Question Have I "destroyed" my PC (ASRock Z370 Extreme4 / 8600k at 5GHz) ?

[SydB12]

I think I have broken something in my PC !! Yesterday, I was observing that my voltage was going up to 1.37/1.38v while gaming with the previous stable settings I had tested with Prime95 (max vcore under load of 1.344v and max temp under load of 79/81ºC).
Full settings in my asrock z370 extreme4 profile:

• all core cpu ratio 50
• cpu cache ratio 45
• long and short duration power limits 120 and 150
• offset voltage 140
• LLC 2 (second highest in asrock Z370 extreme4)

I had those settings saved in one of my bios saved profiles and, basically, I've been reverting to that profile each time I wasn't happy with the changes I was doing along the way of reaching the 5GHz mark. Well, after reading about cases in which the new bios settings were not being updated properly (I thought that was happening as the voltages were slightly rising over the detected max with Prime95), I decided to select LOAD UEFI DEFAULTS and restart the PC with the idea of setting the profile from zero and saving it again. Something as simple as that, but now... well..., now I have no splash screen whatsoever, no windows booting,... nothing.
The things that I have tried so far are:

• Connect several monitors with HDMI, DP and even VGA to the different ports of my GPU and the integrated GPU from the i5 8600k.
• Swap GPU from older pc
• Swap PSU
• Disconnect everything from the mobo leaving only CPU and ram
• Remove one ram stick once at a time
• Remove all ram sticks and confirm I can hear the mobo beep codes
• remove cmos battery for 1min without power cable
• add a jumper to clear to cmos (I know is redundant with previous step)

I honestly don't know if I have fried my CPU, destroyed the mobo... or if there's something else that I'm not able to identify.
Any ideas? I'm starting to lose all hope. THANKS!!

PC Specs:
Asrock z370 Extreme 4
i5-8600k
2 x 16gb ddr4 Crucial Ballistix 3600 CL16,
PSU Corsair RM650x
Noctua nh-d14
2 x Samsung Evo 850 500gb ssd
Case: Corsair C70

 

[Zerk2012]

I think I have broken something in my PC !! Yesterday, I was observing that my voltage was going up to 1.37/1.38v while gaming with the previous stable settings I had tested with Prime95 (max vcore under load of 1.344v and max temp under load of 79/81ºC).
Full settings in my asrock z370 extreme4 profile:

• all core cpu ratio 50
• cpu cache ratio 45
• long and short duration power limits 120 and 150
• offset voltage 140
• LLC 2 (max in asrock Z370 extreme4)

I had those settings saved in one of my bios saved profiles and, basically, I've been reverting to that profile each time I wasn't happy with the changes I was doing along the way of reaching the 5GHz mark. Well, after reading about cases in which the new bios settings were not being updated properly (I thought that was happening as the voltages were slightly rising over the detected max with Prime95), I decided to select LOAD UEFI DEFAULTS and restart the PC with the idea of setting the profile from zero and saving it again. Something as simple as that, but now... well..., now I have no splash screen whatsoever, no windows booting,... nothing.
The things that I have tried so far are:

• Connect several monitors with HDMI, DP and even VGA to the different ports of my GPU an the integrated GPU from the i5 8600k.
• Swap GPU from older pc
• Swap PSU
• Disconnect everything from the mobo leaving only CPU and ram
• Remove one ram stick once at a time
• Remove all ram sticks and confirm I can hear the mobo beep codes
• remove cmos battery for 1min without power cable
• add a jumper to clear to cmos (I know is redundant with previous step)

I honestly don't know if I have fried my CPU, destroyed the mobo... or if there's something else that I'm not able to identify.
Any ideas? I'm starting to lose all hope. THANKS!!

PC: i5-8600k, Asrock z370 Extreme 4, 2x16gb ddr4 Crucial Ballistix 3600 CL16, PSU Corsair RM650x, Noctua nh-d14, 2xSamsung Evo 850 500gb ssd, case Corsair c70.

Remove your drives and see if you can boot into BIOS.
If you can the setting for how the drive was formated has probably changed with the reset.

 

[SydB12]

Remove your drives and see if you can boot into BIOS.
If you can the setting for how the drive was formated has probably changed with the reset.

Thanks for the reply. I have removed all drives (even the nvme m2) and still nothing. No splash screen, no boot.
As far as i know, the way the drives are formatted shouldn't impede the pc to start the bios, right? This would only affect the booting, but at least I should be able to access the bios. Correct me if i'm wrong

 

[DRagor]

I decided to select LOAD UEFI DEFAULTS and restart the PC with the idea of setting the profile from zero and saving it again.

That's correct way of doing things. You haven't made anything wrong here. If anything got broken at this step it certainly was not your fault.

Remove all ram sticks and confirm I can hear the mobo beep codes

So, motherboard beeps without RAM? But does not beep with RAM?

 

[SydB12]

So, motherboard beeps without RAM? But does not beep with RAM?
[/QUOTE]

Yes, it detects the lack of ram and beeps. I believe this is a "good" sign, as no beeping without ram would most likely mean the mobo is dead. This doesn't imply the mobo is completely fine though.

 

[DRagor]

This doesn't imply the mobo is completely fine though.

Correct. Unfortunately your board has no debug leds of any kind so further narrowing the problem is impossible without spare parts. The only suspects left are mobo, CPU and RAM. It is uncommon for multiple sticks of RAM to go dead at once (but not impossible) so we can assume RAM is the least probable suspect.

 

[SydB12]

Correct. Unfortunately your board has no debug leds of any kind so further narrowing the problem is impossible without spare parts. The only suspects left are mobo, CPU and RAM. It is uncommon for multiple sticks of RAM to go dead at once (but not impossible) so we can assume RAM is the least probable suspect.

I was hoping for some alternative/magical/maybe-even-simple idea to test my current problem. I just need another mobo and cpu compatible with my current ones to test and discard the failing component then.
Still, i find my case quite weird as I haven't done anything out of the ordinary and the pc was working fine even when reaching 1.37/1.38 v max vcores. Damn, I'm lost...

 

[DRagor]

I was hoping for some alternative/magical/maybe-even-simple idea to test my current problem.

Unfortunately all you already used all alternative methods.

Still, i find my case quite weird as I haven't done anything out of the ordinary

Majority of component failure happens out of the blue. Pure coincidence it happened when it happened.

 

[SydB12]

Unfortunately all you already used all alternative methods.

Majority of component failure happens out of the blue. Pure coincidence it happened when it happened.

Ok then, I've found a place where they can test my cpu and my mobo from 20-30 bucks. I'll update once I have some news. Thanks a lot

 

[zx128k]

Had this happen to me with an overclocked bundle twice. Once was my fault 100%. First time it happened loading defaults. The CPU or motherboard died. Never worked out which one. It could be the BIOS is corrupted. I am just guessing.

 

[peterf28]

Ok then, I've found a place where they can test my cpu and my mobo from 20-30 bucks. I'll update once I have some news. Thanks a lot

Don't pay 20-30 bucks just for testing your CPU and MB. Just buy an used MB.

 

[SydB12]

Don't pay 20-30 bucks just for testing your CPU and MB. Just buy an used MB.

Nah, thanks but no thanks. What if the component that is broken is not the mobo, but the cpu? It's unusual but not impossible. In that case I'd end up with two mobos and the same problem. Also, it's much safer/cheaper to buy a used cpu (i could even upgrade my 8600k to a 9700k/9900k in case my z370 is fine) than a second hand mobo.

z370/z390 used mobos here in EU are quite expensive, costing almost the same than a new B550 that I could pair with a new decent ryzen ddr4 cpu after selling my 8600k. I know I'd sell the i5 for peanuts, but if i test it in the shop, at least I will be able to sell a functional cpu and get something from it.

 

[zx128k]

https://youtube.com/shorts/zqCbDGjUF1M?feature=share

 

[SydB12]

https://youtube.com/shorts/zqCbDGjUF1M?feature=share

Damn, lets hope not. I have tried with another gpu in the failing system and still no image. So, please divine entities of the sky (or below), NOT THE GPU :/

 

[zx128k]

Damn, lets hope not. I have tried with another gpu in the failing system and still no image. So, please divine entities of the sky (or below), NOT THE GPU :/

Just what troubleshooting could look like. I h8 when GPUs die as well. Even worse now thats prices are stupidly high.

 

[SkyNetRising]

The things that I have tried so far are:

• Swap PSU

Did you replace all modular PSU cables also?
Using wrong PSU modular cables can kill/damage hardware connected.

 

[SydB12]

Did you replace all modular PSU cables also?
Using wrong PSU modular cables can kill/damage hardware connected.

I tried the whole system with another psu with even more watts (not as good as my main one, but another one) and had the same issue. So I don't think the psu is the issue here. That psu is running my old 3570k pc from which i'm writing rigth now.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I tried the whole system with another psu with even more watts (not as good as my main one, but another one) and had the same issue. So I don't think the psu is the issue here.

Did you replace all modular PSU cables?

 

[SydB12]

Did you replace all modular PSU cables?

Yes, I have replaced all modular psu cables. But the issue persists.
Just out of curiosity, wouldn't testing the system with an additional psu (like I already did) discard the issue with the former psu or all their modular cables?

Additionally, how the simple action of reverting a bios to its default values can damage a modular psu cable?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Yes, I have replaced all modular psu cables. But the issue persists.
Just out of curiosity, wouldn't testing the system with an additional psu (like I already did) discard the issue with the former psu or all their modular cables?

If you did use WRONG modular cables, when changing psus, this could kill/damage hardware connected.
Replacing cables, after you already turned pc on with wrong cables, would not fix it, because damage has already been done.

 

[peterf28]

Just dump that

Nah, thanks but no thanks. What if the component that is broken is not the mobo, but the cpu? It's unusual but not impossible. In that case I'd end up with two mobos and the same problem. Also, it's much safer/cheaper to buy a used cpu (i could even upgrade my 8600k to a 9700k/9900k in case my z370 is fine) than a second hand mobo.

z370/z390 used mobos here in EU are quite expensive, costing almost the same than a new B550 that I could pair with a new decent ryzen ddr4 cpu after selling my 8600k. I know I'd sell the i5 for peanuts, but if i test it in the shop, at least I will be able to sell a functional cpu and get something from it.

They should test it for free, and then if it is damaged they can sell you a new component. Don't pay 30USD just for testing, it is not worth so much. It takes 15 minutes to test, give them maximum 5USD.

 

[SydB12]

UPDATE: the problem has been solved. It seems the bios got corrupted when loading UEFI default values. It shouldn't have happened, but it did. I brought the pc to the shop and after desoldering & flashing the bios, everything got fixed. 40 bucks for the whole reparation. Could have been worse. At least now I have the latest available bios version...

I wonder why the second bios didn't kick in though...

Anyway, after this episode, this is the last ASSrock product that I'm gonna own.

Thanks for the help!

 

[zx128k]

UPDATE: the problem has been solved. It seems the bios got corrupted when loading UEFI default values. It shouldn't have happened, but it did. I brought the pc to the shop and after desoldering & flashing the bios, everything got fixed. 40 bucks for the whole reparation. Could have been worse. At least now I have the latest available bios version...

I wonder why the second bios didn't kick in though...

Anyway, after this episode, this is the last ASSrock product that I'm gonna own.

Thanks for the help!

When it happens to me the BIOS won't switch to the second one. I had to set a jumper but it was so long ago. Its one of the pitfalls of overclocking. So now I always get a motherboard with BIOS flashback (so you just need a USB stick to flash the BIOS on boot) and/or a second bios.

Desoldering and flashing the bios is the only option if there is no BIOS flash back.

I guessed it could be corrupt above, I am sad to see that turned out to be the case but happy you get it repaired.