[SOLVED] An Unusual Troubleshooting - Intel i5 4460

Jan 5, 2019
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This might be a little long, but it's technically interesting and challenging for those interested.

So I had been using the intel i5 4460 with a Asrock Z87M Pro4 motherboard for a little over 3 years, when out of the blue the display output went blank. On troubleshooting I got it down to a dead motherboard, so I promptly searched around my area for an LGA 1150 board which would fit my needs and settled on an H97 chipset board from Gigabyte, the GA-H97-D3H to be exact.

On installing my CPU in the new gigabyte motherboard, there was no boot, no post code via the speaker. After power on the fans would spin for like 3~5 seconds and then stop momentarily before starting again, this continues indefinitely . Power On->FanSpin->Fanstop->Fanspin all this while as mentioned before, no display output, no post codes via the speaker.

Puzzled I figured that my CPU also went kaput, as I had checked all other components like the RAM and PSU with another AMD FX system. Before giving up on the processor I reached out to a friend who's PC I build and his config is very similar to mine. On installing my Processor in his system (GA-B85M-D3H Motherboard) voila it booted, and his processor ( which is the same as mine i5-4460) in the new motherboard that I purchased (GA-H97-D3H) also works perfectly in my rig.

So my processor in his system as is and his processor in my system as is works perfectly. I subjected both systems to stress tests(Prime 95,AIADA 64, Cinebench) and they held up perfectly. Great thermals, no throttling were turboing up correctly.

Now my question is why is my i5 4460 not working with the H97 Gigabyte board and why does his?
His processor was bought some 8 months after mine and the manufacturing is also in different locations(mine was made in Malaya , his in Vietnam) if that could make a difference?

Any thoughts and suggestions are welcome.
 
Solution
prabhav17 ,

On behalf of Tom's Moderator Team, welcome aboard!

I would speculate that there is a possible incompatibility between different CPU microcode versions and individual motherboard B85 / H97 chipset BIOS versions. Although there may not be conclusive evidence documented supporting chipset / BIOS issues of this nature, it might be worthwhile to compare microcode versions between the two i5 4460's. Microcode versions should be displayed in BIOS.

It's possible that a preemptive BIOS flash or buggy microcode change deployed during a routine Microsoft cumulative update on behalf of Intel for the Spectre / Meltdown debacle could be the unknown source of your difficulties.

Nonetheless, you were able to resolve the problem...
prabhav17 ,

On behalf of Tom's Moderator Team, welcome aboard!

I would speculate that there is a possible incompatibility between different CPU microcode versions and individual motherboard B85 / H97 chipset BIOS versions. Although there may not be conclusive evidence documented supporting chipset / BIOS issues of this nature, it might be worthwhile to compare microcode versions between the two i5 4460's. Microcode versions should be displayed in BIOS.

It's possible that a preemptive BIOS flash or buggy microcode change deployed during a routine Microsoft cumulative update on behalf of Intel for the Spectre / Meltdown debacle could be the unknown source of your difficulties.

Nonetheless, you were able to resolve the problem with a workable solution, so I would declare a troubleshooting victory!

Once again, welcome aboard!

CT :sol:
 
Solution


Hey, Thanks!
I've been a long time lurker here on the forums and have learnt from this community. I honestly appreciate the work of the good people here at the forums.

About the solution though, it would only work If I were to exchange CPUs with my friend which I'm not really comfortable asking for to be honest. Is there a way that I can "flash" or "clean install" a known good set of microcode to my processor?
 

Check each 4460's respective host motherboard BIOS to compare microcode versions, then check Gigabyte's website for the latest BIOS updates for each motherboard. The update notes may mention that it includes a microcode update. If the processor isn't running the latest version, the BIOS update will flash it up. However, once flashed, I'm unaware of any conventional means by which microcode can be retrograded.

CT :sol: