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XTU 14900k Crashing on Stress testing

WillWebster
Novice
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Hi

 

I Have a 14900k with Asus ROG Dark Hero motherboard.

 

My system was frequently crashing while gaming when I first bought the PC. I Updated the Bios of the Dark Hero to 1302 and for a few weeks it was fine, however in the last week or so the system seemed even more unstable and now constant crashing while gaming. It does not go to desktop just freezes and locks up, no blue screen or error message.

 

Today I saw a video on youtube with regards to intels statement about the 14900k processors so happily I went to Asus site and downloaded the latest Bois version 1402 (Updated with microcode 0x125 to ensure eTVB operates within Intel specifications). Hoping this resolved the instability issues I immediately ran a stress test in XTU and the system froze and crashed again- in exactly the same way it does while gaming.

 

I would like to find out if the processor is degraded to the point of being irreparable pls. It is under warrantee and I can RMA it to the supplier

 

I have attached System support Utility File

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Will Webster

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ACarmona_Intel
Moderator
1,703 Views

Hello WillWebster,


Thank you for posting in our communities.


Please check your email inbox, as we have sent you a message regarding our concern.


Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician


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Eisbar
New Contributor I
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Will.

Check your VCCSA or System Agent voltage on your Dark Hero, Auto will set it to something like 1.297v. 

There is a known issue with SA voltage and these 14th gen processors.  You can add it to the list of known defects Intel is aware of for RPL.

 

For clarification this will only assist with hard locks experienced under high load conditions like stress tests. Hard lock as in screen freezing and system completely unresponsive, it will not mitigate BSODs or crashes that reboot the system.

 

Set the voltage for it to manual and enter 1.2v, that will stop the hard lock you are experiencing. I'm a fellow Z790 Dark Hero owner and experienced this issue with XTU as well, also make sure XTU does not set your ICCMAX to a ridiculous out-of-spec level. If you have a degraded CPU Intels XTU will only make it worse as the power optimization settings will raise your PL1/PL2/ICCMAX above Intels baselines provided for your SKU. 

 

Good luck in your RMA and I hope your next processor is less defective. 

 

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WillWebster
Novice
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@Eisbar  Thank you for the reply. I was not able to locate the System Agent Voltage option on the Dark Hero. I must admit I am not very experienced when it comes to undervaluing or tinkering with bios settings, usually I just leave it out of the box or some mild overclocks. To be fair its probably there I'm just not 100% sure what Im looking for. I changed the Core Voltage to 1.2v but the system didnt like that at all and wouldnt load windows and so I reverted back to default.

 

Since updating the bios to 1402 and enforcing Intel defaults I have found it more stable, when I disable xmp it seems to be happy running the stress test on XTu (where as it crashed before) so now I am wondering if the XMP profile was simply drawing too much power which tiopped the processor over the edge as it were.

 

Anyway Im really hoping I dont have to RMA and that the processor isn't fully degraded (it probably is though unfortunately) as I waited long enough to get the system in the first place. Likely the retailer is decent, I bought from a specialist PC system builder in the uk. And the processor is still under warrantee. So hopefully I get no issues if I need to RMA it. I never got BSOD really, just the hard locks where I had to force reboot, which replicated in strress tests in XTU but now seems somewhat better after bios update and enforcing intel failsafe

Will watch some guides and read some articles to see if I can find where the VCCSA is in the Dark Hero mobo settings

 

Thanks

WillW

 

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Eisbar
New Contributor I
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Wil, this is not my picture but in the UEFI where you set XMP you need to scroll down to find the VCCSA, in the Asus UEFI it's called CPU System Agent Voltage.

It will be set to AUTO when XMP is enabled and your motherboard will most likely find a spot around 1.25-1.297 Despite the range going up to 1.8v our CPUs cannot handle that because they are defective. The VCCSA defect is one Intel has not acknowledged publicly yet. 

Is it drawing too much power? No. According to Intels datasheet it's not. 

Is it drawing too much power for Intels defective product? Yes, as it's not able to perform properly within their written spec.

The quickest method to know if you need to RMA is to set XMP once again with CPU System Agent Voltage at Auto, save and exit the bios then reboot, you will see a value filled in by the motherboard for the Automatic value. Make a note of what it is. Then, while leaving it on Auto, boot into windows and perform an XTU stress test.

If it hard locks, power cycle your machine, enter the bios and set the CPU System Agent Voltage to manual mode. Enter 1.2 then save and exit the bios leaving XMP enabled still. Now try running the XTU stress test.

It should not hard lock this time. Yes, your CPU is defective and should be RMA'd if this succeeds but it's up to you if you wish to do so or not.

 

 

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WillWebster
Novice
1,562 Views

@Eisbar Hey pal. Wow thats crazy! Exactly as you said. Went to bios enabled XPM 2 and set CPU Syetem Agent Voltage to Auto. Made a note was 1.281v. Loaded into windows then ran an XTU stress test, system lock within 14 sec, not just lock it actually hard shut down this time (not done that before). Went back too bios, still XMP2 enabled and manually sert CPU System Agent Voltage to 1.2. Ran the test and went right through the 5 min no crash/lock (a bit of power throttling though).

 

Crazy. THank you for the assistance. I guess Intel could argue that its nothing to do with them since ust up to us if we want to enable XMP. I would think though with the amount of custom and not to mention good will, they would loose from loyal customers they would agree to a no questions asked RMA. I will contact the companmy that buiilt my PC and see what they can do

 

Many Thanks

WillW

WillWebster
Novice
1,586 Views

Thanks will give it a go

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Eisbar
New Contributor I
1,534 Views

No worries.

Intel can't argue anything. They give a spec that these processors are intended to perform at and even the automatic voltage is still within it I imagine. I believe they use some kind of "intelligent" mechanism to try and futz the voltage up and down depending on load and who knows what kind of other nonsense, then just ignored that it's a widespread and very identifiable problem. In doing this they've introduced nothing but problems for users, memory manufacturers, motherboard manufacturers, etc. You can imagine how many man hours have been spent by companies customer service agents trying to troubleshoot for their users, how much e-waste was generated from DDR5 kits returned because the user believed their memory controller wasn't a good enough bin, etc.

With computers there's so many variables that it's very rare that someone can just bop into your thread, tell you exactly the problem and how to "fix" it. However this problem is so prevalent that it sticks out like a sore thumb and Intel would be lying through their teeth to say they're not aware of it. 

@ACarmona_Intel you should advance RMA his defective processor so the system builder he purchased from can quickly swap it out for him so he does not have to experience needless downtime in shipping you his defective processor first, or jump through any further hoops diagnostically. Asking this user to go to any further lengths for the sake of procedure would be nonsense. 

Consider a greener solution with the 13/14th generation RMAs that does not contribute needlessly to your companies carbon footprint by requiring processors that cannot be refurbished, cannot be fixed, are in point of fact effectively worthless e-waste be destroyed and disposed of locally. I am more than certain that your users will have no trouble in obliging your request to provide proof that they've crushed their old CPU underfoot. 

Best of luck Will.

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