Need help please

[Melkie]

Mobo: ASUS ROG Maximus z690 Hero EVA
CPU: 13900k
Cooler: NZXT RL-KN240-B1 Kraken 240 Black 240mm Liquid CPU Cooler
Ram: G.Skill F5-6400J3239G32GX2-TZ5RK Trident Z5 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5-6400MHz CL32 1.40V Black Desktop Memory
Storage: Mushkin MKNSSDVT1TB-D8 Vortex 1TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280 Solid State Drive x2
GPU: 4080 MSI gaming trio
PSU: MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850W 80 Plus Gold PCIe 5.0 Fully Modular Black ATX Desktop Power Supply
Chassis: Fractal Design FD-C-NOR1C-02 North Charcoal Black Tempered Glass Dark ATX Desktop Chassis

Events:
Sep 2023
With my initial build (all items new) the PC did not want to boot, after doing some research based on the error codes i noticed that it was a compatibility issue with the RAM, and I had to update my bios. After updating the bios I was able to boot and install windows. with the windows installation compete on my home screen, I noticed I don't have internet access and realized that a lot of drivers were not installed. I downloaded the network driver on a USB and installed it. I then updated windows and all optional drivers. I also noticed that both SSDs were picking up in my bios, but in windows, my computer only 1 was showing. Didn't bother me too much at that stage, as I don't need a lot of storage All other downloads and installs followed without any issues, although under my device manager > other devices there was a Raid controller that was requesting a driver, which I couldn't get hold of. PC was working fine up until End of Jan 2024

Jan 2024
PC started closing an app or game that I was using, Like with DOTA, when I find a match and I enter the lobby, the game would crash, but no crash report shows up, the program just closes as if it never ran. Under event log, a bunch of warnings and errors popped up, and sometimes with restart i would get a ntfs.sys error. So I decided to fresh install windows and just start over, I have back ups for all my data. I started with a windows 11 bootable drive, but had multiple issues completing the installation. Eventually the install finished and i installed my required apps. And had the exact same issue. I decided to install windows 10 fresh, with a bootable drive, and not installing my back ups, or signing into my microsoft account, still the same issue persists, additionally as soon as i try and install my GPU driver the monitor would go dark and light up over and over, almost like it cant finish installing the driver. Got gat vol and decided to format everything and start fresh, this time around i could not get windows installed, it kept failing.

At this stage i suspected Hardware failure. So GPU was tested by a friend, and he had no issues, for my RAM i ran a test through asus bios, and it passed. A friend tested my ram on his B650 aorus elite AX and his PC didn't boot (but i suspect the same issue as i had that the bios isn't compatible unless he updates his bios????!!!! So i bought a brand new 500gb m.2 nvme ssd and installed windows on my friends PC, i removed the SSD from his PC and installed it in mine, and although it worked, i was able to go into winows i still have the same issues, so i doubt that it is storage. Unfortunately i don't have other means of testing my mobo and CPU, but that is the only items i believe where i can still have any kind of issue.

So im all out of knowledge and patience and im ready to hand my PC to somebody to have a look, just dont know who to trust. My only issue here is that the components were purchased from 3 different suppliers. Most of the items were purchased through wootware (not in value but in quantity), So i was hoping to send my PC to wootware as I've had great help and support from them in the past.


The reason why i post here is hoping that someone might have experienced a similar issue and can point me in the right direction. thank you in advance

 

[Areola Grande]

My first though is dodgy SATA cable, but this is nVME so not applicable.

Next thought is the CPU not being nicely in the socket. The ILM on the LGA1700 socket is straight trash, it may be that you don't have a good mount (either too tight or not tight enough) and that's affecting which pins are contacting the CPU correctly (or crunched). You could try take it out and inspect the pins and socket to ensure there's no obvious damage, then remount.

Next option would be GPU. Your CPU has a built in iGPU, so I would take the GPU out completely and see how the system behaves. If it's still unstable then I would say it's the CPU, PSU, RAM or motherboard. If not, it's either GPU or PSU.

Or it's something else.

 

[Melkie]

My first though is dodgy SATA cable, but this is nVME so not applicable.

Next thought is the CPU not being nicely in the socket. The ILM on the LGA1700 socket is straight trash, it may be that you don't have a good mount (either too tight or not tight enough) and that's affecting which pins are contacting the CPU correctly (or crunched). You could try take it out and inspect the pins and socket to ensure there's no obvious damage, then remount.

Next option would be GPU. Your CPU has a built in iGPU, so I would take the GPU out completely and see how the system behaves. If it's still unstable then I would say it's the CPU, PSU, RAM or motherboard. If not, it's either GPU or PSU.

Or it's something else.

Thank you for the feedback, forgot to mention, the GPU was completely removed and was running of HDMI from the MOBO, I will inspect the pins, maybe i can see something, regarding too tight or not tight enough, is there a torque setting? 😂

 

[Juan91]

Most probably your ram, have you tried running it at stock and not xmp?

if the issue resolved then you can start tweaking to get it stable because xmp is not a guarantee of stability or even to work.

 

[Areola Grande]

Thank you for the feedback, forgot to mention, the GPU was completely removed and was running of HDMI from the MOBO, I will inspect the pins, maybe i can see something, regarding too tight or not tight enough, is there a torque setting? 😂

Probably, you can see if your cooler came with any detailed torque settings. Likely though, you would just just tighten it until you feel resistance. It's usually fairly obvious when it's tight.

 

[Oj0]

I also noticed that both SSDs were picking up in my bios, but in windows, my computer only 1 was showing. Didn't bother me too much at that stage, as I don't need a lot of storage

You need to initialize the other drive. The initialization wizard should pop up as soon as you open Disk Management, but if it doesn't you need to initialize the drive and create a volume/partition once done.

 

[el_guapo3291]

Most of the issues you describe are the symptoms of unstable RAM, have you tried using it at base clocks (4800MHz)? The built in memory test is memtest86, it won't show you if the RAM is unstable it mainly detects physical faults. You need to use something linke Memtest Pro or Kahru to test stability. XMP doesn't always work stable out of the box.

 

[Raatle]

Just to be clear, all of a sudden (Jan 2024), It just started giving you problems out of nowhere? You didnt change any components, drivers, bios or maybe cleaned the system? Also no bluescreens?

 

[Krokkenoster]

Hey btw heard something about this while watching Gamer Meld.

Its about certain Intel Cpu's basically crashing. Changes can be done in bios.
I did not read up on the situation and with which games it is being caused so go investigate it.

 

[Sageofchaos]

You mentioned a RAID controller driver in first post - Are you making use of any RAID configurations?

 

[Melkie]

Most probably your ram, have you tried running it at stock and not xmp?

if the issue resolved then you can start tweaking to get it stable because xmp is not a guarantee of stability or even to work.

Will give it a try, was running xmp since start, and had no issues, just out of the blue after 4 months. But will give it a go. Will try anything at this stage

 

[Melkie]

Probably, you can see if your cooler came with any detailed torque settings. Likely though, you would just just tighten it until you feel resistance. It's usually fairly obvious when it's tight.

Nothing in the manual, but it's hand tightened and not with a screw driver. My thinking is nothing changed, it was working fine for 5 months, so I doubt it was over or under tightened.

 

[Melkie]

Most of the issues you describe are the symptoms of unstable RAM, have you tried using it at base clocks (4800MHz)? The built in memory test is memtest86, it won't show you if the RAM is unstable it mainly detects physical faults. You need to use something linke Memtest Pro or Kahru to test stability. XMP doesn't always work stable out of the box.

Will check it out, thanx.

 

[Melkie]

You mentioned a RAID controller driver in first post - Are you making use of any RAID configurations?

I don't even know what it is 😅

 

[Melkie]

Just to be clear, all of a sudden (Jan 2024), It just started giving you problems out of nowhere? You didnt change any components, drivers, bios or maybe cleaned the system? Also no bluescreens?

Absolutely no hardware changes, just some updates, maybe installing a program or 2.

No blue screens while pc is running, only on start up sometimes. Ntfs.sys error. Researched this and it was indicating windows registry files mat be missing or corrupt.

 

[Raatle]

Absolutely no hardware changes, just some updates, maybe installing a program or 2.

So you touched nothing. Thats not a good sign. The fact that youve replaced the boot drive makes it even worse...

My first guess would have been corrupted drive/windows but youve ruled that out. Since everything was working fine, incompatible ram is unlikely and bad cpu seating also seams very unlikely since you touched nothing. You said you had trouble installing windows? Was this an error on your part or was it failing and just miraculously worked.

It really doesnt look like a simple fix.. If you can get Woot to be helpful and identify the faulty component (I think something is definitely broken), do so. Dont rule anything out either. Else start searching the carb for recommendations of good repair shops in your area.

If I had to guess I would go with your PSU. They often seem to just die of there own accord and can throw some really weird errors. Crashing during gameplay and during boot kinda point to this as this is when the computer draws a lot of power. However your PSU seems pretty new, which makes it unlikely it failed.

Alternatively your bios chip could be the problem. Does your board support dual bios?

 

[Juan91]

Will give it a try, was running xmp since start, and had no issues, just out of the blue after 4 months. But will give it a go. Will try anything at this stage

I had sooo much issues with ram the past few years with X570 and Amd.

Xmp can become unstable due to bios updates or just deterioration of the IMC on cpu, even the VSoC can affect it.

At least you're on Intel which usually is more forgiving unless you OC hard core.

You can try upping the voltage of the memory by 0 02-0.05 to test if, if you can exclude ram as the issue that would at least keep you from going down a vicious rabbit hole.

Good luck.

 

[Melkie]

So you touched nothing. Thats not a good sign. The fact that youve replaced the boot drive makes it even worse...

My first guess would have been corrupted drive/windows but youve ruled that out. Since everything was working fine, incompatible ram is unlikely and bad cpu seating also seams very unlikely since you touched nothing. You said you had trouble installing windows? Was this an error on your part or was it failing and just miraculously worked.

It really doesnt look like a simple fix.. If you can get Woot to be helpful and identify the faulty component (I think something is definitely broken), do so. Dont rule anything out either. Else start searching the carb for recommendations of good repair shops in your area.

If I had to guess I would go with your PSU. They often seem to just die of there own accord and can throw some really weird errors. Crashing during gameplay and during boot kinda point to this as this is when the computer draws a lot of power. However your PSU seems pretty new, which makes it unlikely it failed.

Alternatively your bios chip could be the problem. Does your board support dual bios?

I'm on the same page as you here, I set the RAM to auto in bios, running at 4800mhz, buy still the same. I also believe that seating of cpu, bent pins could be an issue it worked for so long. Wootware has been very helpful, and said I can send them the PC to troubleshoot.

Regarding the initial windows installation, the issue I faced was that all drivers were not installed.


Upon trying to re install in Jan, it was windows errors, and not on my end. Can't remember the exact codes, but kept getting ntfs.sys error on blue screen. Or sometimes it just said installation failed.

Running dual bios, I'm not aware, the bios was updated through the bios usb and bios flash button, but this was with initial installation in September, and everything worked perfectly

 

[Melkie]

I had sooo much issues with ram the past few years with X570 and Amd.

Xmp can become unstable due to bios updates or just deterioration of the IMC on cpu, even the VSoC can affect it.

At least you're on Intel which usually is more forgiving unless you OC hard core.

You can try upping the voltage of the memory by 0 02-0.05 to test if, if you can exclude ram as the issue that would at least keep you from going down a vicious rabbit hole.

Good luck.

In all honesty, I don't mess around with overclocking, I don't know enough,and not interested in doing research on it.

But I do appreciate your feedback, seems like you actually had an in depth look at the hardware and issues I'm facing.

 

[Raatle]

So i bought a brand new 500gb m.2 nvme ssd and installed windows on my friends PC

Dont know how I missed this... You cant do this. You have to install windows on the PC the drive will live in. Otherwise drivers get all mucked up.

Dont know if its relevant however. If you wanna give it another shot before sending to woot: Fully format the m2 drive. You need to make sure youve cleared everything including the MBR/boot loader and not just deleted the partition that windows was installed on. You can do this in the windows installer. You need to make sure your installation media is correct for your current bios settings (Rufus usually does this for you). Ounce in windows, download and install all drivers from the MOBO vendor website.

I would just send it to woot though. Ive never dealt with them but from what ive heard they are more than willing to change out parts with you until you find something that works. GL.

 

[Melkie]

Dont know how I missed this... You cant do this. You have to install windows on the PC the drive will live in. Otherwise drivers get all mucked up.

Dont know if its relevant however. If you wanna give it another shot before sending to woot: Fully format the m2 drive. You need to make sure youve cleared everything including the MBR/boot loader and not just deleted the partition that windows was installed on. You can do this in the windows installer. You need to make sure your installation media is correct for your current bios settings (Rufus usually does this for you). Ounce in windows, download and install all drivers from the MOBO vendor website.

I would just send it to woot though. Ive never dealt with them but from what ive heard they are more than willing to change out parts with you until you find something that works. GL.

I am aware that it is not ideal, but this was after many failed attempts at installing windows. Yes PC will be shipped to wootware

 

[Raatle]

Yes PC will be shipped to wootware

Let us know how it goes..