Zenith II Extreme Alpha HDD Code 02, CMOS Error

[dj_idol_89]

Hey everyone, I’m having an issue with my pc boot right now. The last few days whenever I start my PC for the first time in the morning after shut down the previous evening it throws the following error: “Reboot and select Proper Boot device”.

If I manually shut down and turn back on it would boot fine, however I tried looking into the error because it was annoying to have to start the PC twice each morning. I saw people saying disabling “CMS” in BIOS fixed the issue so I did that and now I’m getting post error and cannot get to BIOS. I’ve tried clearing CMOS and now get the following error on the motherboard screen: “HDD Code: 02” then “CMOS Error”

Specs:
ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha
128GB DDR4 RAM
AMD Threadripper 3970X
Nvidia RTX 3090 Founders Edition
Boot drive is M.2 SSD

[Daddy1]

Hi,

I had same problem, on a Zenith Extreme II, worked fine and suddenly i got HDD 02 showing for a bit and then POST ERROR. Sent the MB for repair.. meanwhile i got tired of waiting and then got the Zenith Extreme II ALPHA. Same error on first boot!

Asus Zenith Extreme II Alpha
AMD TR 3970X
128 GB ram 8 modulles of 16GB (G-Skill AMD memory)
ASUS RTX 3090
PCIe gen4 WD-black 1TB

I suspect that the 3090 might be the issue.
The MB gets passed the Yellow and the Red leds test and is stuck with the White and the Yellow/greenish LED lit up indicating VGA and post issues.

I did try to use another GPU RX580 in my none-Alpha version no luck after the pst error occured.

ASUS please assist!

dj.idol.89 wrote:
Hey everyone, I’m having an issue with my pc boot right now. The last few days whenever I start my PC for the first time in the morning after shut down the previous evening it throws the following error: “Reboot and select Proper Boot device�.

If I manually shut down and turn back on it would boot fine, however I tried looking into the error because it was annoying to have to start the PC twice each morning. I saw people saying disabling “CMS� in BIOS fixed the issue so I did that and now I’m getting post error and cannot get to BIOS. I’ve tried clearing CMOS and now get the following error on the motherboard screen: “HDD Code: 02� then “CMOS Error�

Specs:
ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha
128GB DDR4 RAM
AMD Threadripper 3970X
Nvidia RTX 3090 Founders Edition
Boot drive is M.2 SSD

[olivieraaa]

Reproducing my last post in another thread as it is relevant to the ALPHA.

I got the issue on a 3990x and the Extreme Alpha. I ran the PC for about a week without any issues then once on reboot all hell started. I spent 2 days trying to make any sense of anything. I'm pretty good at solving PC problems. Symptoms started with slight PC freezes, then at reboot LED starts showing sporadic CMOS or HDD errors. Then trying to re-install windows it would just reboot in the middle of the installation. I then tried everything, changed PSU, changed RAM, reseated processor multiple times and made sure not to overtighten (often an issue to first try btw), I even replaced the processor.

Within a couple days it got stuck on CMOS Error and wouldn't even post anymore. Tried still everything to revive it. First time I return a new motherboard without being able to post. Might be my last ASUS board for a while ... I pick the latest tech and often wait long for BIOS updates but this time the board is more than a year old (in terms of new tech) ... they should have squashed any issues by now.

Anyways, here was my last config before it broke down, if you get a similar issue and any common hardware then please report to help others:
- Brand new everything except the GPU
- AMD TR 3990x
- Fryzen CPU cooler (didn't get to install the waterblock 😞 )
- Corsair RGB Vengence RGB 128GB @3200 kit (8x16GB) (tried with Corsair Vengence 8GB x 2 @ 2133)
- EVGA 1600G (tried with a Corsair AX1600i )
- 2x NVME 980 Pro 1TB (tried also with a 960 Pro)
- 1x Nvidia GTX 980 4GB (tried 2 different 3090's and 1 1080ti)
- Corsair keyboard (tried also with a regular logitech keyboard)
- Logitech mouse (tried with a Razor mouse)
- Tried with and without the onboard Intel 1Gbit networking

Nothing else plugged in.

Just my contribution to this crazy issue. Getting my new board tomorrow ... hoping this won't happen again ... the board is now super hard to find in our neck of the woods.

UPDATE: I just remembered something of interest. Right before I started having my first PC Freeze, I messed with the new BIOS BAR option and turned it on (via the Easy bios menu). On reboot I immediately turned it off. I doubt the option would have killed my machine but still mentioning it here.

[Bluesnow8888]

Hi All,

I also had the same error since last week. I upgraded the RAM to 128G. Then, booted to the system, everything looks good. After I reboot the system, it gives me HDD 02 CMOS ERROR. I tried to take out all newly installed RAM, change graphic card, change PECI-E slot used by graphic card, change Â*NVME drive, change the NVME drive slot, Reset BIOS, Flash new BIOS, which to another CMOS chip, and even take out CMOS battery. Unfortunately, none of these helped, so I wonder if anyone was able to fix the issue without sending the motherboard back to Asus?

[olivieraaa]

Bluesnow8888 wrote:
Hi All,

I also had the same error since last week. I upgraded the RAM to 128G. Then, booted to the system, everything looks good. After I reboot the system, it gives me HDD 02 CMOS ERROR. I tried to take out all newly installed RAM, change graphic card, change PECI-E slot used by graphic card, change Â*NVME drive, change the NVME drive slot, Reset BIOS, Flash new BIOS, which to another CMOS chip, and even take out CMOS battery. Unfortunately, none of these helped, so I wonder if anyone was able to fix the issue without sending the motherboard back to Asus?

Try Flashing Old BIOS ... it worked for my new board (which has the same strange issue btw).

Also something I tried which helped on another asus board (R6E) is boot without the dimm.2 card or if not using that then remove your NVME. You'll force the system into a BIOS error. If you have access to BIOS then save settings again. Then just reboot. I also sometimes use the RETRY switch on the mobo within this process if all else fails. That is the only thing that worked for me.

[roungchen]

Bluesnow8888 wrote:
Hi All,

I also had the same error since last week. I upgraded the RAM to 128G. Then, booted to the system, everything looks good. After I reboot the system, it gives me HDD 02 CMOS ERROR. I tried to take out all newly installed RAM, change graphic card, change PECI-E slot used by graphic card, change Â*NVME drive, change the NVME drive slot, Reset BIOS, Flash new BIOS, which to another CMOS chip, and even take out CMOS battery. Unfortunately, none of these helped, so I wonder if anyone was able to fix the issue without sending the motherboard back to Asus?

Not sure if it help, try set the pcie speed to gen3 instead of auto/gen4? This fixed with my issue relating to installing tuf rtx 3080ti oc card.