Maximus X Hero (wifi) 8700k - Code 00 After Shutdown-No Post Unless CMOS Reset (AO)

[carvinman]

Gear:
Maximus X Hero (Wifi) w/ Bios Version 1704 (going to try a flash/reload with the renamed bios file tonight)
8700k w/ Cooler Master Hyper Evo 212 CPU cooler (ordered the Noctua to try a swap)
2 x 8g Hyper X 2133 (ordered 4 x 8g Trident GSkills 3200)
GTX 1070 w/ display port cable (have tried HDMI on a different monitor)
1 x 250g SSD Samsung w/ OS (updated drivers and tried different ports)
1 x T HDD generic (tried plugged in and unplugged)
Rosewill Glacier Series 850W Modular Gaming Power Supply

HI there,
First time posting to much of anything so thank you for the chance to seek help within the community and apologies for any missed jargon. My situation seems similar to a lot of other peoples' threads but I haven't been able to diagnose and or fix the problem, well a permanent fix that is. I've been using the 8700k with the Maximus X Hero (wifi) mobo for a while now at default and it's been working perfectly until I thought overclocking would be fun >.< I followed some guides on how to achieve higher numbers but realized some of these settings were unstable and/or my cpu cooler wouldn't be able to handle it. Once I settled on 4.7/4.8 clock speed and was able to play games smoothly I thought things had worked...wrong. I didn't notice it at the time but I'm pretty sure that's when my qcode started displaying "00" after ever shut down of Windows 10. I'm afraid I've caused damage while changing voltages because now even on default settings I'm unable to get my computer to act as it once did. When I start it up on a cold boot the "00" code goes away and the computer goes through a number of different codes before landing on "AO" but with no display. Sometimes the code will display "40", which I know isn't an error, but "A2" will also show up and they both have the same outcome of no display. I will point out that "A2" shows up a couple times during the cycle of codes but usually switches to "A0"....either way there still isn't an image. I've taken the GPU out to use the onboard graphics and tried an HDMI cable rather than a DP cable but to no avail. There have been random boot ups where it didn't behave like this: A couple times after I disconnected the power chord and made sure all the lights were off the mobo and couple other times where I left everything plugged in and the RGB lights running and the QCode "00" still showing. On the attempts where I disconnected the power chord I got the splash screen and then the Windows logo....thumbs up but eventually reverted back to not posting on cold boots. On the other hand when I left everything plugged in and I had a successful boot I wouldn't see the splash screen but rather the first thing I'd see was the loading wheel for Windows and then the login screen....thumbs up? It seems random when it wants to work but never consistent. Just last night was a break to my streak of another couple successful cold boots The work around for me every time has been to reset the CMOS by taking the battery on the MOBO out. After I reset the CMOS the display will work whether I'm using my GPU or the onboard graphics. Except for last night, when resetting the battery didn't work on the first attempt. Oddly enough the MEM Ok button got it to post and show the splash screen. I've taken the memory out and tried 1 stick or both sticks in either of the two slots suggested to use in the manual (I actually have new memory on the way to swap in 4 x 8g Trident Gskill 3200) but the MEM Ok button hasn't shown to work in the past which is why I'm scratching my head on that now...I was just in a WTF mode and was willing to try anything. I even did a memory test with Memcheck and all 4 passes were good with the 2 x 8g sticks. I will note that in my OC attempts XMP was tested but no where on my ram does it show xmp (dumb i know), well on the Memcheck test it recognized my ram with the correct mhz but said XMP...? maybe that's irrelevant. I've also noticed during boot up that the lights on my keyboard and mouse sometimes reset/reboot like it lost power. I'll be sitting at the login screen with the lights on my keyboard/mouse but the buttons are unresponsive. After 15 seconds or so everything works again and windows recognizes my clicks or button presses bringing up the password field to actually log in. I've even logged into Windows and had this happen on the desktop but after it loads up correctly it doesn't happen again until I cold boot.

CPU Tests:
-15 min Real Bench default test (not a viable test length but other attempts were showing failure well before the 15 min mark)
-Resitting the CPU chip

RAM Tests:
-MEMCheck test (appx 2:30:00 test) pass
-Different stick combinations (will try different slots tonight and with the new GSkills)

GPU Test:
-Doesn't seem to matter whether the GPU is plugged in or not to get a successful post
-Tried DP cable and HDMI

SSD/HDD Tests:
-Updated driver/firmware for SSD w/ OS
-Tried different slots 1 or both
-HDD unplugged doesn't change the results

I can provide pictures and exact voltages upon request but currently everything is on default or auto to my knowledge. Funny thing is I'm going to have to reset my CMOS most likely to even start working on the beast tonight. It would be another luck of the draw if things posted without a hiccup. I'm looking forward to getting to the end of this and hope some experts here can shine some light on the matter. At this point if it's not something I can fix with one of the replacement parts I've ordered I'm afraid that I hurt my motherboard in my sloppy attempts at overclocking.

Regards,

[HiVizMan]

00 is to be expected, you can relax you have not broken anything. The easy fix for anything like a failed OC is to do a clear CMOS. Use the toggle at the back of the board.


All is good.

[carvinman]

HiVizMan wrote:
00 is to be expected, you can relax you have not broken anything. The easy fix for anything like a failed OC is to do a clear CMOS. Use the toggle at the back of the board.


All is good.

Thank you for the quick reply. That's good news and I appreciate the tip on resetting the CMOS. I might not be hitting the button at the right time but I have had better results with taking the battery out of the motherboard for a few minutes ...and by results i mean getting the computer to post. So there isn't any confusion the problem wasn't that there was a "00" code but that when I'm turning on my computer for the first time I don't get anything to show up on my display with a QCODE "AO" or "40". From there I usually have to reset the CMOS, which i do every time just to get anything to show up on my screen. I'll ensure my bios settings are set to the optimized defaults without XMP and from there I'll save and exit to Windows to play some games. I'll turn my computer off at the end of the day where I noticed the 00, but thank you for clarifying that this is normal. The problem is when I want to turn my computer back on or wake it up from sleep in the morning. I get the BlackSOD(BlackScreenofDeath) where I'm forced to reset the CMOS again even on default non XMP settings. Again I do appreciate you scratching that worry off my list about the "00"

[Silent_Scone]

As HiVizMan rightly says you've not broken anything. Q-Code 00 implies no CPU, but the system is working as intended when POST is successful.

A2 implies the system has indeed booted up so there is either a boot device issue or the system is waiting for user input (normally f1 for BIOS).

The fact it occurs at cold boot could possibly be due to memory instability, so try disabling XMP overclocking if you haven't done so already and see if the problem persists. I see you've mentioned defaults, but some users confuse XMP as default settings so best to clarify these things!

[carvinman]

Silent Scone@ASUS wrote:
As HiVizMan rightly says you've not broken anything. Q-Code 00 implies no CPU, but the system is working as intended when POST is successful.

A2 implies the system has indeed booted up so there is either a boot device issue or the system is waiting for user input (normally f1 for BIOS).

The fact it occurs at cold boot could possibly be due to memory instability, so try disabling XMP overclocking if you haven't done so already and see if the problem persists. I see you've mentioned defaults, but some users confuse XMP as default settings so best to clarify these things!

Thank you so much for also help clarify this.
So if it has QCODE "AO" on startup with nothing showing on the display (splash screen, etc) the monitor will eventually go to sleep and turn off for power saving mode. With the lights on the keyboard and mouse on there still is no noticeable response to any button i press. I haven't necessarily hit F1 but I have tried F2, which normally gets me into the BIOS on a normal boot. I'm eager to test the memory when I get home because yesterday I was getting the "A2" code but was posted when I hit the MEM ok button. If memory in question is the issue it's weird to me that I'm able to use it after I CMOS reset, save my default settings and play games but come the next cold boot it's back to square one with resetting the CMOS. I'll be sure to follow up with my memory test results though o/
1 stick at a time....fingers crossed!

[Silent_Scone]

Yes, try with XMP disabled and one module installed.

In the instance where A0 is displayed but no video output to the GPU, you may want to test with a different panel if possible.

[carvinman]

Silent Scone@ASUS wrote:
Yes, try with XMP disabled and one module installed.

In the instance where A0 is displayed but no video output to the GPU, you may want to test with a different panel if possible.

Well I tried the new ram (1 stick) and was only able to get a splash screen display after I reset the cmos, took out the GPU and then hit the MemOK button. After I got the splash screen I turned it off, reinstalled the GPU using the same DP cable and it turned on perfectly. So with that I installed the rest of my ram and it booted perfectly again. I'm not sure if the RAM was supposed to be an instant fix but I ended up doing a lot to get back to a normal boot. Yesterday when I got home it was doing the same BlckSOD and ended up applying all the previously mentioned antidotes to get my screen to show up. It's on a cold boot it doesn't like my GPU because this morning I turned on the beast and had the Qcode "40" with no display. I didn't have enough time to really mess with it but I'm guessing it's the MOBO at this point. I'm going to try using the GTX 1070 on my other computer just to ensure that isn't an issue.

What type of panel(MOBO?) would you suggest me to try? I'm hesitant to get another Maximus X Hero but can swing by a store on my way home from work.

[HiVizMan]

Q code 40 indicates your motherboard has woken from sleep mode last time I looked?



Can we back track a little bit. You said in your original post that it ran fine on stock. Then you Overclocked it a little bit...


I would like to hear what exactly you did there, and what kind of temps/voltages you experienced.

[carvinman]

I'll do my best to recall but it was a while ago so I'm unsure of the exact voltages during my stress tests but most of my OC was done through the BioS wizard or I would use the Gamers OC Profile. I think my curiosity and inexperience in overclocking killed the figurative computer cat. But with both auto overclockings it would enable XMP and keep all voltages hovering at 1.0 V w/ VICCIO just under 1.0v and the DRAM would be 1.2V. When I sync my OC to 4.8 or 4.9 I would experience problems loading windows (BSOD) or during my RealBench I'd get a BSOD but if my temps started getting into 80's I'd stop the test. To get a successful test I reset the Bios to optimized defaults and synced all my cores to 47 and was able to hold low 70's but I'm unsure of the voltages during that test I'm sorry but can do a better job recording results if I do more tests, also I know that a 15 minute RealBench stress should be more like 4 hours. I haven't done anymore tests though because it doesn't seem to matter if i fail or pass a test having to go through the said process to see anything show up on my screen from a cold boot. Once the computer has comes back to life (with or w/o XMP enabled) and the cores on auto or synced to 47 I'm able to use it as I desire until I turn it on again in the morning (cold boot).

[HiVizMan]

Ok - based on what you have replied your hardware should not be dead.

I think you just need to get your system stripped, remove everything and even remove the battery from the motherboard. That one that looks like a silver coin. And once completely bare, no CPU even, hard CMOS clear. At least 3 seconds press down, wait and repeat.

Only CPU, one stick of ram and keyboard mouse and monitor - boot to bios.

I hope this sorts.