Q Code 99 issue and how I solved it.

[dannythedonk]

This is my first high endish gaming computer, my old Asus G51 was not playing games on high or even medium well anymore so I decided to upgrade and thats what leads to this post. Here is my setup.

VIII Hero Motherboard
I5-6600K
Gskill 32Gb Ram 4x8
WD 1TB HD
1 DVD Drive
CoolerMaster Hyper 212
Fractal R5 Gaming case
Evga Supernova 750 PSU
XFX R9 390

I installed everything over a full day carefully putting everything in its place and hooking up the correct wires, everything looked amamazing and I was ready for the first boot up. I press the bootup button and it lights up with beautiful fan and MB led lights. It goes through the codes all the way up to Q 99 with the Boot LED lit then the fans slow down and nothing...No display, no beeps, just...nothing. Hmm thats weird. So I try it a few more times and the same issue. I talk to asus support and realize that my RAM is not on the QVL (Although GSKILL says it will work). They say I need to RMA it. I decided to order some QVL Ram and have it overnighted to my house.

I am at work all day waiting to come home to try the RAM. I get home and put it in...nothing...same issue. Q code 99. I decide to inspect the MB Pins and fire it up outside the case. So I take the motherboard out and unplug evreything. I inspect the pins and they are in perfect condition thanks to the ASUS CPU tool. I start it on a nice piece of cardboard...and still q code 99 with no display. (At this point I am only using 1 piece of RAM and the CPU and CPU cooler). I contact amazon and they will swap me motherboards for no fee since everthing is telling me its defective.

I take everything off and put it in boxes in the guest room and it sinks in that all these new steam games wont be able to be played for a few weeks :(.

After a few hours of searching on the internet and getting no where I come across a old post talking about making sure your keyboard and mouse were plugged in. So i say, well I guess I can try that. So a hour later I have gotten everything put back together and this time I plug the Keyboard and mouse into the MB USB drives.....It starts up and goes into BIOS. I ordered 120$ worth of extra ram because Asus told me it was because my ram wasnt on the QVL and also that I should just RMA it......

I GOT Q CODE 99 BECAUSE MY MOUSE AND KEYBOARD WERE NOT PLUGGED INTO THE USB ON THE MOTHERBOARD, WHICH CAUSED NO DISPLAY AND NOT TO PASS POST

I decided to post this so it will show up on google if some other people get this Q code and have their mouse and keyboard hooked up to their case USB's.

[rhesus701]

I also got stuck at code 99. Searched and found the same info a you. Code 99 with VGA led lit .... Almost there 🙂
Unplugged & plugged back in keyboard & mouse (checked working with another PC). Eventually (10+ reboots) it worked. Not quite sure why it got stuck, but definitely agree. Keyboard, mouse issue.

[js2015]

Hi danny, thanks for the information sharing ~

[xthane]

If anyone else gets QCODE 99, also make sure your monitor is set to the proper connection input to your GPU. I just spent an hour and a half using process of elimination and remembered the last time I used my monitor was for an HDMI input while my GPU is using Display Port.

[SirEbrum]

dannythedonk wrote:


I GOT Q CODE 99 BECAUSE MY MOUSE AND KEYBOARD WERE NOT PLUGGED INTO THE USB ON THE MOTHERBOARD, WHICH CAUSED NO DISPLAY AND NOT TO PASS POST

Thank you Danny for this one. Saved a lot of time and hair-removal on my Z170 Deluxe. My system sat at the ASUS splash screen with "64" Q Code for several seconds before stopping on "99".

[mgadziko]

OP: This is SO convenient and helpful. I was getting frustrated. Plugged keyboard and mouse directly into MB and all is good. Kudos.

[TheCottonMan]

Hello and thank you very much for your post. I have had the same issue from building a brand new system, after building many more over the years. I have pulled my hair out for 2 whole days. I eventually found your post and hey presto, I changed my wireless mouse to a cable mouse and board and tada, we have lift-off. ASUS, you suxxxxx

[Mikevhm]

This Post is originally from 2016

Its now 2023 and i bought an ASUS motherboard for almost 600€ and this exact same issue is still present. 

ASUS i will never ever purchase anything from you guys again. Shame on you 

[Silent_Scone]

Hello,

The Q-code is designed to tell you something isn't working or correctly configured. 99 can mean a device is either disconnected from the IO or isn't functioning correctly. This can include (but is not exclusive to) USB peripherals, storage devices or lack of signal input from the display or GPU. Trying to troubleshoot a system without a Q-Code LED is far more time-consuming.

[daws]

I had somewhat of a similar issue and your post helped me figure it out. At boot, I was briefly getting code 99 or 98 followed by 64, which it was then stuck at forever. My monitors were blank the whole time. It wasn't a new build, but I had just deleted some snap packages before restarting by accident without uninstalling them first (I'm on Ubuntu).

I fixed it by unplugging a USB hub that had a Yeti, Astros A40s, webcam, and an external hard drive plugged into it. As soon as I unplugged it the 64 code went away and I was able to boot.