Asus Maximus VI Hero no boot.

[Shurrekin]

Hey this is my first build and here are the specs.
Intel i7 4790k
32gb G.Skill
Gigabyte 970
Asus Maximus VI Hero
Seasonic 460w fanless PSU
Toshiba 256gb ssd

What the issue is, is the computer will not boot. I have turned it on before when I was bench testing it and it all worked. Every fan was moving and everything was working fine. I went and updated the drivers for the my 970 which was on at the time. After the reset and I went back into windows 8.1 it was fine. 5 minutes later into it, the whole system turned off unexpectedly. I gave a fresh re-install to windows 8.1 (I don't know if that was the problem), and nothing. I have reset the CMOS battery about 4-5 times to see if that would do anything. My power supply is sufficient enough to power everything. I even took everything out and re-did everything. I also updated the bios after resetting it to 1606 which is the newest bios update for the Asus Maximus VI Hero. I have taken each and every dimm out and put in one by one with the GPU in and the GPU out. It would not boot at all with any in but it would boot with the GPU unplugged. I made sure that every cable is plugged in even the CPU 4+4 pin connector and the motherboard 24-1 pin connector. I have tried to see if the GPU would turn on without the CPU cables being plugged in (getting very desperate right now lol) and nothing. I'm starting to think if the GPU died after the second boot or something else is the issue. ALSO, I tried plugging in the 970 into another PCI-E slot to see if that would do anything. I think I attempted to turn off the Integrated Graphics so it would try and get signal from the 970 but no boot. I don't get any Q_Code so that is no help. :mad::mad: If nothing pops up I will try to RMA the 970 back and get a new one.

[Nate152]

Hello Shurrekin

Welcome to the ROG forum !

Your psu is not quite enough, the gtx 970 calls for a minimum of a 500w power supply. The fact you are not getting a q code is not a good sign and this can be one of two things, the psu or the motherboard.

Running an under powered psu is not good thing, it can damage the psu as well as other components and let's hope only the psu was affected.

The first thing to try would be a higher wattage psu. Even though the gtx 970 calls for a minimum of a 500w psu it's good to give it some headroom. A 600w would be good but If you're going to be overclocking a 700w - 750w would be better.

You need a higher wattage psu anyway so if you will be overclocking look at a 700w - 750w. Seasonic is a good quality brand, be sure to get at least a gold rated or higher. The more headroom you give your psu the cooler and quieter it will run and the longer it will last.

So get you a higher wattage psu and see if that gets you going, if it doesn't get you going then you will have to rma your motherboard.

[Shurrekin]

Right so I did what you told me, so I went out and got a cx750m. I hooked everything up and now I'm getting q-code 99 and q-code A2.
99 Obviously means super IO initialization (not sure what that means lol) and A2 IDE Detect.

[Nate152]

Thank you

Getting codes is now a good sign !

The A2 along with the 99 code is usually gpu related. Make sure you have the pcie power cables connected to your gtx 970 and you have the monitor cable connected to your gtx 970 as well.

[Shurrekin]

I put another cable so its two separate 6 pin and 6+2 pin in. It doesn't have a signal now but it isn't displaying anything on the graphics card and the
integrated graphics... It stays on AE and it moves on to AO. Should I reset the CMOS battery cause I tried to mess around but not sure what I did...

[Shurrekin]

I checked all the connections and not seeing any difference... Matter of a fact I just noticed that the fans from the GTX 970 aren't spinning (not sure if thats normal.)
I formatted my windows off the ssd (I didn't have anything on it anyways) to see if that would make a difference (I saw it in a different post)...

[Nate152]

All right

make sure you have the 6 pin and 8 pin pcie cables connected.

Try all 3 types of cables hdmi, dvi and display port.

[Nate152]

A0 is what you want to see and means everything is working like it should but no display?

Have you tried all 3 monitor cables in your gtx 970? One at a time of course.

If you have then yes power down your pc, turn the psu switch off and take the cmos battery out for 10 minutes.

We're getting closer. 🙂

[Shurrekin]

I have some unpleasant news. After sometime now, I did reset the CMOS battery and no dice. I am now stuck at A2 again but no 99 this time. The 970's fans are not spinning and I was feeling the top of it.
It was uncomfortable heat. I'm starting to think that the 970 is dead. I'm not sure.

[Shurrekin]

I only have one connection for the 970 which is the HDMI connection (I threw away a DVI cable that I didn't have a connection for on my older computer lol)
I will reset it.
If that is what it is then :). I will report soon