Maximus IX Hero wont boot with memory slots A1/A2 populated

[Gabrielmage]

Hello guys,

I'm having trouble with my motherboard, when i first started the build all memory slots worked fine, but after a couple of days i was playing some overwatch and the game started closing by itself (3 times), i kept re-opening it until windows BSOD (Bad-pool-header), by the time my pc rebooted i couldn't get the bios to boot, i would get a 55 or 3F q-code. I tried several times to clean cmos, memoryOK!, battery removal and installing memory dimms in different locations until i got it to work.

At that point i was happy, but as soon as i would get inside windows it would BSOD on me. I decided to reinstall windows, and at first everything was working fine until it started crashing on me again.

So.. i decided to test it with 2 dimms of memory installed at a time as i was afraid that my memory got fried or something, the pc is rock solid with 2 dimms at a time.

The thing is that i can not for the life of me get the pc to boot on the memory banks A1/2, if i install something on A1 and/or A2 i keep getting q-code 49 and a continuous loop between 01-03. If i install all banks at once i usually get a q-code 55, but if i install anything on B1/2 the pc boots right away. No cmos clean, memoryOK! nor battery removal helped me this time.

I've tried with a different memory stick from a friend, and got the same results. Do you guys have any ideas?

Build:

Asus: Maximus IX Hero (latest bios)
Intel: i7 7700K (@ stock speeds)
Corsair: Vengance LED 32gb (4*8) 3000mhz (@2133mhz)
Cosair: H100i v2
Gigabyte: GTX 1080
EVGA: SuperNova G3 850W
Windows 10 Pro

Thanks in advance for you help! 🙂

[Gabrielmage]

Raja@ASUS wrote:
I won't be testing the kit myself - still checking if HQ has the same kit. If they do I will ask for a replication.

Trying the CPU in a different board would be a good idea.

I'll see what i can do

About the CPU Cooler, have you had issues with the one I'm using? What makes you think it could be the CPU cooler? So i might understand better.

Thanks

[Raja]

A bad mount can warp the board or cause uneven pressure on the socket - that can cause issues with memory detection.

[Gabrielmage]

Raja@ASUS wrote:
A bad mount can warp the board or cause uneven pressure on the socket - that can cause issues with memory detection.

Would you consider a watercooler capable of this or just large air coolers?

[lufiron]

Raja@ASUS wrote:
A bad mount can warp the board or cause uneven pressure on the socket - that can cause issues with memory detection.

I had this exact issue with the Apex build I recently completed. *I kept getting error code 55 with no post. *Initially, I thought it was the memory so I tried a different kit but it still wouldn't post. I reseated the CPU and tried to see a POST with no cpu cooler and sure enough it came to life. *So what I did then was use a torque driver with an overrunning clutch set to 2.5 newton meters to torque the mouting screws of the Noctua alternating 90 degrees each screw until the specified torque was achieved. *It's been fine ever since.

[Gabrielmage]

lufiron wrote:
I had this exact issue with the Apex build I recently completed. *I kept getting error code 55 with no post. *Initially, I thought it was the memory so I tried a different kit but it still wouldn't post. I reseated the CPU and tried to see a POST with no cpu cooler and sure enough it came to life. *So what I did then was use a torque driver with an overrunning clutch set to 2.5 newton meters to torque the mouting screws of the Noctua alternating 90 degrees each screw until the specified torque was achieved. *It's been fine ever since.

This is really helpful, thanks for sharing! I will surely try it out!

The thing that confuses me the most, is that the 2nd mother I sent back to the computer shop got tested by them before replacing it, so they didn't have my watercooler installed, this is either a really pressure sensitive motherboard, or something different happened (or maybe they did used my watercooler, what do i know? haha)

[Gabrielmage]

lufiron wrote:
I had this exact issue with the Apex build I recently completed. *I kept getting error code 55 with no post. *Initially, I thought it was the memory so I tried a different kit but it still wouldn't post. I reseated the CPU and tried to see a POST with no cpu cooler and sure enough it came to life. *So what I did then was use a torque driver with an overrunning clutch set to 2.5 newton meters to torque the mouting screws of the Noctua alternating 90 degrees each screw until the specified torque was achieved. *It's been fine ever since.

Tried to boot without a CPU cooler, I'm still unable to boot.

[Charliest]

I am having similar, though intermittent problems. I am at the "grasping at straws" stage. Are you using an external graphics card? If so, you might want to remove it and use the on-chip graphics as a test. I did this and am not having issues, but it may just be coincidental and a matter of time before the problem resurfaces.

[Gabrielmage]

Charliest wrote:
I am having similar, though intermittent problems. I am at the "grasping at straws" stage. Are you using an external graphics card? If so, you might want to remove it and use the on-chip graphics as a test. I did this and am not having issues, but it may just be coincidental and a matter of time before the problem resurfaces.

If by external you mean a PCI-E then yeap I'm on a GTX 1080. I could try the on-board GPU but that would be more of a workaround than anything else...

Just out of curiosity what ram are you using?

[Charliest]

Gabrielmage wrote:
If by external you mean a PCI-E then yeap I'm on a GTX 1080. I could try the on-board GPU but that would be more of a workaround than anything else...

Just out of curiosity what ram are you using?

I tied with two sets of RAM, GEIL and HyperX Fury, both 2x8Gb. Identical behavior for both. As I said, the problem is intermittent, so I cannot conclude with any certainty that the presence of a PCIE board is signficant. I am using the system right now with the built-in video and it is working for the present. Incidentally, this is on a Code board.

[Gabrielmage]

Charliest wrote:
I tied with two sets of RAM, GEIL and HyperX Fury, both 2x8Gb. Identical behavior for both. As I said, the problem is intermittent, so I cannot conclude with any certainty that the presence of a PCIE board is signficant. I am using the system right now with the built-in video and it is working for the present. Incidentally, this is on a Code board.

Have you always used 2x8? or did you ever try to use all 4 memory dimms at once? With 2 dimms (when you experience the problem) on slots A1/2 the motherboard does not boot, but do the B1/2 ALWAYS work?