Question ROG Maximus Hero VII will not boot until heated with a hair dryer

Sep 30, 2019
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Hi guys, please help !

I have a desktop 4 years old:

Mobo ROG Mazimus Hero VII Z97
CPU i7-4790k socket 1150
RAM 4x8 DDR3 Kingston Fury
PSU BeQuiet PurePower 730W
GPU Asus Strix Nvidia GeForce 970GTX
OS Windows 7 Pro 64 bit (genuine).

Since build, with brand new components, the rig was perfectly stable. No problems, except 2-3 times last summer when it shutdown during a gaming session, probably overheating. But rebooted without incidents.
Last week, Monday morning, problem - the system would not boot ! All lights on the mobo, all fans working (including the CPU's one). Qcode: infamous 00. And the CPU_led on.
I have retried many, many, many times. Nothing. Same 00, same CPU_led red light.
Next day, after I saw on internet, I heated the mobo less than 2 min with a hairdryer. Miracle, perfect boot, perfect POST ! No more OO code, no more Q-Leds on the mobo.
So, since then, I have to start my rig with a hair dryer :) or :(.
It works without any problems. Yesterday it was on for almost 12 hours, including 2 gaming sessions. No errors, no crashes, nothing wrong at all... Temperatures fine: mobo max.39 Celsius, CPU 33-38 C, VRM 38-42 C, GPU 40-46 C but up to 65-70 C during gaming. Never OC it ! I did not move it or handle it improperly. I did not install anything on it lately.
Restarting from Windows works, but if I shut it down, will not come up without some heat from a hair dryer.
All checks and troubleshooting I did on it give OK results !
Except one: troubleshooting in Windows -->config a device -->problems found-->hardware changes that might not have been detected-->detections details --> Windows version 6.1 (hmm...) and architecture AMD64 (?!?!). But if I scan for hardware devices, nothing.
Since no other/real problems detected, I did not try to remove components one by one etc. etc. Nor did I removed the BIOS battery.
Now, it is true that before the fail, the cold boot in the morning took a bit longer than 2 years ago (but I thought that it's normal, since many Windows upgrades). It is also true that shutting down from Windows took also a bit longer (some 10-15 seconds) that normal.
Drivers are updated. Except the Intel(r)Management Engine Interface (can this one be a problem ?). And the BIOS. I have the 2012 version (since october 2014). The last BIOS should be version 3201 (from 2017, or even 3503, but this one is a beta). Since I never had problems, I did not consider to update the BIOS. Is this important in this case ?

Now guys, what can it be ? Maybe the PSU does not give enough power for a cold start ? Something about a contact (heating mobo=dilatation) ? But where ? Can it be the CPU ? Than, why works without problems after start ? One more thing, when shutting down from the Windows, not only that it takes longer, but the Q_led shows again 00 before all lights go off. But no Q_leds.
I really care about this rig and I do not want to change it :eek:.
Of course, I indent to go to a professional but I want to firstly know what about can be.
Sorry for the above might be mistakes, English is not my native language and thank you in advance for your brainstorming ;)
 
Last edited:
Sep 30, 2019
2
0
10
Update - the mobo stayed 1 week in a hardware professional service. Result ? Zero-zero :( They could not find what it's wrong with it...
So I had to buy a Z97 Fatal1ty Killer...