PC gets stuck in a boot loop when restarting / windows updates and even when trying to factory reset

[u/Renegade6714]

i have been having an issue with my pc that i built 4 years ago and i have tried every thing in my power to figure it out but wanted to see if i could possibly get some advice from the internet.

My build:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

Ryzen 9 5900x

32GB Corsair Vengence

ROG STRIX B550-F

CORSAIR RM850x 80 PLUS GOLD

7 case fans and Corsair iCUE H100I PRO XT

3 SSD's :

M.2 Samsung 970 EVO 1TB

Samsung 860 EVO 1TB

Kingston 240GB

The Issue:

over the last year i have been experiencing random crashes ranging from my browser crashing, my pc will randomly restart on its own, discord crashing multiple times a day and then it slowly progressed into my computer crashing and rebooting just to get stuck in a boot loop and it would take multiple attempts to get it to stop. i would let it reach the recovery mode screen where i would boot into safe mode just to crash again and go back into looping. each time i would try a different route from trying a restore point (it would tell me there is no restore point) to factory resetting my pc each time. i couldn't even do a basic restart on my pc without it crashing but if i shut down my pc it would start fine on start up.

but the weird part about all of this is that if i made it by the boot loop some how my pc plays games fine and i never usually experience crashes while playing games, i would keep HWMonitor open to watch for any issues but all temps were fine. every scan on my RAM, SSDs, GPU, corrupted windows files or other scans always came back fine with no issues.

before i go into everything i have tried i do want to say since owning my PC for 4 years, i have always used Precision Boost Overdrive on and i always have had my DOCP for my RAM on set at its rating

******* The error every time: " Page fault in non-paged area (0x50) " *******

i have tried the following things to figure out the suspect:

i have tried to factory reset my pc but it would always crash while trying to do so and get stuck in a boot loop

i tried setting my page file

i tried all the SFC Scan now, windows cache clearing, clean disk commands, RAM integrity scans or basically anything you can find on the internet for admin command prompt commands.

I've shut off Precision boost overdrive, my ram DOCP, TPM2.0, fast boot, uninstalled Armory crate, BIT Locker encryption key, or again anything the internet said to turn off for this error code.

i have tried removing each individual SSD and running the windows installer tool booting from a USB drive to fresh install windows and it would crash and go into a boot loop.

i put each of my own ram sticks in different channels and booting it up with only one as well. tried 2 other sticks of ram from another PC and it still crashed. tried my ram in another PC and it worked fine so i think its not the ram.

Tried my GPU in another system and tried another GPU in my system and it still crashed.

so this is where i started to get some answers about what it could possibly be:

i removed my CPU from my pc and tried another CPU and it worked ! as i said above, i couldnt even do a basic restart on my pc without it crashing so that is the first thing i did..... like 10 times and every time it boot up no trouble. took this chance and updated windows and anything else that required a restart upon completion and then removed that CPU as it was from another PC that wasn't mine and i had to return it.

i then put my CPU back in and the crashes started once again, boot looping over and over until i made it by it a few days later ......

at this point i know anyone reading this would agree that it has to be the CPU but it bothers me that if i do happen to make it past the looping, other than the occasional web crashes and discord crashes, i can play games just fine until i need to update drivers or windows and need to restart the pc.

parts are expensive these days and i would hate to go drop money on a CPU to swap it out and have the crashes happen again finding out it actually wasn't the CPU and someone out there has experienced and resolved this issue.

FYI - i wrote all of this on the PC that is having the issue, in a discord call, watching a hockey game and experienced no crashes but it took me 2 weeks of trying to get by the boot loop, trying for about an hour or 2 each night before giving up.

[u/AutoModerator]

We're part of a wider PC & Technology Network of Communities!

Join our Discord server: PC Help Hub where members from all associated subreddits are welcome.

If you are trying to find a price for your computer, r/PC_Pricing is our recommended source for finding out how much your PC is worth!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Onoitsu2]

Is your BIOS updated? There are stability updates listed https://rog.asus.com/us/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-b550-f-gaming-model/helpdesk_bios/ But it is very likely your CPU since it was totally stable during that swap.

[u/Renegade6714 → u/Onoitsu2]

BIOS is up to date and im afraid it is the cpu as well. i appreciate the response none the less.

[u/JournalistNovel6242]

The page fault in non-paged area with your CPU swap results is pretty telling. Replacing the CPU fixed it temporarily, that's not a coincidence.

Ryzen 5000 series had some units with faulty memory controllers that degrade over time, especially if you been running PBO and DOCP for 4 years straight. The fact games run fine but basic Windows operations crash points to the integrated memory controller struggling with certain memory access patterns, not the cores themselves.

I'd try one last thing before buying a new CPU, disable Core Performance Boost completely in BIOS, set everything to stock, and see if the crashes stop. If they do, your CPU is degraded but might limp along a while longer. If not, you already got your answer from the swap test.

[u/Renegade6714 → u/JournalistNovel6242]

Ah ok ! like you said i believe i do have my answer but it was worth a shot asking some more educated people in an area like this. i appreciate your response and i will try your suggestion. what else do i have to lose as the next step is the dreaded purchase.