Processors

[thewintersnow]

I have had nothing but woe with my 1800x since a little before last Christmas.  After an automatic Windows 10 update my system would lock up and would need a hard reset to get working again.  It would even lock up when rebooting.  Windows error logs indicated a critical error of power management to all 16 threads.  Eventually it locked up during the BIOS splash screen.  I couldn't update the BIOS from the UEFI as it would lock up every time I tried.  Months later without a computer I used the manual flash method and installed the most recent BIOS version and it still didn't work.  I then tried the most recent BIOS FW which also didn't work (would lock up booting Windows).  Then I flashed a version before the second gen Ryzens were supported and it worked...sort of.

Once I got the BIOS FW that worked and was back online I noticed massive glitches in audio simply streaming music or watching youtube videos.  I flat out can't record music because the CPU goes instantly to 100% and stutters all over the place.  I didn't know why until now.  Playing games again I noticed a lower frame rate than I should be getting and that is when I noticed it.  Windows is only running on one core, two threads.  There is nothing in the BIOS that can enable or disable threads.  Ryzen Master is only showing one core and resetting to save changes results in the PC shutting down and not responding to the power button unless you do a hard reset.

I have gone through most of the solutions posted over the internet on how to fix disabled cores but to no avail.  The number of processors in advanced boot options is unchecked, the BIOS is all on default settings, Windows 10 System Config is all default and I have reset and shutdown more than once.  I am at a loss, if anyone can help get me in the right direction it would be much appreciated.

My setup:

CPU: 1800x

MOBO: ASUS Crosshair Hero VI BIOS v7601

RAM: Corsair Dominator 32GB

SSD: EVO 960 256GB

[pokester]

I would RMA the motherboard. 

[thewintersnow]

When the motherboard was still under warranty I tried sending an RMA 3 times to ASUS and never got a response.  Unfortunately the board and CPU are no longer under warranty.

When I first built the system a little over 3 years ago I did a mild overclock to 3.8GHz with a mild voltage boost from 1.375v to 1.4v but only left it for a few months as I wasn't seeing a performance increase and didn't want to put extra strain on the CPU.  The only thing I had running overclock-wise was the lowest XMP to get the RAM speed closer to what the RAM was actually rated at.  It was set at 1700MHz and the RAM is rated at 2300MHz.  I think the low XMP set the RAM to 1900MHz or 2000MHz and got the timings closer but were still on the conservative side.  I turned XMP off when I started having crashes a few months back and have just ran stock settings since.

Outside of CPU-Z, HWMonitor and Ryzen Master are there any other diagnostic tools that can give me a more in depth output of which cores are disabled, if they are disabled and why they are disabled?

[pokester]

Sorry I can't think anything that will really show much if anything more than Ryzen Master. CPUz and HWINFO are a couple of good utilities if you have not used them. 

[black_zion]

I would also RMA the CPU at the same time if you can as it could be the cause as well. First run, first generation Ryzen CPUs  were not always the greatest, I speak from experience as my 1800X was defective, and many of them were replaced without question due to the segfault bug, if they were manufactured before July 2017.

[thewintersnow]

When I had the BIOS splash screen lockup I did take it to a computer repair shop and they tested different RAM and CPU but still couldn't get the BIOS to not lock up.  Now that I have the system somewhat working I don't have another AM4 CPU to test to see if it is the CPU.  I did wait sometime to build my machine because I heard about the BIOS and silicon issues but I did order parts around March of 2017.  Unfortunately I did get a motherboard that came stock with the buggy BIOS but as I mentioned earlier I did flash it to the latest version before the second gen Ryzens were supported as second and third gen compatible BIOS versions would crash while booting windows.  I probably did get a bad silicon batch CPU.  Since the CPU is no longer under warranty would AMD still honor an RMA from a buggy CPU?  I will have to look at the CPU to get the date code off of it but I can say it was manufactured before July 2017.  I have been building computers for about 14 years now and have been able to fix things without needing to do RMAs, I have a background in Electronics and Computers so I am fairly handy on fixing problems.  I guess it was a matter of time before I got a bad batch of components that were not fixable.  I guess I have been lucky up until now.

[black_zion]

Generally once a warranty is expired there is no exception unless there is a product recall, and there wasn't one, but there's no harm in trying.

[elstaci]

AMD Warranty (PIB - Processor in a Box) is for three years from date of Purchase from the Retailer. If you purchased the Processor in March 2017 then the Warranty has expired.

You will need proof of purchase from the Retailer (Receipt) to RMA your processor if it is still under Warranty.

Here is the AMD Warranty link if you want to try: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/warranty-information/rma-form