Oh drat, these computers. They're so naughty and so complex.

I built my current PC in 2023, using the latest and "best" components available at the time.

Well, I bought most of the components at the end of 2022, but had to wait for a suitable PSU to become available, which arrived early 2023.

Processor - Intel 13900k

Motherboard - Asus Z790-E

GPU - MSI Suprim X 24gb RTX 4090

RAM - Corsair Vengeance 6200mhz

PSU - Corsair RM SHIFT 1200w

SSD -

Samsung 980 Pro 1tb

Samsung 980 Pro 1tb

WD SM850 Black 1tb

WD SM850 Black 1tb

The setup had been working perfectly up until October 2024, when my power supply failed. It simply would not turn on. It would blow the fuse in the plug immediately.

Annoying, but not a huge problem. The Corsair RM Shift 1200 has a 10 year warranty. I contacted my place of purchase ( Scan.co.uk ) and sent them an email and photographs of the product and serial number. They initiated an RMA, collected the product, and replaced it all within a week. The issue likely occurred due to some electrical work being done in the kitchen. Apparently the room my computer is located in (above the kitchen) is on the same electrical circuit as the kitchen! The electricians short circuited something, but didn't think too much of it at the time.

Anyway, PSU replaced, back up and running... Until mid July 2025.

WINDOWS UPDATE FAILED!

I have not had a Windows update fail since the XP days, and that was mainly because I made a lot of system tweaks to XP.

Not to worry, I thought. I can simply roll back to the previous update, or use system restore... but no! Neither options were working. Very unusual.

I was worried I'd have to do a clean install, which meant I would lose my files on my OS drive. I couldn't let that happen. That would be my final resort.

I downloaded the latest Windows 11 ISO, and it allowed my to do an in-place upgrade. It basically reinstalls Windows, and keeps your personal files. It worked!

The next Windows update comes by, and that installs fine too. Phew!

Then late August 2025, another Windows update is installed. KB5063878. It fails.

My computer can no longer boot into Windows. "Attempting to undo changes" message at boot. It's stuck in a loop! Unable to get in via safe mode. I can access recovery tools, system restore... but selecting them does nothing. I can get to command prompt in recovery tools, and using DISKPART I can see my drives. So I shove a USB stick in, and use cmd prompt to copy over my files from my OS drive onto my USB stick. My documents, Appdata... all the important stuff I need. I figured I'll do a clean install of Windows.

Once again, I download the Windows 11 ISO and make a bootable USB stick. I attempt installing Windows, but it fails. Multiple attempts. One time it installed, but operation was very sluggish and received various error messages - "I/O error", "page file not found", "system service exception", "class not registered". WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

I check the Windows 11 subreddit. Multiple reports of people claiming that this update has either bricked or caused their SSDs to become unstable. My OS SSD, WD SN850 is mentioned amongst them. I am furious! MICROSOFT, HOW DARE YOU BREAK MY SSD!!!

I wait a week for updates from tech reviewers who claim to have reproduced the issue, manufacturers, and Microsoft, to see what the solution will be. Microsoft said they are investigating, and eventually say there are no issues.

So what is it, what is causing all of these random error messages?

Then I though... these error messages are so random, they don't relate to any singular component. The errors could be multiple components. "page file not" found is usually a RAM or hdd/ssd error. But my disks were showing as healthy, and I was able to read/write data to it via command prompt.

I ran memtest, and the results came back perfect. 0 errors with RAM.

Could it be? My processor? The dreaded 13th/14th gen Intel CPU degradation issues?

I first heard about the issues in June 2024, and kept my eye on it and ensured my BIOS was up to date any time they rolled out a patch to assist with the issues.

I hadn't experienced any issues with my processor at that time (or so I thought).

Common symptoms people were having included:

NVIDIA GPU drivers failing to install/failing to unpack

Games crashing when compiling shaders with the error "not enough video memory"

But I did not experience this at all. My drivers would update fine, my games would run perfectly.

But there was another symptom which I had not paid attention to. Web browser tabs randomly "crashing" with the error "status access violation".

It would only happen to me like four times a month, so I didn't think much of it. But this was an early sign of CPU degradation.

So that explains the reason why Windows eventually started failing to update, and unable to clean install.

Thankfully Intel had extended the warranty for 13th and 14th gen processors due to this issue. I contacted Intel, and they initiated a RMA, collected the faulty processor, and sent a replacement, all within a week of contacting them.

I replaced the processor, and all is working as expected!