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! 🙂

[mcleod52]

thanks for the update. Interesting outcome ....

[steelerman37]

mcleod52 wrote:
thanks for the update. Interesting outcome ....

Yeah, it was very interesting to me since I did a bios update as part of my overall trouble shooting. What's REALLY interesting is that the bios that's currently on my Mobo isn't actually available on the Asus public download site. That tells me that something was hinky with my board that could only get rectified with a custom update. Not sure what's going to happen when I get a year or so down the line and decide to update it. Guess time will tell, but I'm not messing with it at all at this point.

[Raad11]

steelerman37 wrote:
Yeah, it was very interesting to me since I did a bios update as part of my overall trouble shooting. What's REALLY interesting is that the bios that's currently on my Mobo isn't actually available on the Asus public download site. That tells me that something was hinky with my board that could only get rectified with a custom update. Not sure what's going to happen when I get a year or so down the line and decide to update it. Guess time will tell, but I'm not messing with it at all at this point.

What version BIOS does CPU-Z say you're running?

[steelerman37]

Gabrielmage wrote:
As soon as I get my replacement from intel, i will update you guys with news

Gabriel, have you gotten your replacement CPU yet?

[Gabrielmage]

steelerman37 wrote:
Gabriel, have you gotten your replacement CPU yet?

Hey, it just arrived at Intel's RMA location, I'm not located in the states so I guess I'll have my replacement next week. Will let you guys know as soon as i re-test

[qwertz]

Hi,
Is it possible that maximus hero came with bent pins or is it ruled out?
Does asus take it back?

[Joburgtaxi]

qwertz wrote:
Hi,
Is it possible that maximus hero came with bent pins or is it ruled out?
Does asus take it back?

Hi all I was having pretty much the same issue with the Maximus ix hero where no matter what I did it would not see RAM chip in slot 1A, all of the other 3 slots were working but as soon as a chip was put in A1 it failed to post and boot with code 01 03 and CC. After hours of messing around I decided to pull th processor and with a magnified glass noticed one single pin in the processor socket was slightly bent. With a needle I managed to streighten the pin, reseat and thermal paist the processor and hey presto to my surprise it saw the memory in A1 slot the first time, I was also able to run memory in XMP which I was not able to before as the machine would not boot with XMP on.

Not sure if a bunch of these are coming out the factory with a bent pin bit as a few are having the same issue it seems possible. Will add a pic of the bent pin latter.*

[Tiberious_ST]

I don't mean to hijack, but everything described here also applies to my ROG Maximus Hero X Wi-fi
The system worked fine with all four memory slots working fine.....until it didn't, roughly 3 weeks after assembly.

Troubleshooting led me to the exact same outcome, the same error codes. The memory is all fully functional when swapped into B1 and B2, but if A1 and A2 are populated (or A1 OR A2) the system won't post.

I noticed a slight discoloration near the RGB header nearest the memory (and LED error readout) that seemed to be related to some form of short, so I didn't argue when ASUS had me RMA the board after failure to succeed with all the troubleshooting. Unfortunately when applying the CPU socket cover, my hand slipped and I bent a few pins, costing me $75 and creating, for ASUS, a distraction. I explained this to them and asked them to not focus on the CPU socket for the problem as it existed prior to the pins being bent. I sent the board in and waited. I received that board today, it had a new SN so I knew that it wasn't the same board, but it was clearly a used board. After reassembling my system it had EXACTLY the same problem as before, as so many of you have experienced.

I have requested a NEW board, rather than a used one, for RMA. I have no idea how this will transpire, but am in hopes of getting the board I paid for, fully functional.

If anyone has found a fix for this, I'm all ears.

Thanks,

Tib

[jBrianj]

Slight variations in CPU pins on a motherboard can happen and is not normally immediately a defect. The pins just need to make proper contact. "Uneven pressure" is normally not an issue either, because only a certain voltage and amperage goes through the pins, as long as there's no short circuit and the pressure is high enough(and not too high).


For me what permanently resolved the issue: Place 2 sticks of RAM in either channels. Try to boot->It will fail with the "Failed to detect RAM" Q-code. No matter how many times you try, it wouldn't boot in A1 or in dual-channel(A or B).

Now after that, remove the cable from the CPU_FAN1 header. Try to boot->Should suddenly succeed. After the RAM succesfully booted once, I've never had an issue with booting every since, even with the CPU_FAN1 cable attached and working.

I never tried once to remove the CPU as I knew there couldn't have been anything wrong with the motherboard(brand new, CPU placed correctly in first try).


This behavior likely points to a (temporary) design defect in the motherboard hardware or firmware. What exactly it could be is beyond my knowledge.

[Trinod]

I wanted to detail my solution to this even though it's a 'little' late.

I built a new PC (not my first) back in 2017 I think - i7-7700K, Asus Hero IX, 32GB (2 X16GB) Ripjaws memory (on the approved list) and could never get it to boot into dual channel mode. Now I tried everything including having ALL the parts replaced under RMA. Having replaced essentially the entire PC I just gave up...

...recently I built a new PC in which I'm using AIO cooler and seeing the benefits I decided to get another one for my old PC, well long story short and well you can probably see what's coming...it will now boot into dual channel mode with the memory in A2 B2 all with stock settings.

I can only presume that the weight of Coolermaster CPU heatsink but have been applying the wrong pressure to the CPU, but I can't say for sure. Trust me previous to the cooler swap out I had tried seating and reseating the heatsink with varying amounts of pressure, standing it sideways, flat, out of the case all the usual steps.

So if anyone is still out there having this kind of issue, try a different cooler.