About to lose my mind with crashes/hangs: Is my 13700K dying?

[techtimee]

Before I start throwing allegations, I want to try and sort this out.

For about a month or so now, I have noticed that sometimes my computer will "hitch" when dragging windows, opening/closing things and so on. Sometimes it would take abnormally long to start, lag in the BIOS of all things and just seem sluggish. These events were always brief though and rare, so never really thought much of it.

Then last week I though to recheck drivers/firmware for my motherboard and visited Asus' website, only to also see there was a new BIOS revision and the whole Intel baseline debacle. So I updated and turned off the Asus MCE(Multi core enhancement) as I want to use my PC for at least a decade, and while I have never had a processor die on me, wanted to extend its longevity. This did not solve the weird issues I was having though.

The past few days though have been a disaster. It's gotten worse. I experience weird lag spikes in doing simple things, such as typing in Word. Then I tried playing a game I have played for hours and kept getting unityplayer.dll errors when writing/accessing system memory, and the game hard crashing, which it had never done before. I thought maybe it was the game, reinstall did nothing. I thought maybe it's my GPU drivers, DDU and reinstall, same issue. Looked up the specific crash online and saw others mention it and that it was only that game crashing for them as well. Very few solutions. But what made my hair stand up was one user mentioned that they had to RMA their CPU, before the crashing stopped. I thought "No way, that's soooo rare for a CPU to die".

Back into the BIOS I went, disabled even XMP. Game kept crashing, serious micro stuttering. Restarted the PC. Windows crashed as soon as I logged in, no BSOD, just frozen entirely. Held the power button and reset, went into the BIOS, thinking "Why would disabling XMP make things worse?" So again, back into the BIOS and set it back to XMP. Moved the mouse to click "Save and exit", screen went black before I even clicked on anything. The fans spun at max for a moment, and the computer reset. back into BIOS, enabled XMP, saved and exited. Was finally able to boot to the desktop as normal. Checked event viewer and all I have is "Critical Event 1, WHEA error". Then a gorillion of the unityplayer.dll errors of course.

I have:

1. Ran Intel diagnostic tool: No errors
2. Set baseline standards for everything in the BIOS
3. Re-enabled XMP
4. GPU drivers reinstalled via DDU
5. Not added or changed any hardware in the system
6. All storage drives report healthy and good
7. SFC and DISM both report no issues with Windows itself
8. Reinstalled the game
9. Ran full system memory test: no errors.
10. Ran full VRAM test via OCCT: no errors.
11. Ran Uniengine Heaven at max settings and 4K. No crash.

Bruh. Is my CPU actually unstable because it was running at whatever Asus' MCE was doing? I know what you might be thinking, "Well why don't you re-enable MCE and see if it's "stable" then?". Well, I'm typing this right now and will try that after. But I guess the crux of the issue is that it should be stable *without* MCE being enabled. Anything else I can try?

Here is the error file for the game as Windows did not create a dump:

https://files.catbox.moe/9hkof8.7z

Edit: Now I got a "System Thread Exception Not Handled" error, and this time Windows did create a minidump: https://files.catbox.moe/4vqw4n.7z

Edit: Another memory dump just now "Unexpected Kernel Mode Trap": https://files.catbox.moe/yhgg27.zip

I don't know what's going on and am very frustrated at this point. The computer just hangs/bluescreens even in the BIOS seemingly randomly. The only consistent thing is trying to play the same game I've played for months, that will 100% trigger a fatal system crash.
-------------------------------------------------------

OS Name Microsoft Windows 11 Pro

Version 10.0.22631 Build 22631

Other OS Description Not Available

OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

System Name Nix

System Manufacturer ASUS

System Model System Product Name

System Type x64-based PC

System SKU SKU

Processor 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700K, 3400 Mhz, 16 Core(s), 24 Logical Processor(s)

BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 2202, 2024-04-17

SMBIOS Version 3.5

Embedded Controller Version 255.255

BIOS Mode UEFI

BaseBoard Manufacturer ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.

BaseBoard Product ROG MAXIMUS Z790 HERO

BaseBoard Version Rev 1.xx

Platform Role Desktop

Secure Boot State On

PCR7 Configuration Elevation Required to View

Windows Directory C:\Windows

System Directory C:\Windows\system32

Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1

Locale United States

Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.22621.2506"

User Name Nix\0

Time Zone Canada Central Standard Time

Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 96.0 GB

Total Physical Memory 95.7 GB

Available Physical Memory 82.0 GB

Total Virtual Memory 102 GB

Available Virtual Memory 82.4 GB

Page File Space 6.25 GB

Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Kernel DMA Protection On

Virtualization-based security Running

Virtualization-based security Required Security Properties

Virtualization-based security Available Security Properties Base Virtualization Support, Secure Boot, DMA Protection, UEFI Code Readonly, SMM Security Mitigations 1.0, Mode Based Execution Control, APIC Virtualization

Virtualization-based security Services Configured Hypervisor enforced Code Integrity

Virtualization-based security Services Running Hypervisor enforced Code Integrity

Windows Defender Application Control policy Enforced

Windows Defender Application Control user mode policy Off

Device Encryption Support Elevation Required to View

A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed.

Name NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_2204&SUBSYS_87B31043&REV_A1\4&256A0AA8&0&0008

Adapter Type NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, NVIDIA compatible

Adapter Description NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

Adapter RAM (1,048,576) bytes

Installed Drivers C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_84b2c943d6816eb7\nvldumdx.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_84b2c943d6816eb7\nvldumdx.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_84b2c943d6816eb7\nvldumdx.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_84b2c943d6816eb7\nvldumdx.dll

Driver Version 31.0.15.5222

INF File oem102.inf (Section071 section)

Color Planes Not Available

Color Table Entries 4294967296

Resolution 3840 x 2160 x 160 hertz

Bits/Pixel 32

Memory Address 0x76000000-0x76FFFFFF

Memory Address 0x0000-0x1FFFFFF

I/O Port 0x00007000-0x0000707F

IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967255

Driver C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERSTORE\FILEREPOSITORY\NV_DISPI.INF_AMD64_84B2C943D6816EB7\NVLDDMKM.SYS (31.0.15.5222, 57.30 MB (60,078,728 bytes), 2024-04-16 19:43)

 

[ir_cow]

What's your cooling solution and what is the temperature under idle/ load?

 

[techtimee]

What's your cooling solution and what is the temperature under idle/ load?

Hello,

My cooler is a DeepCool AK620. Under idle I hover around 37C and under load(stress testing mind you) I hit 94C but no crashes.

//DeepCool AK620 Zero Dark CPU Air Cooler Mighty 260w TDP ALL-Black 6 Copper Heat Pipes Dual-Tower CPU Cooler with Fans Each 120mm PWM 1850RPM 68.99CFM for Intel LGA 1700/1200/1151/1150/1155 AMD AM5/AM4//

 

[Mister300]

What is the windows event viewer error? Mine was 41 which was determined to be a faulty GPU/PSU PCi cable.

 

[techtimee]

Mine is event 41 as well. I had 5 of them today

Can you please provide more information about how you determined this? What the exact issue was be it your GPU or Power cable?

 

[ir_cow]

Well going off your testing so far, id say it either PSU or windows / drivers related.

Highly doubt it's the ram, especially since it does it with XMP disabled (plus it passed the stress tests). Doesn't always crash on load either.

The sluggish BIOS is the only thing getting me. I'd had this before with wacky high overclocking, but never at stock settings.... At least not for like 10+ years.

 

[techtimee]

Well going off your testing so far, id say it either PSU or windows / drivers related.

Highly doubt it's the ram, especially since it does it with XMP disabled (plus it passed the stress tests). Doesn't always crash on load either.

The sluggish BIOS is the only thing getting me. I'd had this before with wacky high overclocking, but never at stock settings.... At least not for like 10+ years.

I started testing more games and they keep crashing now too. Even Stacraft 2, an old game, crashes when loading assets.

RIP to my ass. No way I can afford a 4090 as my warranty is expired for the 3090.

I don't want it to be my gpu. I'll test with another 3090 and see if the problem remains and update you guys.

 

[pf100]

Underclock the cpu by 1ghz. If that fixes it, most likely it's a bad cpu.

 

[ir_cow]

Underclock the cpu by 1ghz. If that fixes it, most likely it's a bad cpu.

I'd just set it to the baseline profile and disable XMP. Considering it crashes on everything now, I'd be more inclined to believe it's the PSU. But without swapping parts, it will be hard to narrow it down besides event errors.

 

[phanbuey]

send it back and get a new one

 

[Mister300]

Mine is event 41 as well. I had 5 of them today

Can you please provide more information about how you determined this? What the exact issue was be it your GPU or Power cable?

I did every swap of HW possible and software uninstalls it came down to the Cablemod custom PCI-E 6 pin cable breaking contact upon thermal expansion, when I used the supplied EVGA cable it solved the random boot and shutdown issues. Find another cable and try it. I do custom PC builds for a living. The reboots and issues were totally random even occurred when making a new boot SSD or when gaming. See my pic the white cables to the GPU were the issue.

Mine would as crash in BIOS or idle desktop, I figured it out after seeing a customer touch his six pin PCI cable and it caused his build to reboot also. Cable mod are nice aesthetically but are flimsy in their lightweight design. The ATX pins wobble inside the Cablemod male connector resulting in a broken connection which will cause the GPU to lose power and reboot the PC. Have not had a 41 error or power reboot error in 2 yrs since replacing .

 

[techtimee]

send it back and get a new one

I can't. Asus Canada warranty expired in January of this year.

I did every swap of HW possible and software uninstalls it came down to the Cablemod custom PCI-E 6 pin cable breaking contact upon thermal expansion, when I used the supplied EVGA cable it solved the random boot and shutdown issues. Find another cable and try it. I do custom PC builds for a living. The reboots and issues were totally random even occurred when making a new boot SSD or when gaming. See my pic the white cables to the GPU were the issue.

Mine would as crash in BIOS or idle desktop, I figured it out after seeing a customer touch his six pin PCI cable and it caused his build to reboot also. Cable mod are nice aesthetically but are flimsy in their lightweight design. The ATX pins wobble inside the Cablemod male connector resulting in a broken connection which will cause the GPU to lose power and reboot the PC. Have not had a 41 error or power reboot error in 2 yrs since replacing .

Thank you for the detail Mister300!

Unfortunately I have to report to you all that it is the GPU itself causing the issue. How do I know? Well I swapped my 3090 for my brothers 3090 and had no issues, while he had issues. Upon placing my GPU back in my system, I noticed for a brief moment, 3 black checker patterns quickly show up on my display. So, my worst fear has come true.

On the bright side, I have a 13700K so I can still work and watch movies/youtube etc. One the downside, I really cannot afford a 4090 right now, and I wouldn't even buy it at $2500 CAD either. I paid just $800 for my 3090 and $700 for my brothers. Ah well. Thank you all for trying to help, I am glad I didn't jump to "omg my processor! wtf Intel!11!" haha. But I had a feeling it was the GPU from the hop. Just weird how you can wake up one day and *boom*

Edit: The black checker pattern is starting to appear more often now.

 

[Mister300]

What error I had
Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
Date: 3/11/2022 5:07:05 PM
Event ID: 41
Task Category: (63)
Level: Critical
Keywords: (70368744177664),(2)
User: SYSTEM
Computer: Dan
Description:
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

 

[BoggledBeagle]

My cooler is a DeepCool AK620. Under idle I hover around 37C and under load(stress testing mind you) I hit 94C but no crashes.

How old is your CPU? If you have been using it for a few years with no power draw limits at original frequenciues, it probably degraded a bit and it needs more voltage. Can you set a positive 50mV voltage offset and try if it stabilises the CPU? If yes, try to test different offsets to find out, which minimal offset stabilises the CPU, and then increase this by 50mV. Then set the CPU in a way, that strains it a lot less. Set power limits to 160W and maximal P core frequencies to 5 GHz and limit E core frequencies a bit too. You can get a lot of useful work out of the CPU even under these settings.

 

[Hyderz]

what happens when you undervolt and underclock your 3090? i'm just wondering what is dying in your 3090? vram?

 

[techtimee]

what happens when you undervolt and underclock your 3090? i'm just wondering what is dying in your 3090? vram?

It seems like the VRAM, yeah, due the checker pattern. I've reached out to some repairers I've followed over the years and will hopefully have a reasonable quote from someone soon. The good thing is that the VRAM stuff is a common fix for 3090s, so I'm hopeful.

 

[ir_cow]

I did every swap of HW possible and software uninstalls it came down to the Cablemod custom PCI-E 6 pin cable

@Toothless had the same experience

 

[Vya Domus]

For future reference code 41 is a generic error code for when the system crashes and does not mean anything in particular.

 

[XpanD]

For what it's worth, I've seen the BIOS lag thing being caused by certain USB devices as well. More of an AMD thing from what I remember, but that could be unrelated to your Windows woes.

 

[kilo]

Can you provide any "bugcheck" events from event viewer that happen around the same time as event 41?

First thing you should do in the case of any instability is boot into safe mode and see if the failure happens again. In my experience, 98% of bsod's since w7 days are driver related. However from your long boot time desciption, might be hw. Easiest way to get into safe mode is hold shift and ctrl and click the restart option from start. Wait 5 seconds. Navigate through until you see a menu for troubleshooting. Then select restart. On boot select option 4. Then test as much as you can in safe mode.

I recommend reading this article from Microsoft about reading your minidump as well.

 

[bug]

When dealing with random errors, first you have to take RAM out of the equation. If that starts to fail, it will cause errors that can make it appear anything is misbehaving.

They way I do it is try one stick, see if the problem persists. If it does, try the other stick. If the problem is still there, either both stick are going bad at the same time or, more likely, the problem lies somewhere else.

 

[pf100]

Upon placing my GPU back in my system, I noticed for a brief moment, 3 black checker patterns quickly show up on my display. So, my worst fear has come true.

Here's a way to possibly save the 3090: underclock the core and the memory one at a time until you find out which is the problem. Then when it's running stable you'll have a stable underclocked 3090. I've "fixed" a few gpu's this way. Good luck.

 

[Arco]

Here's a way to possibly save the 3090: underclock the core and the memory one at a time until you find out which is the problem. Then when it's running stable you'll have a stable underclocked 3090. I've "fixed" a few gpu's this way. Good luck.

Yep I had to do that to get my old GTX 560 SE working again at all for a while. Good times.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I can't. Asus Canada warranty expired in January of this year.

Thank you for the detail Mister300!

Unfortunately I have to report to you all that it is the GPU itself causing the issue. How do I know? Well I swapped my 3090 for my brothers 3090 and had no issues, while he had issues. Upon placing my GPU back in my system, I noticed for a brief moment, 3 black checker patterns quickly show up on my display. So, my worst fear has come true.

On the bright side, I have a 13700K so I can still work and watch movies/youtube etc. One the downside, I really cannot afford a 4090 right now, and I wouldn't even buy it at $2500 CAD either. I paid just $800 for my 3090 and $700 for my brothers. Ah well. Thank you all for trying to help, I am glad I didn't jump to "omg my processor! wtf Intel!11!" haha. But I had a feeling it was the GPU from the hop. Just weird how you can wake up one day and *boom*

Edit: The black checker pattern is starting to appear more often now.

View attachment 346661

I upgraded from that TUF 3090 to the 4080. Solid 20% faster, usually 40%+ due to bad throttling on that low-power 3090 model. So if you can't afford a 4090, the 4080 Super will make you happy and the 4070 Ti Super will do just fine for a 3090 Ti-level straight swap with Ada features and almost as ample VRAM. Sad to see your card's going bad though.

 

[bug]

I upgraded from that TUF 3090 to the 4080. Solid 20% faster, usually 40%+ due to bad throttling on that low-power 3090 model. So if you can't afford a 4090, the 4080 Super will make you happy and the 4070 Ti Super will do just fine for a 3090 Ti-level straight swap with Ada features and almost as ample VRAM. Sad to see your card's going bad though.

Fingers crossed he gets it serviced, though.