Question Losing my sanity - 4 RMA's - constant crashes "kernel power error" ?

[kdydivi]

Really need some help with this 3 month old problem. Haven't been able to use the PC at all apart from diagnosing it and dealing with at this point 100s of shutdowns and hard crashes. I've done everything I can possibly think of. I've RMA'd the PSU, GPU, CPU, and RAM (**** newegg, GPU RMA done through gigabyte which was nightmarish). None of those are the culprits, but it's important to note that the kernel power 41 primarily occurs when the CPU is under load, even the brand new RMA'd one (which is why I thought it was a CPU problem, silly me...).

Temps have always been low ~25C and GPU ~30C. Other times the system just crashes when loading something, like after I click enter to login desktop, or opening chrome or edge. I've ruled out the M2 1TB drive after downloading WD's software and diagnosing/updating, which leaves either the 2TB SSD or motherboard. Bios is latest version, all drives (ALL) have been inspected and updated, latest windows, over a dozen factory resets (windows downloaded directly from their microsoft servers), no OC, no XMP, everything stock, multiple reseats, new cables, complete teardown and rebuild, still kernel error 41 hard black screen crashes, then reboots.

I don't think it's the 2tb drive because it seems to run seemingly fine for the most part as long as I don't have CPU intensive tasks open or running. But this still occurs even with the new CPU sent from Intel so I'm at a loss. Before I purchase a new mobo, perhaps some of you have some ideas that I can implement to further test this because this is unreal and ive lost my ******* mind over this. if this didn't cost a lot I would have surely smashed it, run over it, or thrown it off my balcony.

Another interesting thing is windows is installed on disk C (WD 1TB m2), but my bios boots from disk D (2TB SSD) even though windows isn't installed on it (0mb is on the drive). When I unplug and disconnect the 2TB SSD, PC boots into bios only and unable to boot windows.

Here is the build:

 

[kdydivi]

I post my build in a single post 3 months ago and I can't repost it here because spam? here's a screenshot instead

 

[Colif]

Any windows errors?

I assume its event 41 (63)? as its the result of a report windows runs at startup. If windows finds it was restarted unexpectedly, it creates the event.

It doesn't necessarily mean it was the PSU.

(0mb is on the drive)

that is unlikely.

Can you right click start
choose disk management
expand both top and bottom sections to show all drives.
Take screenshot and upload to an image sharing website. Show link here.

Sounds to me like the boot partiton is on the D drive.

Before you buy anything more new, I would suggest getting PC looked at by repair shop and see if they can figure it out without guessing. I have seen people replace almost entire PC and still not fix problems.

 

[kdydivi]

Any windows errors?

I assume its event 41 (63)? as its the result of a report windows runs at startup. If windows finds it was restarted unexpectedly, it creates the event.

It doesn't necessarily mean it was the PSU.

(0mb is on the drive)

that is unlikely.

Can you right click start
choose disk management
expand both top and bottom sections to show all drives.
Take screenshot and upload to an image sharing website. Show link here.

Sounds to me like the boot partiton is on the D drive.

Before you buy anything more new, I would suggest getting PC looked at by repair shop and see if they can figure it out without guessing. I have seen people replace almost entire PC and still not fix problems.

Yes it's event 41 (63) kernel power error. A very generic error that could mean a lot of things from what I know about it, I was unable to find any valuable information in event viewer. Here is the image of my drives in disk management, very odd that the boot disk is labeled as C but in bios it boots from D 2TB SSD. I can't even see the 1TB M2 in bios.

 

[Colif]

M.2 drives can show in a different area in some bios, some list under pcie devices, others under storage. the front screen generally only shows sata boot devices.

2tb Silicon Power drive has the boot partition as well as D partition on it
1tb WD ssd has windows on it,

I can guess both drives in PC when you installed windows. that is normally how it works... or did it have windows on it before?

you can fix that by creating an EFI on C.

How to Create and Delete EFI System Partition in Windows

Do you know everything about EFI system partition? This post will define what EFI system partition stand for, how to create/delete/recover lost data from it.

www.anyrecover.com

you might want to delete the efi partiton on D drive once it boots off C, just in case something goes wrong in future and PC decides to try to use it instead. part 2 on link above shows how... just make sure not to delete the wrong one when you do it or PC won't boot.

I doubt this is cause of errors, its more likely just the result of you reinstalling windows to fix it at some stage.

event viewer is not even on my list of things to check when PC crash.

NO real tests for Motherboards. You essentially test everything else and use a process of elimination
Do you have newest BIOS on motherboard?

So new PSU, GPU, CPU, and RAM
WD drive passes tests.
I wonder what is in the Silicon Power toolbox - https://www.silicon-power.com/web/ir/software
run Crystaldiskinfo on both drives (green icons) - https://crystalmark.info/en/ - it will auto collect info.

should also test the replacements, as its always possible one of them is bad.

CPU - https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/15951/19792/intel-processor-diagnostic-tool.html?

AIO, what temps it run at? you say it crashes under load, maybe AIO to blame... you have to look at everything

GPU - does it crash in games or not??

RAM = I would expect different types of errors if it was ram. And you would be getting BSOD

Try running memtest86 on each of your ram sticks, one stick at a time, up to 4 passes. Only error count you want is 0, any higher could be cause of the BSOD. Remove/replace ram sticks with errors. Memtest is created as a bootable USB so that you don’t need windows to run it

 

[kdydivi]

M.2 drives can show in a different area in some bios, some list under pcie devices, others under storage. the front screen generally only shows sata boot devices.

2tb Silicon Power drive has the boot partition as well as D partition on it
1tb WD ssd has windows on it,

I can guess both drives in PC when you installed windows. that is normally how it works... or did it have windows on it before?

you can fix that by creating an EFI on C.

How to Create and Delete EFI System Partition in Windows

Do you know everything about EFI system partition? This post will define what EFI system partition stand for, how to create/delete/recover lost data from it.

www.anyrecover.com

you might want to delete the efi partiton on D drive once it boots off C, just in case something goes wrong in future and PC decides to try to use it instead. part 2 on link above shows how... just make sure not to delete the wrong one when you do it or PC won't boot.

I doubt this is cause of errors, its more likely just the result of you reinstalling windows to fix it at some stage.

event viewer is not even on my list of things to check when PC crash.

NO real tests for Motherboards. You essentially test everything else and use a process of elimination
Do you have newest BIOS on motherboard?

So new PSU, GPU, CPU, and RAM
WD drive passes tests.
I wonder what is in the Silicon Power toolbox - https://www.silicon-power.com/web/ir/software
run Crystaldiskinfo on both drives (green icons) - https://crystalmark.info/en/ - it will auto collect info.

should also test the replacements, as its always possible one of them is bad.

CPU - https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/15951/19792/intel-processor-diagnostic-tool.html?

AIO, what temps it run at? you say it crashes under load, maybe AIO to blame... you have to look at everything

GPU - does it crash in games or not??

RAM = I would expect different types of errors if it was ram. And you would be getting BSOD

Try running memtest86 on each of your ram sticks, one stick at a time, up to 4 passes. Only error count you want is 0, any higher could be cause of the BSOD. Remove/replace ram sticks with errors. Memtest is created as a bootable USB so that you don’t need windows to run it

I have used all of those tools with the previous components but I'll retry with the new components I haven't tested yet to see if other errors come up. I've so far tested the new CPU with intel diagnostic tool that resulted in an instant crash. I've tested the new GPU with OCCT tool which results in no crash, I can't test games or visual rendered benchmarks as they result in the crash due to minor CPU usage. All components of the system run very low even under load, my new CPU tops out at mid 50Cs (can't reach higher due to how fast it crashes) and GPU tops out at sub 70Cs. Mobo and ram are also running cool at around 25-30C.

I haven't changed any storage so I don't think I need to retest but I have used the SP toolbox, WD driver utilities, and crystal disk info. Crystal disk results in no errors with both drives being deemed "Good". WD driver utilities results in no errors for the 1TB m2, drivers are up to date and it is able to recognize the drive. SP toolbox was unable to recognize the A55 2TB SSD, which was another thing I was thinking was problematic. Windows recognizes the m2 1TB by WD 1TB M2 SSD and recognizes the SP A55 2TB SSD by SPCC Storage Device.

With the new CPU, I can't run any prolonged tests such as memtest as it will crash. The system won't run for longer than 1-2hours avg idling without crashing, and will crash immediately with increased cpu usage. however with the old CPU I was able to successfully complete the memtest with no errors. With the new ram I have used the memtester in OCCT with no errors, although it's not as comprehensive.

I don't think it's a CPU problem as I just received a replacement from intel and all of the problems I encountered before are exactly the same even with the new CPU, they actually got slightly worse. I would assume this is due to the system being "broken" in the first place, and the new CPU causing more confusion within the system.

The PSU may be problematic as I haven't explicitly tested it, but I would assume it's in good condition due to the fact that it's replaced and is able to supply full ~300 wattage to the GPU under OCCT load with 5V and 12V being successfully supplied to each 5V and 12V rails. But crashes still occur with CPU drawing only ~90 watts before it crashes.

 

[kdydivi]

I wanted to DBAN the drives and perform a completely clean install of windows from a USB with the 2TB SSD disconnected but I'm unable to load into DBAN in the bios without ~4 back to back crashes and restarts.

I'm going to create an efi partition on C as you suggested, then delete the efi off of D. Once I'm able to boot into windows from C while D is disconnected, I'll diagnose again for any crashes. Apart from this I would think that the only next solution would be to purchase a new mobo? Also yes the mobo is the latest version, I constantly check for new updates for drivers/windows/bios hoping that they solve the issue

 

[Colif]

DBAN not a good tool for ssd. It can't see them. Its not designed for them.

see bottom of page - https://dban.org/

I don't like guessing. Its likely it is the motherboard but I cannot tell you for sure. Its why I suggested a repair store as they may have spare parts they can swap in or put all your parts on another mb and see if it behaves.