[Strix x99 Gaming] QCODE 00 over night after several small issues

[mulderfox]

Hi!

I had my new build die on me over night.
I left my PC on for the night, and when I got up I found that it seemed to have been turned off.
Only it wasn't. When I turned it back on, all I got was a momentary power and then shut off.
After another attempt or two, the board would get power and the components too, but there would be no post, and no boot.
All the while, the QCODE alpha-numeric display would only show the numbers 00.
I've searched and found that this issue has happened to others with the same board and other x99 asus boards and may mean faulty board or faulty CPU
- due to a power surge.
I've already replaced the board today, but sadly the issue is still there.
The only change is that there is no more momentary power, but the power starts and stays, but all the rest is the same.
I've concluded that the CPU was fried, and started an RMA process with Intel.
The CPU is a brand new i7-6850k and all the other parts (aside from a couple of mechanical hard drives) were bought at the same time about two and half months ago.
This is an unacceptable issue with a top-of-the-line board from ASUS - especially after two months of use - and especially as it happens in more than one x99 motherboard model.
I am certain the blame is with the board, as I had other small issues with it before:
1. long post time (the time it takes between pressing the power button and till you hear the beep and see anything on the screen)
2. no network connection from within the bios meaning I could not perform a bios update from there.
On previous builds I had, my PC would stay on for months at a time, and in this one the cooling is much better so there is no reason for anything like that to happen,
not to mention that's what thermal (and electrical) protection is there for. power fluctuation is not expected or accepted phenomenon with a high grade gaming motherboard.

Has anyone else encounter this issue? My PSU is also brand new with 750W of power that are more than enough to drive my system, even with the GTX1080 Graphicds card I have
installed.
I am quite worried that replacing the CPU might not help even with the replaced motherboard.. what would I do then?

[mulderfox]

ralfetas wrote:
Something i don't understand, everyone ask about OC when something goes bad, i don't do OC on my current CPU (6900k), but in my old 4960x i made a nice OC and they keep going for years, stable until today (is my gaming rig). When you check Asus page they put OC abilities as main features, intel charge more for unlocked CPU's, so why all support ask about it?

All support ask about it since it's the immediate suspect, naturally. Pushing your rig to higher voltage and higher temperature - regardless of the marketing hype - can and probably will shorten the rig's life. You're simply going above the factory specs of at least the CPU if not the RAM. And any manufacturer with some common sense would rather find the blame elsewhere rather than fork out money to pay for RMA, or even just repair.
By the way, I left my PC turned off for 10 days, and when I returned I got a gift - Qcode 40 when I turn the PC on in the morning. After a second reset it boots correctly, but that is not a good sign. Might try a bios update and already contacted my trusty Asus representative.

[daveycracker80]

When I was trying to decide on what mobo to go with, I was reading the reviews on Micro Center's web site (I tend to take Amazon/Newegg reviews with a grain of salt and I have a Micro Center nearby so that's where I was buying it from anyway), and the X99 Strix reviews were some of the worst on the X99 boards by far. Other boards, the Deluxe-II and A-II in particular, had solid reviews, but the Strix seemed to cause all kinds of problems. I still take reviews with a grain of salt as you're more likely to hear about the problems than successes, but it was enough to steer me towards the A-II.

From reading this thread and others I've seen, staying away from the Strix appears to have been a wise choice.

[mulderfox]

daveycracker80 wrote:
When I was trying to decide on what mobo to go with, I was reading the reviews on Micro Center's web site (I tend to take Amazon/Newegg reviews with a grain of salt and I have a Micro Center nearby so that's where I was buying it from anyway), and the X99 Strix reviews were some of the worst on the X99 boards by far. Other boards, the Deluxe-II and A-II in particular, had solid reviews, but the Strix seemed to cause all kinds of problems. I still take reviews with a grain of salt as you're more likely to hear about the problems than successes, but it was enough to steer me towards the A-II.

From reading this thread and others I've seen, staying away from the Strix appears to have been a wise choice.

Just wanted to mention that your choice of board (and actually, every Asus x99 model I looked at) also exhibits stability issues - including the dreaded Qcode 00 phenomenon we're facing here. So.. If I had to pick my motherboard again, I would avoid Asus and MSI all together and would opt for Asrock or Gigabyte.

[ralfetas]

mulderfox wrote:
Just wanted to mention that your choice of board (and actually, every Asus x99 model I looked at) also exhibits stability issues - including the dreaded Qcode 00 phenomenon we're facing here. So.. If I had to pick my motherboard again, I would avoid Asus and MSI all together and would opt for Asrock or Gigabyte.

ASRock don't share tech with Asus?

For the Asus, the only one i heard no problem is the WS line, looks very solid.

For the gigabyte, agreed 100%, i got one and never had a stable system like that, amazing board, in special the apps, and they don't even need the extra power pins 🙂

[mulderfox]

It may share tech with Asus, but the fact is it has a much better track record with x99 boards than Asus. As for the Asus ws line, it exhibits similar issues. Just go to Newegg and read buyers testimonials.

ralfetas wrote:
ASRock don't share tech with Asus?

For the Asus, the only one i heard no problem is the WS line, looks very solid.

For the gigabyte, agreed 100%, i got one and never had a stable system like that, amazing board, in special the apps, and they don't even need the extra power pins 🙂

[reinerlee]

mulderfox wrote:
Did you get a brand new one in the RMA or a refurbished one? have you done any overclocking whatsoever? which PSU do you use? have you tried replacing it just for testing?

Sorry for late reply, didn''t check this forum frequent enough.

They RMA me the brand new ones. fresh in unopened box.
Been using A-II for like 2 months now? and haven't get any problems so far.

PSU is Silverstone 750W Gold 80 full modular ST75F-GS

ralfetas wrote:
ASRock don't share tech with Asus?

For the Asus, the only one i heard no problem is the WS line, looks very solid.

For the gigabyte, agreed 100%, i got one and never had a stable system like that, amazing board, in special the apps, and they don't even need the extra power pins 🙂

Agreed with you, using a Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 + 2600k for my office PC for like 5 years... and still doing good.

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
So can you say it is a newer bios issue ?
I'm still on 2101 with x99 sabertooth and i7-5930k pretty much at default all core 37 cach min and max 31 settings beside Qfan adjustments
I am using xmp profile #1 that is 2667 pretty much default profile

I do have several other profiles saved but this is my daily driver.
No one has ever said asus has good customer service that I've ever read
If you made it through the 1000 questions to even contact asus you did well 🙂

[xkm121]

ThrashZone wrote:
Hi,
So can you say it is a newer bios issue ?
I'm still on 2101 with x99 sabertooth and i7-5930k pretty much at default all core 37 cach min and max 31 settings beside Qfan adjustments
I am using xmp profile #1 that is 2667 pretty much default profile

I do have several other profiles saved but this is my daily driver.
No one has ever said asus has good customer service that I've ever read
If you made it through the 1000 questions to even contact asus you did well 🙂

It may very well be a design flaw. Newer BIOS tend to have fewer incidents of this happening.

[Nate152]

You're welcome

Good to hear you're back up and running !

[kcmcc]

Nate152 wrote:
You're welcome

Good to hear you're back up and running !

Read through this thread and wanted to chime in to say the exact same thing happened to me.

x99 STRIX

6900k with corsair h115i

trident z 32gb @ 3200

corsair Ax1200i

sli 980ti's

950 pro

after less than two weeks running, with mild overclock (switched to Performance in bios) 4ghZ, came home to my pc dead, got the same code 00 crap, cycling reboot, no post.

tested cpu on another board and same thing, so RMA'd the cpu, current one has been working fine, but now I worry that the motherboard has faulty VRMs as stated by the OP.

I have found the board to be rather unstable when trying to manually push for more overclock only after having a solid stable overclock for about a month, cpu voltage at or around 1.3, setting all cores to 44, ram to 3200 and 1.35, cache at 33/35.. I had it running stable at these settings for about a month after hour stress-test, but now it will crash after an hour or so of gaming at said OC settings. I've since then left things at default in fear of the same thing happening to my CPU.. could the boards VRMs be diminishing over time and be unreliable? I am noticing ASUS has been releasing new BIOS updates almost monthly. Is that normal? COuld it also be BIOS issues?

Just thought I would share that you aren't the only one finding this board to be a shaky purchase. Should've gone for the WS board.