Unstable CPU behaviour

[wizecie]

Hi. Im writing here hoping that I will get some help from you (well, to be honest I already did that on reddit)

 

Specs:

AMD Ryzen 7 3700x

Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus

4x16 Crucial 3200MHz BallistixSport LTGrayCL16

 

Introduction

I bought new PC on November 2019 and it worked just fine without any issue until now. Lately, 2-3 weeks ago my PC was getting some issues with BSODs.

• PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA
• SYSTEM SERVICE EXCEPTION
• IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL
• CRITICAL SERVICE FAILED

 

Other issues I was getting:

• I did some basic test using Windows Diagnostic with memory, SSD tests, nothing was wrong at all
• Sometimes my desktop was freezing in idle, or when watching YT/Facebook, cursor had loading circle and I couldn't do anything
• Sometimes I couldn't open any software or Windows startup
• Sometimes i couldn't login into my Windows account and I was stuck in login screen or was getting crash soon after logging.
• At some point I was starting to get issues with "File system error" while launching any software.
• Soon after that when i tried to launch PC again, after Windows 10 loading animation, screens goes completely black... And it happen few times, then i stopped.

More information

It's hard to remember how that starts to happen, but nothing before was telling me that there might be some issues. I played many intensive games such as Metro Exodus, Half Life Alyx on max details without any issues or crashes. I was also using very heavly my CPU and GPU very often for work, in Blender/Substance Painter. Maybe issue was always with me but i didn't noticed that or it just happen now? I don't know. I used stock settings in BIOS all the time.

 

What steps were taken by me to solve the issue?

I updated my Windows and that helped me for few days, everything was like before. I did some diagnostic tests with basic Windows tools. Issues come back. At first glance I thought that the issue is on my system SSD which wasnt cleaned for at least 5 years so i thought that my Iridium Pro 240gb just died. Luckily enough I had other SSD on which I decided to install new system.

 

New system

I managed to do that, new System was up, drivers were installed but i was still getting very strange behaviour with system stability anyway such as:

• Almost every file downloaded from web was corrupted. Trying to download second time solved issue.
• I was loosing internet packets - my Internet connection was jumping from 200kb/s to 4mb/s to even 30 mb/s (which is my default speed). Next day internet behavior was fine and I could finally use my Internet as usual.
• When I tried to update Windows I was getting some errors with installation. Then i replaced ethernet cable, reseted my router and somehow it fixed the problem
• I couldn't install driver for Logitech G Hub, I was getting BSOD during installation. Never tried again.
• I couldn't install Oculus drivers, installation crashed when I was downloading some packages during installation.
• Some applications such as Epic Games launcher was closing itself without my interaction.
• Some websites were getting error connections and slowness was very noticeable.
• Issues with internet connection, corrupted files seems to not happen again but I still have random issues described above.

 

New steps after reinstaling Windows

Few od my IT friends gave me some solution to set up DOCP in BIOS which I did.

It was fine, i could use PC like before but we also tried to test memory using memtest86, and then Prime95 and that's where fun really starts to happen.

 

Fun - more testing

I decided to run memtest86 on because i couldn't understand why i can't install Oculus Setup - I found somewhere on their forum that the issue I was getting may be related to RAM.

 

Started doing tests with my 4x16GB RAM and at 8 minute of test (block move test) I was started getting dozens of issues.

 

Next day I updated BIOS and did tests again with memtest86 using 4 sticks together. Issues happen to show up exactly in the same time (Test 6, block move, 6 and 7 CPU, but now rather than getting 100-200, in 1 minute i got 2200 errors)

 

I dismounted one pair of RAM and tested again, and issue was still there. Then i kept only one and issues was still there. I made many different operations on RAMs such as testing each one with or without DOCP turned on, or by changing slots - issue was always the same, i was getting a lot errors that seems to be related to 6 and 7 thread of CPU

 

Then we did some tests using Prime95 and turns out I got issue just straight up on the begining with 7 and 8 thread.

We decided to reset BIOS by dismounting mobo battery and setting up manual voltage based on my IT friends suggestions. That didn't helped at all, issue with CPU was still the same there when we used Prime95. We were also checking temp and voltage using HW monitor and everything kinda was seem right but voltages were very jumpy.

 

We decided to test CPU using Intel Burn out. The overall usage of CPU threads was fine, but at some point CPU threads from maximum usage went down by half, but software didn't tell me about that.

 

Then we changed voltage again to offset mode on bios to - and 0.09. We testes again using Intel Burn out and at the same time we were checking HW Monitor. Voltage was strange, because in the idle it had 1.5V but during test it was jumping from 1.2 to 1.4. Soon after that torture test I got crash.

 

Conclusion(??)

Now I don't know what to do. What is causing instability of the system - CPU, mobo, power supply or ram? I heard that you need to be very lucky to get issues with CPU so maybe that's only wrongs timings or voltages?

Some pictures i did. Please help

 

https://imgur.com/a/u3qQqSK

[Kisai]

Did you install the chipset driver at all?

 

Quote

• PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA
• SYSTEM SERVICE EXCEPTION
• IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL
• CRITICAL SERVICE FAILED

All of these indicate bad RAM, which could be bad timing, bad modules, or drivers missing.

 

The next possibility based on it always being the same cores on the stress test is the CPU itself, which might just be cooling if the heatsink isn't mounted right, or it could be the CPU itself.

[Haro]

1 minute ago, Kisai said:

Did you install the chipset driver at all?

 

All of these indicate bad RAM, which could be bad timing, bad modules, or drivers missing.

^ was gonna say the same thing plus I'm gonna add try clearing the cmos or updating the bios 

[wizecie]

8 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Did you install the chipset driver at all?

 

All of these indicate bad RAM, which could be bad timing, bad modules, or drivers missing.

Thanks for response. That's that I thinking, but what does it mean with Prime95 which shows issues on 7 and 8 thread? And it's hard to believe, that each RAM stick that I have is bad or corrupted.

 

Worth to mention: I don't get those BSODS anymore, after I reinstalled Windows 10.

 

6 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

^ was gonna say the same thing plus I'm gonna add try clearing the cmos or updating the bios 

I forgot to mention it - yes, I updated bios yesterday to 1407 (Asus Tuf Gaming X570 Plus) and I reseted using CLRTC method. Maybe i will try to do that standard method, by removing battery.

[Kisai]

3 minutes ago, wizecie said:

Thanks for response. That's that I thinking, but what does it mean with Prime95 which shows issues on 7 and 8 thread? And it's hard to believe, that each RAM stick that I have is bad or corrupted.

 

Worth to mention: I don't get those BSODS anymore, after I reinstalled Windows 10.

 

I forgot to mention it - yes, I updated bios yesterday to 1407 (Asus Tuf Gaming X570 Plus) and I reseted using CLRTC method. Maybe i will try to do that standard method, by removing battery.

If you look at the layout of a Ryzen 3 chip:

 

Note where the CPU cores are relative to the memory controller.

So cpu 7 and 8 are likely on the edge of the chip, which suggests maybe the cooler isn't mounted flush on the chip.

 

[5x5]

Sound alike a dead memory stick or multiple dead memory sticks

[Haro]

5 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

Sound alike a dead memory stick or multiple dead memory sticks

^ could be this 

I suggest trying 1 stick at a time (if you said this in the thread I'm sorry I missed it )

[wizecie]

Update: I made some hardware tests

• I tested friend RAM, I got errors in memtest,

• I tested my RAM in friend PC, he didn't got any error in memtest

• I borrow Ryzen 7 2700, swapped CPU and during 3h of test, I didn't got any error

I'm working already on my PC with 2700 on board at least 4-5h without any BSODs. Everything is very smooth, stable.

Conclusion: CPU was the issue. I working right now on my warranty request, that's the only way.