Shows CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT blue screen and freezes

[SqPeg1]

Specs:
Intel Core i5-7600K CPU @ 3.8 Hz 3.89 GHz
ASUS Prime Z270-A Motherboard
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
16 GB RAM
Windows 10 Home 64 bit

This is my first time assembling a PC and I think I might have screwed up. After installing the processor and locking it down, I accidentally spilt some thermal compound around processor housing, and some of it got onto the motherboard. To clean it properly, I took the processor off and tried wiping it off with a paper napkin. Unfortunately, a bunch of the processor pins on the motherboard got stuck to the paper napkin and in my panic to straighten the pins, I pulled so hard on the napkin that some pins were pulled out of shape. I tried to push them back the best I could but the whole thing was clearly damaged. Figuring I had nothing to lose I went ahead with the build anyway.

After a lot of finger crossing and prayers - lo and behold, the PC magically managed to boot and install windows. Everything was working fine. Till it wasn't.

At random, I started getting the CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT blue screen. Things would just freeze till I physically rebooted. Lately I have been getting the MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION error as well but it alternates with the CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT at random.

To fix, I have tried:

1. Updated each and every driver to the latest version off the OEM website.

2. Systematically tried to remove each component to see if the error was from some stray piece of hardware - I've removed and reinstalled the monitor, TV (through HDMI), video card and wifi card individually.

3. Tried running the processor on "Normal", "Low Power" (or power saver, whatever it's called), and "ASUS Prime" (or overclocked, don't remember the exact name). PC barely manages to boot in low power and can run the longest in the high power/overclocked mode.

So far nothing. Things run fine with low activity - browsing, watching a movie and such. But everytime I play a game for more than say 5 mins I get the same error again.
Is there anything I'm missing? Or have I truly messed up? Do I need a new motherboard?

<<3 F-bombs removed. Please refrain from such language.>>

 

[the nerd 389]

If you're lucky, you may be able to simply replace the motherboard. You may have to reinstall Windows if the wrong pin was damaged, and there was an intermittent logic failure from lack of power to a specific portion of the CPU.

You should replace sooner rather than later.

 

[johnbl]

Update the bios
Change the memory dump type to kernel and put the next memory dump on a server like Microsoft one drive, share it for public access and post a link.
Update ethernet drivers, disable shadowplay if you do not use it. Update your audio drivers and disable any audio sources that do not have speakers attached to them. Use device manager to do this.

Bios update will reset the defaults and fix bugs in the Sata and sub ports.
The kernel memory dump contains the debug info for this type of bug check.
Old network drivers mess up shadowplay and cause the graphic driver to time out.
Old audio drivers can conflict with the gpu audio support for hdmi and make your gpu driver fail.

 

[SqPeg1]

Update the bios
Change the memory dump type to kernel and put the next memory dump on a server like Microsoft one drive, share it for public access and post a link.
Update ethernet drivers, disable shadowplay if you do not use it. Update your audio drivers and disable any audio sources that do not have speakers attached to them. Use device manager to do this.

Bios update will reset the defaults and fix bugs in the Sata and sub ports.
The kernel memory dump contains the debug info for this type of bug check.
Old network drivers mess up shadowplay and cause the graphic driver to time out.
Old audio drivers can conflict with the gpu audio support for hdmi and make your gpu driver fail.

Updated BIOS, drivers, changed write debugging information to "complete memory dump" in system failure under system properties >> advanced. But the dump folder is empty every time I open it. How do I get it to save a memory dump I can share?

 

[SqPeg1]

Ok so I opened up the CPU socket to check what was actually going on and turns out that a pin near the edge was quite bent. Just the one pin. I tried to bend it back into shape but it just broke in half.

Everything still works (still getting clock watchdog while playing games), but my question is this - if I buy a new motherboard will that fix it? I don't mind spending for the new board, I just want to be sure that that's all I'll have to spend on.

 

[johnbl]

Depends on what the pin was for. You can take a photo then lookup the pin map of the chip and find out what the pin does and see if it is related to your problem. Generally, if it is something you need then new motherboard will fix the problem. Sometimes the pin controls something you do not use or can disable in bios and you can work around the broken pin.
Hard to say what caused the problem without looking the memory dump. Note that kernel and full memory dumps are not stored in the minidump directory. The are stored in the directory above it.

Ok so I opened up the CPU socket to check what was actually going on and turns out that a pin near the edge was quite bent. Just the one pin. I tried to bend it back into shape but it just broke in half.

Everything still works (still getting clock watchdog while playing games), but my question is this - if I buy a new motherboard will that fix it? I don't mind spending for the new board, I just want to be sure that that's all I'll have to spend on.

 

[SqPeg1]

It seems the 7th gen core family datasheets aren't out yet. The latest one I cound find on the intel website was 6th gen released in January 2017.

From what I can tell, it's the top right quadrant, fourth pin from the bottom towards the far right edge (pg 128). That's pin #AK1 with the "land name" DDR0_DQ[63] / DDR1_DQ[47] (pg 156). I'm not sure what it does but since it's called DDR something I figured it'd be worth a shot to re-seat my RAM. So I moved it from the slot called DIMM_B2 where it was before to DIMM_A2. And it worked. For while but now I get the error again. Though I can play for a lot longer now before I get the error.

Here's what I know so far:
- Moving the RAM to another slot helps
- Overclocking helps
- Low power mode makes it worse
- Low level browsing, video doesn't affect anything
- High requirement games, video make it worse

Pics and the datasheet attached. I feel like there's just a switch I need to flip in the BIOS that might fix everything.

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Datasheet