Question PC freezing issue, tried almost everything. Still Lost

[cynicalcare]

I will keep it short. I bought a new mobo and CPU around 3 months back, installed it fine and did a test run with few games. My PC would freeze and reboot itself after 30-45 min of gaming, I thought maybe it's a PSU issue. Eventviewer simply gave the error 41, kernel power failure which didn't help. I did many benchmarks which would always be successful and my PC would function for around 2 hours idle before rebooting again or 30-45 after running benchmarks continuously. I bought a new ram of a local brand along with a 2TB SSD as my old hdd was dying anyway. The problem was still there ofc.

One day, while cleaning I broke my new mobo's cpu pins lmao. Sent it for RMA, they refused. Bought a new mobo, installed the CPU. However, I faced a new problem now. My PC would freeze randomly no matter what I did. It might be during the boot up or as soon as desktop screen shows up. I rmaed my PSU, bought g.skill ram sticks hoping it might solve but it didn't! I can't even boot now or reinstall windows because I somehow wiped the OS from the SSD. The PC only works in bios now. The moment I try to install fresh OS from usb, it freezes on the setup screen after exactly 2 minutes....

I am lost. Should I RMA the CPU? Considering that's the only thing that's left but not sure if Intel would do that.

My specs:
Intel i5 14500
GPU GTX 1070ti
G.skill ripjaws v 3200mhz 16x2 sticks
Asus b660m D4 mobo
WD SN770 Black SSD
PSU: DEEPCOOL PN750M

 

[fralexandr]

Have you checked/updated your bios version? b660m didn't start out supporting the 14th gen cpus.

You need revision 2603 or newer.

FYI, there appear to be at least 2 possible B660M D4, the TUF Gaming and the Prime B660M-A D4?

 

[C1]

You may have a defective CPU.
No end of these reports now:

INTEL's 13th & 14th Gen CPU CHIPS are DEFECTIVE & Experience DEGRADATION in Home/Office Computers, Gaming PC's Servers & Laptops

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I haven't worked on that platform, but usually the board won't boot at all if the CPU is not supported. Though I have seen outliers over the years. I'd say update the bios to the latest, but if the CPU is indeed defective, you could end up with a bricked board. As I don't think any of the D4 models have bios flashback.

I'd do a basic troubleshoot now -

Boot barebones on the mainboard box. Take the 1070ti out of the mix too as you have the iGPU you can use. One stick of ram. Don't just clear CMOS, unplug the power to the wall, pop the battery out, wait a few minutes, replace. If it fails the OS install barebones with default UEFI settings tell Intel your CPU is defective and RMA.

 

[Brainonska511]

Event viewer can be kind of useless. Consider looking for mini dump files, sometimes in a folder called LiveKernelReports of the Windows folder. You can open them with BlueScreenViewer to see if it could be a specific driver being flagged (and it thus might lead to the faulty hardware component).

 

[Shmee]

I would run memtest86 to be sure your RAM is good, but it sounds like a possible CPU stability issue, as mentioned.

 

[cynicalcare]

Have you checked/updated your bios version? b660m didn't start out supporting the 14th gen cpus.

You need revision 2603 or newer.

FYI, there appear to be at least 2 possible B660M D4, the TUF Gaming and the Prime B660M-A D4?

It's the latter variant. The b660m-a-d4 and yes my bios is updated to latest version it's 3001 I think

 

[DAPUNISHER]

It's the latter variant. The b660m-a-d4 and yes my bios is updated to latest version it's 3001 I think

If you already did the troubleshoot and it won't install the OS, RMA the CPU.

 

[cynicalcare]

I would run memtest86 to be sure your RAM is good, but it sounds like a possible CPU stability issue, as mentioned.

Previously when I had the old ram, I did suspect it to be faulty and did a memtest but it passed. However, I still decided to get new ones and don't think there's any issue with them for now

 

[cynicalcare]

If you already did the troubleshoot and it won't install the OS, RMA the CPU.

I will try the troubleshoot you mentioned and if that doesn't work either, I will RMA. Thanks

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I will try the troubleshoot you mentioned and if that doesn't work either, I will RMA. Thanks

I'd appreciate it if you let us know how things turn out. Always good for others looking for help to see what the solution was.

 

[cynicalcare]

I'd appreciate it if you let us know how things turn out. Always good for others looking for help to see what the solution was.

I raised a support ticket on Intel forum. They are yet to reply. I will update things as they progress.