Question Multiple WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR & Restarts

[j3rkface]

Hi All. Huge thank you in advance for anyone taking a look at this and helping out.

Short Version:
When gaming my system will restart (power does not completely cut). Usually I get a frozen screen that goes pixilated, and and then my system restarts. No error messages. OR I'll crash and get the WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR message. Both happen while gaming.

What I've Done:

• Updated bios to latest version
• Latest windows 10 updates
• Latest GPU driver udpates
• trying monitored temps (see below)
• Uninstalled MSI Dragon Center
• Formatted system and fresh install of windows 10
• Set bios to default (except I have XMP on and custom fan curve settings)

System Specs

• AMD Ryzen 5900x (no overclock)
• NZXT Kraken X73 Liquid Cooler
• Nvidia RTX 3090 FE
• MSI X570 Tomahawk
• Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB (4x8) DDR4-3200 CL16
• Samsung 850 Pro 256 SSD
• Samsung 850 EVO 500 SSD
• Corsair HX1000i Platinum PSU

Temps
I used hwmonitor to check my temps, but I would do it by alt+tabing over from my game to occasionally check it. So I don’t know the exact temps at the time of crashing/restart.

cpu: most of the time it was 68-72 but I never saw it higher than 75
Gpu: most of the time right at 68, but I didn’t see it higher than 70

Detailed Version:
My system is fairly newly built and I wasn't experiencing any problems for the first few months. Then I started crashing with the WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR message. It was always while gaming and at first it was after an hour or longer then it got worse and happened in 30 minutes or less, unless I shut my system off and came back to it later and then I could usually game over an hour without an issue. The change that I had made when this started happening was that i updated my bios to the latest version (not in beta) and that is when I started having the issue. So I rolled back my bios and the issue went away for several weeks.

Then I noticed I started having the same issue again and this time the change I made that I thought may have caused it was updating the MSI Dragon Center. I started reading that a lot people were getting problems with dragon center. So I uninstalled it, and the issue went away for several weeks. Then it started happening again. This time I couldn't figure out why. So I just formatted my system entirely, reinstalled Windows 10 and started fresh. I didn't have problems for a few weeks, but then I started freezing in the middle of games followed by a restart. I didn't have dragon center installed so I knew that wasn't it and I just did a fresh format and install of windows 10. I ignored it for a while because it was fairly infrequent and I guess I just didn't want to deal with it.

Today I got a sudden restart while gaming with the WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR message. So the next steps I took were updating my MB bios to the latest version (which was a newer version that the version I had before I rolled back before) and also making sure my GPU drivers and Windows had the latest updates. I started gaming again and after maybe 45 minutes I got the WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR message again. I let my system restart and then I jumped back into gaming and I got the message again after about 15 minutes. So it seems to be getting worse. I'm not really sure what is going on at this point.

I did read something about crash dump logs on other posts, I don't know what those are but I can provide them if someone doesn't mind telling me how to retrieve them. I also read something about checking of the events in event view in windows computer management. I did find a few things that make me think there is a problem with my processor. I'll post them here to get others opinions on it.

I keep getting an error when I try to insert my screen shots into this post, so here are the links instead.
https://imgbox.com/tKjxTbd2#
https://imgbox.com/x2FzHoVf

 

[mdd1963]

Try selecting a slightly lower RAM speeds in XMP profile (i.e., 2933 MHz instead of 3200 MHz, for example), and retest...

Or, remove a pair of your RAM modules and retest with but two modules in recommended slots for a couple days, then retest with the other pair... (running 4 sticks is much 'trickier', certainly for Ryzen mainboards/processors) If you have flawless stability with either set, then I'd be concerned with RAM speed/timing, etc..

 

[j3rkface]

@mdd1963 - thank you for the reply. I'll try lower my ram speed, although I'm hoping that isn't the case. My understanding was the new ryzen cpus were supposed do well with higher speed ram.

One other thought I had that I wanted to share and get thoughts on. my MB has 2 plugins for power, and 8 pin and an extra 4 pin. From what I read the 4 pin wasn't necessary unless you were overclocking, which i'm not at the moment. So I don't have the 4 pin plugged in, but I'm wondering, could that be the issue?

 

[j3rkface]

I turned my memory MHz from 3600 down to 3400. 15 minutes into gaming i just restarted, no blue screen or anything. I'm going to turn down the memory speed to 3200hz but I'm wondering if its not the memory. The problem actually seems to be getting worse.

Maybe I'll uninstall NZXT CAM? If turning down the Memory speed doesn't work I'll try removing a couple of sticks and see if that does anything.

 

[j3rkface]

Okay, so I took my memory speed down to 3200 and I still crashed. Then I removed 2 of my 4 sticks and put the speed back to 3600. It crashed. Just for good measure I swapped the 2 sticks that were in the with the 2 I took out (to see if I had a bad stick maybe?) and it crashed again. Now I'm crashing at the menu of games before I even load the game. Still no problems outside of games though. Also, I played rocket league for and hour or so and that went totally fine. Jumped in Gear of War 5 and it crashed at the menu (haven't had it crash that quick before). It did that twice in a row. So it seems to be a problem from games that are more taxing on the hardware.

Any other thoughts? I'm lost.

 

[j3rkface]

Okay, so I have another update and I'd sure love some help.

I used memtest86 to test my memory sticks to see if I could narrow the issue down to my memory. When I rant the test my computer would restart in the middle of the test. I ran the twice with this same result.

After that I started testing one stick at a time. I found that 2 of my sticks would just cause my system to restart in the middle of testing while the other 2 completed the test and passed with no errors. I thought I had finally figured things out. So I took the 2 sticks out that were causing the problems and left the other 2 in so I could use my computer while I got my memory warranty exchanged.

Well, I was gaming for about 30 minutes today and my system just restarted again. So it sounds like I have problems with my issue, but also something else is going on. Does anyone have anything else I can check? Is it possible that it is my PSU. It seems kind of surprising to have a memory and PSU problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[JWNoctis]

You've probably seen this already, but check your processor settings in BIOS - https://community.amd.com/t5/proces...ea-logger-id/m-p/436558/highlight/true#M36728

See if anywhere near you had a spare - and known good - AM4-slotted CPU or mobo, or PSU for that matter, that you could borrow.

 

[Jason H.]

Okay, so I have another update and I'd sure love some help.

I used memtest86 to test my memory sticks to see if I could narrow the issue down to my memory. When I rant the test my computer would restart in the middle of the test. I ran the twice with this same result.

After that I started testing one stick at a time. I found that 2 of my sticks would just cause my system to restart in the middle of testing while the other 2 completed the test and passed with no errors. I thought I had finally figured things out. So I took the 2 sticks out that were causing the problems and left the other 2 in so I could use my computer while I got my memory warranty exchanged.

Well, I was gaming for about 30 minutes today and my system just restarted again. So it sounds like I have problems with my issue, but also something else is going on. Does anyone have anything else I can check? Is it possible that it is my PSU. It seems kind of surprising to have a memory and PSU problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

1st of all, plug the 4 pin power connector in because it sounds like a lack of power or psu issue to me. Let us know if that works or not.

 

[j3rkface]

You've probably seen this already, but check your processor settings in BIOS - https://community.amd.com/t5/proces...ea-logger-id/m-p/436558/highlight/true#M36728

See if anywhere near you had a spare - and known good - AM4-slotted CPU or mobo, or PSU for that matter, that you could borrow.

I had not seen this yet. Thank you for sharing it. I've set everything in my BIOS to default, so nothing special is going on there. I actually just swapped my PSU with a new one because I thought that might be the cause, unfortunately I'm still having the same problem. So no I am starting to suspect CPU or Memory based on what I'm reading.

 

[j3rkface]

1st of all, plug the 4 pin power connector in because it sounds like a lack of power or psu issue to me. Let us know if that works or not.

Thank you for the reply and suggestion. I ended up getting a new power supply and tried running it first without the extra 4 pin plugged it. Crashed. I then plugged in the extra 4 pin power supply and I'm still getting restarts/blue screens.

 

[j3rkface]

So update here. I've been speaking with Corsair's support team and they seemed to think it was either my memory or my PSU. After a lot of memory testing it was not still clear what it could be. They sent me a brand new power supple (Mine was still under warranty) and after hooking it up I'm unfortunately still getting the same problem.

Prior to getting the new power supply I ran each individual memory stick on the memtest86. All of them passed except for one that did not pass or fail, my system just restart when testing it. I ran the test a second time on this same stick and it did pass. So it seems hit and miss.

So I'm wondering if the Memory is the issue at this stage? I even question the mother board or CPU. If anyone has any other ideas on how to diagnose, I 'd love to hear them. Thank you in advance!

 

[Jason H.]

So update here. I've been speaking with Corsair's support team and they seemed to think it was either my memory or my PSU. After a lot of memory testing it was not still clear what it could be. They sent me a brand new power supple (Mine was still under warranty) and after hooking it up I'm unfortunately still getting the same problem.

Prior to getting the new power supply I ran each individual memory stick on the memtest86. All of them passed except for one that did not pass or fail, my system just restart when testing it. I ran the test a second time on this same stick and it did pass. So it seems hit and miss.

So I'm wondering if the Memory is the issue at this stage? I even question the mother board or CPU. If anyone has any other ideas on how to diagnose, I 'd love to hear them. Thank you in advance!

How many passes on memtest did you run? Its recommended to do a minimum of 4 passes. But for guarenteed results I would recommend running it all night each stick. So would take 2 nights of testing for 2 sticks.

If you at least did 4 passes each, and your still getting the bsod's it would lead moreso towards a mobo issue related to power since your now on your 3rd psu, and 1 of them being directly replaced by them themselves.

Do you have another mobo by chance?

Also, have you ran any other checks to perform system health checks such as:

Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, open Start menu or Start screen, type Command Prompt, right-select Command Prompt, and then select Run as administrator. Type the following command, and then press Enter. It may take several minutes for the command operation to be completed.

Type this into the Command Prompt: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

or have you checked your hard drive / solid state drive health by doing this in the command prompt:

CHKDSK

 

[j3rkface]

How many passes on memtest did you run? Its recommended to do a minimum of 4 passes. But for guarenteed results I would recommend running it all night each stick. So would take 2 nights of testing for 2 sticks.

If you at least did 4 passes each, and your still getting the bsod's it would lead moreso towards a mobo issue related to power since your now on your 3rd psu, and 1 of them being directly replaced by them themselves.

Do you have another mobo by chance?

Also, have you ran any other checks to perform system health checks such as:

Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, open Start menu or Start screen, type Command Prompt, right-select Command Prompt, and then select Run as administrator. Type the following command, and then press Enter. It may take several minutes for the command operation to be completed.

Type this into the Command Prompt: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

or have you checked your hard drive / solid state drive health by doing this in the command prompt:

CHKDSK

Thank you for the reply @Jason H.

I ran the memtest multiple times but I can't be sure how many on each stick. I have 4 sticks and sometimes I tested all 4 together, 2 together, and then 1. I did test them all at least once (and one twice) individually. So I could run the test individually 4 times on each. Just to be clear on this part my memory has always passed with no errors OR my system will just restart in the middle of the test. I'm not sure if that indicates anything in particular. I'll try running the memtest at least 4 times on each individual stick and see what the results show.

Unfortunately I do not have access to another MOBO to test, I wish I did. Just one more side note, I have only swapped my PSU on this system once. I had a previous build that I swapped my PSU out on.

I have not tried either that command prompt or the CHKDSK. I'm going to do that today and see what those yield.

Thank you again for the help!

 

[mikewinddale]

Since we've ruled out power issues (new PSU, plugged in the 4 pin) and graphics card issues (since it crashes in Memtest86), I think the failure has to be either
(1) CPU
(2) Motherboard
(3) Memory

Unless you want to spend lots of time getting spare parts and replacements and swapping parts out, I recommend trying diagnostic software. The most affordable one I know of is PC Doctor Toolbox for $20. It's similar to their $300 PC Doctor Service Center for technicians, except (1) it can't run pre-written scripts and (2) it is licensed to be installed on a single PC, rather than being a bootable medium with unlimited uses. So good deal, I think. It will test individual hardware components, such CPU cache, CPU MMX, CPU SSE, etc., all as separate tests. It's similar to Memtest86, except for your whole system, not just memory.

You can also try buying some spare memory, to swap that in. The cheapest DDR4 modules are about $23, so not a huge expense.

I would say to try a spare graphics card anyway, but I'm not trying to bankrupt you.

 

[j3rkface]

Update

So after speaking with Corsair a bit more they felt strongly that it was either my memory or motherboard. They sent me new memory which I received yesterday. Put the new memory in, ran memtest86 and I got a restart. I tried 2 or 3 times and couldn't finish the test without a restart. So at this point it sounds like its likely my Motherboard.

I spoke with MSI about getting a warranty replacement. They will cover it, but I have to send it in first and they said it is a 15-20 day process where they either repair it, or replace it. The 15-20 days does not include shipping time and I also think there is a 3 day "processing" time that it does not includes either. So it sounds like I'll be roughly a month without my computer. The troubling part is that it still doesn't sound like it is for sure my motherboard, but based on Corsair's support team and what I'm reading, it sounds like a likely cause.

At this point I'm considering just buying a new motherboard and just selling the warranty exchanged motherboard. It's already been a month and a half that I haven't been able to use my system. I was debating between the MSI x570 Tomohawk and the Asus x570 Tuf for this build, so I may just buy the Tuf and try it out.

I thought I'd post this update for those who may be interested. Also, side note, I'm pretty disappointed with MSI's support. The turn around time is a bit long if you ask me. It's the first time I bought MSI and I'm not to thrilled with the experience so far.

One more thing, @Jason H. I did try the suggestions you had and the results came back good. Thank you for the recommendation.

@mikewinddale - I have not yet tried out PC Doctor Toolbox. Maybe I should before I send my MB in. I read a bit more about it it it sounded pretty hit or miss that it could identify the exact piece of hardware causing the problem. But maybe I'm underestimating it.

 

[mikewinddale]

If MSI will send you a new motherboard, then yeah, just go with that. And buying a new motherboard and selling the one that MSI will give you sounds like a good idea. Good luck.

 

[Jason H.]

Update

So after speaking with Corsair a bit more they felt strongly that it was either my memory or motherboard. They sent me new memory which I received yesterday. Put the new memory in, ran memtest86 and I got a restart. I tried 2 or 3 times and couldn't finish the test without a restart. So at this point it sounds like its likely my Motherboard.

I spoke with MSI about getting a warranty replacement. They will cover it, but I have to send it in first and they said it is a 15-20 day process where they either repair it, or replace it. The 15-20 days does not include shipping time and I also think there is a 3 day "processing" time that it does not includes either. So it sounds like I'll be roughly a month without my computer. The troubling part is that it still doesn't sound like it is for sure my motherboard, but based on Corsair's support team and what I'm reading, it sounds like a likely cause.

At this point I'm considering just buying a new motherboard and just selling the warranty exchanged motherboard. It's already been a month and a half that I haven't been able to use my system. I was debating between the MSI x570 Tomohawk and the Asus x570 Tuf for this build, so I may just buy the Tuf and try it out.

I thought I'd post this update for those who may be interested. Also, side note, I'm pretty disappointed with MSI's support. The turn around time is a bit long if you ask me. It's the first time I bought MSI and I'm not to thrilled with the experience so far.

One more thing, @Jason H. I did try the suggestions you had and the results came back good. Thank you for the recommendation.

@mikewinddale - I have not yet tried out PC Doctor Toolbox. Maybe I should before I send my MB in. I read a bit more about it it it sounded pretty hit or miss that it could identify the exact piece of hardware causing the problem. But maybe I'm underestimating it.

I see this as a very good thing. Just buy the new MOBO, and recoup the money on the returned mobo later on.

I mean if it turns out to not be the mobo, then you have a different issue, which would suck to go through all this and it turn out not to be the mobo but, nothing you can do besides keep troubleshooting the hardware at this point.

I love the Tomahawk brand. Typically more affordable, very reliable, good overclockers. But that would be a choice only you can make for your preference.

 

[j3rkface]

@mikewinddale & @Jason H. Thank you both for your thoughts! My MOBO is on its way back to MSI. I'll probably order another one to test out in the meantime. Hopefully this MOBO resolves the issue! I'll keep this thread updated. Thank you again!

 

[j3rkface]

Well, i got my new Motherboard yesterday, installed it and I've been gaming today. I've played for about 2 or so hours and then my system froze in the middle of the game and restarted. I did not get a blue screen. Previously sometimes I'd get a blue screen other times I would not. So it seems like the same problem.

The game that this occurred in was Gears of War 5. I've had this happen in other games before (and even once or twice just in windows). But this time I played several other games for a hour or so and then gears for about an hour and then it did this. I don't think it's unique to Gears, but I'm mentioning it just incase. I'm going to keep playing some other games to see if I get the same issue.

So would the next culprit to replace be my processor? Maybe one of my SSDs? I'd love anyone's thoughts, at this point I'm completely lost as what it is. I thought for sure it would be one of the parts I've replaced so far. I'm feeling a little like I'm not going to be able to fix this issue. its hard not to get frustrated.

One last note. I did not reinstall windows when I got my new MB. I did format both hard drives and reinstall windows when this first started happing (didn't fix) but should I be doing that again with new hardware? I'd think not, but again. I'm just thinking out loud.

Thank you in advance for the help.

 

[j3rkface]

One other note. I didn't mention this earlier because I didn't know that it was relevant.

Another odd thing that I noticed happen more recently (before my memory and motherboard replacements) is that I started to noticing that when i would first turn on my computer or restart it my computer would turn on, but my screen would never display anything. sometimes it would flash like it was getting a signal, but I'd never get an image. I'd let it sit a little while just to be sure it wasn't my monitor taking longer to catch the signal and turn on. To fix it all I would do is turn my computer off and then back on again. and then it would display just fine.

I'm not sure if its a monitor issue, or maybe my GPU or something else. Maybe this is related to the restarts or maybe not? I'm not sure. Sooo, there is a another piece of information.

Thanks again!

 

[j3rkface]

Just incase anyone else has been following this and wanted to know to know here is what I found out.

In the end it ended up being my CPU. After swapping MB, Memory, PSU and a whole lot of trouble shooting the CPU was what was the problem in the. I had AMD send a new one and I haven't had an problems since.