[SOLVED] PC boot loops because of dead cores/threads ?

[lelouchthelemon]

Hello! I am helping a friend who's PC suffers from boot loops. He sent it to service to be checked and the technicians told him that the CPU is broken. His CPU is a Ryzen 5 3600 6-cores 12-threads.

So then he sent me his CPU for me to check. I tried it on my A320 motherboard and my own boot drive and it WORKS perfectly. But then I noticed that Task Manager only shows 4 cores and 8 logical cores. I checked BIOS if there is an option to "Enable all cores" but there was none. So I booted the PC, opened 'msconfig' and uncheck the option "Number of processors". After the restart to apply the settings, it started to boot loop!

My question is can i change the settings I've made in the msconfig using CMD without booting into windows to hopefully fix the problem and boot again to windows just fine?

My second question is is that even possible that 4 logical processors of the CPU is dead and enabling them causes boot loops?

 

[drea.drechsler]

Hello! I am helping a friend who's PC suffers from boot loops. He sent it to service to be checked and the technicians told him that the CPU is broken. His CPU is a Ryzen 5 3600 6-cores 12-threads.

So then he sent me his CPU for me to check. I tried it on my A320 motherboard and my own boot drive and it WORKS perfectly. But then I noticed that Task Manager only shows 4 cores and 8 logical cores. I checked BIOS if there is an option to "Enable all cores" but there was none. So I booted the PC, opened 'msconfig' and uncheck the option "Number of processors". After the restart to apply the settings, it started to boot loop!

My question is can i change the settings I've made in the msconfig using CMD without booting into windows to hopefully fix the problem and boot again to windows just fine?

My second question is is that even possible that 4 logical processors of the CPU is dead and enabling them causes boot loops?

When MSConfig 'disables' processors it doesn't really disable them as would a BIOS setting. It really only changes how it uses available threads (processors), using only the number it's limited to. Which threads, therefore cores, it does or does not use can vary. So I don't know that changing those settings would be conclusive of much of anything.

But as you discovered with the MSConfig settings, you have to prepare your system for the processor. Did you reset CMOS when you installed it? Without doing that it could easily be using incorrect BIOS settings for the CPU and memory initialization process (called training) which leads to exactly that behaviour. It could be the same thing causing your friend's system to boot loop when it's installed on his system.

 

[lelouchthelemon]

When MSConfig 'disables' processors it doesn't really disable them as would a BIOS setting. It really only changes how it uses available threads (processors), using only the number it's limited to. Which threads, therefore cores, it does or does not use can vary. So I don't know that changing those settings would be conclusive of much of anything.

But as you discovered with the MSConfig settings, you have to prepare your system for the processor. Did you reset CMOS when you installed it? Without doing that it could easily be using incorrect BIOS settings for the CPU and memory initialization process (called training) which leads to exactly that behaviour. It could be the same thing causing your friend's system to boot loop when it's installed on his system.

I did already tried resetting the CMOS but the problem still persists. I did check the BIOS version the motherboards that were used and they both are updated and supposedly can support the CPU.

I did however read online that performing a clean install of the OS can fix it. I'll update this thread if the clean install did wonders.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I did already tried resetting the CMOS but the problem still persists. I did check the BIOS version the motherboards that were used and they both are updated and supposedly can support the CPU.

I did however read online that performing a clean install of the OS can fix it. I'll update this thread if the clean install did wonders.

You are saying it boot loops which occurs before the OS has any chance of loading so it can't be the cause of it.

If the problem traveled with the CPU to a different system, and each system had the CMOS reset, it indeed is suggesting at least one core is defective. If it works flawless with another CPU it's even more likely to be.

With that information you might be able to get replacement under AMD's warranty claim process. It depends on how old it is, of course.

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/warranty-information/warranty

 

[lelouchthelemon]

You are saying it boot loops which occurs before the OS has any chance of loading so it can't be the cause of it.

If the problem traveled with the CPU to a different system, and each system had the CMOS reset, it indeed is suggesting at least one core is defective. If it works flawless with another CPU it's even more likely to be.

With that information you might be able to get replacement under AMD's warranty claim process. It depends on how old it is, of course.

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/warranty-information/warranty

Okay, I just realized it doesn't really boot loops. What's happening is once it gets to windows, it will immediately restarts the system. Sorry for this misunderstanding.

On the other hand, the clean installation of windows did not do anything.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Okay, I just realized it doesn't really boot loops. What's happening is once it gets to windows, it will immediately restarts the system. Sorry for this misunderstanding.

On the other hand, the clean installation of windows did not do anything.

Try memory...one stick at a time, in each DIMM socket.

 

[lelouchthelemon]

Try memory...one stick at a time, in each DIMM socket.

Sorry for the late reply. I have tried one stick in each of the sockets and nothing changed. I tried reinstalling windows for the 3rd time and it booted to windows and I saw that the task manager displays all 6 cores 12 threads of the CPU. However, after a few minutes, the problem started again. It turned off, tried to boot in windows, turns off again, and so on. I'm out of ideas of what's wrong and any solutions to fix this.