ASUS Z690 Extreme Glacial w/ 13900KS - BSOD while playing any Easy Anti Cheat games

[huyt]

Hello 🙂

I'm an Apex Legends & The Finals player, and I haven't been able to play since last week.

Right after starting both of these games (or a few minutes into a match), my whole pc freezes, and a Blue screen with the error "Critical process died" is being displayed.

I have reinstalled windows today, and the issue still persists.

I don't have any dump file to send you, since none are generated, and no specific events seem to be logged in the Event Viewer.

List of things I tried : 

• Disabling XMP
• Clearing CMOS
• Doing a fresh install of windows 11
• Limiting core ratio to 54x
• Resetting every overclock & undervolt
• Installing the games on several other drives (nvme)
• Closing every third party applications before starting the game
• Physically removing every RGB controllers
• Reseating GPU & RAM
• Starting games in DX11
• Disabling any anti virus software
• Updating every drivers possible
• Reinstalling EAC
• Manually setting DDR timings
• Updating BIOS (I'm on 3101 right now)
• Switching to an older BIOS (2602)

I don't have any issues while playing any other game (without EAC), and the PC never crashes apart from "EAC powered" games (well, Apex & The Finals, I didn't try any other ones).

System specifications :

• Motherboard : Asus Z690 Extreme Glacial
• CPU : 13900KS
• Graphic card : Nvidia RTX 3080 FE
• Memory : Corsair dominator platinum 64GB DDR5
• Storages : Samsung 980 & 970 pro nvmes
• OS : Windows 11

No component is being thermally throttled, so temperature is a non issue.

I tested the CPU with a 2hours Prime 95 small FFTs test, without any error.

I tested the GPU with Furmark for 4hours, no issue.

I tested both for 2hours with OCCT "Power" stability test, no error detected.

Memtest didn't show any issue with RAM.

Does anybody have any suggestion on what to try ? I'm a bit at lost here sadly...

[huyt]

Well, it looks that it is also happening on other games... Cyberpunk for instance.
I'm getting the same "Critical process died" BSOD, without any dump file being created.

The system ran fine last week, I don't know what to do tbh.

[Silent_Scone]

Hi @huyt 

Does the system crash at any time, say at idle - or is it just when playing games and putting load on the CPU?

Have you ran Samsung Magician on both NVMEs? Failing storage can cause this stop code.

[huyt]

Hello, thanks for your help 🙂

Does the system crash at any time, say at idle - or is it just when playing games and putting load on the CPU? - Only in gaming scenarios. It never crashed during a stress test.

Have you ran Samsung Magician on both NVMEs? Failing storage can cause this stop code. - Yes, nothing detected.


I might have found the root cause, however I don't understand how that's possible :

I'm running a sensor panel inside my pc case. It's running off HDMI, while being powered by USB.
The USB power chord is plugged in one of the USB ports of the motherboard.

After unplugging this display, games are running fine.
I suppose something like a short could have caused that ? I'm really shocked.

[Silent_Scone]

Hi,

Thanks for the update. What sensor panel is it? Could be an issue with the USB cable to the header given how sporadic the problem seems.

[huyt]

Let me check if I can find it again, it's a random Amazon 7" display.

It's not plugged in internally for power, it's plugged to one the USB port on the back of the motherboard, if that wasn"t clear.

[huyt]

It's this one
https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B089Y927RH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Silent_Scone]

If it started a week ago and the system was working prior, I'd be inclined to try and get an RMA rolling on the display. If the replacement does the same then we can maybe look into it further.

[huyt]

Well, I'm afraid an RMA isn't available anymore, I installed this display a year ago, while doing this build.
A week ago, I installed a MO-RA (external radiator) for my build, and, most likely, something happened to the display, being some dusts from me screwing the wallmount, or moving the case too harshly and damaging some connector, I don't know really.

I'll keep this post updated if the issue comes back, thanks for your time, as always 🙂

[huyt]

Well, plugging the usb power of this monitor to a wall plug seems to have completely mitigated the issue.
Sooo, could be a short inside the back usb port of the motherboard ?