F5F Stay Refreshed Hardware Desktop Which component is responsible for the problem? The motherboard or the CPU?

Which component is responsible for the problem? The motherboard or the CPU?

Which component is responsible for the problem? The motherboard or the CPU?

_
___ducky___
Member
Find
149
08-30-2020, 05:23 PM
#1
So I've been sharing updates on this matter quite frequently over the past few days. After some responses, I'm still unsure about the root cause. To give you the complete picture, the problem began roughly a week ago when my PC fans sounded unusually loud even when idle. Checking HWINFO showed temperatures in the high 60s during idle, and performance dropped significantly in games. Apart from that, everything else worked perfectly. I started this discussion seeking advice, which led me to believe most users blamed a defective MSI AIO cooler. I received a refund under warranty and ordered a ThermalRight Peerless Assassin to replace it. A few days later, the replacement cooler arrived along with a contact frame I had purchased. I began replacing the old cooler, removing the standard ILM around the CPU socket (without removing the CPU), cleaning, applying thermal paste as needed, and finally installing the new cooler. After plugging everything back in, the GPU didn't display output on my monitors—only on the one I connected to the integrated graphics.

I checked the device manager, and my RX 6800 XT wasn’t listed. Interestingly, a strange error appeared: "Driver not found" (Code 28). It seemed to have been there before but never noticed. I was advised to re-seat the GPU and try again. After doing so, the PC would boot, shut off, restart, and then come back on—sometimes failing to display anything at all. No error beeps or LED lights stayed lit for more than a second. It was possible it reached Windows, but it never showed up on my screens.

Eventually, I tried disassembling the GPU, testing RAM in different slots, and even breadboarding it out. All except one stick of RAM worked fine. After reinserting the GPU into one of the lower slots, it finally started to display output. But this was only a temporary fix. When I put it back into the top slot, it booted normally but still didn’t show anything.

I eventually concluded that the issue might have been caused by plugging the PC back in while the power cord was still connected—possibly due to a power surge or a loose connection. The /r/techsupport community suggested checking the top PCIE slot, which they thought could be damaged. They also mentioned that the GPU might have been affected during the cooler replacement.

However, I wasn’t sure about this, as I hadn’t moved the GPU out of its slot much. I also considered the possibility of a CPU issue, especially since I was working around it during the cooler swap. The new cooler improved idle temperatures by about 20 degrees, but without a GPU, I couldn’t test thermal performance properly.

I ran Cinebench to check for crashes, but it didn’t indicate any problems. Still, the thermal throttling at full load and the intermittent boot issues were concerning. I also noticed several "Metadata staging failed" errors in Event Viewer under DeviceSetupManager, though I wasn’t sure if that was related.

I bought both the CPU and motherboard around November 2022 on Amazon. I’m unsure whether I should get a refund for both or just one. The CPU cooler refund worked out, but I’m still trying to figure out what caused the persistent GPU display issues. My main question is: should I proceed with replacing the motherboard, or is there another more likely explanation?
Reply
Reply
_
___ducky___
08-30-2020, 05:23 PM #1

So I've been sharing updates on this matter quite frequently over the past few days. After some responses, I'm still unsure about the root cause. To give you the complete picture, the problem began roughly a week ago when my PC fans sounded unusually loud even when idle. Checking HWINFO showed temperatures in the high 60s during idle, and performance dropped significantly in games. Apart from that, everything else worked perfectly. I started this discussion seeking advice, which led me to believe most users blamed a defective MSI AIO cooler. I received a refund under warranty and ordered a ThermalRight Peerless Assassin to replace it. A few days later, the replacement cooler arrived along with a contact frame I had purchased. I began replacing the old cooler, removing the standard ILM around the CPU socket (without removing the CPU), cleaning, applying thermal paste as needed, and finally installing the new cooler. After plugging everything back in, the GPU didn't display output on my monitors—only on the one I connected to the integrated graphics.

I checked the device manager, and my RX 6800 XT wasn’t listed. Interestingly, a strange error appeared: "Driver not found" (Code 28). It seemed to have been there before but never noticed. I was advised to re-seat the GPU and try again. After doing so, the PC would boot, shut off, restart, and then come back on—sometimes failing to display anything at all. No error beeps or LED lights stayed lit for more than a second. It was possible it reached Windows, but it never showed up on my screens.

Eventually, I tried disassembling the GPU, testing RAM in different slots, and even breadboarding it out. All except one stick of RAM worked fine. After reinserting the GPU into one of the lower slots, it finally started to display output. But this was only a temporary fix. When I put it back into the top slot, it booted normally but still didn’t show anything.

I eventually concluded that the issue might have been caused by plugging the PC back in while the power cord was still connected—possibly due to a power surge or a loose connection. The /r/techsupport community suggested checking the top PCIE slot, which they thought could be damaged. They also mentioned that the GPU might have been affected during the cooler replacement.

However, I wasn’t sure about this, as I hadn’t moved the GPU out of its slot much. I also considered the possibility of a CPU issue, especially since I was working around it during the cooler swap. The new cooler improved idle temperatures by about 20 degrees, but without a GPU, I couldn’t test thermal performance properly.

I ran Cinebench to check for crashes, but it didn’t indicate any problems. Still, the thermal throttling at full load and the intermittent boot issues were concerning. I also noticed several "Metadata staging failed" errors in Event Viewer under DeviceSetupManager, though I wasn’t sure if that was related.

I bought both the CPU and motherboard around November 2022 on Amazon. I’m unsure whether I should get a refund for both or just one. The CPU cooler refund worked out, but I’m still trying to figure out what caused the persistent GPU display issues. My main question is: should I proceed with replacing the motherboard, or is there another more likely explanation?

Reply
Reply