Question Could Bad CPU cause Drivers to not load or work properly, could it cause issues with Storage not being seen?

[pictopye]

Hi there,

I've been trying to troubleshoot this problem on a new PC build running Win11 for a few months now. So any help or assistance would be fantastic - with a big thank you in advance.

SO I have technically 3 problems, but I'm viewing them as 1 or 2 since they all seem related.

#1 - My secondary NVMe drive is seen in BIOS, it's seen on Device Manager - but not under storage, it's under 'Other Devices' & Disk Manager doesn't see it at all. It's a Micron 3400 NVMe 1024GB.
- It has been previously used, but cleaned off after my prior machine's motherboard & CPU bit it big time.
- I have tried to see if CHKDSK see's it, it does not.

#2 & 3 - I have a Samsung USB 3.1 flash drive, as well as a Samsung T7 1TB SSD external drive that work perfectly well on other machines, but on this machine again they are seen under 'Other Devices' on Device Manager, the sound of the PC 'seeing' I've plugged a device in plays, but the disk manager doesn't see them nor is there any way to interact with them & the files they hold.
- I have tried using Samsung's media to see if it could detect either & no luck for me. And I did reach out to Samsung to ask if they had any drivers I would need to install - they do not & say that it should automatically function without issue.
- I've tried to right-click the drives in Device Manager to 'update drivers' but it can't find any to update, and I know with the T7 in particular that it's software is up-to-date.
-I've tried the whole uninstall the driver & restart - the problem just persists.

I've already confirmed with the motherboard creator (MSI) that the problems I'm having aren't a Motherboard related issue. I've checked the RAM which is all good, the GPU has been just fine, and Microsoft/Windows has stated it's not their issue since the device manager can 'see' the drives. I've reached out to the Intel community to see if anything turns up there, but trying to cross check with others to see if anyone else has any thoughts to help me narrow down what the heck is wrong.

So my question is could a bad out of the box CPU cause this sort of shenannigans with the drivers, & storage not being seen/accessable? Or is there something else I'm missing?

Please let me know if there is information or screen grabs I need to get for y'all to help me figure this maddening problem out!

Thanks for any assistance you can give,

Britt

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

I've had an issue with a client's build where the ram being bad caused drivers to not load nor boot the right way into the OS GUI. We went through multiple sets until we managed to root out the issue. It helped that I had a Mushkin ram kit handy to use as a benchmark. While on the Mushkin ram kit, there were no issues. When on another ram kit bought from a store, there were issues. I also made sure the BIOS on client's build was up to date.

 

[pictopye]

Howdy!

Thanks for the welcome Lutfij & the tips - I absolutely spaced I should probably put all my specs.
So here goes on that front!

CPU: 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700K 3.60 GHz
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-D15 chromas.Black, Dual-Tower CPU Cooler 140mm
Motherboard: MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi (ATX, 12th Gen Intel Core, LGA 1700 Socket, DDR5, PCIe 4, CFX, M.2 Slots, Wi-Fi 6E)
Ram: G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB Series (Intel XMP 3.0) DDR5 RAM 64GB (2x32GB) 6400MT/s CL32-39-39-102 1.40V Desktop Computer Memory UDIMM
SSD MAIN: Western Digital WD_Black 1TB SN770 NVMe, Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280
SSD Secondary (Non-accessable currently, was old computer's SSD): Micron 3400 NVMe 1024GB
GPU:NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
PSU: Corsair RM850x (2021) Fully Modular ATX Power Supply - 80 PLUS Gold
PSU Age: Purchased Febuary 2024
Chassis: MSI MAG Vampiric 100R, Mid-Tower PC Gaming Case, 1x 120mm aRGB Back of Case Fan - Replaced front singular fan with 2x Noctua NF-P12 redux 1700 PWM
OS: Windows 11 Home 64-bit
Monitor: Asus TUF 27" 2K HDR Gaming Monitor (VG27AQW)

Bios Version: 3.6

I have one other set of DDR5 RAM 64GB that came from my old machine that I was using at first - it was listed as compatable with the MOBO on their site as well as a few others I used to cross check, it tested out just fine on MemTest86 when I was trying to troubleshoot what broke with the old unit. But found that when I started trouble shooting the new build -it wouldn't allow for MSI's XMP profile to work - which I was told would be an issue for the machine to run efficiently. So I repleaced it with the G.SKILL RAM listed above.

I know enough to do basic troubleshooting, and basic builds from like 15 years ago - so I know it's enough to land myself in trouble when it's been a hot minute since I've had to do a total rebuild, but I did try to do my due diligence with compatability & ensuring things like the BIOs was flashed before starting the fun of installing windows which itself didn't go smoothly (and I wonder at times if I should try to just re-install that as well).
I honestly haven't had such a rough start on a build before - and yeah don't even get me started on how many times I've had to return ram till I found another set where both functioned. =__=;;

But thank you again for the spec - reminder & any help on sorting this conundrum.