ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z will not post. F.F. code.

[koopa_troopa]

Ok, so this has been going on for over a month and driving me insane. About 8 months ago I built a rig with these specs:G.SKILL TridentX Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C7D-16GTX,ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z,Thermaltake Toughpower TPD-0750M 80 PLUS Gold, AMD FX-9370 Black Edition, Raijintek All-In-One Open Loop Liquid Cpu Cooler w/ New Pump, Water Block And Tank Design, 2* 12025 Fans, 2 Led Lights, and a MSI Radeon R9 290X GAMING 4GB. And everything was fine until about a month ago until it stopped posting. I was getting the dreaded F.F code and I went through ALL the trouble shooting steps and it still wouldn't post so I RMA'd my mobo. When the replacement came I was STILL getting the F.F code with no post. So I sent in my cpu, and when I got a replacement cpu it still wouldn't post with the same F.F.error code. So with trying EVER trouble shooting step with no success I decided to get some new ram because that HAD to be the problem. And I think you guessed it... my computer still won't post with the same F.F. error code with my new set of ram. And yes I've tried clearing the cmos and yes I tried booting out of my case and yes I tested my psu. So after a 2 mobos, 2 cpus, 2 sets of ram, a positive psu test, basically everything trouble shooting step under the sun. It. Still. Wont. Boot. Can someone PLEASE help me? I'm going insane here.

 

[koopa_troopa]

For the love of all that is holy, after clearing the cmos for the 1769135426th time with the new ram my computer posted. However, I can only use 1 stick of ram.. if I install another stick I get F.F. again. The current Q-code is AA. Can someone please help?

 

[Tradesman1]

Could be a bad stick of DRAM, could be the PSU - you show a 750 with that CPU they suggest a 1,000 watt PSU due to the high CPU draw

 

[doktoroblivion]

@Koopa, my son just purchased this MOBO, FX-8350 Black, etc.... The first MOBO caught on fire, no love. The replacement seems fine, but even after updating the BIOS, it will not take to the FX-8350 Black AMD CPU (s/n: 9EW4... series). My guess is it could be the CPU or more likely the BIOS. Do you have another CPU to swap out and try? I put my son's old 4-core AMD in and it run's fine. So I am guessing, like always, the grey-shirts that work on that have hosed it up. I know that on my old rig, same config, installing new BIOS would not work, always locked up. Try going back to a stable version like 1404, or something....just a thought.

 

[dmstewart]

Could be a bad stick of DRAM, could be the PSU - you show a 750 with that CPU they suggest a 1,000 watt PSU due to the high CPU draw

Dear OP, Tradesman is prob right. Best way to test this is to do two things. First, run MemTest86. The application makes a bootable usb for you automatically. Insert one RAM stick at a time and let the test run. Most likely one or more sticks will fail. Keep in mind it takes a long time but its worth it. Every time I get new RAM it gets the MemTest86 treatment. Just tested a 2133 DDR4 kit (4x4gb). It took a little over 8hrs to complete. Now I know that I can eliminate the RAM if any problem arises.

If it passes the MemTest86 to get your system to post there two things you need to do next. I had your motherboard. It has a great feature built in called "MemOk". Its in your manual. It will run, try all different voltages, timings, frequencies, etc until it finds the best possible settings for your computer to work. If it cannot find a good set of settings it will hard lock the DRAM led on the board letting you know the memory is problematic. There are JEDEC and XMP profiles for the RAM. But there is another way to test this after MemTest86. That is to manually set the timings, the voltage, and the frequency.

In your BIOS Advanced menu the first tab is Extreme Tweaker. Here you can set the DRAM Frequency. Set to 1600mhz. Scroll down to voltages. Set DRAM voltage to whatever the voltage says on the sticker on the RAM. Its either 1.5 or 1.65v for DDR3. Look for DRAM Timing Control. Click it, a new menu opens. The first four numbers are DRAM CAS# Latency, DRAM RAS TO CAS Delay, DRAM RAS# Pre Time, and DRAM RAS# Act Time. Take the four numbers separated by dashes on the back of your RAM and enter them in order. So if the back of your RAM reads 9-10-9-24 then going right down the list manually ad the timings in. DRAM CAS# will = 9 and so forth. DRAM RAS# Act Time will be the last number on the back of your RAM.

If youve passed MemTest86, ran MemOk, and had problems, and then manually set your RAM voltage and timings and youre still having trouble...well, I have no idea. You can try turning the RAM speed down a little and pray for a miracle