X570 Taichi Issues

Let us know what happens with the 5600x. Reading through your post I was going to
suggest you try another CPU given the symptoms but it seems you are already on the
same page

Good luck.

Hi All!

So a follow up on my debugging tour...

1. I have tried to use M.2 slot 1 with both of my NVMe drives. They worked. So I had to switch to my old arrangament. My system drive in the 1st and the gaming drive in the 2nd slot. Possible cause is the precision sensitive mounting and the huge heatsink issue. What did I find as the possible rootcause:
- After inserting my 2280 format NVMe into the 1st slot it is easily displaced by the huge M.2 heatsink of the motherboard. The heatsink and the 1st M.2 drive shares the same screw. So I had a small ~15 cm long plastic crowbar, which I used after properly installing my dive to hold it down while I mount the heatsink. This way I could keep it in one place.
- I was really unlucky, because I have tried to install my NVMe at least 6 times before. So I have came to the wrong conclusion, that the 1st M.2 is slot is not functional. What I could not understand back then, why was the termal pad near the screwhole thinned out and torn a bit. Now I know why. It stuk to the NVMe drive as I installed the heatsink, moved/pulled it (disconnecting the drive) and also thinning the pad.
My conclusion: The huge heatsink looks good, but actually it hinders the users when it comes to ease-of-use. ASRock sacreficed functionality and usability for aesthetics. The 1st M.2 port should have it's own standoff with a dedicated screw and a new separate mounting stand for the heatsink.
Also, I am not 100% sure but I know bad cooler mounting can lead to CPU issues on AM4. What I have seen my cooler have been tightened hard and a bit uneven. It had a significantly greater tightness on the side closer the the GPU. I only have 2 thumbcrews so I don't have any stepping or reference, when I am tightening. But I have noticed it during dissassembly. When installing the 5600x and the 3800x I watched out to achieve the most uniform mounting pressure as possible with less final torque on the nuts.

2. I could reproduce the errors instantly. I could not watch a single 13 min long video on the net, because I got my old errors back (Status access violation) and some others. Application crashes and general instability issues.

3. After a two week period me and my couple had only 1 crashes each. Nothing else. I believe, that was acceptable as we did a swap of processors, but we left our system settings unchanged. We set the memory and basic setting back in our UEFIs.

So what I could gather:
- My motherboard works just fine, at least no functional defect can be found
- My CPU works well in a different motherboard (MSI B550M PRO WIFI)
- My couples CPU works well in my system

So based on my this I could rule out my 1. conclusion, that my CPU has a defect. The only thing was my motherboard left. But the picture wasn't black and white. It functioned well with the 5600x. So what is the difference? Naturally the UEFI. I am running 4.80 (my favourite was 2.70). So I have checked the install notes for the UEFI and it states, that you can simply update the BIOS, when using a 5000X CPU, but you must flash, when using a 3000X CPU. I have flashed 4.80 as the manual describes and I have started testing.

My previous problems have vanished. No chrome crashes, no rnadom instability, no memory related issues, no status access violation.....
I had a crash in a week. I wish to note, that I have a 6900XT with 22.11.2, which is known to introduce black screen, that may escalate into a crash sometimes. This issue is clearly different and it can be identified instantly. My PC now can play videos in a browser, can be left alone, it will go into sleep if allowed.

Root Cause:
- improperly installed UEFI, that caused widespread system errors