Asus Maximus Hero POST Problems: Heaps of different Q Codes

[Moejoe]

So after some time now i wanted to build a new system but the problem just keep coming....

Hardware used at this point.

Intel Core i7 4770k
Asus Maximus VI Hero
G.Skill Trident 2400/Cl 10-12-12-31
AMD Radeon 290
Samsung SSD 840
Be Quiet! Power Zone 650W

Coolers: Kraken X40 for the GPU and a Coolermaster Seidon 240m for the CPU.

USB Devices: Keyboard, Mouse, Transcend 16gb Flash Drive

The Problem:

After putting everthing together, no matter what i do, i cannot get a stable POST procedure. Sometimes i can get into UEFI, but most of the time it freezes in one seemingly random Q Code. I believe chances are higher when no storage devices are connected, but i'm not really sure, since sometimes it posts even with them. Even though i think i never had a successfull POST when both the SSD and the Flash Drive were connected/dectected.

Q-Codes i had up till now: 99, 94, d4, 34, A2(with black screen), AE (with black screen), b4 and probably even some more i cannot remember...

Even without any USB Devices the POST isn't stable... so i am kinda at my wits end as to what is the problem. Any Help would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Also the Board sometimes cycles through 15 to 99 for 5 times.

[HiVizMan]

I would still be of the view that it is power related. You have clearly identified where we need to look.

Could you try the vga in a different PCIe lane.

[Moejoe]

Nearly broke windows, but POSTing now is no problem. Guess my first PCIe slot is broken then...
Is there any downside to using the second slot? Because if there is i'll have to RMA that board.

Edit: Actually it broke windows entirely, cannot get it to start properly. But this is probably just due to the amount of changes to the VGA. I'll reinstall it to confirm.
Even though i still find it strange that the PCI slot is only troubling POST but works just fine under windows.

[Moejoe]

Nearly broke windows, but POSTing now is no problem. Guess my first PCIe slot is broken then...
Is there any downside to using the second slot? Because if there is i'll have to RMA that board.

[HiVizMan]

OK do a clean install of Windows and report back how it goes.

If your first PCie slot is broke, then I would ram the board.

However the PCIe controller is on your CPU so it could be your CPU is broke and not the board. We have no way of knowing.

But once you have installed the OS, please do try PCIe 1 again just in case it was only OS related.

[Moejoe]

Alright, i did a quick and dirty reinstall and everything worked perfectly.

After doing that i changed to the upper slot again and instantly i got an Q-Code 94 freeze. Changed it back to the second x16 slot and it posted fine. Well guess this board is going back then. Maybe it is an actual electrical problem in the PCI-E slot; still strange that this is only causing problems during post.

In any Case, thank you very much for you time and help it was invaluable.

But if you think i should test something additonal feel free to tell me!

Edit: While in Windows the motherboard actually now shows a Q-Code 40 instead of A0 (which i thought it should). It isn't listed in the manual, dunno if that has anything to say.

[HiVizMan]

That is fine, q-code 40. Do you have AIsuite installed by any chance? 😄

[Moejoe]

I'll try to download it quick, just tell me what to look for. But seems like windows is freezing after two minutes now... (but i haven't installed chipset drivers yet, so i don't know if that is related)

And now it is back to being entirely bricked. So... changing slots shifted the problem from the bios to the OS? It's getting strange again 😞

Edit: Or not... my god, why can't windows decide if it wants to die or not? But i think the freeze is unrelated. I've been running furmark for the last 10 minutes and its fine.

[HiVizMan]

Moejoe wrote:


And now it is back to being entirely bricked. So... changing slots shifted the problem from the bios to the OS? It's getting strange again 😞

Edit: Or not... my god, why can't windows decide if it wants to die or not? But i think the freeze is unrelated. I've been running furmark for the last 10 minutes and its fine.

Seriously you need to RMA the board. 🙂

[HiVizMan]

Nope do not bother. I was just asking. I am not a huge fan, but saying that AIsuite3 is a huge improvement over the older version.

[Moejoe]

I will RMA it, something is definitly broken there.

Got the AI Suite installed now, should i look something up?