Faulty Maximus IX Hero? Faulty CPU? Just my complete ignorance? Help!

[Neil_Hicks]

Hi,

I am the proud owner of a new Maximus IX Hero motherboard, along with a new i7-7700k CPU, 2 new 8GB modules of Corsair 3600 DDR4 DRAM, and an oldish, but fully functioning, 880W ATX PSU. I have also purchased, but not yet unboxed, a Corsair H80i v2 water cooling kit.

My problem is this; with just the CPU, 1 stick of aforementioned memory in slot A2 (but I've also tried it in all the other slots), connected up to my PSU via the 24pin and 8pin ATX sockets, and whilst all sitting comfortably on the ASUS cardboard box, when I hit the illuminated 'start' button, the q-code indicator moves quickly to 13 where it pauses for about a second, then on to 35, at which point everything switches off, starts up again, and gets to the same point and enters the same infinite loop. The Q-LED's incidentally, go from red, to yellow, but no further as the motherboard has reset by then.

There is no output from either the HDMI or DP sockets, at any stage.

I have not put any cooling on to the CPU. That said, I have connected one of the fans from the H80i to the CPU_FAN plug, just so that the motherboard sees fan rotation. By the way, the CPU case temperature gets to no more lukewarm as it's not on long enough to do any work!

I have tried reseating the CPU a few times, inspected with a 50x magnifier the LGA 1151 socket for bent/damaged pins (they're still lined up like soldiers), swapped to the other DDR4 module (also in all four sockets), changed the PSU for a 700W version, and generally ranted at the motherboard, but always the same restart at q-code 35.

If I remove the DDR4 module(s) altogether, the code gets to 55 but "loops" in the same manner.

Even though I can't see it as I have no video output, I'm pretty sure that I have successfully updated the BIOS to v 1009. It took about 90 secs of frantic flashing at different rates, at which point the light went out. Prior to re-flashing, I cleared the CMOS settings.

Whilst new to such high-end boards, I have built more PCs than I care to remember, so I do understand that RAM has be seated correctly, and all the obvious stuff like that.


Things I am less sure about are:

1. Is it absolutely necessary to have CPU cooling system installed to get through POST?
2. Do I need a graphics card installed for it to get through POST?
3. Is a five year old PSU compatible with the board? It has oodles of power to spare, and all the plugs fit the motherboard sockets, but does it need extra features?
4. Can anyone think of anything obvious that I'm missing?

Thanks for your help.

[HERNANBOZZANO]

try this

https://major.io/2014/08/22/asus-maximus-vi-gene-error-55/

[Neil_Hicks]

Thanks HERNANBOZZANO.

The link seems to relate to electrical shorts when coolers have been attached to the motherboard, but nothing has ever been attached to mine. It's never even made it inside a case yet, so no real possibility of a short, unless it had one straight out of the box!

I greatly appreciate your response though.

[NemesisChild]

Neil_Hicks wrote:
Hi,

I am the proud owner of a new Maximus IX Hero motherboard, along with a new i7-7700k CPU, 2 new 8GB modules of Corsair 3600 DDR4 DRAM, and an oldish, but fully functioning, 880W ATX PSU. I have also purchased, but not yet unboxed, a Corsair H80i v2 water cooling kit.

My problem is this; with just the CPU, 1 stick of aforementioned memory in slot A2 (but I've also tried it in all the other slots), connected up to my PSU via the 24pin and 8pin ATX sockets, and whilst all sitting comfortably on the ASUS cardboard box, when I hit the illuminated 'start' button, the q-code indicator moves quickly to 13 where it pauses for about a second, then on to 35, at which point everything switches off, starts up again, and gets to the same point and enters the same infinite loop. The Q-LED's incidentally, go from red, to yellow, but no further as the motherboard has reset by then.

There is no output from either the HDMI or DP sockets, at any stage.

I have not put any cooling on to the CPU. That said, I have connected one of the fans from the H80i to the CPU_FAN plug, just so that the motherboard sees fan rotation. By the way, the CPU case temperature gets to no more lukewarm as it's not on long enough to do any work!

I have tried reseating the CPU a few times, inspected with a 50x magnifier the LGA 1151 socket for bent/damaged pins (they're still lined up like soldiers), swapped to the other DDR4 module (also in all four sockets), changed the PSU for a 700W version, and generally ranted at the motherboard, but always the same restart at q-code 35.

If I remove the DDR4 module(s) altogether, the code gets to 55 but "loops" in the same manner.

Even though I can't see it as I have no video output, I'm pretty sure that I have successfully updated the BIOS to v 1009. It took about 90 secs of frantic flashing at different rates, at which point the light went out. Prior to re-flashing, I cleared the CMOS settings.

Whilst new to such high-end boards, I have built more PCs than I care to remember, so I do understand that RAM has be seated correctly, and all the obvious stuff like that.


Things I am less sure about are:

1. Is it absolutely necessary to have CPU cooling system installed to get through POST?
2. Do I need a graphics card installed for it to get through POST?
3. Is a five year old PSU compatible with the board? It has oodles of power to spare, and all the plugs fit the motherboard sockets, but does it need extra features?
4. Can anyone think of anything obvious that I'm missing?

Thanks for your help.

Yes you need some sort of cooling for the CPU, otherwise it quickly reaches it's thermal limit and goes into auto shutdown mode.

[mdzcpa]

Holy Cow. Never ever boot a system without CPU cooling. As NChild said above thermal protection is shutting the system down. Thank god for newer systems that do this. 10 years ago you would have fried your CPU.

[Neil_Hicks]

Again, thanks to all contributions.

According to my FLIR (thermal imaging camera), the CPU lid rises around 4-5 degrees Celsius above ambient, taking it to ~26C, which clearly cannot be thermal shutdown. Bear in mind, it's only operating for about 5-6 seconds before it switches off.

I did wonder whether the CPU may have had a proximity sensor to detect a heatsink, but I've looked at the Intel spec. for the i7 and there's no mention of a one.

Regardless, this morning I hooked up Corsair water cooler, but it makes no difference. Still reaching code 35 then restarting.

The vendor has agreed to accept back the motherboard, and I'm due to have a replacement on Monday. I'll post the results then.

Cheers.

[Chino]

Neil_Hicks wrote:

3. Is a five year old PSU compatible with the board? It has oodles of power to spare, and all the plugs fit the motherboard sockets, but does it need extra features?

Depends on the quality of the PSU and if it supports the new Intel platforms.

[Neil_Hicks]

Fixed! The problem turned out to be two faulty PSUs. Each of the 8pin ATX (CPU) leads had broken wires.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Regards.