Question Qcode 00 on X99 motherboard

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Aug 22, 2019
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Well, in March 2020, my system just shutdown out of nowhere and refused to boot. Pressing the power button would make the qcode 00 with CPU and GPU fans at full speed. At times, it would be constantly rebooting. Sometimes the system would boot AND it would be stable. If it booted, there was no sign of instability.

3 months later, and lot of tedious trial and error, I've got the system to reliably boot by physically pressing on the empty memory slots between the IO shield and the CPU socket while all the memory is in the right side of the CPU between the socket and the ATX power connector. I do not follow the asus recommended layout because the mobo wouldn't boot otherwise.

Also sometimes, when switching on the power supply at the back, it would cause a surge on the UPS, equivalent of the system running at full load of CPU without even me booting it. For a brief moment, the system pulls approx 150W without booting up.

So I'm totally unsure of what is happening. Which part has gone bad? Mobo/CPU/PSU? I have ruled out the CPU because once it boots, it is pretty stable with not much deviation in temperatures or package power in Intel Power Gadget. How can I debug this?

Both the processor and mobo are out of warranty. PSU has 3 years left. Asus says tough luck since the mobo is out of warranty and they are not even willing to take cash to repair it. I have not talked to Intel or Corsair yet.

Also, the UPS did had its battery changed 3 months before this started. There was also some electrical issues the day before this happened. But nothing else connected to the UPS was damaged.


CPU: i7-5820k
Motherboard: Asus X99A - https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/X99A/specifications/
Bios version: Lates - v4101
Ram: 32GB (mixed. 16GB/2133 Mhz kit, 16Gb/2400Mhz kit), all run at 2133 Mhz.
SSD/HDD: 3x Samsung 860 evo et al, 4x SATA 7200k Seagate HDDs
GPU: Sapphire Pulse RX580
GPU: GTX 980Ti (but this hasn't been in the case for 6 months now)
PSU: Corsair RM750x
OS: Windows/Mac (yes, it's a hackintosh)
 

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
How old is the PSU? Have you tried removing all but the SSD to see if the system boots without an issue. Try using a lower powered GPU with the existing PSU. I'd also ask you to source a donor PSU which fairly new and is reliably built like the RM unit you have.

Also, why are you mixing sticks/kits of ram? Remove one kit and see if they cause any issues.
 
Aug 22, 2019
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How old is the PSU?

As old as the system itself. All were bought in April 2016 or so.


Have you tried removing all but the SSD to see if the system boots without an issue. Try using a lower powered GPU with the existing PSU.

Yep. I've tried every combination possible. I've even tried booting with only the CPU and RAM and still goes to Qcode 00. Pressing on the left ram slots gets it to boot.

I'd also ask you to source a donor PSU which fairly new and is reliably built like the RM unit you have.

Well that is going to be tough. I'll have to purchase it most probably. No one near me has an RMx level of PSU. Will purchasing a lower level of PSU for testing this out be a good idea?

Also, why are you mixing sticks/kits of ram? Remove one kit and see if they cause any issues.

The initial kit was 16GB/2133Mhz bough in 2016. I needed another 16GB but only 2x8GB/2400Mhz were available at the time of purchase in Aug 2019. The memory has worked fairly reliably for the past 8 months so I brushed off the concern. Now I'm wondering if this <Mod Edit> things up. I have tried with only one kit. and it still won't boot up.
 
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Aug 22, 2019
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Well, some testing shows me that atleast one ram slot between the CPU and IO Shield is dead. I can't say for sure about the remaining 3 slots because documentation says that the board prefers slots on the right and I don't have enough sticks to populate all 8 slots.

Two things are certain for now - the PSU always causes a surge of 150W on the UPS when switched from O to I without the system booting up. Pressing on the left memory slots has got the system to reliably boot for the last 10 times.
 

greekguy

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Dec 23, 2010
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Hi i dont know if i have to write in this post or not but i have a simular problem. my pc is:
Asus x99-a
gtx 970 g1 gaming
i7-5820k
PSU CORSAIR HXI SERIES HX850I HIGH-PERFORMANCE ATX 850W 80 PLUS PLATINUM CERTIFIED
RAM HYPERX HX421C14FBK2/16 16GB (2X8GB) DDR4 2133MHZ HYPERX FURY DUAL CHANNEL


Now the weird thing is that i can use my pc for anything COD vanguard other games too photoshop etc, but when i start medieval dynasty the pc stops (everything working on motherboard) no signal on monitor and motherboard says qcode 00.
i have tried everything (using one slot ram swapping psu, gpu everything i could find on the internet....)
Can anyone helpme????
 
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