How to find root causes for 6th gen i7 failures?

[dlin95123]

In our product development, we upgraded the CPU from i5-6440EQ to i7-6820EQ. Then we found a large portion of the i7 CPUs died after 2-3 months working in the field. It was fine before with the i5 processors. Our motherboard vendor put a new i7-6820EQ on the dead motherboard and it works again. So apparently, something caused the i7 processor to die very quickly.

How do I debug the problems? I plan on putting HWInfo64 to monitor Vcore voltage. Are there other things I can check to identify the root cause?

[AlHill]

Do you know for certain that the motherboard bios supports the i7-6820EQ?

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Fear and the desire for control are primary motivators for shadow dwellers. ]

[dlin95123]

Yes, the motherboard vendor has confirmed we have the right SKU and the BIOS supports i7-6820EQ. 

[dlin95123]

What is the latest microcode version for this i7 CPU? Where can I find such information? Thanks.

[AlHill]

Read the release notes on the latest bios update for your motherboard for the microcode version.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Fear and the desire for control are primary motivators for shadow dwellers. ]

[dlin95123]

I am trying to determine if the motherboard vendor has incorporated the latest microcode in their BIOS update. According to the motherboard vendor, we have the latest BIOS version. I can use Intel Processor Identification Utility tool to check the microcode version. But how do I know if it is the latest version Intel published?

[AlHill]

You may have a difficult time getting that information for a 9-year-old processor.

For my i7-6700HQ I am showing CPU Microcode M36506E3_000000E9_000000EA.

What do you show for yours?

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Fear and the desire for control are primary motivators for shadow dwellers. ]

[dlin95123]

I'll find out tomorrow. A unit is coming to me tomorrow. 

But I thought microcode version consists of 3-4 characters only? For example, the latest Intel microcode for fixing 13th/14th-gen desktop CPU problem is 0x12B. The microcode version of my laptop is 0x410E, as shown in the below screenshot from Intel Processor Identification Utility app.

[AlHill]

In my MC string, my MC is "EA".

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Fear and the desire for control are primary motivators for shadow dwellers. ]

-

[dlin95123]

Hi Doc,

How do I find out the microcode version for this 6th-gen CPU? I found out that the Intel Processor Identification Utility - Legacy cannot be downloaded anymore. Is there a command to find it? Thanks.

[AlHill]

Try this version from my archive:

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Fear and the desire for control are primary motivators for shadow dwellers. ]

[dlin95123]

Thank you. It yields the following. What is the microcode version from this screenshot? Is it up to date?

[AlHill]

It lookd like CC if I am reading it correctly.  Mine says EA.  But mine is for a different 6th gen processor, so it may not apply.  The question is what is the latest.  That is the part we do not know.  I have put the question out to some former employees.  If I find anything I will let you know.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Fear and the desire for control are primary motivators for shadow dwellers. ]

[dlin95123]

Yes, the CPU Revision is indeed CC. It would be greatly appreciated if you could help on the latest version. Thank you.

[AlHill]

Working on it, but I cannot guarantee I will find anything.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Fear and the desire for control are primary motivators for shadow dwellers. ]

[AlHill]

After checking with several sources, the best advice is to check with the motherboard vendor for their bios updates and MC version.

On a processor this old, being discontinued and not supported, there is not much else I can offer.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Fear and the desire for control are primary motivators for shadow dwellers. ]

[dlin95123]

Got it. Thank you very much for your effort anyway!