General Discussions

[ruane1738]

Hi there. 

Hope someone can help me. 

I can't seem to boot into windows with more than 1 core enabled. I was able to for a couple seconds by lowering the cpu speed but it just restarts. 

The only way I can load into windows and type this message is by enabling only 1 core in the bios. 

I don't know where to start. It was a mission to install windows as I did not know about the 1 core thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Specs: 
600w psu
Ryzen 5500 

Rtx 3070 8GB 

B450m A Pro Max

32gb G skill  3200mz ram 

WD Green m.2 ssd 2280

[goodplay]

Suppose you have updated motherboard bios & chipset drivers, tried a CMOS reset & load optimized defaults?

[ruane1738]

Yes Have done all the above. 

Have a look at this post. It is exactly the same problem to the tee: https://www.reddit.com/r/AMDHelp/comments/yub0zl/help_needed_ryzen_5600x_only_1_core_visible/

[goodplay]

A lot of misinformation in that about number of processors set, default is '1' with box unchecked.

Is 'task manager' showing correct amount of cores/threads?

[ruane1738]

Nope if I boot with one core enabled then if I go to task manager it will show 1 core and 2 threads. The other day I managed to get into windows with core settings on auto, but when I opened system config I could see Windows booted in selective mode with 1 core enabled.

[elstaci]

Open a AMD SUPPORT - WARRANTY ticket and see if they believe you need to RMA your AMD processor to be checked or not: https://www.amd.com/en/forms/contact-us/support.html

Could be a defective Motherboard or CPU or both.

[ruane1738]

Thanks ill try. I took it to a pc shop for assesment and they popped in another cpu to confirm that the motherboard and bios is 100% but cpu is faulty as it just freezes when trying to boot with all cores. 

[elstaci]

You can upload to AMD Warranty the PC Shop's diagnosis showing the processor to be defective. But AMD will see that as soon as they test your processor out.

So you should be getting either a same type replacement processor or an upgrade if they don't have your processor to give you.

either way, sad to hear that your processor is bad. My personal experience is that processor are pretty hardy hardware that lasts a long time and takes a lot of abuse.

Take care.

[ruane1738]

Thanks for the feedback really appreciate it! 

I have one hope left of something that might work but Im not sure if I should test it. 

When I removed the CPU to check for bent pins, I saw the thermal paste looked quite hard and not spread out as much. Do you think its worth it to repaste and see? I guess the CPU gets warmer when more cores are active and therefore could shut itself down or freeze when it gets to hot for the thermal paste ? 

Im thinking out my ass here and trying to put the clues together. I should be better off sending for warranty. 

Cheers!

[elstaci]

If you live in the EU then you automatically have a 2 year Warranty from the Retailer.

From past experiences helping other with AMD Warranty, the AMD Warranty starts AFTER the Retailer's Warranty expires. Don't know how it works if you purchased your processors in the EU.

Yes open a AMD Warranty and have them check it for you whether you live in the EU or not. They will instruct you on what to do.

NOTE: To answer you question, good or bad thermal paste wouldn't affect how many cores your CPU can run before crashing.

If would just slow down in speed to try to reduce heat to lower it back down to it Maximum Operating Temperature (Throttles).

But you can try to replace the Thermal paste just to make sure that wasn't the cause. Just be careful not to bend or break any processor's pins which will automatically void your AMD Warranty.

If you were able to boot into Windows and it didn't shut down afterwards by itself indicates your Processor is not overheating to the point of shutting down. Plus Overheating, I don't believe will cause your processor to run on just one core all the time.

Besides didn't the PC Shop remove the CPU to check it and reinstall it on your Motherboard?