Troubleshooting Game Exit Crashes: A Case Study

After recently installing Cyberpunk 2077, I encountered a puzzling issue with my computer. Following the exit of any game—Cyberpunk included—my system freezes, forcing me to restart it by holding down the power button. This problem doesn’t limit itself to just one game, and it has become increasingly frustrating.

Here’s what happens: shortly after I exit, the screen turns a solid gray (sometimes experiencing color shifts to red, green, or blue), while audio continues playing without interruption. I’ve made sure that nothing is overclocked, with all settings returning to default.

My Hardware Configuration:

• Motherboard: ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming SLI/ac LGA 1151 (300 series)
• Power Supply Unit (PSU): EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G+, 80 Plus Gold
• Solid State Drive (SSD): Intel 660p Series M.2 2280 512GB PCIe 3.0
• Hard Disk Drive (HDD): Seagate BarraCuda ST2000DM006 2TB 7200 RPM
• Memory: G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 16GB (2x8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 3000
• Processor (CPU): Intel i7-9700K Coffee Lake 8-Core 3.6GHz (max 4.9 GHz Turbo)
• Graphics Card (GPU): ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1080 TI 11GB OC Edition
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo

This situation has become quite irritating, and I’m reaching out for assistance.

Community Response and Resolution

UPDATE: I extend my gratitude to everyone who took the time to respond. I plan to review all suggestions and implement any recommended fixes that I haven’t already tried. I’ll provide an update if any solutions prove effective.

UPDATE 2: The culprit behind the crashes was traced back to the current NVIDIA driver version 460.89. If you’re using a 1080 Ti graphics card, I strongly advise against upgrading to this driver. A heartfelt thanks to the community for your support; the volume of helpful responses was unexpected and greatly appreciated. Your insights have been invaluable!

In conclusion, if you’re facing similar issues, consider reviewing your GPU