Did I just fully roast my CPU with an overclock? Can get into windows (system restore) so it doesn't make sense.

[Delano.888]

So I have never really spent time looking into overclocking, my 9700k was always ok-ish enough for me.

I recently upgraded my GPU though, to a rtx4080s. Didn't feel like upgrading the CPU yet as I read 9700k can handle most games because at 4k most games need more GPU then CPU.

However now I noticed in some games I was hitting 100% cpu, and even firefox with 10 tabs open used a lot of CPU, so I thought, well, I guess I can try overclocking my 9700k.

I had Asus AI suite installed, which has an AI overclock feature. I thought I'll start with those (safe) settings and adjust from there.

Loaded AI suite, started the AI overclock, pc rebooted into a bluescreen, no way to get passed it, boot loop.

Looked up on YT how to overclock 9700, found this video:

(Don't watch it, it basically says crank everything to max)

I wasn't booting anyway so I tried all of this, besides the cpu voltage. I didn't feel like going to 1.3v instantly so started at 1.1v, then 1.2v, got a bluescreen "whea uncorrectable error" every time. then I thought well this doesn't feel safe, I'm done, back to stock. I guess I'm just not overclocking.

Changed bios to default settings. No more blue screen, but also no windows. It keeps saying windows can't start. It shows the Asus black screen with "Preparing automatic repair", then "diagnosing your pc", then the "windows (blue) automatic repair" screen.

Well. Now I'm worried. It's not booting at all.

I thought, well, maybe it's AI suite messing it up. I can get into the restore menu (which is part of windows, right?) So that feels somewhat better as it now feels windows related because if the hardware is toast, I probably won't even see that restore menu, right?

Ran a windows restore to restore point. That "finished successfully". Guess what. Still not booting after the system restore.

Bios is already at stock settings.

What to do now? It still feels like a software thing now because I can get into windows restore. But that doesn't fix it.

Very worried. Also need the pc for work in like 8 hours (been at this for 3 hours now).

I hope someone can help. Thank you very much!

 

Edit: Just hit startup repair, it's checking the disks etc. Wondering if that does anything.

 

(And yes, thankfully my media is backed up out of the pc).

Specs below are correct besides the GPU which is now an rtx 4080.

[Kilrah]

Probably got enough crashes that it corrupted the Windows install...

 

Always good to do OCing on a separate OS.

[BiotechBen]

10 minutes ago, Delano.888 said:

So I have never really spent time looking into overclocking, my 9700k was always ok-ish enough for me.

I recently upgraded my GPU though, to a rtx4080s. Didn't feel like upgrading the CPU yet as I read 9700k can handle most games because at 4k most games need more GPU then CPU.

However now I noticed in some games I was hitting 100% cpu, and even firefox with 10 tabs open used a lot of CPU, so I thought, well, I guess I can try overclocking my 9700k.

I had Asus AI suite installed, which has an AI overclock feature. I thought I'll start with those (safe) settings and adjust from there.

Loaded AI suite, started the AI overclock, pc rebooted into a bluescreen, no way to get passed it, boot loop.

Looked up on YT how to overclock 9700, found this video:

(Don't watch it, it basically says crank everything to max)

I wasn't booting anyway so I tried all of this, besides the cpu voltage. I didn't feel like going to 1.3v instantly so started at 1.1v, then 1.2v, got a bluescreen "whea uncorrectable error" every time. then I thought well this doesn't feel safe, I'm done, back to stock. I guess I'm just not overclocking.

Changed bios to default settings. No more blue screen, but also no windows. It keeps saying windows can't start. It shows the Asus black screen with "Preparing automatic repair", then "diagnosing your pc", then the "windows (blue) automatic repair" screen.

Well. Now I'm worried. It's not booting at all.

I thought, well, maybe it's AI suite messing it up. I can get into the restore menu (which is part of windows, right?) So that feels somewhat better as it now feels windows related because if the hardware is toast, I probably won't even see that restore menu, right?

Ran a windows restore to restore point. That "finished successfully". Guess what. Still not booting after the system restore.

Bios is already at stock settings.

What to do now? It still feels like a software thing now because I can get into windows restore. But that doesn't fix it.

Very worried. Also need the pc for work in like 8 hours (been at this for 3 hours now).

I hope someone can help. Thank you very much!

 

Edit: Just hit startup repair, it's checking the disks etc. Wondering if that does anything.

 

(And yes, thankfully my media is backed up out of the pc).

Specs below are correct besides the GPU which is now an rtx 4080.

Sounds like you worked your windows install. Been there many times with RAM OC-ing. If you've got your windows install linked to your microsoft acct, you're fine, if not, you'll need a new license to activate from media creation tool.

[RONOTHAN##]

15 minutes ago, Delano.888 said:

I had Asus AI suite installed, which has an AI overclock feature. I thought I'll start with those (safe) settings and adjust from there.

Yeah, from what I know about their AI OC stuff, it just pumps insane amounts of voltage into the CPU. Nothing that would be too dangerous for the silicon, but way more than you end up needing for a given frequency. 

 

15 minutes ago, Delano.888 said:

I didn't feel like going to 1.3v instantly so started at 1.1v, then 1.2v

From what I know about 9th gen, these voltages are way too low. Stock IIRC should be between 1.2 and 1.3V, so starting at 1.1V for an overclock was never going to get that far. Plus none of that is accounting for LLC, so 1.1V set might only be 1V at the silicon while the system is trying to boot. Granted, it's been a few years since I've done 9th gen OC, so I could be misremembering things, still, you likely weren't using anywhere close to enough voltage. The good news about that is that there's no way you damaged the CPU yourself, unless the motherboard randomly decided to push 2V into the silicon for whatever reason. 

 

 

What it sounds like happened to your system though is that the CPU was so unstable that it fully corrupted your Windows install. I've seen this more with RAM overclocking than CPU overclocking, but it is theoretically possible with CPU OC as well if it crashes at the wrong time during the boot sequence. Unfortunately, Windows System Restore isn't perfect, so while it can help you sometimes, it can't always and it seems like this is one of those times. At this point, you need to create a Windows install USB. Sometimes you can use this to salvage the Windows install through the restore functionality on there, though you'll likely just have to bite the bullet and do a clean install at this point. 

[Kilrah]

1 minute ago, BiotechBen said:

if not, you'll need a new license

No, Windows is good enough at figuring out it's the same machine even with a wipe and reinstall. 

 

But yeah, reinstall is probably going to be needed.

[Delano.888]

I didn't know overclocking could break my windows install. Well I sure as heck am never going to be overclocking ever again. Damn.

[TylerD321]

9 minutes ago, Delano.888 said:

I didn't know overclocking could break my windows install. Well I sure as heck am never going to be overclocking ever again. Damn.

Fun fact, you can just keep an unactivated copy of windows on a shitty/cheap ssd for overclocking.

[Delano.888]

Just now, TylerD321 said:

Fun fact, you can just keep an unactivated copy of windows on a shitty/cheap ssd for overclocking.

I didn't really know overclocking could ruin your windows install. This stress is not worth it for me. Looking into a new cpu, board etc as well now. If I'm going to be reinstalling anyway (which was a lot) I might as well start a whole new pc.

[Delano.888]

Startup repair failed and a different restore point failed (failed while deleting D:\$MFT, what even is that).

 

I REALLY don't want to reinstall. I have so many tweaks and registry changes etc I don't want to all look into again.

 

Safe mode also doesn't boot. I'm trying all different restore points though.

[GuiltySpark_]

2 minutes ago, Delano.888 said:

I have so many tweaks and registry changes

Very possible this is also contributing to your issues, especially if you're not super familiar with what you're doing. 

[Delano.888]

14 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

Very possible this is also contributing to your issues, especially if you're not super familiar with what you're doing. 

The last change was like a year ago. And I'm not doing crazy stuff, mostly ui changes.

 

It won't even complete sfc/scannow now. Saying windows resource protection could not perform the requested operation.

 

If I make a win10 boot drive, could I possibly restore this install without reinstalling?

 

I'm trying that first now. Only 7 hours untill work starts. Great!

[TylerD321]

8 minutes ago, Delano.888 said:

The last change was like a year ago. And I'm not doing crazy stuff, mostly ui changes.

 

It won't even complete sfc/scannow now. Saying windows resource protection could not perform the requested operation.

 

If I make a win10 boot disk, could I possibly restore this install without reinstalling?

I am going to be honest, if you don't fully understand all of the changes you made to the point of being able to do them again today from memory, you don't understand the change enough to do it again.

[Delano.888]

12 minutes ago, TylerD321 said:

I am going to be honest, if you don't fully understand all of the changes you made to the point of being able to do them again today from memory, you don't understand the change enough to do it again.

The regedit changes aren't super important. I just don't have time for a clean install right now.

 

Made a windows usb drive, trying to repair with that now, startup repair still fails, it prompts me to install windows from that disk. I thought there was a "repair windows with the help of a boot drive" feature somewhere, would that be startup repair after booting from the usb drive? I don't see any fix-install feature even after booting from the usb.

[Delano.888]

Update: by uninstalling the latest quality update, I can now boot into windows safe mode. At least I can backup some stuff properly.

 

Also, scannow works from safe mode, and it's saying it found some stuff but couldn't repair everything.

Also copied all win logs in case I'll need them later.

 

It does keep booting only into safemode though now.

 

I have a feeling maybe my overclocking wasn't even the issue, maybe it was a windows update (I also updated my GPU driver today).

 

This is frustrating, but interesting.

 

I guess I'm spending my whole night doing anything but a clean install. I now feel I have a chance. I'm not giving up yet.

[TylerD321]

22 minutes ago, Delano.888 said:

Update: by uninstalling the latest quality update, I can now boot into windows safe mode. At least I can backup some stuff properly.

 

Also, scannow works from safe mode, and it's saying it found some stuff but couldn't repair everything.

Also copied all win logs in case I'll need them later.

 

It does keep booting only into safemode though now.

 

I have a feeling maybe my overclocking wasn't even the issue, maybe it was a windows update (I also updated my GPU driver today).

 

This is frustrating, but interesting.

 

I guess I'm spending my whole night doing anything but a clean install. I now feel I have a chance. I'm not giving up yet.

Why are you so worried about a clean install? Do you just not want to go through the hassle of downloading programs? Are there files you don't want to lose?

[Delano.888]

25 minutes ago, TylerD321 said:

Why are you so worried about a clean install? Do you just not want to go through the hassle of downloading programs? Are there files you don't want to lose?

Just don't have time. I had tweaks, settings, extra programs running, group policies changed, even small things like how my (win10) start menu was configured. Just so many things I don't have the time for to do again.

 

But I can already get back into windows, although only safe mode. I'm not reinstalling now, I don't give up that easily, I will fix it.

 

System restore is still saying it's restoring the registry, has been at it for 20 minutes but the drive activity is flashing so I'll just wait.

 

I'm planning on a full new pc setup later this year, at which point I will temporarily have 2 pc's to transfer everything, I really really prefer it like that (having the time to perfect the setup).

 

I guess this thread can now be ignored as I ruled out a hardware problem. I'll just keep trying to fix windows.

 

Every system restore gives a $mft error. There's lots of info online about that, I'm trying all that now.

[Mark Kaine]

11 hours ago, Delano.888 said:

Startup repair failed and a different restore point failed (failed while deleting D:\$MFT, what even is that).

 

I REALLY don't want to reinstall. I have so many tweaks and registry changes etc I don't want to all look into again.

 

Safe mode also doesn't boot. I'm trying all different restore points though.

no. reinstall and never touch the registry again.  good luck  

[Kilrah]

Just now, Mark Kaine said:

and never touch the registry again.

That has nothing to do with the situation.

[Mark Kaine]

3 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

That has nothing to do with the situation.

and you know that how? its super likely it does... 

 

why would a overclock mess up windows in the first place? its possible but unlikely. 

 

anyway my suggestion is to never touch the registry if someone doesn't really understand it. its not needed in 99% of cases. 

[Kilrah]

That was explained in both this and the previous thread. Nothing to do with reg tweaks.

[Delano.888]

1 hour ago, Mark Kaine said:

and you know that how? its super likely it does... 

 

why would a overclock mess up windows in the first place? its possible but unlikely. 

 

anyway my suggestion is to never touch the registry if someone doesn't really understand it. its not needed in 99% of cases. 

When I do things in regedit I know what I'm doing, double check everything, and make backups. Also my last change was about a year ago.

[Delano.888]

Sorry for the double-ish thread but since people were still replying here, guess I'll also post my resolution here:

 

ISSUE SOLVED. I KNEW IT COULD BE FIXED! I never give up easy and really did not want to reset/reinstall, so I kept trying for many hours!

 

First of all I spend A LOT of time tinkering with dism/fsc-scannow/chkdsk within the recovery command prompt, getting multiple different errors. Turns out, that command prompt can't quite do everything the safe mode command prompt AS ADMIN, can do. Took me some time to figure that out.

 

So what did I do? Well, lots. But I think what fixed it in the end was indeed DISM (only worked from within safe mode, as admin) then sfc/scannow (also only worked from within safe mode, as admin). Then boot from the made usb, and into system restore. This allowed me to do a system restore older than one day (recovery mode from within windows only worked on the newest restore point).

 

Then it all felt like it worked, it just kept booting into safe mode every single boot, but I never got any errors anywhere anymore (chkdsk, sfc, dism, all clean!) So I was absolutely baffled thinking it had to be fixed now.

 

After about 50 retries on those things, and also 50 reboots. I thought, what if I google pc only boots into safe mode?

 

Turns out that was all I needed to do. In msconfig, there's a boot tab, and safe mode was checked. So my pc booted into safe mode every time. I probably fixed the underlying issue MANY hours ago already but never realized it because of the stupid safemode checkbox (which wasn't enabled by me, don't know how it got enabled).

 

Anyway, everything is back to old, everything works great again! I'm now going to start making disk images (besides my normal media backups) from now on.

 

Thank you everybody that tried to help!

 

So happy!

 

Never overclocking again though!

[Mark Kaine]

9 hours ago, Delano.888 said:

Sorry for the double-ish thread but since people were still replying here, guess I'll also post my resolution here:

 

ISSUE SOLVED. I KNEW IT COULD BE FIXED! I never give up easy and really did not want to reset/reinstall, so I kept trying for many hours!

 

First of all I spend A LOT of time tinkering with dism/fsc-scannow/chkdsk within the recovery command prompt, getting multiple different errors. Turns out, that command prompt can't quite do everything the safe mode command prompt AS ADMIN, can do. Took me some time to figure that out.

 

So what did I do? Well, lots. But I think what fixed it in the end was indeed DISM (only worked from within safe mode, as admin) then sfc/scannow (also only worked from within safe mode, as admin). Then boot from the made usb, and into system restore. This allowed me to do a system restore older than one day (recovery mode from within windows only worked on the newest restore point).

 

Then it all felt like it worked, it just kept booting into safe mode every single boot, but I never got any errors anywhere anymore (chkdsk, sfc, dism, all clean!) So I was absolutely baffled thinking it had to be fixed now.

 

After about 50 retries on those things, and also 50 reboots. I thought, what if I google pc only boots into safe mode?

 

Turns out that was all I needed to do. In msconfig, there's a boot tab, and safe mode was checked. So my pc booted into safe mode every time. I probably fixed the underlying issue MANY hours ago already but never realized it because of the stupid safemode checkbox.

 

Anyway, everything is back to old, everything works great again! I'm now going to start making disk images (besides my normal media backups) from now on.

 

Thank you everybody that tried to help!

 

So happy!

 

Never overclocking again though!

that's a crazy fix, respect for the dedication... i dunno im still curious what caused it, sure overclocking could do it, but we'll probably never really know... did you overclock the ram too? that's the one thing that could easily corrupt a hard-drive afaik.

 

also for your registry tweaks, doesn't windows revert those with every update? 

 

[Delano.888]

9 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

that's a crazy fix, respect for the dedication... i dunno im still curious what caused it, sure overclocking could do it, but we'll probably never really know... did you overclock the ram too? that's the one thing that could easily corrupt a hard-drive afaik.

 

also for your registry tweaks, doesn't windows revert those with every update? 

 

Nope windows registry tweaks stay. I only got small things enabled. Don't even remember what anymore, but when they're gone, I'll miss them.

[Kilrah]

19 hours ago, Delano.888 said:

AS ADMIN

Aww. Didn't think of specifying it since you had already mentioned SFC and it seemed obvious you'd know, but yeah dism/sfc always as admin.

 

Good thing you got it sorted tho.

 

9 minutes ago, Delano.888 said:

I only got small things enabled. Don't even remember what anymore, but when they're gone, I'll miss them.

Everytime I apply one I like I make a .reg file I keep in a folder so I can easily reapply them on a reinstall.