Crosshair V Formula Z unable to boot, Q code 99 Boot device LED

[Imperial_Guards]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post here and I could really use some help.

I am building a computer from scratch for the first time and have been having issues.
This is the second Formula-Z that I have tried (I RMA'd the last one due to the same issues).
When I power on, the system starts going through q-codes testing everything and it sometimes ends up on error 66 with the boot device LED on or (especially if I used the Mem OK button) it passes 66 and gets stuck at 99 (Super I/O Initialization) with the boot device LED on. For a while it would get to "AE" (Legacy Boot event), but it has not been there for the last few restart attempts.
Nothing appears on screen and I cannot enter bios. My monitor detects no signal.

Things I have tried (either on this board or the last one, same model):
Playing musical chairs with the RAM.
Playing musical chairs with only one stick of RAM.
Resetting the CMOS via button.
Resetting the CMOS via removing the battery.
Re-seating the video card.
Switching to a known working video card.
Using the Mem OK button.
Checking all of my power cords (4 pin, 8 pin, 24 pin, molex, and 2x8pins for video card).
Disconnecting HD and CD drive.
Sinking into a dark depression because I'm not allowed to have nice things.
Accusing ASUS of heresy.


My components:
Corsair 750D Case with 8 fans
AMD FX 9590
Noctua NH D-15
16 gigs (2x8) of Crucial Ballistix Elite (CAS 9) 1866 DDR3 RAM
XFX R9 Fury (air cooled) (I have also tried an Nvidia EVGA gtx 750ti SC)
WD Velociraptor, 1TB
LG Bluray drive
Seasonic 1200Watt Platinum
Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z, bios looks to be version 2101 (last 4 digits on sticker) I have never been able to get into the bios.

I really need some advice. If you count the RMA time, I have probably been dealing with this for 3 weeks to a month. Please help!

Thanks,
Imperial Guardsman

P.S. Happy New Year!

P.P.S. I now have some RAM and an old FX 6300 from a friend that I should be able to test with if need be.

[MeanMachine]

Hi Imperial Guardsman and Welcome to ROG.:)

Super IO Initialization or Qcode 99 error with your boot device led ON would indicate there is a problem with the HDD or another device connected to the MB that is not being recognized in Bios or is malfunctioning.
I recommend you check all connections and cabling to your HDD and run CHKDSK on the HDD in another system. Better still, Get an SSD drive for faster boot times and keep the HDD as a slave for storage of programs. Well worth the investment.
Reset CMOS to default and update Bios to latest version (if not already) via ROG connect port on your IO panel.
You can gain access to Bios via the Direct Key button on the MB. (after update).

You are also going to encounter problems with your cooling system as the FX-9590 requires a liquid Cooling solution. The Noctua is inadequate for this chip.
If you are not sure how to go about any of this: Just ask.:confused:

Hope this helps and please report back. Happy New Year!!!

[Imperial_Guards]

MeanMachine wrote:
Hi Imperial Guardsman and Welcome to ROG.:)

Super IO Initialization or Qcode 99 error with your boot device led ON would indicate there is a problem with the HDD or another device connected to the MB that is not being recognized in Bios or is malfunctioning.
I recommend you check all connections and cabling to your HDD and run CHKDSK on the HDD in another system. Better still, Get an SSD drive for faster boot times and keep the HDD as a slave for storage of programs. Well worth the investment.
Reset CMOS to default and update Bios to latest version (if not already) via ROG connect port on your IO panel.
You can gain access to Bios via the Direct Key button on the MB. (after update).

You are also going to encounter problems with your cooling system as the FX-9590 requires a liquid Cooling solution. The Noctua is inadequate for this chip.
If you are not sure how to go about any of this: Just ask.:confused:

Hope this helps and please report back. Happy New Year!!!

Thanks for getting back to me! I am going to try a few things today and will update the thread with my progress. One question though: I have tried booting without the HDD connected before (on the other board) and had the same problem. Would that indicate something else is the problem?

Thanks,
Imperial Guardsman

P.S. It will be a bit difficult to test the HDD on my computer since I'm running an old system that uses IDE (or PATA) rather than SATA...

[Imperial_Guards]

Well, this is odd. As noted, I tried two different graphics cards to try and see if that was the problem. What I fail;ed to mention is that I was using HDMI when I normally use DVI. My old Dell monitor can use VGA, DVI, HDMI, or Displayport. Since the new card (the R9 Fury) has no DVI port, I got an HDMI cable. Long story short, I tried the DVI on the old card and presto! The computer works! The HDMI port on my monitor must be bad. I am borrowing a small TV with HDMI from a friend to use until my Displayport cable and (just in case) my HDMI to DVI converter come for the old monitor. I have installed Windows and everything works except for two things:

Problem A: If I try to go into the bios, the screen is off center and the mouse does not move. I think this has to do with the monitor being a TV screen. I had to manipulate the screen with the video drivers for everything to fit at any resolution. The bios was usable with the old card and monitor. Not sure why the mouse does not move. Perhaps it is but the monitor is not displaying it right...

Problem B: The computer throws a CPU Fan Error on startup that goes away if I reset the computer. As noted, I am using a Noctua cooler and both fans are connected to the CPU header via included splitter. They are, in fact, spinning. A case fan is also connected to the optional CPU header. I am afraid that I cannot manipulate any bios settings until I can use my old monitor. That's my guess at least.

[Imperial_Guards]

Final reply, unless the conversation goes any further.

Got my old screen working using Displayport and now I am able to access the bios. A few changes and the fan error is gone. I just lowered the acceptable limit for the cpu fan a bit lower (even though it is almost always at least 600rpm).

A note on the Noctua NH-D15:
It has been working just fine to cool the cpu. To be fair, my room is a tad cold. I have been playing Space Engineers, Chivalry, and the new Star Wars Battlefront (all at max) and the cpu fan does not even hit max. I did some Prime95 testing and, on a cool day of 10c the idle temp was 17C and the max temp was 42-43C. In warmer weather I will probably have to make my case fans more aggressive, at the very least. If I remember correctly, the FX 9590 bundles included the equivalent of a Corsair H60 or H80, which the Noctua easily outperforms. I think it should be good enough.

Thanks for the help!

[Athus]

see below (doubble post by accident)

[Athus]

Hello Imperial,

I use CM Nepton 280L and cpu socket temp never goes more than 40C and max cpu core temps around 37C while gaming with ambient temp at 24C (BF4 - NBA2K - Grim Dawn - Killing Floor 2 - Ashes of Singularity in DX12! - Cities Skylines - CIV 5 - Dirt Rally - GTA 5 - Dying Light).

The most challenging with this CPU (i have 9590 also) and with 8350 as i have experienced, is how to cool the back of the CPU socket, as if u put a fan to blow air, socket temp will decrease significally.

[Imperial_Guards]

Athus wrote:
Hello Imperial,

I use CM Nepton 280L and cpu socket temp never goes more than 40C and max cpu core temps around 37C while gaming with ambient temp at 24C (BF4 - NBA2K - Grim Dawn - Killing Floor 2 - Ashes of Singularity in DX12! - Cities Skylines - CIV 5 - Dirt Rally - GTA 5 - Dying Light).

The most challenging with this CPU (i have 9590 also) and with 8350 as i have experienced, is how to cool the back of the CPU socket, as if u put a fan to blow air, socket temp will decrease significally.

It would be nice if my case (Corsair 750D) had a mount pointed at the back of the socket. When I was doing some of my initial testing, I left the side panels off when I ran the machine. No point in taking them off and on again to fiddle with something. Anyway, while I did not touch the back of the socket, I did touch (while grounded) the plates that the vrm heat sinks are attached to. They were quite warm even at idle!