Intel may offer a tool to diagnose dying Raptor Lake processors

Why it matters: Intel recently started delivering what will hopefully be a final solution to the stability issues that have been affecting 13th and 14th generation processors for months. However, owners must still return their chips so that the company can analyze them thoroughly. If the test could be distributed at home, some users could be spared the hassle.

Intel recently told Tom’s Hardware that it is exploring the possibility of developing and releasing a tool to help users detect software bugs that have caused problems with 13th and 14th generation Raptor Lake processors throughout the year. The company has addressed this issue with patches and a generous return policy, but diagnostic software can still help.

Anyone with affected processors with a TDP above 65W should install Intel microcode updates regardless of their current status. Contact your motherboard manufacturer to receive the updates that come with new BIOS versions. Intel also recommends using the company’s default power settings.

Unfortunately, processors that have already begun to hang due to bugs that Intel has identified as resulting from multiple issues in the microcode and IA core must be replaced because the damage is permanent. Intel and various hardware vendors have extended their warranties for package processors and PCs with Raptor Lake chips, but the RMA program is something of a lottery.

Still, failures can happen for a myriad of reasons, and Intel needs to confirm whether the faulty processors it receives are affected by issues it has engineered through patches. Meanwhile, customers are temporarily left without a working processor.

If a home-use tool could help users determine whether something else is causing their processors to fail, it could save some customers from unnecessary RMA costs. Intel has not yet confirmed whether it could release such a test, but it could introduce an additional source of relief and potentially minimize the flow of defective products.

Fortunately, Intel has confirmed that these microcode errors do not affect the latest generations of processors – Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake. We hope that the company will be able to resolve the issue, restore confidence in its products and begin to recover from its recent problems.

In other Intel news, disappointing results at the company’s foundry division recently forced it to split the sector into an independent division and fend off multiple takeover bids. Intel also rejected Arm’s offer to buy the chip division, and sources say Qualcomm was also trying to acquire part of Chipzilla.