Is the CPU possibly dead or is it the motherboard that's the issue?
Is the CPU possibly dead or is it the motherboard that's the issue?
A few days back I began receiving 55 codes on my motherboard (Asus Rog z690e gaming wifi) which showed no RAM installed. Yet it occasionally pauses for about a minute on code 12, which means the pre-memory CPU (i9 12900K) is being initialized. What bothers me most is that when I tested my CPU on a friend’s board, his system didn’t boot well and displayed the same no RAM error. So I wondered if the CPU was dead? Then this morning I ordered a 14700k and updated my BIOS using the flashback tool to enable support for 14th generation CPUs. Just because I felt like it, I restarted my PC and it finally started after three days. It didn’t update to Intel, then it booted into Windows. After some testing, I tried playing a game called Cyberpunk and noticed about 20 minutes of freezing with no blue screen or error code—just a frozen image on the screen and all USB ports stopped working. The keyboard, mouse lights turned off, the headset shut down, and the PC became unresponsive, forcing a hard reset. After restarting, the error code 55 for no RAM disappeared. I’m unsure if the CPU is faulty or if the motherboard is the issue, and I’m questioning whether I’m wasting time and money on a new CPU when I can’t pinpoint the problem. If I had assumed the CPU was dead because it didn’t work on another board, would that have changed anything?
Welcome to the forums, newcomer!
If you were covered under warranty, you could have sent the processor for an RMA. For the newer processor, consider reflashing the motherboard using BIOSFlashBack on the board. If the problem continues, attempt to transfer the processor to another known working motherboard with the appropriate BIOS version.
I tried to return the CPU via RMA, but Intel won't accept the warranty since I don't have a purchase invoice. I also tested it on a friend's working motherboard, which wouldn't recognize it. A no-Ram error appeared, matching my own motherboard. I re-flashed the BIOS hoping it would boot, but it still slows down at code 12 and crashes with code 55 when no RAM is installed.