Z690e wont post (7F, 55, 0D, 00) after new AIO cooler install

[Grizzlyont]

Hello all, as the title suggest I am now without a working PC after installing a new AIO and fans.

*7F appear most prominent at start and end of almost every boot. Inconsistent boots ranging from instantly shutting off, to almost making it to bios but shutting off right before. Seeing other codes like 55, 0D, 00, 3C, b6, A0. Farthest i can get into boot seems to display a red and green qled light, only teasing boot screen before turning off abruptly*

PC worked flawless prior to upgrade. Now I am stuck without being able to boot. Ive taken 2 videos of the inconsistent boots which I will show below. Typically after 1 long almost boot, I immediately get the instance shut off boot the next time I try. The reset seems to be turning off power supply/reset cmos mobo button.

Ive tried the standard troubleshooting. Removed ram, tried 1 ram, tried all different ram slots. Removed GPU, reset cmos multiple times, checked connections, unplugged all USBs.

Today I am thinking I will try replacing the CMOS battery, but I'm not confident this will do the trick as my PC is no more than a year or two old tops.

Im grasping at straws here, any help is greatly appreciated.

I9 13900k, RTX 4080, Corsair Dominator DDR5, NZXT Kraken 360 elite

https://youtube.com/shorts/pKOPt9BPcE0?si=8khKY9JONjHAXM9b

At this point I'd offer up a PayPal reward for the one who issues the fixing suggestion. I am desperate

[Nate152 · Accepted solution]

Hello Grizzlyont

Since the issue happened after installing your Kraken 360 Elite, this could be pointing to uneven mounting pressure of the waterblock, or the waterblock is too tight.

If you didn't remove the cpu, the socket pins should be ok.

Try remounting your water block, go diagonal with each screw a little at a time until the screws are just snug, don't over tighten.

Clear the cmos again for good measure afterwards.

See if this gets your pc booting normally.

[Grizzlyont]

Thanks for the response,

The problem was indeed within the install. Specifially the standoffs. I thought they could just transfer over considering they looked exactly the same, nope! Just a tiny bit of gappage between aio and cpu, so it wasn't getting proper connection.

Thanks!