Q-Code 61 Hell..

[WolfzheaD]

Hi,

I'll list my specs first:

CPU: i7-4790K
M/B: Asus Maximus VII Gene
RAM: 16Gb 1600Mhz 8-8-8-24 Crucial Ballistix Tracer
GPU: EVGA 980Ti SC ACX2.0
PSU: Corsair AX1200i

All clock speeds are at stock settings until I can get this sorted.

I've been running in to problems for several months now with my Maximus VII Gene where I intermittently get Q-Code 61 during boot.
It has most prominently happened at the point Windows usually takes over in the boot process (the spinning dotted wheel below the
Windows logo), although I've seen it happening before reaching this point too.

I'm not sure if it's related but on the POST screen the board is usually detecting 2 Mice, 5 keyboards, 4 hubs. In reality I only have
1 Keyboard, 1 USB Hub, 1 Mouse and 1 XBone Wired Controller plugged in.

Another note: I run 3 screens in 1080p@144Hz and it's becoming common for the boot process to only fire up two of the screens
and after a few minutes the system will simply lock up and requires a hard reset. This is when it actually manages to boot up and
doesn't get stuck at the Q-Code 61.

When it first started, I sent the board back to the supplier but it was returned to me (after having to pay a tech fee) as they couldn't
find a fault. It then stopped happening for several weeks but it's now at a point where I am worried that if I shut down/restart my
system, it's not going to start up again.

So far I have tried:

- Swapped out SSD/HDD
- Swapped out RAM
- Swapped out GPU
- Swapped out PSU
- Swapped out BIOS clock battery
- Reinstalled Windows 10: Upgrade and Clean
- Reinstalled Windows 8.1

None of these worked. However, when I put my old 3770K & ASRock Fatal1ty Pro board back in the build the problem disappears.

I guess I'm looking for some advice as this problem doesn't seem to be what I'd call "widespread" and since the problem has been
so intermittent I don't want to send it back to the supplier again only to get another technical charge if they can't find anything wrong.

I'm seriously considering buying a new BIOS chip and installing it myself but I assume this will void the warranty right?

Thanks in advance for any help

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Hmmm you've done a lot of troubleshooting there...

Have you reflashed the BIOS / updated BIOS to latest?

[WolfzheaD]

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
Hmmm you've done a lot of troubleshooting there...

Have you reflashed the BIOS / updated BIOS to latest?

I have a few spare parts lying around for just these kind of situations 😄

Yeah, I flashed the BIOS to the latest as soon as I got the board. I then reverted it to an older BIOS and same problems. I've since updated it to the current latest again.

[Arne_Saknussemm]

WolfzheaD wrote:
I have a few spare parts lying around

LOL I know what you mean...

What do you have connected to USB? sometimes dodgy usb devices can do this...you always testing with same keyboard/mouse? got any of those you can swap out?

[wa3pnt]

I had the same problem with the boot process hanging on the QC61.
I removed all USB items, and then added them back one at a time.
I run a LINKSYS USB KVM Switch for two monitors, keyboard, trackball, and speakers.
I also have a PLANAR PCT2785 as one of the monitors, which is a touch screen with built in web cam and on screen keyboard.
When I added the USB connection from the PLANAR, the QC61 hangup reappeared.
My solution was to add a Logitech Cam, and since I do not use the touch screen forego the rest of the items that connect through that USB.

My system now passes through the QC61 code in about 2 seconds.

RodeoGeorge

[WolfzheaD]

Right now I have a small 10-port Belkin USB hub connected directly to the backpanel. Then connected to the hub I have:

- Coolermaster Quickfire Rapid-i
- Razer Mamba 2012
- XBox One Wireless Controller (currently wired though)
- Logitech C920 Webcam
- iPhone charging
- Lenovo tablet charging

I've tried disconnecting everything except KB/M but no luck. I also tried using my old Saitek Cyborg v.7 and Gigabyte Aivia K8100 keyboards as
well as my gf's Razer Naga Epic.. still the same issues unfortunately.

It might be worth mentioning that this isn't the only issue I've seen the system display, but rather this is just the one I see on almost every restart or
cold boot - I get a clean boot maybe 1 in 10 attempts at the moment..

Other issues I've seen are:

- Black screen when windows takes over
- Sometimes it's just one screen
- Has happened with all 3 screens maybe 10 times in 6 months
- May not be related (early Win10 life)

- No power to the RAM on boot
- Indicated by the LED's on my tactical tracer sticks not lighting up, resulting in fail to POST
- Happens maybe 1 in 50 boot attempts.

I'd actually be inclined to say a "short" in the case/board somewhere.. but the system was running fine "as is" for about 5 months before this started.


Appreciate the help here btw, always great to get a clear head on a problem.

[Arne_Saknussemm]

WolfzheaD wrote:
always great to get a clear head on a problem.

Maybe one will be along in a while...until then you're stuck with me...:D

With all those USB devices I wonder...somewhere I read that disabling xHCI in BIOS made a load of 61s disappear

Have you tried upping the voltage to the RAM a bit...can i ask if that is a single 16GB kit by the way not a couple of same kits or anything like that?

[WolfzheaD]

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
Maybe one will be along in a while...until then you're stuck with me...:D

With all those USB devices I wonder...somewhere I read that disabling xHCI in BIOS made a load of 61s disappear

Have you tried upping the voltage to the RAM a bit...can i ask if that is a single 16GB kit by the way not a couple of same kits or anything like that?

o.0 it's grand mate lol. Helping me process everything that I've done already and already something I haven't (xHCI) so I'll give that a go now.

I did try to up the RAM voltage a while back yeah. XMP Profile is 1.50 and I kept nudging up until 1.65V - no difference. I haven't tried upping the CPU voltage though so if disabling xHCI doesn't work I might work on that a bit - I read in another post that this solved the Q61 for someone else, although there case was an unstable OC.

I'm using 4 sticks of RAM atm. they are 2 packs of 2*4GB. Have tried 1x1, 2x1 and 2 other make/model of RAM in the various DIMMs to eliminate faulty memory/dimm- same problems.

Will try disabling xHCI now. It might take a day or two to confirm it has worked though as the problem is notoriously intermittent - every time I think I've fixed it, it kills me a week later lol.

[Arne_Saknussemm]

LOL yeah, the joys of troubleshooting..

One thing mixing kits...you could try to set the ram up manually not with XMP....input frequency and primary timings and then maybe a touch more voltage and maybe a touch more VCCSA

Maybe for troubleshooting separate kits and just run one...just for eliminations sake?

[WolfzheaD]

Speaking of the RAM failing to power up.. It just happened when trying to get in to BIOS 😕 Followed by the dreaded "Overclocking Failed. Press F2 to..."

I've run both kits together, individually and each stick individually. I've not tried manually settings the clocks/timings/voltages yet though so I'll give that a stab.

I feel that it's a fault rather than configuration issues though. As I mentioned, the system was running solid for about 5 months with no issues. It all started when I put a 980Ti Strix in to the build which was DOA.