Question: Losing my mind - 4 RMA's and frequent crashes due to "kernel power error"?
Question: Losing my mind - 4 RMA's and frequent crashes due to "kernel power error"?
Really need some help with this 3 month old problem. Haven't been able to use the PC at all apart from diagnosing it and dealing with at this point 100s of shutdowns and hard crashes. I've done everything I can possibly think of. I've RMA'd the PSU, GPU, CPU, and RAM (**** newegg, GPU RMA done through gigabyte which was nightmarish). None of those are the culprits, but it's important to note that the kernel power 41 primarily occurs when the CPU is under load, even the brand new RMA'd one (which is why I thought it was a CPU problem, silly me...).
Temps have always been low ~25C and GPU ~30C. Other times the system just crashes when loading something, like after I click enter to login desktop, or opening chrome or edge. I've ruled out the M2 1TB drive after downloading WD's software and diagnosing/updating, which leaves either the 2TB SSD or motherboard. Bios is latest version, all drives (ALL) have been inspected and updated, latest windows, over a dozen factory resets (windows downloaded directly from their microsoft servers), no OC, no XMP, everything stock, multiple reseats, new cables, complete teardown and rebuild, still kernel error 41 hard black screen crashes, then reboots.
I don't think it's the 2tb drive because it seems to run seemingly fine for the most part as long as I don't have CPU intensive tasks open or running. But this still occurs even with the new CPU sent from Intel so I'm at a loss. Before I purchase a new mobo, perhaps some of you have some ideas that I can implement to further test this because this is unreal and ive lost my ******* mind over this. if this didn't cost a lot I would have surely smashed it, run over it, or thrown it off my balcony.
Another interesting thing is windows is installed on disk C (WD 1TB m2), but my bios boots from disk D (2TB SSD) even though windows isn't installed on it (0mb is on the drive). When I unplug and disconnect the 2TB SSD, PC boots into bios only and unable to boot windows.
Here is the build:
Are there any window errors?
I think it might be event 41 (63), which happens when Windows runs at startup. If Windows detects an unexpected restart, it generates this event.
It doesn't necessarily indicate the PSU is the issue.
(0mb is on the drive)
That seems unlikely.
Would you like to right-click Start, select Disk Management, and expand both top and bottom sections to view all drives?
Take a screenshot and share it on an image-sharing site. Please send the link here.
It appears the boot partition is likely on the D drive.
Before purchasing anything else, I recommend having a PC inspected by a repair shop to diagnose the problem accurately. I've seen cases where people replace the entire PC without resolving issues.
Yes it's event 41 (63) kernel power error. A very generic error that could mean a lot of things from what I know about it, I was unable to find any valuable information in event viewer. Here is the image of my drives in disk management, very odd that the boot disk is labeled as C but in bios it boots from D 2TB SSD. I can't even see the 1TB M2 in bios.
M.2 drives may appear in various sections in certain BIOS versions, some are listed under PCIE devices, others under storage options. The main front display usually only shows SATA boot devices. The 2TB Silicon Power drive includes both a boot partition and a D partition. The 1TB WD SSD comes with Windows installed, so it typically functions as expected—usually showing the usual setup. I suspect both drives operated normally during Windows installation, though it’s possible they had Windows installed before. You can resolve this by setting up an EFI system partition on C.
How to Create and Remove EFI System Partition in Windows
Are you familiar with the EFI system partition? This article explains what it is, how to create, delete, or recover lost data from it.
www.anyrecover.com
You might want to remove the EFI partition on the D drive once it boots off C, just in case something goes wrong later. The second part of the guide on the link provides instructions—just be careful not to delete the wrong partition, or the PC may fail to boot.
I suspect this isn’t the root cause of errors; it’s more likely related to a Windows reinstallation attempt.
The event viewer isn’t included in my checklist when the PC crashes.
There are no real tests for motherboards. You generally test everything else and rely on elimination.
Do you have the latest BIOS on your motherboard?
So, a new PSU, GPU, CPU, and RAM.
The WD drive passes all tests.
I’m curious about the contents of the Silicon Power toolbox—https://www.silicon-power.com/web/ir/software
Run Crystaldiskinfo on both drives (green icons) – https://crystalmark.info/en/
It will automatically gather information.
Also, consider testing the replacements, since faulty ones are possible.
CPU –
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/...-tool.html?
AIO, what temperatures does it reach during load? You mention crashes under stress—maybe the AIO is involved... you’ll need to examine everything.
GPU – does it fail in games?
RAM – if it were RAM, you’d likely see different error patterns and possibly a BSOD.
Try running
memtest86
on each RAM stick individually, one at a time, up to four passes. Aim for zero errors; any higher indicates a problem.
Replace or remove RAM sticks with errors. The memtest is designed to be bootable via USB, so you don’t need Windows to run it.
I have tried all the previous tools with the earlier parts, but I’ll attempt again using the new ones that haven’t been tested yet to check for additional issues.
I’ve run the new CPU through the Intel diagnostic tool, which caused an immediate crash. The new GPU tested with OCCT without any crashes. Unfortunately, I can’t run games or visual benchmarks because they trigger the crash due to slight CPU usage.
All system parts are operating at very low temperatures even when under stress: the new CPU reaches a maximum of around 50°C (can’t go higher because of its instability), and the GPU stays below 70°C. My motherboard and RAM are also running cool, around 25-30°C.
I haven’t changed any storage devices, so I don’t think another test is necessary. However, I’ve used the SP toolbox, WD driver utilities, and Crystal Disk Info. The disk results show no errors—both drives are marked as "Good." The WD utilities ran without issues, drivers are up to date, and the system can identify the drives correctly.
SP toolbox couldn’t recognize the A55 2TB SSD, which was another concern. Windows identifies the M2 1TB and the 1TB WD SSD, while SPCC Storage Device recognizes the SP A55 2TB SSD.
With the new CPU, prolonged tests like memtest aren’t feasible since they cause crashes. The system typically stops working after about 1–2 hours of idle time without crashing, but it shuts down immediately when CPU usage rises. In contrast, with the older CPU I could finish memtest without errors. Using new RAM, I ran memtester in OCCT without issues, though it wasn’t as thorough.
I suspect the problem isn’t with the CPU itself, as I just received a replacement from Intel. All previous issues seem to persist even with the new CPU, and they appear to have worsened slightly. I believe this might be a broader system issue rather than a CPU fault.
The PSU seems to be in good shape, as it can supply full around 300 watts to the GPU under OCCT load, with both 5V and 12V rails functioning properly. However, crashes still happen when the CPU draws only about 90 watts before failing.
I tried to DBAN the drives and install Windows from a USB without the 2TB SSD connected, but I'm facing issues loading it in BIOS with frequent crashes. I plan to set up an EFI partition on C, remove the EFI from D, and test booting from C while D is off. I’ll check for any crashes afterward. It seems the next option might be replacing the motherboard entirely. The current hardware is the latest, and I keep looking for driver updates to fix this problem.
DBAN isn't the best choice for SSDs. It doesn't recognize them well and isn't built for such devices.
Check the bottom of the page – https://dban.org/
I prefer not to make assumptions. It's probably the motherboard, but I can't confirm for sure. That's why I recommended a repair shop; they might have parts to try or swap them onto another SSD to test.