Loaded BIOS on a 5900x without a cooler, then switched to Windows with a blue screen. Was the CPU damaged?
Loaded BIOS on a 5900x without a cooler, then switched to Windows with a blue screen. Was the CPU damaged?
Hello, I purchased a new motherboard 5900x and an older ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 to upgrade from my 7700k. I ran a test build outside the case to check if the new BIOS was installed correctly, unaware I hadn’t added a cooler. After turning it off, I installed one. The board did support the updated BIOS, so I kept creating boot drives on the 970 Evo I already had. During Windows installation, the system attempted to connect to Windows but then displayed a blue screen of death. I booted using a 32GB Corsair Vengeance 3000MHz kit in three configurations: single stick, two sticks, and four sticks. My concern is whether the CPU was damaged or if the used board was faulty. I’m already initiating a return for the board and will buy a new one to test it. I’d appreciate some advice on whether these chips can be damaged by the BIOS during startup.
If the cooler lacked a cooling solution and stopped working at high temperatures, the CPU should remain unaffected. A brief exposure to around 100°C for a short time shouldn’t cause harm; prolonged exposure beyond a few seconds isn’t likely to damage it. However, if this happened for an hour or longer, there could be concerns. I experienced a similar issue where one plastic pin on my cooler broke unexpectedly and wasn’t properly aligned. Fortunately, the CPU was already several years old and nearing its end of life. My motherboard didn’t have any safety features to shut down the system when overheating occurred. I checked the error using Bing Copilot; the WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR is a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) code usually signaling hardware failure. Common reasons include faulty hardware, driver conflicts, overclocking stress, or outdated/incompatible drivers. To resolve it, you might try running Chkdsk to scan for issues, updating your drivers, removing any new hardware added before the error, or simply restarting after shutting down the PC. The effectiveness of these steps isn’t guaranteed.
Yes, but not for hard drives unless you refer to NVMe SSDs as hard drives. NVMe drives are the only storage solutions WHEA monitors support. WHEA keeps track of the CPU and PCIe devices; the 13th generation Intel now offers monitoring for some I/O, though it mainly handles internal bus operations. It's worth noting that WHEA doesn't monitor NVMe drives because they use PCIe, while Microsoft later added this feature without involving the CPU's error log.
I faced the same problem with the 5900x during a BIOS update, which caused it to shut down due to overheating after several restarts. After reading the manual, I learned not to power it on without a cooler—it was essential. A friend advised me not to worry about the CPU; I’ll see if it’s okay in time. It still works after a year. Thank God.
I installed the new board and used the NVMe drive but still encountered the same blue screen. I made a bootable USB from an SATA SSD and also got a blue screen when trying to boot from that. Both NVMe and SATA drives function properly in other setups, so I suspect the issue lies with the CPU.
Checked the CPU closely; all connections appear intact and no visible damage. Thermal paste is present on a few pins.