So this might get rather long, just a warning. I also hope I picked the right sub forum!
Yesterday my 2-year old gaming PC just broke down out of nowhere. Game I was playing crashed and almost every running app (steam etc.) reported errors and closed down. Windows Defender also complained that something was wrong (“can’t update defender definitions”).. which made my first guess maybe some virus or malware.
I also couldn’t launch any programs anymore, chrome would crash before showing a website, windows explorer loaded and showed me an (intact) filesystem but then also crashed after 30-40 seconds.
This did not change after restarts, reboots in safe mode - restoring from restore point also resulted in an error and so did trying to repair windows.
I also got weird “filesystem errors” when trying to load files like pictures - but after trying the same file 1-2 more times it suddenly worked. Basically everything behaved completely erratically .. but the system would boot up every time at least to the login screen.
So I thought duh guess I have to do a clean reinstall. Because I still had this virus scenario in mind I decided to just wipe my C: (boot SSD, M.2) since I keep all my data and applications on other drives. Install went through until the first restart and then, when configuring windows the screen suddenly started glitching (see pics+videos) and it threw an error message. The error messages I got randomly when restarting were “Windows install could not be finished, please restart the installation” “Windows cannot be configured for this hardware.” and occasionally just a bluescreen.
So I guess no virus, my next guess - M.2 SSD faulty. Removed it, installed on one of my other drives instead. Same for both of them. So now I can exclude faulty drives and I guess also faulty SATA cables since the M.2 does not use SATA.
Next guess - maybe the GPU? Graphical glitches after all. Thank god my MB comes with DisplayPort port. Nope, same. Still glitching. GPU is fine. Note I am doing a fresh install every time just to be sure.
Next guess - maybe RAM? I use 2x8GB so I tried with just one of them alternating (next day also with a completely different set of ram) - same.
So now my conclusion (maybe to early) was that it has to be the Mainboard because a non-overclocked i9 breaking .. never heard of that before.
Fast forward next day, friend comes around with a motherboard with almost the same chipset (370Z) and bunch of spare hardware components(as well as more knowledge about building PCs than me)
We put everything on the new motherboard (heck of a lot of work because those beQuiet coolers are a pain to assemble+disassemble..) .. fresh install .. same .. :S
Then we do some more tests, the extra RAM test, different power supply unit, even a 4th SSD that has never been in contact with the system. Same.
The only thing we are not able to test is trying a different CPU since alas no-one has a 1151 CPU laying around and neither do the hardware stores close to me.
So I have no proof that something is wrong with my i9, but I can exclude all other possibilities .. or can I?
The error just seems really really weird in connection with a faulty CPU. Wouldn’t a faulty CPU cause very different symptoms? I am completely at a loss. 20 years of PC building and I feel totally helpless right now.
Thanks for reading all of this!
Videos + Images:
This is how my windows behaved before I wiped the boot partition. I could get to the login screen and (sometimes) log in, but then nothing else worked. https://streamable.com/z9wcej
Occasionally I could open my explorer, but then clicking any files gave me this. Twice. Then the image opened. Completely random. https://ibb.co/8YGqfbY
My login screen - had to censor the full name for obvious reasons, but you can see how graphical elements are glitched out similar to what I then saw during boot-ups after clean installs https://ibb.co/jb3D40m
One of many attempts to reinstall - it always works when running the install from the stick until the first restart, somewhere between “Configuring windows” and this screen the glitching starts and then it crashes with an error like this https://ibb.co/Bw6gqzW
And here the glitching in full video glory. This was taken after we swapped mainboards (in vain) to rule that out, thats why you see the Gigabyte logo. The MSI logo of my other mb behaved the same https://streamable.com/igxrtw
Specs:
CPU: Intel i9 9900K 3.6Ghz (socket 1151)
Mainboard: MSI MPG Z390 GAMING PRO CARBON
Cooler: beQuiet Dark Rock PRO 4
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3000 (2x8GB)
PSU: 600 Watts beQuiet PurePower 11 CM Modular 80+
GPU: ASUS ROG STRIX NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
SSD1 (Boot Volume): Intel 660P M.2 (2TB)
HD1 (Data): 4TB Western Digital
SSD2 (Gaming): Slightly older Samsung model with 1TB
Screen: ASUS ROG Swift P278 G-Sync-something
No other components except for a case obviously (also beQuiet) and periphery
Yesterday my 2-year old gaming PC just broke down out of nowhere. Game I was playing crashed and almost every running app (steam etc.) reported errors and closed down. Windows Defender also complained that something was wrong (“can’t update defender definitions”).. which made my first guess maybe some virus or malware.
I also couldn’t launch any programs anymore, chrome would crash before showing a website, windows explorer loaded and showed me an (intact) filesystem but then also crashed after 30-40 seconds.
This did not change after restarts, reboots in safe mode - restoring from restore point also resulted in an error and so did trying to repair windows.
I also got weird “filesystem errors” when trying to load files like pictures - but after trying the same file 1-2 more times it suddenly worked. Basically everything behaved completely erratically .. but the system would boot up every time at least to the login screen.
So I thought duh guess I have to do a clean reinstall. Because I still had this virus scenario in mind I decided to just wipe my C: (boot SSD, M.2) since I keep all my data and applications on other drives. Install went through until the first restart and then, when configuring windows the screen suddenly started glitching (see pics+videos) and it threw an error message. The error messages I got randomly when restarting were “Windows install could not be finished, please restart the installation” “Windows cannot be configured for this hardware.” and occasionally just a bluescreen.
So I guess no virus, my next guess - M.2 SSD faulty. Removed it, installed on one of my other drives instead. Same for both of them. So now I can exclude faulty drives and I guess also faulty SATA cables since the M.2 does not use SATA.
Next guess - maybe the GPU? Graphical glitches after all. Thank god my MB comes with DisplayPort port. Nope, same. Still glitching. GPU is fine. Note I am doing a fresh install every time just to be sure.
Next guess - maybe RAM? I use 2x8GB so I tried with just one of them alternating (next day also with a completely different set of ram) - same.
So now my conclusion (maybe to early) was that it has to be the Mainboard because a non-overclocked i9 breaking .. never heard of that before.
Fast forward next day, friend comes around with a motherboard with almost the same chipset (370Z) and bunch of spare hardware components(as well as more knowledge about building PCs than me)
We put everything on the new motherboard (heck of a lot of work because those beQuiet coolers are a pain to assemble+disassemble..) .. fresh install .. same .. :S
Then we do some more tests, the extra RAM test, different power supply unit, even a 4th SSD that has never been in contact with the system. Same.
The only thing we are not able to test is trying a different CPU since alas no-one has a 1151 CPU laying around and neither do the hardware stores close to me.
So I have no proof that something is wrong with my i9, but I can exclude all other possibilities .. or can I?
The error just seems really really weird in connection with a faulty CPU. Wouldn’t a faulty CPU cause very different symptoms? I am completely at a loss. 20 years of PC building and I feel totally helpless right now.
Thanks for reading all of this!
Videos + Images:
This is how my windows behaved before I wiped the boot partition. I could get to the login screen and (sometimes) log in, but then nothing else worked. https://streamable.com/z9wcej
Occasionally I could open my explorer, but then clicking any files gave me this. Twice. Then the image opened. Completely random. https://ibb.co/8YGqfbY
My login screen - had to censor the full name for obvious reasons, but you can see how graphical elements are glitched out similar to what I then saw during boot-ups after clean installs https://ibb.co/jb3D40m
One of many attempts to reinstall - it always works when running the install from the stick until the first restart, somewhere between “Configuring windows” and this screen the glitching starts and then it crashes with an error like this https://ibb.co/Bw6gqzW
And here the glitching in full video glory. This was taken after we swapped mainboards (in vain) to rule that out, thats why you see the Gigabyte logo. The MSI logo of my other mb behaved the same https://streamable.com/igxrtw
Specs:
CPU: Intel i9 9900K 3.6Ghz (socket 1151)
Mainboard: MSI MPG Z390 GAMING PRO CARBON
Cooler: beQuiet Dark Rock PRO 4
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3000 (2x8GB)
PSU: 600 Watts beQuiet PurePower 11 CM Modular 80+
GPU: ASUS ROG STRIX NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
SSD1 (Boot Volume): Intel 660P M.2 (2TB)
HD1 (Data): 4TB Western Digital
SSD2 (Gaming): Slightly older Samsung model with 1TB
Screen: ASUS ROG Swift P278 G-Sync-something
No other components except for a case obviously (also beQuiet) and periphery