Asus Maximus Extreme & Hero Error 55.

[Luis00014]

So, to start off this is not my first time building my own pc, I have also helped a friend with 2 of his builds and together with the 5 builds I have done for myself before buying the Asus Z790 mobos I have never had these many problems.

One more thing, I have a degree in computer and electronics engineering, and like I wrote before, never have I seen so many problems with mobos.

I bought first an Asus Z790 Maximus extreme mobo back in December but it was having problems dissipating heat from the CPU, a brand new i9 13900k, and also gave me the error code 55. I was able to get it to windows 10 with 1 and 2 sticks on the DIMM B2 & B1 slots. Tried all other combos and got error 55.

I bought 2 different sets of DDR5 ram, which later an Asus rep told me were not compatible but nvm mind that because I bought two brand new sets of 2 x 32 DDR5 ram that were in the Asus list and those also have given me the same errors. In my experience as far as you use Ram that overall is supported by the mobo, such as being DDR4 or DDR5, and as long as the max speed of the ram does not exceed the max the mobo was built for I have never had an issue with buying ram that is "not in the Asus list."

BTW, I made sure all ram I bought, even the sets that are not in the Asus compatibility list, were Intel XMP ready, they were DDR5 and no more than 6400 even though these mobos are supposedly able to run with much faster ram. (7000 I think, can't recall off my head)

I have built in the past other Asus mobos such as using the Asus X99-A and ROG Maximus XI Extreme among others and as I wrote before never have I seen so many problems before with mobos.

Anyway, after being on for about 5 minutes or so the pc would go to the "Blue Screen of Death" and crash because of the temp.

I tried two different coolers, including a brand new one and both were working, as I could put my hand on the hoses and they were working and cool and even the case was cool, but the cpu kept overheating. I returned that MOBO and bought another one which arrived broken. The plastic that covers the digital display for error codes was broken. Mind these are brand new mobos and I don't know since when but every new Asus mobo I got was not inside an anti-static bag like they used to be, but anyway.

Even though the mobo was broken I installed the cpu with new cooler, & the ram to see if it would return the same errors and it did. I returned that mobo as well, both bought through Amazon. Although the cpu did not overheat I kept getting the error 55 and since it arrived broken I sent it back. I returned the cpu as well and bought a brand new one because it is possible for the cpu to also give these memory errors, but this time I decided to try to buy an Asus Z790 hero which is the last one I bought but this one also keeps giving me the error 55 code.

The things I tried with all mobos:

Cleared CMOs, flashed/updaintg the Bios and took out the battery for over 5 minutes to make sure. Also tried resetting BIOS to manufacturing settings.

Tried 2 different coolers, including a brand new Corsair H150i Elite LCD and both work, on the first mobo as well as the following which i tried on the other two mobos.

Resetting the cpu. Checking the pins in the cpu slot in the mobos with a magnifying glass and taking pics with my cell phone so i could zoom in checking all pins. If i just saw one pin just a bit bent I fixed it.
Repasted the cpu even with the Kryonaut extreme thermal grizzly paste and made sure i didn't put too much torque or not enough when placing the cooler on the cpu.

I tried 4 different sets of ram, yes 2 were supposedly not compatible but we all know this isn't necessarily true. But again, I returned the original ram that were supposedly not compatible and bought 2 more sets of 2x 32 DDR5 ram, I always buy two sets of Ram in case of problems with one set, that are compatible and in the Asus list but those also have given me the error 55. The last two sets of 2X32 DDR5-6400 Ram I bought are on the Asus compatible list: F5-6400J3239G32GX2-TZ5RS

I used two different cpus i9 13900k but it seems to be the mobos that are the problem.

I tried setting XMP to off and to XmpI and XMPII.
i disabled MRC "fast boot" and also tried it with fast boot on.
Set DRAM VDD & VDDQ voltage to 1.30000 as well as the standard 1.40000
Set Dram to 6400, and to 6200 . The max for the ram being 6400.
Set PMIC voltages to "by per PMIC"

I tried taking off the graphics card, an RTX Geforce 4090, as well as taking off peripherals, but always left cooler and ram and tried different combinations of puting ram in the various slots. Tried using 1 stick of Ram, 2, sticks, and even 3 and 4 just to check. Like i wrote before I tried this with in total 4 sets of 2X 32 DDR5-6400 ram Intel XMP ready. i know when puting two sticks of ram they are supposed to go int the correct slots such as using 1 stick in A2, 2 sticks in B2 and A2, etc. But i also tried other combinations.

In the Asus Z790 Hero mobo the only slot where the ram would be recognized was on the B2 dimm slot. On the B1 Dimm slot the system would loop in the error list and would never stop until I turned it off. The A2 and A1 Dimm slots gave both error 55.

I tried setting the new ME, always ME download first, and bios files found in the Asus website. BTW, the pc came with newer ME files and tried both the old ME files and the new one with the Bios files found in the mobo/the original manufactured settings and the one in the Asus website.

Anyway, i checked online and a lot, and I mean a lot of people are reporting these very same problems. never before have i seen so many people reporting these error 55/memory problem errors with a mobo.

I am not sure how many users in the forum have had the problems I have encountered with these mobos, but I wanted to see if anyone has been able to solve this issue.

BTW, one last thing, I know that Asus had a big problem with the z690 mobos because in several mobos they actually had installed a capacitor with the polarity reversed which caused several Z690 mobos to overheat and eventually even burned the capacitor and part of the circuit board. I checked the same capacitor on the Z790 mobos and they were all installed with the right polarity.

Yes, I do know that the problem with the capacitor that the Z690 mobos had has nothing to do with the memory problem i have with the Z790 mobos but I just checked as well just in case.
If i had the schematics to how the other electronics components are supposed to be installed I would have checked everything else as well.

i am starting to suspect something similar to what happened with the Z690 mobos is happening with many of the Z790 mobos, but of course it is not the capacitor that burned the z690 mobos.

What could be causing this, and imo is also the most likely reason this is happening, is the pressure plate for the CPU in the mobo are bent/warped OR the circuit boards for a batch or more of these mobos are bent/warped. It is possible several Z790 mobos got the pressure plate bent/warped, or the curcuit boards themselves are bent/warped, and this is causing the pins not to sit correctly on the cpu.

Has anyone tried using an anti-bending pressure plate such as the Thermalright Intel 12th/13th Generation LGA1700 Anti-Bending Buckle, Curved Pressure Plate? I know using one of these would void the warranty but this could very well be the problem.

if anyone has been able to solve these problems please let me know and let me know what you did. Thanks.

[JohnAb]

I can only suggest trying the 13900 with just 2 sticks for now - 4 sticks are more prone to issues. If stable with 2 sticks then you at least have a baseline that you can work from, adjust voltages etc.

[Luis00014]

The problem is that the only 2 slots that recognize the memory are B1 and B2, and when puting the two sticks in those slots that are recognized i get memory error 55. i can only put one stick on either B1 or B2 and still the system is not stable. As I get BSOD every 5 minutes or so or in about an hour or so.

BTW, here what another Asus user says fixed his/her memory problems. His/hers is the third response in the forum I am giving a link to below.

"User avatar
level 1
MN_Moody
Monthly Top 10% Karma+2 ·
1 mo. ago

Contact frame, I won't even build a socket 1700 rig without one after having a nightmare of RAM compatibility issues with an early socket 690 board and 12700k that boiled down to uneven pin pressure between the CPU and socket pins with the stock locking mechanism."
https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comments/10ebft4/z790_13900k_memory_error_pc_does_not_post/

Other people say the same in other forums. He is talking about using either Thermalright or grizzly pressure plate like this one, which supposedly can be used for 12th or 13th gen mobos.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5Q34SZ1?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

BTW, a lot of people are also reporting that the thermalright pressure plate is better, but that might be an opinion. However a lot of people say the pressure plate is also solving overheating problems with the i9 13900 cpus, or that it helps them cool the cpu more.

One more thing. While some people are also reporting that the screws that come with the pressure plate work perfectly, others are saying they had to buy 3/8 screws from Home Depot to properly install the pressure plate to their mobos.

[JohnAb]

Interesting - perhaps that's a good way to get stability then. If true, it seems amazing to me that Intel would design a CPU/socket combo that allows distortion and poor contact. I can only think that there are so many pins in modern CPU sockets that the force generated by those tiny little contact points add up and cause distortion. It makes sense I suppose. Twice the contact points = twice the force to keep it down at same pressure = more distortion. Are you planning on trying a contact plate?

[Luis00014]

JohnAb wrote:
Interesting - perhaps that's a good way to get stability then. If true, it seems amazing to me that Intel would design a CPU/socket combo that allows distortion and poor contact. I can only think that there are so many pins in modern CPU sockets that the force generated by those tiny little contact points add up and cause distortion. It makes sense I suppose. Twice the contact points = twice the force to keep it down at same pressure = more distortion. Are you planning on trying a contact plate?

Yes, on Monday I am receiving a Thermalright cpu pressure plate and will try it whenever I receive it. Also, last night I lowered the ram frequency to 3500, my ram frequency is 6400, and was able to play a couple games with one stick of ram 32gb ddr5. I left the pc on all night and it hasn't crashed so far. However after windows and all the programs loaded I still got a message that "your pc has memory problems."

[JohnAb]

Frustrating, but hope the pressure plate works,,,,

[Luis00014]

JohnAb wrote:
Frustrating, but hope the pressure plate works,,,,

Actually, I had been trying to return the mobo, since it was within the 30 days to return it but the seller hasn't been responding to my emails and doesn't answer his cell phone, so I reported it to Walmart.

I just talked with Walmart again, just 3 mins ago, and they just approved the return of the mobo. So I will return and try one more time getting another mobo. However, not sure whether to try another Z790 Maximus hero or some other Z790 mobo.

I have already tried with 2 Asus Maximus Extreme, and this hero all of them Z790. For a while was thinking about getting a Z690 mobo, but it seems quite a lot of people are also having problems with that mobo, also memory problems, and since that mobo also has a massive manufacturer defect, several of the Z690 mobos had a capacitor installed with the wrong polarity which eventually caused mobos to set on fire/burn I am not going to buy one of those either.

So i am left with either keeping my old pc and wait a while for new mobos which should come out later on this year, or waiting until Asus fixes the problems, or try my luck again with another Z790 mobo. Choices, choices...

It is a shame thou, when comparing the Z790 Maximus hero, or extreme, with other similar mobos like the "Asus ROG Strix Z790-F Gaming WiFi" the Z790 hero wins as per the vs website.

https://versus.com/en/asus-rog-maximus-z790-hero-vs-asus-rog-strix-z790-f-gaming-wifi

[iBruceypoo]

Gee, that board needs to be returned under 3yr warranty.

I grabbed the Thermal Grizzly contact frame way too expensive, even on sale it was $40. Yikes, but superstitious I guess, didn't want any component from Thermalright used in my work pc, I didn't want to anger the Hardware Gods - really kinda silly. :rolleyes: Also, thought the guy on youtube was joking when he claimed a 10C drop in CPU thermals by simply adding a contact frame, yet the more I read about them, maybe it's possible.

Still have not mounted the TG frame, still using the Intel stock mounting mechanism. 🙂

[arabesc]

I've had the same issue.
I have an ASUS Z690 Formula m/b, a 12900K CPU and a G.Skill Trident Z5 Memory 2x16 GB memory kit. The system had worked without issues. I've upgraded the CPU to a 13900KS and had got the 55 memory error. Only one RAM stick had worked in a bank B, the second stick in a bank A caused the error during the POST. I had loosened and tightened a CPU cooler, it didn't affect anything. I had checked the old 12900K then and the system had worked ok with it. It was a good sign that means the m/b isn't damaged. I've took the 13900KS, cleared its contact pad with a cotton swab and isopropyl, installed it to the m/b and - it works, the system passes the POST with the two RAM sticks installed.
So, my thoughts on that. Either the CPU contact pads are oxidized and need to be cleared a bit (someone stole the gold plating) or there is some little backlash between the CPU contact pads and the m/b pins. I would suggest to clear the CPU contact pad before install, slightly and carefully (!) move the CPU in a socket from side to side during install for better contact between the CPU pads and the m/b pins.

[Silent_Scone]

Thanks for sharing. Dropping a channel in this fashion is often a contact pad or general contact pressure issue 👍