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2 year old Maximus VII Gene throws 00 error - help me diagnose the problem

WhyDoesMyStuffB
Level 7
Dear users,

I am encountering an 00 error on my mainboard since a couple of days and have not managed to get it to successfully boot since. I am running out of things to try and so I would like to hear your opinion.

What’s the problem, briefly?
My computer’s screen remains black. All fans are spinning, at full speed (like they do briefly on startup). The CPU LED is on. Nothing else is happening; no image on screen, no power for my USB devices, etc.



How did this happen?
Two days ago I came back to my desk when my PC’s screen was black. I thought it had gone to sleep mode, but wouldn’t wake up. So I rebooted it. The screen did not light up again, so I rebooted a couple of times more to no effect.

Then the screen sprang on one time, giving an error during booting about some CPU overlocking settings that was not recognized or supported (I do not remember the exact description I’m afraid). It prompted me to go into BIOS to make changes, so I entered the BIOS and tried to set everything to default. Mind you, I never did any overclocking (at least not that I'm aware of; I was using the AI suite though and have read that it might cause problems?). This did not fix the problem.

I opened the case and I think I saw that the CPU and case fans were not spinning, however the GPU fan was; the PC was eerily quiet. The mainboard LED was showing ‘00’.

A couple of reboots later I briefly got to the Windows loading screen. Since then I’ve had no display anymore.

I let the PC cool off for a while. Ever since then the behavior is identical when I start it: all fans start spinning at full speed, GPU seems to turn on, nothing happens on the screen, CPU LED is on, and the error code 00 is displayed.



What could I do so far?
* Swapped the RAM, changed RAM slots, and PSU.
* Reset CMOS.
* Checked whether all power cables (to CPU, fans, etc) are properly seated.
* Used Flashback to update BIOS through USB port. LED indicated succesful flashback, but problem did not go away.
* I can’t currently swap the CPU because I don’t have another i7 in reach.



What prior problems did this PC have?
Last year I have had trouble with random, completely unpredictable reboots. These were fixed with a BIOS update. When trying to fix this problem I did a lot of stress tests on CPU and PSU, and they didn’t even break a sweat.



What PC is this?
~2 year old custom build
Mainboard: ASUS Maximus Gene VII
CPU: i7 4970k
GPU: MSI GTX970 4G
RAM: 16GB (2x8GB G. Skill Trident (will look up details when back home))
SSD: Samsung SSD
PSU: Be Quiet (Straight Power, 500W)
Noctua CPU fan and case fans (3x), connected to PWM


Please advise
My hunch is that the mainboard is broken, since I’ve had already problems with the board one year ago and back then ruled out CPU/PSU. But this is no proof, and the board was still receptive to flashback updates.

Does this look like a mainboard or a CPU problem? Is there a way to decide between the two possibilities without getting a replacement CPU? What could I still try to narrow down the problem?


And relatedly, in case I should buy another board, does it make sense to buy another board with the same CPU socket or are these considered old iron already?
292 Views
12 REPLIES 12

Hello everyone,

I am sorry it's been a while.

I wanted to RMA my mainboard but unfortunately I could not get it out of the case; I damaged a screw, gut frustrated in the process, and decided to just order a new mainboard and case (a sweet Fractal Design Node 804).


Installed everything on the new mainboard and it runs as sweet as ever now! So I guess it was really the mainboard.

Nate152
Moderator
Sorry to hear you had to buy a new board but good to hear you're back up and running.

Nate152 wrote:
Sorry to hear you had to buy a new board but good to hear you're back up and running.



Well it gave me an excuse to buy a nice case, so that's something 😉