Question B660M Weird stability issues, tried new PSU but i think it might be the mb ?

[CatCoder777]

Specs:
Gigabyte B660M Aorus Pro AX DDR4
Intel Core i5-12600K
No GPU card, I’m just using the iGPU
EVGA 700w (swapped it in but it was a Corsair)

Built PC in March 2022, been sitting off most of that time.
I started having stability issues even though I’ve barely used my new build. First weird issue was power supply wouldn’t turn on, clicking away or shutting down randomly. Bought another one without the green energy stuff and it powers on fine.

However… when I try to do any cpu stress test (cpu z, or Linux stress command) there’s a level where it just shuts off.

Which is odd because I stressed it out weeks/months ago and it was fine. Anyways..

In Linux (just cuz I made a boot drive so I don’t risk corrupting my windows 11 install) I would slowly add cpu cores (to stress) by typing “stress -c number” number being the # of cpu cores to use. Get up to 5 and then a few minutes later will shut down. Hitting “stress” in cpu z instantly shuts it down.

So now I changed some power settings in bios to use a maximum of 50 watts and now it’s stable. If I boot into windows and use the motherboard apps I can mess with it, starts being unstable again if I set it to 57w and hit the bench/stress buttons in cpu-z. Turned it back down to 42w to be safe. The speed slows down the lower it’s set which sucks.

What’s odd though is the cpu temps never really go high, even before when fully stressing it out. So I don’t think it’s a heat issue with the cpu… never goes above 45ish degrees.

There is this metal thing on the motherboard that says “Team Up, Fight On” which sorta looks like a heatsink which rattles a little… is this normal? It’s got one screw, it won’t tighten anymore than it already is. It just slightly moves with touch, like it’s not down all the way. Wondering if this is a problem. It came like that but seemed fine for months.

With the Turbo Power Limits in bios (1 and 2) set to 50w in bios it seems stable finally.. but I still don’t know what the issue is. Tried swapping out ram sticks etc. Seems related to spikes of high power usage when stressing it.

I’m tempted to flash the bios to a newer version but it still doesn’t explain why it did work fine for months.

Im starting to think it’s the motherboard.. going glitchy. Any ideas on what to try next? I don’t have much hooked up to it like HDs etc. tried one stick of ram (instead of two 8gb) I did not try all available slots though. I guess I’ll try putting just 8gb in on a slot that isn’t used and see if it’ll go over 57w/work without a limit.

—- Seems like it might be worth a shot to update the bios… or take the cpu heatsink off and check it but seems like it’s running super cool. Seems unlikely it would heat up instantly to where it would then shut down. But I’ll try that next.

The power limit settings are nice to make it stable, is there any other weird settings I could try?

—- edit: just now noticed that the cpu core voltage is dipping well below 0.5v… even down to 0.2v. It’s bouncing up and down.. and I am seeing alerts in the Aorus app saying warning cpu vcore below 0.5V. Ugh 😩 so maybe the board regulators aren’t working or can a cpu go bad?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Gigabyte B660M Aorus Pro AX DDR4
BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time?

EVGA 700w (swapped it in but it was a Corsair)
EVGA(and Corsair) is(are) the brand(s) of the unit(s), while 700W is the advertised wattage, what model are the units in question?

I made a boot drive so I don’t risk corrupting my windows 11 install
Where did you source the installer for your OS?

In retrospect, if you were planning on a K suffix processor purchase, you should've looked into a Z series chipset. If you were intending to build with a B series chipset then you should've looked into the non-K variant.

How are you cooling that processor?

 

[CatCoder777]

Bios version is F5. The power supply I took out was a Corsair RM650x (650w) replaced it with a EVGA 700GD. It’s turning on with the new supply but still has the weird stability issue.

I have windows 11 on a SATA drive and Linux Mount on a usb drive (just so I can boot up and run stress apps).

Yeah I’m not sure what to think it’s a weird problem. I tried messing with some vcore stuff in bios to slightly increase it but then it crashed almost immediately.

I haven’t seen anything that looked super important on the newer bios updates available but maybe it’s worth a shot if I think it’ll be stable enough to flash it quick.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

BIOS updates often fix things that aren’t documented. I know this from personal experience.

 

[CatCoder777]

I posted in another forum but I have a:
Gigabyte b660m Aorus Pro Ax DDR4 board which started turning off under loads (worked fine under high loads for ~6 months). I was able to make it stable by turning down the TDP Power / other power settings to super low like 40w. Worked for a little while (meaning, a few days) but eventually even that crashed. Was using cpu-z stress test and using the gigabyte app to turn the wattage up or down. Higher = crash.
Then noticed I was getting alerts about VCore dropping too low (under 0.4v, sometimes below 0.25v).
I swapped power supplies, have a new MSI Z690 board on the way.

Going to swap the board out and see if it works. Only other thing I haven’t swapped out is the 2x8GB ram sticks and cpu

I’m betting it’s the board power regulators messing up. Temp has always been cool even under loads so I doubt it had to do with the cpu heat sink. The CPU could also be bad.. but I’ve never heard of that happening much.

But has anyone had this happen? Even tried some bios settings to mess with VCore but it crashed worse.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there.

Please list your full PC Specs, including PSU.

When you say 'turning off', do you mean the system restarts? Or it crashes to the desktop, or BSOD?

 

[CatCoder777]

Hey there.

Please list your full PC Specs, including PSU.

When you say 'turning off', do you mean the system restarts? Or it crashes to the desktop, or BSOD?

Power Supply is an EVGA 700GD.
Intel i5-12600k

I was using a Corsair (650mx I think or maybe just x) and it was shutting off more often (or not turning on when I press the on button, had to press many times). The new power supply somehow allowed it to work better yet still crashing. It basically turns off under loads but higher load is worse. Shuts down, then back on a few seconds later and reboots. Tried different operating systems (Linux and used the stress command to provide a load with different # of threads - slowly increasing # of threads until shut off).

The entire time the cpu temps are great like 27C without load to max 45C with full load. Temp doesn’t seem to be the issue, seems like it shuts off as soon as the power draw goes above a point.

I’m guessing it is the board. Going to try the MSI board when I receive it and if it works I’ll try to exchange the Gigabyte under warranty.

 

[CatCoder777]

Power Supply is an EVGA 700GD.
Intel i5-12600k

I was using a Corsair (rm650x) and it was shutting off more often (or not turning on when I press the on button, had to press many times). The new power supply somehow allowed it to work better yet still crashing. It basically turns off under loads but higher load is worse. Shuts down, then back on a few seconds later and reboots. Tried different operating systems (Linux and used the stress command to provide a load with different # of threads - slowly increasing # of threads until shut off).

The entire time the cpu temps are great like 27C without load to max 45C with full load. Temp doesn’t seem to be the issue, seems like it shuts off as soon as the power draw goes above a point.

I’m guessing it is the board. Going to try the MSI board when I receive it and if it works I’ll try to exchange the Gigabyte under warranty.

 

[CatCoder777]

Oh sorry forgot to include ram: it’s G-Skill 8gbx2 ddr 4. Says “Ripjaws” on it. I did try using just one stick instead of two and still would shut off. Tried different slots etc

 

[CatCoder777]

Swapped out the motherboard for a MSI Z690 and it’s STILL having the same problem! Exact same thing. This is driving me crazy I spent money on a new power supply and board for apparently nothing.

I doubt it’s the ram because I tried each 8gb stick separately. Has anyone heard of this problem maybe it’s an issue with 12th gen boards?

maybe I can flash the motherboard I just got with an update but I’m worried about it shutting down before it’s done. Seems like the cpu just “went bad”.