Troubleshooting PC Nightmares: A Cautionary Tale of Overclocking Woes
If you’ve ever experienced the nightmare of a malfunctioning PC, you’re not alone. Recently, I faced a dilemma that left me seeking help from the proverbial “Reddit gods.” After investing my hard-earned savings into a prebuilt gaming tower, I found myself in a frustrating situation that has me scratching my head.
My Setup:
– Processor: Intel i5 9600k
– Graphics Card: GTX 1080
– Motherboard: ASRock Z390 Extreme
– Memory: 16GB DDR4 RAM
– Storage: SSD/HDD combo
For a solid two months, this rig ran without a hitch. It was a dream come true, particularly as I geared up for streaming. However, in a moment of overconfidence, I decided to indulge in overclocking my CPU. Initially, this decision seemed to pay off; Task Manager reported a stable 4.88GHz overclock that maintained good temperatures and performance.
But then the troubles began. After relocating my tower upstairs, I started experiencing random Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) events, specifically the “WHEA UNCORRECTABLE ERROR” (with an error code around 0x124b). These crashes could occur while idle or during gaming sessions, significantly derailing my plans.
To troubleshoot, I ran a series of stress tests, focusing on the CPU and RAM, which passed without issues. I even attempted to revert my overclock settings within the UEFI, but to my surprise, the system continued to run at the previous overclocked state, despite loading the default settings.
In my quest for resolution, I even performed a clean installation of Windows to eliminate any software conflicts that might contribute to the BSODs. Unfortunately, this proved fruitless, as the problem persisted.
I’m not completely inexperienced with PCs, but I feel baffled and unsure about what steps to take next. The thought of potentially damaging my CPU is unsettling, yet I doubt this is the source of the issue. Moreover, the GPU seems to be functioning well, so I’m considering running a check disk on both my SSD and HDD to eliminate storage concerns.
As I continue to navigate this troubleshooting journey, my hope is to find a solution that allows me to fully enjoy my gaming and streaming setup again, rather than being plagued by persistent blue screens. If anyone has insight or similar
Share this content:
It sounds like you’re experiencing common issues related to CPU overclocking and system stability. Since you mentioned that reverting BIOS Settings hasn’t taken effect and the system still runs at overclocked speeds, I recommend checking the following: