Asus X99-A II won't boot

[Maxcraft]

So a few months ago I used this asus x99-a ii motherboard with an i7-6800k and 32gb of ram (full specs below), everything worked well untill one day it shut down out of nowhere and after I booted it back up it worked fine but then again it shut off so I tried to turn it on again but only the lights and fans were on and I didn't even get the asus logo on the screen, there was no output and I belive there wasn't a specific code on the segmented display, just the regular lighting.

Specs:

Motherboard: Asus X99-A II

Cpu: i7-6800k

Cooler: lc power

Psu: Chieftec 1000W 80+ Gold bdf-1000c

Case: Coolermaster N400

Gpu: 1660 Super 6GB

Ram: 32GB 2666MHz kingston

Ssd: 1tb samsung evo 970 plus

Hdd: 2tb seagate 7200rpm

[Antraxtacide]

Hi Maxcraft,

It's always very sad when a wonderful PC does this.  Over time the components will start to wear out mechanically, chemically and electrically.

The first thing I would recommend you do is not power the pc on again until you've got some time to disassemble the PC and inspect all the components.  Best case scenario, its just the Power Supply struggling to keep the energy supplied to the PC, in which case - it is an easy fix. 
>  Don't remove the CPU at any point right now, until you have cleaned dust and debris. Remove any add-on cards, like the GPU,  Thunderbolt etc..  All the RAM  should be removed too, and the contacts inspected/cleaned if necessary.
> You will want to look around the motherboard for signs of  browning, smoldering, 'grease',  electrical damage 'charring' .. etc etc..  Just anything that looks off really.  Sometimes just carbon and dust build up and cause high resistances, which leads to instability.   If you live in a hot environment, its like that high temps have deteriorated components quicker.

> Once you have cleaned, inspected and are happy that there is nothing physically damaged in your best judgement,  replace only One DIMM of RAM in Channel A1.   Connect the 24pin Motherboard power, CPU power.
Do not connect any USB, GPU  aRGB.    Connect the CPU FAN && Keyboard to the motherboard.  These are the basics that should allow the Motherboard to POST and if there is some improvement - then connect the GPU back and try for a display.. 

With some luck you can get the PC to boot.. or atleast find troubles..  If the PC turns on and then off again - it's likey  Power,  Motherboard VRM,  CPU connectivity.. 

I hope that helps.. Good Luck. 😎

[Maxcraft]

the thing is this happened a bit ago and I had to sell the cpu to be able to afford a new one, there are no obvious signs of damage it just happened out of nowhere, what used to happen is all the lights on the motherboard would turn on but it wouldn't display anything like when you have an incompatible bios, it decided to act up in the middle of running (it's not like I changed the cpu/ram) I tried to reseat the cpu and repaste the cooler and checked if there are any burns on the pins on the motherboard (there were no burn marks) I also tried to put only one stick of ram and tried multiple different slots but nothing worked. I also don't belive anything that was in the pc with the motherboard could have done what happened as I use both the psu and ram in my new build. I think I might buy a cheap xeon v3 and try to get the motherboard to work again but I don't know if it's worth it at this point.

[Antraxtacide]

Hey Max, 
Thanks for the reply. 

My apologies for such a late response, I only getting around to checking the ROG forum ever couple of months now. I've been recovering ASUS X99 motherboards for a couple of years now, probably my luckiest was an X99 Rampage Edition 10.  Bought from eBay described as Turns on then shuts off.. just like yours more or less.

I would agree that your components and setup aren't to blame either. My personal opinion is that it's a symptom of condensed high power circuitry, with unfortunate(? misguided?) design by both Intel and ASUS.  

 Even if the Q-Code segments didnt light up, that is a clue, there are also diagnostic LEDs next to the 24pin motherboard power. Did you check the back of the motherboard too?   On the ASUS Rampage, I'm not quite sure how, as the previous owner I fixed from would have known... there was an 'oily \ emulsified'  substance collecting around Channel A2  _ _/- ->  B2  of the RAM DIMMS.. and on the solder joints of the memory pics was a white powdery like corrosion I suppose.  I cleaned that off with Isopropyl Alcohol, and then I noticed it areas near the VRM soldier joints looked as though they had been softening to heat over time.

However, this eventually allowed me to get a successful post into the BIOS... booted to USB PE and tested for 4 hours on default config.  After I shutdown the System to install 4 dimms of RAM and an NVMe drive...  The System Flashed on with aRGB bull******.. and them died... then On again to Recover.. then died.. then it kept trying to swith to Backup ROM.. This was not the end of the story.

[Antraxtacide]

Unknown Residue - Back-Side of ASUS X99 RAMPAGE Edition 10 (immediate shutdown on pwr-on)

 I have some theories.. such as electrolysis like reaction to current and heat over time.. random debris from handling or production.  Coolant droplet?  Flat-Earth  being maintained by Bill Gates.. But I cleaned these areas (also around VRM solder joints) and also one other little trick..  I'm not 100% sure where I read about this, but it happens more with long-term moderately O.C. systems that get turned On / Off  with normal use.   

[Antraxtacide]

👹 👽 Inter-Galactic-Energetic-Particle-Flip👽👹

A . K . A .        How the Flip did my BIOS get corrupted?

I don't know how.. but they do sometimes.. maybe it's bit rot, maybe it's the hand of god,  maybe it's an ASUS designed failure to help their RMA and warranty support techs get some training every now and again?  Who knows..  But one thing is for sure..  Have a BIOS Flash recovery plan.. Write it down in the back of the motherboard manual you downloaded and printed out for future reference. 👻

Are you CMOS chips replaceable? Are they Hard Wired?  Could they be modded with ff