ROG STRIX Z790-F GAMING WIFI with Intel 14900K Issues

[CraigDubya]

Hi, this is the first time I've encountered issues like this and have never had to come here for help so please bear with me.

Since November last year I have been running the following system:

• ASUS ROG Strix Z790-F Gaming WiFi Motherboard
• Intel Core i9 14900K CPU
• Kingston FURY Beast RGB 64GB (2 x 32GB) 6000MHz
• ASUS RTX4090 TUF OC
• Samsung 970 EVO Plus M2 SSD 1TB
• Samsung 980 PRO M2 SSD 1TB
• Samsung 980 PRO M2 SSD 2TB
• Corsair iCUE H100i Elite Capellix XT 240mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooler
• Corsair RMx Shift Series 1200W Modular PSU

The system was built for me by Chillblast without the RTX4090 and 2 of the SSDs (I added those when it arrived). It came without an operating system so I installed Windows 10 myself. I don't remember any issues during this intial setup - I believe the motherboard BIOS version was 1501 on delivery.

About 4 or 5 weeks ago I did a BIOS update to version 1801 I believe and have been seeing issues ever since. I have tried rolling back to 1501 (as well as trying the latest 2 versions 1904 and 2002) but still seeing problems.

I noticed that the difference that can't be rolled back between the BIOS versions is the ME version has gone from 16.1.30.2264 to 16.1.30.2307. Could this latest ME version be causing me issues?

So, how do the issues manifest? - Well, after a clean install of Windows (which I may need help with to ensure I am doing it right - do I install windows offline and sort out motherboard drivers first before allowing Windows to grab updates and stuff), I am seeing a lot of errors and warnings about LSA, CSM, network dropouts, permissions issues etc in the Windows Event Viewer. Reading about the Event Viewer lots of this warnings and errors may be normal, but just some of the things I have noticed there.

My test is to download NVidia GeForce Experience and try to install this, it always fails with a 7zip error, this kind of uncompressing activity fails on some other software too and in the event viewer it has various Windows module reasons, KernelBase.dll is one that I can remember off-hand. (I've tried DISM RestoreHealth and sfc /scannow multiple times).

I have set the BIOS to Default Settings with the same result.

At present (after 3 or more weeks of trying different things) I am still unsure if I am getting the right drivers installed for my motherboard at the right time.

If I go to ASUS Support SIte and look at the drivers for my motherboard they are listed in a collapsed tree:

• LAN
• Wireless
• Chipset
• Audio
• VGA Drivers
• Bluetooth
• Thunderbolt
• Software & Utility
• SATA
• Utilities

Do I grab the top-most driver from each section and install those? Or do I need to uncollapse any of the tree and grab anything else? I'm suspecting Chipset drivers, because after I install only the top-most driver there are still lots of PCI somethings in the Device Manager tree that have no drivers.

So I guess what I am asking after all this is how to properly install the drivers for my PC? Should I install Windows offline, then install the ASUS drivers before I even attempt to go online and let Windows do its thing?

Any help to get me on the right track before I call in my PC builder to have a look would be much appreciated.

[CraigDubya]

Hi, thanks for your suggestion. This did in fact cure the problem, but what does this mean? My processor is working at a much lower speed than advertised now? Is there a fix for this?

[Furious_Rage]

This means you have a faulty processor. The CPU is corrupting files. With the core ratio limited you are under clocking the CPU to stabilize it. The only fix is RMA the CPU to Intel and then to reinstall Windows to ensure nothing is corrupted.

This is apparently a not so uncommon issue with Intel's 13900 & 14900 series of CPUs. I purchased both CPUs and had to RMA them both.

[CraigDubya]

******! I was hoping it wouldn't come to that. I have warranty from Chillblast, guess I will give them a call. Thanks! 😟

[Trackah123]

Pretty crazy that those newer CPU's causes these problems, i still have a 12700K myself and have no issues whatsoever with any of this. i been looking around and it seems that 13th and 14th gen suffers alot with these issues or faulty cores. These are just a few example links of what i found on Google so far.

https://www.guru3d.com/story/instability-issues-with-intel-13th-14th-generation-processors-during-un...

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Game developers, including Fatshark, have recognized the issue, recommending interim solutions such as slightly lowering the performance core speed using Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, which has helped reduce crash incidents in some cases.

Examination of motherboard default settings revealed that often, power and current limits are set to "unlimited" by default, aggravating the instability. Manually adjusting these to more conservative levels has been found to enhance stability. These insights suggest that techniques such as underclocking, undervolting, or setting stricter power/current limits can effectively prevent these crashes.

https://pcper.com/2024/02/is-there-a-crashing-problem-with-13th-and-14th-gen-intel-core-cpus/

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If you are running into this issue, the suggestion is to set “SVID behavior” to “Intel fail safe in your BIOS and consider reducing the “Long duration power limit,” and “Short duration power limit” if that doesn’t resolve the issue

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https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/is-your-intel-core-i9-13900k-crashing-in-games-your-...

https://community.intel.com/t5/Processors/Individual-cores-gone-faulty-in-i9-13900k-throwing-general...

[CraigDubya]

The funny thing about all those articles are that they are talking about instability whilst gaming. I only play Digital Combat Simulator and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 on my machine as it's part of a motion platform simulator setup and those two are stable and have been since I bought the PC, but with MSFS especially I have many addons that come as zip files, and whilst I was able to download and install them without issue 4 months ago, I have since done a fresh install of Windows and tried to reinstall them and that is when I started to see the problem of not being able to extract them for the install (albeit I could do it in Safe Mode, but not ideal obviously).

I guess those two games I play don't use the Unreal Engine or Oodle so are not suffering. The CRC check I am seeing is what Unreal and Oodle use extensively.

However, when the PC comes back from the Warranty claim I would like to understand what BIOS settings I need to be looking at to ensure it doesn't degrade again I guess. I'm not very clued up about all those settings - I can just about manage to get the XMP settings done normally lol.

[inge70]

Your problem has nothing to do with bios settings.

However, if you had activated AI overclocking and XMP for the RAM in the BIOS, this will be deactivated after a BIOS update and must be reactivated.
It's the same for me.
The safe mode you mention is Windows.
Therefore, if you have problems unpacking Archive zip, the problem must lie there. A screenshot of the error message would be useful here.
About your error with NVidia GeForce Experience and the unpacking?
Why do you have to unpack this? It's an .exe file after all. Nothing is unpacked.
Double click on this .exe file and the installation should begin. Especially since I don't understand why you download it separately. This is supplied with the Nvidia driver.
Even errors or warnings in the event log are not always the same as hardware errors.
I have already written a lot about this here.
Regarding the "KernelBase.dll" error that you mentioned, it would also make sense to post a screenshot of the error message here so that we can see exactly what it says.

In addition, if there are "unknown devices" or warnings in the Windows device manager, problems can arise.
So please post a screenshot of the device manager here.

[Furious_Rage]

As @inge70 mentioned, your bios settings won't prevent this issue, only help mitigate the problem when it arises. In my experience the CPU will be fully stable at first. My 13900K ran for 2 months before problems started, my 14900K only ran for the 1st 2 weeks before it started acting up. You are probably in the very early stages of your CPU starting to fail and it was probably fine when you first got the PC. I would expect that you will start seeing more problems as times goes on (assuming you continue using the PC and were running stock core ratios) such as app crashes, programs not starting with windows or exhibiting other odd behavior and even seeing Windows blue screen of death. I think the only sure way to make sure you don't have this problem in the future is to get a different tier CPU such as the 14700K. Which is what I will do if my 3rd CPU starts acting up.

[CraigDubya]

So will every 14900k suffer this problem? Or are there just a lot of bad CPUs out there? Am I likely to see this happening again? I'm not prepared to go to a 13700 or 14700, would rather shift to 7800x3d in that situation.

Regarding the file extractions.. I was double-clicking the NVidia installers which, as already said runs its own self-extractor. But the addon files for MSFS for instance are downloaded as zip files which I need to extract, even Google Chrome setup file starts a download which then starts a self-extractor which fails. Windows 11 upgrade from Windows Update failed to install unitl I set the per core ratio to 40 on all processors.  The downloads mentioned (NVidia etc) were not corrupt, I could take that same file, put it on a USB and try it on my laptop and it would install.

What I really need to know now is if all 14900k's are faulty, or are there good ones, how can I check and what measures do I need to take when my PC is returned with the new 14900 installed?

[Furious_Rage]

I'm sure there are good 14900Ks out there or everyone would be screaming about this problem.

[Silent_Scone]

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@CraigDubya wrote:

So will every 14900k suffer this problem? Or are there just a lot of bad CPUs out there? Am I likely to see this happening again? I'm not prepared to go to a 13700 or 14700, would rather shift to 7800x3d in that situation.

No such issues here, and that's with the memory overclocked to 8600MT and AI OC.