Issue with Intel 14600K build

Associate
Joined
24 Jan 2021
Posts
22
Hello gents, it's been a while!

A friend tried to build a PC and couldn't get it working. He brought it over for me to have a look at and there were several issues.

- He put the wrong screws into the motherboard posts and stripped a couple threads, managed to get it all apart and re-seated/secure
- Wiring was everywhere, we disconnected everything and neatly wired it up to a reasonable standard
- Didn't have the graphics powered by a cable, sorted that easily enough
- Didn't have the m2 drive in securely so it was detected intermittently
- Most concerning one, he'd really ratcheted the CPU cooler down very tight. I fully removed the cooler, checked the chip and cleaned it up. All looks good. Had a look at the motherboard pins, all look OK to me under a 4x objective lens. I've repasted and applied the cooler with the correct amount of pressure to keep it stable but not choking the CPU.
- The additional 4 power pin header next to the CPU header is not populated. He doesn't have a cable for this and from what I've read it might not actually be used on a CPU of this spec.

Hardware is:
Intel 14600K
MSI B760M Wifi Gaming
Corsair Vengence RGB 6000 32GB
AMD 9060XT
MSI 850W Modular PSU

System boots to BIOS with no issues. CPU detected correctly, ram showing in correct slots. Whenever we try to boot from a windows 11 USB key, it hard resets after a couple spins of the loading bar. Sometimes the bar stops and it remains crashed until we reboot.

I removed the GPU and switched to the onboard intel one. Still get to bios no problem.

I have updated the bios to the latest revision, disabled fast boot, secure boot and disabled xmp profile so ram runs at default speed. I have tried with XMP on, too. Tried legacy mode, no difference.
Still has the same issue. Tried different USB ports, tried one stick of ram at a time. No joy. Tried a different USB stick, no joy.
I've disconnected everything possible including fans (bar CPU) etc to try and get it past that step. It doesn't appear to be related to power draw.

Ran memtest off the same USB stick, boots into it no problem and passes 4 cycles without a single error. CPU temperatures look good (below 50) and nothing wobbles.
This is with ram at 4800 default speeds and timing.

I am a little rusty with Intel builds, so maybe I'm missing something obvious. I tried giving the ram a little more voltage (1.2) just to see if it was that as the DRAM light on the motherboard was illuminated when the crash happened a couple of times.
No improvement.

I don't have any other DDR5 ram to test with as my system is still AM4.

One last thing, every time the hard reboot happens, the CPU light flashes red. This happens if I force reset it as well though so I don't think it's linked to the crash.

For the life of me, I cannot see anything on the POST screen as it flies by too fast. Even with splash screen disabled.


If any Intel users have experienced this or have any suggestions I'm all ears, I'm baffled! Must be a setting I'm missing. 6 AMD builds over 3 years and no issues lol.

Thanks,
Mike
 
Last edited:
Whenever we try to boot from a windows 11 USB key, it hard resets after a couple spins of the loading bar. Sometimes the bar stops and it remains crashed until we reboot.
Is secure boot enabled? Is CSM enabled or disabled?

Do you have a spare SSD you could try, even an old HDD?

Could you try a Windows 10 stick instead?
 
Secure Boot enabled
CSM or UEFI, both fail
Windows install is on a stick, no HDD to test with but even if I remove the m2 drive I can't get into the USB stick. I could pull my M2 out with my OS on but I'd rather not as I have to get the GPU out to access it.

I'll try a windows 10 USB stick and see, thanks for the tip!
 
Ok I've tried booting from a live Linux mint install on a USB key.

Same issue, I can select from options in the Linux boot menus but it hard resets within a few seconds of trying to boot.
 
I suspect he may have damaged the motherboard at this point :(

Yes, I'm starting to think the same. I couldn't see any damage to the lga pins and the CPU seated in ok. Maybe something is misaligned, though.

I went over carefully with good magnification/dynascope. Checked the pads on the cpu too and all looked ok.

I'll get him to return the motherboard to a certain rainforest company as not working.
 
Back
Top Bottom