This new computer is experiencing frequent crashes.
This new computer is experiencing frequent crashes.
The August 8th patch was intended as the first microcode update 0x129; otherwise degradation shouldn't matter unless your processor had been used before—though that seems unlikely. I’m keen to see your CPU temperatures and the exact BSOD messages it displays. Please share those details once you’ve tested them. If you haven’t installed Cinebench yet, it’s a solid choice for stable performance testing and stress checks; using HWMonitor alongside will help you spot overheating quickly.
The bluescreen view displayed no errors until before my PC crashed. A warning appeared with details about HyperThreading disabling side-channel protections. The BSOD showed the HYPERVISOR code, and a prior crash had a stop code labeled 'CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT'.
Never mentioned that before, OP hasn't shared this since he had the PC, thinking some time ago that Intel might be ready to swap out the failing 14th generation chips.
If you encounter hypervisor errors linked to hyperthreading, consider enabling the core scheduler. Launch CMD as an administrator and execute the command: "bcdedit /set hypervisorschedulertype core". Exit CMD and operate the machine as usual, performing actions that previously triggered crashes—consistency helps identify the problem. Once stable, the issue likely stems from a software fault. Creating a Windows 11 installer on a USB drive and formatting it may resolve the matter. If the CLOCK WATCHDOG TIMEOUT persists, a faulty CPU could be the cause; replacing it via Intel RMA or contacting DS would be the next step.
I ran cinemabench with HWMonitor alongside to keep tracks of the temperatures, and here is what I've found out. Each test was (supposed to be) 10 minutes. GPU Test ran the entire 10 minutes and completed 60 passes during which the CPU stayed around 50 degrees during a pass, but spiked to 100 between some passes (and sometimes didn't spike all the way to 100, sometimes to 70). By CPU, I mean under the 'package' portion of HWMonitor for CPU. P-Cores also spiked to 100 between passes sometimes. E-Cores stayed 45 degrees throughout and GPU stayed around 65 the entire time (varying between 57 and 70; but stuck mostly around 65). Finished with 32758 points. CPU Multi-core test I let run for a little over 1 pass (about 3 minutes) since as soon as I started the test the CPU got to 100 degrees and stayed there for the entire time. After the first pass and before the second pass (when it was preparing the project) the CPU temp fell down to 70 before jumping back up to 100 at the second pass (I stopped the test as soon as the second pass started). P-Core also ran at 100 degrees the entire time, dropping between passes and I didn't record the E-Core temperature here. GPU stayed around 43 degrees the whole time. I didn't take notice of the running points score during this test. CPU Single-core test ran for 9 minutes and 40 seconds out of the 10 minutes it was supposed to run and froze entirely with 20 seconds left to run. Cinemabench was the only thing that froze while HWMonitor kept working and as soon as Cinemabench froze, the CPU temps dropped to around 40 degrees. While it was running though, the CPU package temps stayed around 70 degrees sometimes getting into the 80s. P-Core stayed mostly around 60s and sometimes getting into the 80s. E-Core stayed consistently in the 40s and the GPU stayed at about 48 the entire time. It was at around 120 points when it crashed, took 8 minutes to get to 120 points, before that, it stayed around 90-107 points. After I restarted cinemabench, I ran the CPU multi-core test again with the same results as the first run, but this time I recorded the e-core temps at 90-93 degrees the entire time (93 degrees being the max according to HWMonitor). This time around, I checked the running points during the pass and it was around 2020 for the whole duration of the pass. I stopped the tests for multi-core tests myself after 1 pass because the CPU package temps stayed at 100 the entire times... didn't want to make things worse.
Activating the core scheduler didn’t resolve the problem, and reinstalling Windows didn’t help either. After re-installing, Windows no longer remembers desktop view settings, which means icons won’t align to the grid. This isn’t a major concern, but it could become bothersome once the CPU issue is fixed.