Report of crashes after BIOS update leading to high latency
Report of crashes after BIOS update leading to high latency
Hello! I’m still getting everything together, but I’m trying to present it as clearly as possible.
The situation involves several components: a CPU with an i5 13600k, 16GB RAM from Corsair Vengeance at 6000MHz, an RTX 4070 GPU, and a PSU from Corsair SF750. I’ve assembled a compact form factor build using a PCIE 3.0 riser connected to the GPU via the case.
My processor has been in use for about eleven months, originally bought in May 2023. About three months ago, I began noticing system instability, mainly blue screens. In the Event Viewer, the error indicated "volmgr 161" followed by kernel power 41 and a WHEA error. These crashes typically happened under heavy load, such as during gaming, and have become more frequent over time.
I’ve read about problems with 13th generation processors from certain motherboard makers, including AsRock. I thought this might be the cause, so I updated my motherboard’s BIOS to the latest version, which resolved the issue. After that, I experienced severe latency problems with my NVIDIA GPU driver (nvlddmks.sys) and several other drivers. When I reverted to the older BIOS version, the crashes stopped temporarily. However, when I tried to play a game again, I was immediately hit with a blue screen once more.
I reinstalled most of my device drivers, focusing on the GPU, but nothing seems to work properly. Occasionally, while using the PC under load, I see black screens for a few seconds—possibly due to the GPU driver restarting for about 30 seconds.
My main concerns are:
1) Could this be a CPU-related problem (perhaps from improper use or motherboard issues), leading to driver instability?
2) Was my GPU functioning normally before the BIOS update, and has it always been the source of crashes?
3) Is there any indication of a faulty power supply unit, which would explain crashes rather than driver problems?
4) Could it be a bad RAM stick, making the system more prone to instability?
I’m hoping someone can review this and offer a fresh perspective on these (possibly connected) issues. I’m still a bit confused, but thanks for your help!
Just a quick check on what I attempted.
1) Tried various BIOS versions; latency showed up in all of them (except the original for a short time).
2) Turned off the NVIDIA driver in Device Manager; latency ceased, nice!
3) Completely removed the NVIDIA driver using DDU during safe mode. Reinstalled it (with and without GeForce Experience). Latency after restart.
4) Reinstalled all Intel device drivers (including WLAN). Latency remained.
5) Ran NVCleanstall to install only essential GPU components (no PhysX or NVIDIA container). Latency after reboot.
6) Confirmed my preference was set to high performance in the NVIDIA control panel and power plan. Enabled debug mode for GPU as well. Latency after reboot.
7) Formatted the SSD and installed a new Windows version. Latency after installing the NVIDIA driver (still unsure if it's hardware).
8) Shifted focus to power issues. Disabled CPU C-states (maybe this helps). Still latency.
9) Configured GPU to MSI mode using MSI utility V3 and set its priority to high. Latency persisted.
Thanks for the reply! I'm an idiot. I had it set in my BIOS settings manually, but it must have been returned to default when I flashed the update (and I forgot to do it again while focusing on the crashes).
Prior to the updates I still was experiencing crashes. Not sure if the latency issue above would be the culprit. Here's an example from event viewer:
Changing the data to ASCII from the details section, only thing I can make out is the name of my SSD. Ran a couple disc checks and repairs (sfc & DISM commands), nothing was found or repaired. Am I correct in thinking that this issue (
One of the articles I found
) is the culprit?