ASUS Maximus VIII IMPACT POST but no BOOT

AYODER56

Commendable
Mar 17, 2016
2
0
1,510
System Config:

Maximus VIII Impact, BIOS rev 1504
i6700k CPU
Corsair Dominator Platinum 3200 2x8G
Nepton 1200XL Cooler
No graphics card until I get the basic system functioning
Samsung 850 PRO 512G
Windows 10 64 bit

Symptoms:

The system was working great. I upgraded the bios using USB, loaded windows 10, ran all available updates, updated all of the system drivers available on the ASUS site. XMP enabled, and memory was rock solid. Other BIOS setting largely unchanged. The system was stable - no issues whatsoever. I was able to restart, shutdown, reset - basically every test I could think of was working fine. I was in love, and patting myself on the back for a flawless build.....

Then trouble started.

I loaded AI Suite, and ran the fan optimization. No problem. I then ran the auto optimizer, which indicated I could get a 10% improvement, so I clicked "OK." Nothing has worked since.

I reloaded the BIOS (from USB), have pushed the Clear CMOS, powered down - everything I can think of. At this point, the POST sequence completes, but does not go on to load windows. Worse, I cannot access the BIOS. I get a screen that indicates that the BIOS recognizeds the CPU and the memory, but then tells me to press F1 for setup. Doesn't work. I cannot get past this screen. Pushing delete/F2 during the POST sequence does not help - I end up at the same screen, and no input from the keyboard (a usb device) is recognized. The other thing I have noticed is that the Boot_Dev LED on the motherboard stays lit (red) when the screen appears.

It seems to me that the BIOS has not properly cleared. However, that is simply a guess based on the symptoms.

Any ideas? Is there a way to "force" the bios to reset and clear the cmos setting more effectively than pushing the clear_cmos button? Is there a process/sequence that I've missed? Am I just an idiot?

Any help appreciated. Let me know if additional details are needed.

Thanks in advance.
 
I wanted to get back and close this out.

I was finally able to get things working....it appears that my (old) keyboard stopped functioning at some point. After resetting everything I could (BIOS, CMOS) I grabbed the (newer) keyboard from my wife's computer - and viola, I was able to access the bios, reset to factory defaults, and boot without any problem.

I still don't understand WHY this was the case, and I guess it is possible that one of my repeated resets actually fixed the problem, but the bottom line is that some combination of the above did the trick.