- May 28, 2013
- 7
- 0
- 10,510
The short version: My i7-6700k appears to have a core gone bad, unless I'm reading the situation wrong. After experiencing an endless restart loop, wherein my PC would restart itself at the Windows loading screen, I tried some hardware changes (PSU, RAM, motherboard) and didn't make any progress. I finally found that, in the BIOS, when I change my active cores from "all" to "1" (and even "2" or "3"), I can boot into Windows. I've been running on 3 active cores now for hours, gaming and everything, with no issues.
I've never overclocked this CPU, but I imagine it must be somehow damaged, or deteriorating, right? Is there a setting in the BIOS I can alter that would allow me to run all 4 cores again? It's run with all 4 cores active for over 4 months now, and I never experienced any problems until now. What does this mean, and where should I go from here?
i7-6700k
Asus Z170-S (and now using a brand new Asus Z170-A)
Seasonic Snow Silent PSU 750w
Corsair Vengeance 32gb DDR4 RAM (was using Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 32gb)
Asus STRIX GTX 1080
Corsair h115i liquid cooling (no sign of leaks)
Samsung 850 EVO SSDs (250gb, 500gb, and a 1tb)
---
The long version: My i7-6700k has been running flawlessly for 4 months now. The other day, my system suddenly restarted itself, and entered an endless restart loop, wherein it would restart itself at the Windows loading screen. I could enter the BIOS and hang out there all day with no issues, but couldn't get into Windows. I hadn't added any new software recently, or upgraded any hardware.
I ruled out my OS being corrupt, because even when I booted into Memtest86 from a USB stick, the PC would restart upon reaching test 3 on the very 1st pass, every time. I swapped out the PSU for another known working PSU, but didn't have any luck there. I then suspected my RAM, so I swapped out the RAM for 2 brand new sticks, and also didn't see any change. Finally, I thought this must be my motherboard, so I swapped out the motherboard for a brand new one, and still couldn't boot into Windows. Finally, I went into the CPU configuration section of my BIOS, and found that when I switched the active cores from "all" to "1," I could boot into Windows without issue. I'm using it right now on 3 active cores, and there haven't been any hiccups for hours now.
Is my CPU deteriorating, or do I simply have a bad core? Is that even possible? Have I somehow damaged it? Is there a setting I may just be overlooking in my BIOS that I could alter to get all 4 cores active again? Please help. I'm lost over here.
I've never overclocked this CPU, but I imagine it must be somehow damaged, or deteriorating, right? Is there a setting in the BIOS I can alter that would allow me to run all 4 cores again? It's run with all 4 cores active for over 4 months now, and I never experienced any problems until now. What does this mean, and where should I go from here?
i7-6700k
Asus Z170-S (and now using a brand new Asus Z170-A)
Seasonic Snow Silent PSU 750w
Corsair Vengeance 32gb DDR4 RAM (was using Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 32gb)
Asus STRIX GTX 1080
Corsair h115i liquid cooling (no sign of leaks)
Samsung 850 EVO SSDs (250gb, 500gb, and a 1tb)
---
The long version: My i7-6700k has been running flawlessly for 4 months now. The other day, my system suddenly restarted itself, and entered an endless restart loop, wherein it would restart itself at the Windows loading screen. I could enter the BIOS and hang out there all day with no issues, but couldn't get into Windows. I hadn't added any new software recently, or upgraded any hardware.
I ruled out my OS being corrupt, because even when I booted into Memtest86 from a USB stick, the PC would restart upon reaching test 3 on the very 1st pass, every time. I swapped out the PSU for another known working PSU, but didn't have any luck there. I then suspected my RAM, so I swapped out the RAM for 2 brand new sticks, and also didn't see any change. Finally, I thought this must be my motherboard, so I swapped out the motherboard for a brand new one, and still couldn't boot into Windows. Finally, I went into the CPU configuration section of my BIOS, and found that when I switched the active cores from "all" to "1," I could boot into Windows without issue. I'm using it right now on 3 active cores, and there haven't been any hiccups for hours now.
Is my CPU deteriorating, or do I simply have a bad core? Is that even possible? Have I somehow damaged it? Is there a setting I may just be overlooking in my BIOS that I could alter to get all 4 cores active again? Please help. I'm lost over here.
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