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!!

[briansu]

I have a few theories to address before purchasing a different 12 TB HDD. One of which is to update the BIOS and the other being that I suspect these enterprise HDDs take ages to spin up and become 'Ready' and maybe the Motherboard sometimes tries to detect the IDE drive before it's actually ready and this happens.

[DAS-haMMer]

Qcode Q Code A2 boot error hanging on Maximus V Gene - Solution ?

For Posterity

I have been having this error intermittently for 2-3 years ? rarely and it fixed itself after not more than 1 hr or so.
During this A2 event, there is no Image on Screen , even KBD isn't active sometimes
In extreme cases I disconnected all I could
Today , Struggled all day

Wierd things :

I got new HDD which I installed as usual
A2 appeared (this time) after I changed SATA positions - I realized I was using the 3Gb SATA mistakenly .
Looks like ASMEDIA SATA can not accept any HDD, hell , even eSATA bracket triggers A2
Tried everything.
Noticed A2 dissapeared, in a way , after I was Resetting the BIOS by taking out the BIOS Cell ! Seems that the BIOS Reset Button does not get the same effect.

Replaced the 2.95V Cell with a NEW Cell 3.35V . This seems to be the most effective act.
I still had to Reset by taking out the Cell ( right under the GFX, bahh ) a few times - Reset Button on every A2, and Ctrl Alt Del ( When I actually had KBD)

Important thing I did was to enable Fan monitoring for the CPU ( N/A I have water cooling) So the BIOS asked me to press F1 - but I didn't get Screen mostly

I am now in Windows , as usual I hope .
Tomorrow - If I won't get A2 , I'll check what windows says is going on.
For now, near midnight , 24th December .. I wanna rest

Hope this helps someone
-----------------
More : next day - trying to Install Win10 from USB 2.0 drv
A2 hell again BUT :
* When it gets into BIOS and it is important to keep it doing that , by avoiding manual boot/resets
* I disabled Partial Initialization of USB etc during Boot : seems to help !
* slow ( vs fast) boot gave me issues with the USB drive - the partition RUFUS made needs UEFI ( ? )
* I installed a 2nd Win10 , as I always do, on the (new) HDD , where C: is SSD. I disconnect all but the target HDD. Looks like BIOS has difficulty in scan/init of new config - that's A2 - a combination of Reset , Power Button, Power Off and patience did the trick.

FFS very hard to inspect the inside of the SATA connectors .. maybe they are dirty ? who knows.
-----------------------------------
Update : Still getting A2 sometimes - but I can overcome it

Reflashed BIOS 1903. Doesn't seem to improve anything = the code is not the issue ! i.e hardware
I feel what the motherboard needs to be warm. Usually A2 happens on cold boot.
* What does have an effect is Reset in succession :
It boots, beeps, when I press Del , Qcode will turn from 99 to 64 , than A2 will appear
Usually it takes a second or two , or 5, to scan IDE and A0 will appear , which means it booted fine.
What I did/do is Reset when it is at 99 ( keys won't have effect prior ), and do that 3-4 times
Now it boots to A0 and all is fine.


P.S Why can't I edit my Sig ?!?
MVG 1903, 3570k watercooled, 2x4 TridentX 2400 at 2133 ( why) , 500Gb MX500 SSD, eVGA GTX 1060SC GFX, 3.5" : 7k3000 2Tb + FireCuda 2Tb , LG 34UM57-P UWide 21:9 2560x1080 , Roccat Kone [+] . Modded Antec Sonata1 ( Just Noctua back fan ! )

[briansu]

I have the same problem. It was something to do with the secondary storage HDD which was a HGST He12 SATA drive. 9 / 10 times the drive would spin up upon power on and the 'data access' LED would just stay on and this A2 code appears. Sometimes it works fine. When I use the HDD in an external USB case, the same thing happens. i.e. sometimes it spins up and makes the same noise but Windows won't detect it as a connected USB device.

However, the probability of success when using the HDD as a SATA drive is much much lower.

I used Western Digital's own tool to diagnose the drive and it found some issues. I sent it back for RMA and got a new one. Now the new drive (after just a few days) also trips the A2 code. However, it works fine as a USB drive using a SATA to USB adaptor.

This is very annoying and I have tried swapping SATA cables and ports with little success.

I might just purchase a different HDD instead like the Seagate Barracuda Pro 12TB.

By the way, I never faced this issue with my older 4 TB WD Black drive.