Question X670E - Not POST-ing with QCodes 46/00/14/15/C5 and Red+Yellow LED Lights after more than a year

[Mefu720]

Hi, my PC suddenly decided to just die this morning after more than a year with zero problems, so I'll post everything I did, have and know so maybe somebody can help me out.

For the beginning my specs:

MOBO: Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero
BIOS Ver: 1516 (24.07.2023)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
+ Arctic MX-6
AIO: Arctic Liquid Freezer II 420 ARGB (ACFRE00109A)
GPU: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 ROG Strix 8GB GDDR5 OC
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB, DDR5, 64 GB, 6000MHz, CL30 (F5-6000J3040G32GX2-TZ5NR) (Placed in A2 and B2 slots)
PSU: Corsair HX1500i (CP-9020215-EU)
CASE: Fractal Design Meshify 2 XL
FANS: x4 Arctic P14 PWM PST A-RGB
+ x2 M2 SSD
+ x1 SATA SSD
+ x2 SATA HDD

I've built my PC between 24 - 26.07.2023

The first day was assembly, went smooth with zero problems

Second day was installing Windows 11, programs and then the usual OS customization

Third day was me changing around BIOS settings and then stess testing the system

All the final BIOS changes that I did back then and left it like that:

RAM EXPO Tweaked Profile
Negative 30 all cores PBO curve
85C thermal limit
180W PPT limit
PCIEX16_1 Bandwidth set to PCIE X16 Mode

From 26.07.2023 to this day (03.12.2024) everything worked just perfect, zero problems whatsoever with booting, crashes or anything really

Yesterday (02.12.2024) everything was fine as well. I turned off my PC at around 11PM, and then booted it back up the next day at around 11AM

And now the real issue starts.

At first after booting it up, it froze during the BIOS startup screen (that one where u can press DEL key to enter BIOS) (and my keyboard was lighted up)

That seemed weird, I clicked the DEL and the other second key to try to enter the BIOS to see if it really froze, and yep, zero response from the system (and sadly I didn't check the QCodes back then)

So I turned it off via the Power Button, and then back on

Now it didn't want to post (also no led light up on the keyboard from now on), the screen was black and the QCode was changing from 14 (red led light) to 15 (yellow led light), to again 14 (red), then to 15 (yellow) again, etc.

So I turned it off again with the Power Button, unplugged it from the wall, and after turning it back on now the QCode was just "00" with the red led light (if I remember correctly)

So again, power button off, unplug from the wall, power on and..

Once again QCode 00, and now the power button doesn't even work

So I unplugged it from the wall while it was still running

And after turning it back on not only the power button no longer works, but also the fans stopped spinning. Oh, and the QCode 00 is still there

Then once again unplug from the wall, CMOS reset

Power on, and now the fans are again spinning!
For the first few seconds the QCode was 15, then it turned to 00 with the yellow led light

The power button now works as well, so I power the system off via it

Again power on.. Aaand.. Again QCode 15 (yellow led), then it turned to a new QCode C5 (yellow led)

Again restart with power button

Now from the very beginning the Yellow Led Light is always on, and the QCodes are 46 for a split second to 15

Now I've read up online to try different RAM sticks (mono and dual) positions in the DIMM slots

And after doing pretty much every single combination there is, with both RAM sticks and single stick (I tested both of them in single configuration) with always resetting the CMOS each change and countless restarts - the results are the same

Now I always get (at start 46 for a split second) either QCode 15 to C5, or just QCode 15 alone along with always on yellow led light

So the question is, what do I do now?

From what I've read so far, the CPUs Memory Controller could be fried? Or the MOBOs Memory Controller?

After all those powering the PC on all the RGB leds were and are working fine, if that's any indicator of anything

If anybody has any ideas please let me know, cheers

 

[MCH170]

From what I've read so far, the CPUs Memory Controller could be fried?

That would be my conclusion. I would take the PC to a shop, explain the situation and ask them to try installing another cpu to see if the system will boot.

Or the MOBOs Memory Controller?

I am pretty sure that isn't a thing any more, please someone correct me if I am wrong.

Edit: You could also try to flash the latest bios and give it another try but your chances are slim.

 

[Mefu720]

Alright, an update

Terminology used by me here, to make this post a bit quicker:

RL - Red Led Light
YL - Yellow Led Light
RAM Stick P
RAM Stick L
A1/A2/B1/B2 - DIMM slot number
QC - QCode

---

So, I've AGAIN tried (almost) every combination in placing the RAM, and the results are:

Stick P in A1 = QC 46 to 15 with YL
Stick P in A2 = QC 46 to 15 with YL
Stick P in B1 = QC 00 to 46 to 15 to C5 with YL
Stick P in B2 = QC 46 to 15 with YL, after like a minute it started showing a lot of different QCs and then FINALLY BOOTED to AMI Screen, then to BIOS and Windows for the first time since something broke

I went and updated the BIOS from Ver. 1516 to Ver. 2403 in hopes that maybe this will fix the issue. Anyway, I started testing again and:

Stick P in B2 and Stick L in A2 = QC 46 to 15 with YL
Stick P in B2 = Boots normally
Stick L in B2 = Boots normally

Alright. So the DIMM_B2 slot is the only one working so far. And now I know that the RAM sticks are not the fault.

Stick L in B2 and Stick P in B1 = QC 46 to 15 with YL, but then again after like a minute it actually showed me something new! Now it was displaying QC "A0" with RL (still no POST)

I restarted the system, and now again QC 46 to 15 with YL. After two minutes it now booted to AMI Screen with "the system has posted in safe mode"

Great! So the DIMM_B1 and DIMM_B2 slots are both still working

After another reboot now it boots normally into BIOS and Windows , tried it 3 times to be sure and yeah now it just normally boots with no problems

Stick L in B2 and Stick P in A2 = QC 46 to 15 with YL
Stick L in B2 and Stick P in A1 = QC 46 to 15 with YL
Stick L in B1 and Stick P in A1 = QC 46 to 15 with YL

So in conclusion, both A1&A2 DIMM slots are not working while B1&B2 DIMM slots now started working normally

For now I'm leaving it at Stick L in B1 and Stick P in B2 (working fine)

I've also tried enabling EXPO Tweaked in this configuration to see what will happen, and it doesn't work

Then I left the EXPO at disabled and changed mostly the CPU settings again to:

Negative 30 all cores PBO curve
85C thermal limit
180W PPT limit
PCIEX16_1 Bandwidth set to PCIE X16 Mode

And it's working fine so far.

Windows reads my RAM at 3600 MHz btw

What do you guys think now could be the issue? CPU or MOBO? And what can I do next?

 

[MCH170]

You memory channel A seems broken. That can be either the fault of the memory controller in the cpu, the traces in the montherboard, or the ram slots. Given that neither A1 or A2 work, I would say its the cpu's fault.

You can try removing the cpu from the socket and reseating it to see if that will fix it (maybe some pin isn't touching as it should).

 

[Mefu720]

You memory channel A seems broken. That can be either the fault of the memory controller in the cpu, the traces in the montherboard, or the ram slots. Given that neither A1 or A2 work, I would say its the cpu's fault.

You can try removing the cpu from the socket and reseating it to see if that will fix it (maybe some pin isn't touching as it should).

Will try the reseating then once I'll have a free day again. Anyway, is that really possible that something inside the CPU just straight up broke after like 12 hours after power off? Idk just seems weird to me

 

[MCH170]

Will try the reseating then once I'll have a free day again. Anyway, is that really possible that something inside the CPU just straight up broke after like 12 hours after power off? Idk just seems weird to me

I honestly don't know but I don't think the power off caused it.