Sudden Black Screen Crash on Computer After Plex Transcode

Copper Contributor

I've been experiencing a persistent issue with my computer, which runs Plex, where it suddenly stops producing video output and crashes. The screen goes blank, and I'm unable to remotely connect to it or even ping it. Unlike a traditional Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), no error message is displayed on the screen. Instead, the computer remains powered on, but the only way to access it is to manually restart it by pressing the power button.

Interestingly, when I was running Windows 10, the Windows Event Logs would often report a critical error indicating that the system shut down unexpectedly. However, since upgrading to Windows 11, these critical errors are no longer recorded. Instead, I've started seeing different error logs.

1 Reply

I don't know if you have looked into this or not, but I seem to recall that Plex has an option to use your GPU for transcoding. Try flipping the current state to see if that makes any difference. In other words, if transcoding is set to use the GPU, turn it off. On the other hand, if it is not set to use the GPU, turn it on.