BIOS stuck in QCode 'A2'

[apocalypzez]

I have a Maximus IX Apex that will not boot anymore. I dismantled my system to change my SSD & HDD, & also to clean the dust out of my system. and now after putting back everything, the motherboard gets stuck at A2 Q_Code, which means IDE Detect. So my first thought was to disconnect my hard disk and SSD, which I did and still wouldn't boot. I did a CLRCMOS as well after removing all the storage devices but error still popped up. I then disconnected everything and left it at the bare minimun, i.e., MOBO, CPU & RAM. This also failed and error code again appeared and stays there as long as i leave the system on.

There is not much on the internet on how to fix this issue. Many say it's storage related but I don't have any storage device connected, unless my motherboard is a dud :mad::mad::mad::mad:!!!!

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!!

[MeanMachine]

HI apocalypzez 🙂

POST cycle will not continue until the error with your HDD or SSD is fixed and you will continue to get QCODE A2. You will receive an A2 error if you do not have any drive connected.
If you can, test the drives in another system and check all cabling and SATA connections are correct and functional.
Test first the drive containing your OS and leave the other drives out of the loop for now.
Ensure your Bios is up to date and use your rear IO panel and a USB for the flashback.

[apocalypzez]

Thanks for the reply. I tried removing one part at a time. At one stage I had no HDD but my SSDs were still in the DIMM slot (as per the Apex board layout).

[MeanMachine]

apocalypzez wrote:
Thanks for the reply. I tried removing one part at a time. At one stage I had no HDD but my SSDs were still in the DIMM slot (as per the Apex board layout).

DIMM slots are for RAM modules, review your MB Layout again as they have nothing to do with your storage drives.
Check your SATA connections for the correct connections (page 1-23 in your MB manual)
Check your QLEDs (page 1-14 in your MB manual) Do any light up, BOOT_LED lit green indicates a fault with your Boot drive.

BTW: Your HDD and SSD are storage devices.

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Check the boot order in BIOS....if you have "windows boot manager" somewhere set that as first priority

If you installed windows with another drive connected it is possible that the boot sector is on another disk other than the target OS drive...windows annoyingly does that sometimes...

[apocalypzez]

It's a Maximus IX Apex, and the SSD goes in an adapter which then in turn goes in to the DIMM Slot, i think its called DIMM.2 slot. My SSDs are like brand new with nothing in there. My HDDs were recently removed from the NAS box and i though of recycling it in to my PC as they were 3TB each. However, I haven't check the QLEDs yet, i will give that a go tonight.
thanks for all the help. much appreciated.

[apocalypzez]

After dismantling all components except for the board and the PSU cables, I tried with just the Motherboard, CPU & RAM. And the result was still the same QCODE A2 error. And the Boot led stays green. I have attached an image of my error code and boot led light.

[MeanMachine]

From your photo, I can see your Boot_led is lit and this is because you have either no Storage device installed or something is wrong with it, either improper connections or the unit or adapter is faulty.
You will continue to get a QCode A2 error until the issue is rectified.
Try using an SSD with standard SATA config instead of the dimm slot adapter to test.
This could also be a Bios config problem as ARNE has said however that proposes a problem since you can't get into Bios.

[apocalypzez]

So I finally removed all components from the case, cleaned everything and re-assembled it from scratch and after that it started to work just fine. took me 2 weekends to complete this process....age is catching up, i guess!!

to be honest I don't know what fixed this issue - but thanks for the help guys!!!

[Arne_Saknussemm]

OK...cool....maybe a dodgy SATA connection?....who knows...it works is all that matters!:cool: