a problem with the house’s electrical system, but I don’t know if that’s the case.
Anyway, I’d appreciate it if you could lend a hand—and maybe shed some light on this—even if it’s just saying a prayer for this computer to stop haunting me.