i7-14700K BSOD after BIOS Update to 1806

[ledarsi]

Having been following Intel closely about the 13th and 14th gen CPU issue resulting in instability and degradation, I updated my BIOS to the latest version, which according to MyAsus is version 1806 from which I downloaded and flashed. Everything seemed to be working fine.

Except now my computer will spontaneously crash hard for no reason. It was working more or less fine before, although I did encounter the occasional crash playing games which I attributed to the CPU issue.

Now that I have updated the BIOS the issue is far more severe than before, with BSOD and even just hard crash without even a blue screen, followed by a system restart, sometimes into BIOS and sometimes not.

This is a severe problem and I am not sure how to proceed.

My first thought is to attempt to flash BIOS back to an earlier version, perhaps 1663 which on the Asus website has the TUF Gaming Z790 Pro Wifi product name listed next to the BIOS version.

https://www.asus.com/us/motherboards-components/motherboards/tuf-gaming/tuf-gaming-z790-pro-wifi/helpdesk_bios?model2Name=TUF-GAMING-Z790-PRO-WIFI

However at this point I am also more than a little concerned the CPU is just not stable and has been damaged. I have updated every driver and run every diagnostic I can think of, including Memtest86. I do not know what the problem is, only that it begun after I updated the BIOS in an attempt to fix Intel's CPU degradation issue, and it appears to have turned a minor issue into a severe one.

[pressed_for_time]

If you feel the latest ASUS 1806 BIOS with its claim to "...Improve system performance..." could be causing issues then certainly rolling back to an earlier BIOS release might be worth trying. BIOS 1802 was the one that updated the CPU microcode to the latest Intel 0x12B version and I would not advise rolling back any earlier than this. ASUS state that rolling back the BIOS will not roll back to an earlier ME firmware release but 1802 includes the same ME firmware update as 1806 so that should not be an issue.

[SeanD_Intel]

Hello ledarsi,

Thank you for reaching out and apologies for the issues being encountered with the processor, I know that it is frustrating to experience these issues, but I will address this the best I can. From the information provided, it is possible that the processor is defective and may be subjected for a warranty replacement.

Additionally, it is always best to be kept up to date with future releases of your system's BIOS.

With that, I will be sending you a private email to validate information and to discuss a possible solution.

Best Regards,

Sean Lemuel D.

Intel Customer Support Technician