Asrock Z87 pro4 problems installing a used cpu

BulletApe

BulletApe

BulletApe

Associate
Joined
2 Aug 2018
Posts
8
Had wanted to upgrade my i5 4670k on my Asrock z87 pro4 but the only upgrade path was the stupidly priced i7 4790k. Eventually picked up a used one off Ebay. Got it the other day but don't understand the issues I've experienced with it.

Chip looked in decent condition so got some compound and got it in there right away.

It booted up into bios and then into windows no issues. Reported the right processor in bios. No issues. In windows I ran heavan benchmark and then prime 95. Not for ages, but for 10-15 mins. Idle temps with my liquid cooler were 35 on idle, 75 when prime was bashing it. Seemed stable.

Gut feeling was it was running fine. So I rebooted to check some stuff in bios and then I hit problems. It wouldn't boot again. it just went into a reset loop, screens getting no signal, staying on for 20-30 seconds at a time before rebooting. To stop it I needed to switch off power to it.

So I then re-installed my old processor. No issues working fine again.

Thought I'd retry the entire process but got same result. Initially when the processor was installed it booted to windows and looked like it would work as long as I left it on. After a reboot however, same issues, constant reboots until I went back to my old processor.

I checked my bios version. It was 2.3 the latest version. This version is meant to support the 4790k. So bios seemed fine.

I tried another installation of the chip. This time I reset the cmos by taking out the battery and flipping the pins on the cmos clear for 15 mins. No luck still, resetting constanly.

I re-installed my i5 again and everything is working fine on it again. On entering the bios there was evidence it had been reset but I had a profile saved and put the settings back to my i5.

My next move is really to try to get a refund but the fact I got boots into windows for a single time each installation is making me wonder if I've missed doing something. Any help or pointers appreciated as I've no more ideas on how to get it going. Something tells me the chip is working.

Thanks in advance for reading all this crap.
 
I'd reinstall Windows just to be sure. I had something similar. I built an edit machine for a client a few years back that was supposed to use a 4790K but my supplier let me down and I used a 4770K as a stop gap because the client needed his machine. Solid as a rock. Couple weeks later the 4790K shows up so I just swap the CPUs over, yet it just wasn't as stable. Sluggish at times, intermittent crashes.

I know Devil's Canyon had a couple of minor hardware changes over Haswell but why on-board power regulators would affect a Windows installation I don't know.

Also check your voltage settings and whatnot just in case your 4790K isn't getting enough juice.
 
REaly a CPU swap reqiures a fresh install or possibly?.

I never knew that was the case would like to know my self then

My bro upgraded his 1800x to a 2700x same EVERY THING ELSE just a CPU swap.

Never reformated and seems fine
 
CPU swap doesn't require a reformat if the motherboard stays the same. But there seemed to be something slightly weird in moving from a Haswell to a Devil's Canyon when I did it, and a reformat did the trick.

@BulletApe : there's also the slight chance that the board might be the problem. Devil's Canyon was paired with Z97 natively. Even though many manufacturers updated their Z87 boards with a new BIOS, it's possible there's still not 100% compatibility.
 
The bios version I've got is 2.3. Any version over 2.0 is meant to support the 4790k so I'm assuming it's not the board being incompatible. Version 2.3 is the latest for this old board although they've got an experimental 2.5 with no details of what it does. I'm sure I've seen posts from owners of this board with 4790k's installed too.

I'm not seeing a Windows re-install as relevant as when the CPU gets into a reboot loop it's not even reaching getting to the bios nevermind loading windows.

I've sent back the CPU today. I guess if I pick up another an it doesn't work I'll need to look to the board for answers.
 
BulletApe said:
I'm not seeing a Windows re-install as relevant as when the CPU gets into a reboot loop it's not even reaching getting to the bios nevermind loading windows
Click to expand...

If there's a weird incompatibility going on which sends Windows for a spin and doesn't do its proper shutdown procedures then you'll get the reboot loop you've seen. Never underestimate how fragile Windows can be when the hardware it was installed against is changed from underneath it.

I'm surprised the eBay seller had it back because there's nothing to suggest the CPU is faulty, and you've certainly not exhausted all of your options to determine the issue.
 
I'm not sure how I could do a reformat or anything if the pc is in constant reboot.

I do appreciate what you are saying LePhuronn, I've used Windows since 3.11 and dealt with it flying south a dozen times or more.

I have had the thought now that the reboot loop might have been onboard gfx and the machine was simply looking for a screen plugged into the motherboard too.

If I have sent back the Ebay dude a healthy CPU then it is with some regret. Although you mention that I'd not exhausted all my options to determine the issue, at the time I had no more ideas or suggestions on what to try. I seriously had no idea what I could do differently if I installed the cpu another time. Even having used pc's for years this was actually the first time I've ever installed a cpu.
 
CPU can't have been ok as I've replaced it now and replacement seems to work.

Getting astronomical temps tho. Running prime95 it shoots up to just under 100 even with turbo profiles disabled. Guess I need more advice.

The CPU I've got now is still under warranty. I'm using a coolermaster nepton 240 liquid cooler so I thought that would keep it under control. I'm not planning on trying to overclock bigtime but I hoped I'd be able to get it to run a stable 4.4ghz under stress.

Any advice on this problem. I've repasted it several times and tried two types of paste. I'm satisfied that the application is good and its tight on the board. Dunno what to do next with it though.
 
So it was the CPU then? Cool cool.

I'm a bit out of the loop with stress testing atm, but doesn't the newer versions of Prime 95 use ridiculous AVX tests too which torture the CPU unnecessarily, and therefore throw the temp results out?

Turn AVX off in prime and see what happens then. Or use something else like Intel Burn In.
 
Once I took things off auto settings things got a little bit better. I could run the cpu at 4.4 with 1.2 vcore although still go temps in the 80,s with prime95. I've got it pegged to 4.2ghz at the moment. That let me drop the vcore to 1.1 and my temps dropped down to 70 in stress test. 4.2 isn't a kick in the ass off 4.4 so not so bad.

I'll take your advice though and try Intel burn in. I'll post back how it responds.
 
80 degrees on a Prime run isn't an issue because it's an artificial workload. If you got 80 degrees in normal workloads then that's a different bucket of monkeys.
 
I just tried the intel burn test. Got just as high temps there too unfortunately. It passed on both my 4.2ghz and 4.4ghz settings on standard. Thought I'd try my 4.2ghz on Max though and it crashed with a glorious plain blue screen then reset. That was disappointing. I had thought at least my 4.2 was sturdy. bugger.
 
Strangely I tried the burn test again on max but with the 4.4ghz setting and it stayed afloat this time. It's hitting 100 degrees on core 1 thoughout the test though. About 90 degrees on core 2,80 degrees on 3 and 70 degrees on 4. Its defintely getting thermally throttled as monitoring software shows it down at 4.0-3.9 ghz during the test. It didn't crash though.

I'm guessing the crash was down to the vcore at 1.1. My 4.4ghz profile has vcore at 1.2 and it stayed afloat.

Was thinking I could still RMA it as the seller I bought from showed it was still under intel warranty. Found out they don't honour warranty on used cpus just now though. I could still send it back to seller I guess.
 
Im close to that.

The thing that stops me is that aida64 stress test was a lot gentler on temps. I've gamed with it for a few days now and in real world use it's getting nowhere near those temps when gaming. Mostly VR stuff. No bluescreens all went fine. Fans barely broke a sweat.

Having no other cpu options with this board I figured I could shed temp theoretically by dropping it to 4ghz and lowering the vcore to 1.1 again. More drastically I could Delid. It's one of the processors that seems to see more dramatic differences with Delidding.

So I thought I'd use a few days at 4.4 and maybe explore other options if I get hangs etc. So far no reason to change anything. VR is ensuring its getting a fair workout.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom