ASUS Z97-Deluxe No Video

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jvillaveces

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Feb 17, 2015
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A few days ago I built a new PC:

- Corsair 760T chassis
- ASUS Z-97 Deluxe mobo
- Intel 4790K CPU
- Corsair Dominator Platinum 4x4GB 2133 MHz
- EVGA GTX 980 SC ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 GPU
- 2 x Intel 730 240GB SSDs
- 2 x WD Caviar Black 2TB HDDs
- 1 x Silverstone Tek 3.5-Inch Front Bay Card Reader (FP37B)
- 1 x Asus 24x DVD-RW Serial-ATA ODD (DRW-24B1ST)
- 1 x NZXT 5.25-Inch Hue RGB LED Color Changing Controller (8c-hue0000-00b)
- Corsair AX 1200i PSU
- Corsair H100i liquid CPU cooler
- Dell Ultra P2415Q 24-Monitor

This is my first build. When I finished assembly, it posted without any trouble. I set the SSDs in RAID 1, and the HDDs also in RAID 1. I flashed the BIOS to the latest version without any hitches, and then overclocked using ASUS auto tuning. I got 4500 MHz with RAM at 1888 MHz. I didn't tweak it any further.
When I was comfortable that everything was stable, I installed Windows 8.1, and again had no problems. I have been in the process of transferring data from my old PC via my WD My-Cloud without incident.
Today I got the cooler backplate for the GPU, so I removed the card, attached the backplate per the instructions, reassembled the PC, and since then I have no video -- the monitor says it's getting no signal.
I removed and reset the GPU twice. I removed and reset the RAM. Then I removed the GPU and connected the monitor to the mobo -- still no signal. I replaced my brand new displayport cable with a (also new) mini dp cable.
The mobo goes through the usual LED sequence, and the final Q code is A0, same as when everything was working. All fans are spinning normally. Just no video out of the GPU or the integrated graphics.

I don't know what the problem is. I used a static wrist strap all the time when handling the components, so I doubt I fried the GPU, but even if I did, that wouldn't explain why no video from the mobo either.

Any help will be much appreciated!
 
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I would remove the overclock if I could get into the BIOS, but I can't because I have no video. No speaker on the motherboard, and no red LEDs. The Q-code window doesn't flash any error messages during or after POST, it settles on "A0", as it should if things were working right. WIll go through the check lists and report any findings, thanks. EDIT: on second thought, clearing the CMOs might do it, so I will go ahead and do that. I will report if it fixes the problem.
 
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OK, thanks, I got it from Amazon, should have it tomorrow (Amazon Prime is awesome). As a newbie, I'm curious, though: what will the speaker add to the functionality provided by the q-codes and the LEDs on the motherboard?
 
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OK, so I disabled the XMP, TPU and EPU switches, then cleared the CMOS using the button on the mobo. Interestingly, the q-code has changed to "A2", which means "IDE detect". As the SATA ports on the motherboard are almost directly below the GPU, I am speculating that I may have inadvertently loosened or unplugged something, so I'm going to remove the GPU again and redo all the SATA connections. I'll post any results.
UPDATE: Upon removing the GPU and bringing the system up to eye level, I saw that the boot_device LED is also on. I assume it was on all along, even before clearing the CMOS, but I hadn't seen it. This would seem to confirmed that I messed up the SATA connections, right? So, now I have unplugged all SATA cables and I'm redoing devices one by one. I don't know whether my SSDs or my HDDs are still RAIDed, so I guess I'm looking at a whole lot of tedious unplugging and replugging devices one by one on different SATA ports until I can get the system to boot again, then I will gradually add the others until SDDs, HDDs and ODD are back online. Hopefully at the end of this I will have a system that boots again...
 
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I like the Q-codes too. But you have to be staring at the LEDs while it posts. But they do supply better specific information. And I wasn't sure if the motherboard had Q-codes or not.

The case speaker is a great tool for diagnosing motherboard issues like memory issues or CPU issues. Plus they are dirt cheap.

It is a good idea to go through and check all of the connections
 
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I have reconnected each and every SATA device numerous times and the GPU is still off. I am stuck at Q code "A2". I even tried using a different monitor through the integrated DVI port. No luck. I am out of ideas about what to try next.
Maybe, because all of my drives were previously in RAID volumes, when I cleared the CMOS I made them invisible? In this case, would putting in a fresh, non-RAID drive help?
 
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This is getting weirder and weirder. I went ahead and disconnected all my original drives, and installed a brand new Seagate 300 GB HDD. This got me past Q code A2, to Q code AE and no boot_device LED, still with no video. I rebooted that configuration, and got to A0 (the code that supposedly means everything is OK), no alarm LEDs, still no video. On a whim, I removed the brand new Seagate and reconnected my original Intel HDDs, WD HDDs, and ODD, and got all the way to A0 again, although still with no video!
So, my original drives in theor original ports, got me to A2 plus boot_device LED. Then a new drive instead, got me to A0. Then the original drives back in, again got me to A0.
I don't understand what's going on, and I still have no video. BTW, the GPU is still out and my monitor is connected to the DP port on the mobo.
 
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As a result of all my troubleshooting, I concluded that, whatever problem I'm having, it's not with the GPU, so I reinstalled it and powered it. As I suspected, the system started all the way to "A0" with no warning LEDs, but no video. I found out that ASUS released a new BIOS today, so I went ahead and flashed the mobo with it. After rebooting, same result as before. For whatever it's worth, I'm posting a pic of my system with the mobo showing AO.
IMG_1283_zpsxwu0zxjs.jpg
 
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The hard drives will have no effect on the no video out problem. It does remedy the A2 code.

Basically there are about three things that produce this specific problem in an otherwise functioning system. The first is an inadequate power supply for the graphics card. The second is memory issues in the RAM or in the motherboard memory controller. And the third is a problem with the drivers.

The single beep code that you mentioned referenced a DRAM frequency problem. You could try switching out the RAM.

Have you removed all of the overclocks yet? I would also simplify the hard drives (remove the Raid ). In other words get the basic system working well before complicating the system.
 
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Please take a look at this post: OK, so I disabled the XMP, TPU and EPU switches, then cleared the CMOS using the button on the mobo (..) I assume that procedure did remove the overclocks, without video it's hard to verify. By the way, after I rebuilt the system I restored the switches to the on/enabled position and still get "A0" with no video, same as I did with them off / disabled.


The most frustrating part of this situation is that the build had progressed to the point where I had Win 8.1 installed (on the SSDs) along with a lot of application software (on the HDDs), and had even begun migrating data when the system collapsed for no apparent reason. I still don't know what failed or how to fix it.
At this stage of the troubleshooting, I would remove the RAID in an instant and revert to a system with a single SSD, no HDDs, and no ODD if I could get THAT stable and build from there. Problem is, I just don't know how! What can I do to the SSDs to delete the Windows install and un-Raid them, without access to the BIOS?


I assume you refer to my experiment with replacing the build's drives with a fresh, new HDD. Indeed it got me past A2. The bizarre part is that the system is still going all the way to A0, even with the build's drives back in place.


Thank you, that is very useful! So, to the first item: I completely removed and reinstalled the PSU cables to the graphics card. No change. Also, yesterday I tried the system with the GPU altogether out, and got no video to the integrated graphics. I posted that from this I conclude the GPU (and by extension here, its connection to the power supply) is not at fault, so I reinstalled it, and obtained the same result, i.e. Q code A0 + no video. Is this conclusion correct or should I test this subsystem in other ways?
Your third option is a problem with the drivers. Since I just flashed the newest BIOS, can I assume that the drivers are OK, especially because I see no difference pre- or post-flash?
I left your second option for last, because that is an area I had not explored, and there I did get surprising results. As suggested, I removed all the RAM, reinstalled one chip in slot A2 as specified in the manual, and after a couple of restarts, got to code AE. Not A0 like previously, but AE. This remained the same with either of the four DIMMs in A2. It also continued when gradually adding back the memory all the way to 4 sticks. Now I can't get past AE and to A0. I disabled or switched off the auto-xmp, the EPU and the TPU, and still get AE instead of A0. I don't know if this is meaningful but I pray it is.


I have no idea what you're talking about, as my system still doesn't beep (no speaker). You must be helping someone else whose rig does beep?
 
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Sorry about the beep comment, that was on another thread I was thinking about. I had a half dozen other threads going on at that time.

The RAM is tested with the motherboard diagnostics (beep codes). It can also be tested with Memtest. If you have a working set of RAM, you can test the RAM y simply switching it out.

Bread-boarding the motherboard is a good way to diagnose the motherboard.

About getting to the BIOS, (and you may have already tried this) try connecting monitor to the integrated graphics video out on the motherboard. If the monitor doesn't work at that point, try clearing the CMOS again.

To answer your question about the power supply, reseating the power supply leads doesn't eliminated anything other than loose connections. You can check the voltage outputs with a power supply tester or multimeter. To test the actual wattage output is more difficult because you need to put a load on the power supply to do that.

 
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I decided to bite the bullet and redo the whole build, starting outside the chassis. I didn't remove the H100i, but my first test with it on was successful, so I just went from there. I only plugged in the SSDs (no HDDs or ODD), and it worked perfectly.
I am now in the painstaking process of redoing everything inside the chassis, stopping to verify it posts after each and every step. So far, I got the H100i connected to the comm port on the PSU, the H100i fans in the CPU fan ports on the mobo, and all 16 GB of RAM in, and the darn thing still posts. Next will be hard drives, ODD. GPU, and front panel. I will post results when I get there. Thanks for all the help!
 
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That is good news. If you haven't done so already, it is probably a good idea to flash the BIOS again while you have access to it in case something was corrupted (use a fresh download).

Once you get it put back together, I would recommend doing some stress tests to verify that it is running smooth.

Good luck.
 
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The rebuild is finished. All the messing around with the drives resulted in having to reinstall Windows and all applications, which I am doing now. Everything is working. Thanks for the help! I wish I knew what caused the problem, though, because even though it's fixed I'm still in the dark.
 
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