PC Processors

[MT3300]

Hi AMD community,

Around 6 months ago a friend wanted to buy a PC and i suggested him to build a PC from parts. It's his first time doing it so i had to guide him step by step through Discord and send him screenshots and videos through out the process since he lives far away. The end result is everything was working as intended, i even controlled his Desktop with Teamviewer, monitored the temperatures and stressed the GPU and CPU as well without any issue. The CPU (Ryzen 3600) with stock cooler was never going above 80C and the GPU (Gigabyte 1660 Super) was reaching max 63C. I then enabled him XMP and stressed the RAMs as well, again no issue there at all. Since i had no way to get into the BIOS everything were left on stock settings from the factory except the XMP which i guided him to enable.

2 Days ago he DM me on Discord and told me that his PC was crashing a lot, once every 1-5 min or so, again with the help of Teamviewer i went to check the Event Viewer and saw many Error, Warnings and Critical level of events. 

Event ID 65:
Source: AppModel-Runtime
Level: Error
Failed with 0x57 retroevomg AppModel Runtime status for package Windows.

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Event ID 19 (A LOT OF ID 19 WARNING)
Source: WHEA-Logger
Level: Warning

A corrected hardware error has occurred

Reported by component: Process Core
Error Source: Unknown Error Source
Error Type: Cache Hierarchy Error
Processor APIC ID: 0

The details view of this entry contains further information.

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Event ID 18
Source: WHEA-Logger
Level: Error

A fatal hardware error has occurred

Reported by component: Processor Core
Error Source: Machina Check Exception
Error Type: Chache Hierarchy Error
Processor APIC ID: 0

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Event ID 41

Source: Kernel-Power
Level: Critical
Task Category: 63

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly. 

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These were the events that caught my attention, then the system crashed again and he restarted and i had controll over his desktop again, this time i went right away to the Power Option in Windows and i selected Power Saving mode. I just felt like that might help until i figure it out what causes it and it worked, the system didn't crash for 30 min. I then updated Windows, there were bunch of updates, it was done, he restarted and it crashed again... 

This time in Safe mode with Internet connection, i used DDU to remove all the GPU drivers then booted to normal mode and crash once again.

I guided him to update bios that is a year old, his motherboard (MSI B550-A Pro) was on it's first BIOS version. We updated to the latest one and same crashes except it gotten a bit worse, it would crash even more than before.

We reinstalled Windows, formatted the M.2 and the system would crash just at the region selection page (after Windows done installing then reboots). From there it just was impossible to see the desktop for more than 5 sec, it would immediately crash. No BSOD or anything, just instant black screen then it restart into the Recovery screen ''It looks like Windows didn't load correctly'' and this happened even before we reinstalled Windows.

Things we tried that didn't help:

CMOS reset
Turn off Precision Boost Overdrive
Tried Profile 1 & 2 of XMP
Tried one RAM at the time
Unplugged and replugged all the cables

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For me as someone with 12 years experience this is a piece of cake to figure out what the issue is but it's very difficult for him to troubleshoot any further than that, he has no experience at all and can barely put a screw in and doing an RMA isn't easy especially if you don't know where the issue is. If i had to think of one thing, it would be the CPU, motherboard or the PSU but just in case has anyone had this issue? What did you replace, how did you fix it? My last AMD CPU was the FX-8320, been using Intel since then and planning to upgarde to an 5900X once it's in stock again.

Thank you for reading.

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Edit: I forgot to list all the specs here, sorry

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600 Wraith Stealth
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 1660 Super
SSD: Samsung 970 Evo 500GB M.2
RAM: 16GB (Dual Channel) Corsair Vengenace LPX DDR4-3200 C16 DC (AMD opt)
PSU: Corsair TX550M
Motherboard: MSI B550-A Pro

[bodasactra]

Could be quite a few things but my main suspects are the usual heat and/or power. But first, did you do a chipset update before BIOS update? If not, I would do that firmware try first..

Heat issues on VRM or CPU:

Are the heat sink/fan doing the job, spinning properly, making good thermal contact. You started with a max of 80C, my 2600X operating at higher 95 watt TDC never got that hot ever and the 3600 is more heat efficient.

Try an undervolt and turn off all AMD PBO/XFR boost of the CPU in BIOS to buy more Windows time, I would use hardware info app in this time for possible power/heat issues. Many mobos overvolt significantly from factory to get better bench numbers.

Does the board have a known VRM temp reputation? My board does and it easily overcome with a top exhaust fan providing direct air flow. The VRM heat sink on this board looks questionable. Check if all of the case fans are working properly to help the VRM heat.

After that  its the PSU/CPU/mobo swap test time. You probably know this routine well and you know you need a working build to swap test components to trace down what hardware might be failing. I strongly suspect one of these three will need replacement. If another build is not near he could try taking it to be tested at a Best Buy Geek Squad or the like if the local diagnostic fee is reasonable.

[MT3300]

Thank you for writing,

It's not a heating issue, the temperatures were idle at max 35c and even in the BIOS. I didn't do a chipset update and now after reinstalling Windows that's not even possible as it crashes immediately as soon you see the desktop, i could try safe mode but even that is giving me trouble now that the system is crashing before Windows get to complete the installation so the files get corrputed. I made sure that there wasn't any heating issue before doing anything and i know the fact that the system is well ventilated and it's more than enough for a low power system like this. I will try and undervolting a bit and see if that helps.

[SixDerv1sh]

Any developments?

My Ryzen 5 3600, Aorus B550m Pro-P lasts mere seconds before black screen reset. SECONDS.

I can’t even get into Windows long enough to try to manipulate chipset version, Ryzen power settings, etc

[Robinhood]

Hello, sorry for the problems you're experiencing. Is it still happening a month later?

Can you try booting into safe mode and see if the immediate BSODs still happen?