Rampage 4 Black Edition - Installed 980Ti SLI, getting AE Q-Code with black screen.

[dwebb]

Hi

I'm hoping someone can help me with my problem as it's driving me crazy!

My computer specs are:
Intel i7 3770k
Corsair 64GB Dominator 1600Mhz
Asus Rampage 4 Black Edition
EVGA 980Ti Hydro Copper SLI
Asus Xonar Essence STX
Corsair AX1200

This is the 5th computer I've built now. It's all water cooled.

I got a 980Ti for Christmas (lucky me!) and I bought one myself so I could upgrade my computer from a 690GTX to 980Ti SLI.
My computer was booting fine when I was using the 690GTX, I drained, flushed, installed both 980Ti's filled up the loop, ran it with just the pump to get rid of all the air pockets. I then plugged the computer into my monitor and I'm getting this happen..

Turn the computer on > it sits on error code b2 (or is it 62?) for about 1 minute > It then changes to AE and sits there > my monitor is black but it lights up as if it's trying to display something but is still just black (hope that makes sense?)

My monitor is a Dell 3008WFP. I've tried connecting using the DP and the DVI. I've even borrowed a monitor from work (just a 19" 1280x1024) and tried plugged into that via VGA (with DVI adapter on card) and DVI. Still the same thing happens.

I thought okay maybe the R4BE isn't picking up the card as the board is about 3 years old now. So I tried doing the USB BIOS Flash with the ROG Connect port. Even though the Asus website doesn't display what to call the file (was a bit annoyed by that), due to them only displaying the new motherboards... I called it R4BE (I guess that's right) the ROG light flashed and took about 3-5minutes to update so I guess it was working.. After the update I tried clearing the CMOS and still error AE and a black screen.

Yesterday I even tried turning off all the other PCI-E lanes and installing my 690GTX. That gets error code AE and then moves to AA, but still I get a black screen with nothing displayed (tried it with the 19" one too).

I've read around and people are saying about removing all the RAM and leaving one in.. I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas before I try doing this? My RAM is watercooled as well (for the cool effect, I know it doesn't really impact performance), so it would mean draining the loop again and taking part most of the loop, which I'm a bit reluctant to do if possible.

Some other things I've tried:
Resetting CMOS
Turning off all PICE lanes and trying one graphics card at a time
Unplugging everything bar the DP/DVI and power cable
Plugging power into different sockets on PSU
Unplugging the sound card
Switching the BIOS around between BIOS1 and 2
LN2 mode ON (even though I didn't think this would work - I've set it back to OFF now)
Made sure all the CPU 8Pin, CPU 4Pin, ATX & GFX Card Power is all plugged in correctly.
Pushing down on the GFX card and Memory incase something wasn't clicked in.
(Probably some more that I can't remember too)

Everything I've tried still comes up with the same thing B2 > AE > Black screen!

If someone could figure this out you'd save my Christmas!!

[dwebb]

After switching on all my PCI-E lanes on, I'm now getting Error code 34, still getting a black screen on either monitor.
(Previously I disabled the lanes I wasn't using).

I would think maybe the one 980ti was DOA but I try plugging into the 2nd one and I get the same, surely they both can't be DOA?

Does anyone have any ideas? PLEASE :confused::)

[dwebb]

Okay.

I drained the loop, took out both 980ti's and put my old 690GTX back in on it's own. The system now boots and I can see the BIOS did update to version 0801.

I tried both 980ti's one by one, both have the same issue, b2 > 34 > black screen.

Is the R4BE not compatible with 980ti's or something?

[Chino]

Locate the 4 QLEDs that are beside the 24 pin power connector. Do any of them remain lit when your system halts with a black screen?

[dwebb]

Thanks for reply Chino.

The VGA_LED light is lit whilst the b2 code is on.
This happens on both cards, when either is put in one by one, or both are in at the same time. So I doubt it's the cards at fault, either that or I'm extremely unlucky and have two DOA cards.. LOL

I've been doing some more research on the b2 error code and it seems most (if not all) older motherboards need a BIOS update in order for the 900 series cards to work.
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/788289/geforce-900-series/computer-won-t-boot-past-bios-aft...

I've updated to the latest BIOS as I mentioned earlier, so perhaps Asus need to do another BIOS update or hotfix for this card to work in this motherboard?

P.S: I have tried the "disable UEFI PCIE boot. Use Legacy PCI mode." suggestion on the above forum, that has not worked either.

[dwebb]

I have now tried the system with 1 memory stick in and 1 980ti, still I get b2 with a black screen. This happens on either 980ti and the old 690GTX works fine.

My response from Asus customer support is:

"Based on the troubleshooting steps you have already gone through, I'm afraid it might be a compatibility issue between the board and GPUs. Since this is a bit of an older board, it wasn't tested with these types of Graphic Cards so we can't guarantee they will actually work, with or without the latest BIOS."

I'm very disappointed how no solution/support is being provided by Asus for a motherboard which is only 3 years old, and was back then was their flagship motherboard.

If this is the case and no solution is being provided I will not purchase another Asus product ever again.

[grassy]

I have a r4be and its fine with my 980ti, so i do not think you have a compatibility issue with the board and the card.I also have 2 690's and all cards work fine with the board. If Asus has told you that it might not be compatible then they are wrong on that issue.There is no reason why the 980ti is not compatible . None whatsoever. There should be no reason to update your bios apart from the fact that it needs to be compatible with a new edition processor. I also have a dell monitor u3011 and have had trouble getting picture when i have unplugged my dvi cable once or twice. If you havn't tried taking out your processor and putting it back then try that. Sometimes a computer can play up just because of the sequence in which we do things and needs to be reset with a reinstall of the cpu.You might need to get on top of this by pulling most of your system apart and reassemble it to make sure. Its a pain but at least you can rule that out.

[dwebb]

Thanks for the reply grassy.

I've discovered that there was a problem with a particular batch of 980ti's which needed a graphics card BIOS update in order to be detected by the motherboard.
http://forums.evga.com/GTX-980TI-Hydro-Copper-Stuck-on-boot-QCode-B2-black-screen-2-Cards-m2423070.a...

I've applied this update to the cards using my old 690GTX and they're both working now.

My faith in Asus has been restored 🙂

[DB5]

So just a simple question here but how are you getting a 3770K to work in a LGA 2011 board? Isn't the RIVE BE a LGA 2011 socket and a 3770K is a 115x chip correct? Or am I just completely missing something here?

[Nate152]

Yeah DB5 is correct the RIVBE is socket 2011 the 3770k is socket 1155.

You'll want to get a cpu compatible with your motherboard.

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/4761/intel-core-i7-4960x---4930k--4820k-ivy-bridge-e-review-22nm-pow...