ASUS Maximus VIII Hero Q-code b2

[drenai]

Hello

I had an ASUS P8 Z68-V Pro motherboard with Corsair Memory, SSD and an EVGA GTX 970. It worked fine for years and then began to fail to POST on every 5th-6th boot. The only indication of a problem was the VGA LED on the board was lit up. The fix was to re-seat the card and then it would be ok for another few days and then the problem would resurface.

After living with it awhile I decided that it was time for a new PC.

So I now have...

ASUS Maximus VIII Hero
Corsair 16GB (4x4GB) CMD16GX4M4A2666C15 DDR4 2666MHz DOMINATOR PLATINUM DIMM 15-17-17-35
Intel Core i5 6500 Quad Core LGA 1151 3.2GHz CPU Processor

From the previous machine I retained the
Corsair Neutron XT SSD
Corsair RM750 PSU
EVGA GTX 970
2 tb Seagate HDD

First thing I did was update the bios. After a week of bliss the failure to POST error was back. This time as well as the VGA LED on the mobo being lit I had a Q-Code of b2. According to the manual "b2" is "Legacy Option ROM Initialisation". As the VGA LED was lit across two boards, I did what I should have done in the first place and submitted an RMA for the GTX970

In the time the GTX 970 was away on just used the onboard graphics and there were no issues. The new 970 arrived Monday, but the problem remained.

So yesterday I replaced the RM750 PSU with a Corsair AX860, thinking perhaps the RM750 had developed an issue and was failing to provide enough power
on boot.

But the issue remains. I found another BIOS update for the board and new firmware for the Corsair SSD, but I still have the same error.

I have never experienced the issue on a reboot, its always from a cold boot. The only thing I've done in the bios is update it and set the boot order.

I didn't re-install windows 10 when I changed motherboards, just updated the drivers and it seems happy. There are no issues once the machine has booted

Any help at this stage would be greatly appreciated

[Chino]

Does the the VGA QLED remain lit even with the new GTX 970?

[drenai]

Chino wrote:
Does the the VGA QLED remain lit even with the new GTX 970?

Yes the VGA QLED is lit even with the new 970

[Chino]

Try testing your system with the bare minimum outside the case. Use the motherboard cardboard box as a testbench. See if the problem persists.

[drenai]

I pulled the board out and set it up with the bare minnimum ie processor, memory, video card and boot ssd. for something to do I decided to format the ssd and re-install windows.

On the third cold boot the problem re-occured.

I'm starting to wonder if evga just sent me my old card back instead of replacing it

[Chino]

drenai wrote:
I pulled the board out and set it up with the bare minnimum ie processor, memory, video card and boot ssd. for something to do I decided to format the ssd and re-install windows.

On the third cold boot the problem re-occured.

I'm starting to wonder if evga just sent me my old card back instead of replacing it

It's a possibility. See if you can borrow a GPU from a friend.

[drenai]

Thanks for the replies

I'll try a different PCIE slot today

Is it possible that the monitor or monitor cable could be causing the issue? They are some of the few components that haven't been replaced since the problem started. Occasionally the monitor does have issue ie you'll be browsing the web an dit will suddenly blank out with "Error settings outside optimal range"
Its a samsung 120Hz Monitor and display port cable

[NemesisChild]

Have you tried the other PCIe slots besides the primary one?

[Chino]

There's only one way to find out. Test it. Since you've pretty much changed all your components, I guess the monitor can be the culprit.

[drenai]

just updated the bios to 1701, hopefully that will help