pc randomly shut off etc, gta5 culprint? wont boot back up Q66/AE

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

UPDATE: CPU was broken. everything sorted after replacing it.



My pc is 1-2 year old

NOTHING IS OVERCLOCKED, simply bought new and put together.
 

windows 8,1

mobo: Asus crosshair v formula z 
cpu: amd fx 8350, + black rock 2, be quiet cooler 
psu: corsair rm 850

ram: corsair 16gb vengeance

3x kingston hyper x ssd
main gpu: asus strix 980ti
secondary gpu: asus strix 750ti

note: I always have a youtube video running on a side monitor plus the main game im playing on my middle monitor of my total 3 monitors

You kinda need the whole story to understand the situation:

Day1 of problems: 
-  Was playing gta5 fullscreen, alt esc/ctrl esc out for a minute to change to a new youtube video and went back in to gta then my pc shut off at random.

Then all the settings had changed to maximum everything except the monitor hz was 24 instead of 144hz, and any attempt at changing any settings resultedd in pc crashing having to shut it off or shutting off by itself.
Then last time after starting back up pc and starting gta again the online button is no longer there so i cant play the game.

 

Day 2 of problems:
Whenever i reboot the pc it often resulted in a blackscreen saying windows cant start put in the windows cd etc, but entering the bios telling the pc to boot from a specific ssd worked sometimes.

 

Day 3 of problems:
The most recent thing that happened : simply browsing internet, mouse pointer started lagging for 10 seconds then froze completely. waiting 10 minutes didnt help so i shut the pc off with the power button.
(sounds like cpu overheating but i have 3 noctua industrial fans running + the good cpu cooler so i highly doubt it)


Current situation:
-after shutting the pc off from the mouse lagging my pc wont turn on again with Q code AE and 66 at random. (i have had this a few times inbetween these 3 days but restarting a few times worked, but now it doesnt.)

I cant enter the bios as monitors stay black, i assume the pc isnt getting that far before failing to boot
I tried hitting the clr cmos button on mobo didnt help


Pretty sure all drivers etc are up to date. not that i can fix drivers as i cant even get into the bios atm anyway

 

 

i probably forgot some infos ill add when i remember it

[DrunkPenguinz]

The fact that you have, Idunno, maybe a 980ti and a 750ti SLI'd...

[DrunkPenguinz]

obviously its not sli.... 750ti is for physx and more monitor ports as i usualy have 5 monitors but currently the shelf i have the top 2 ones arent up atm. also this is not a new build. i have had these parts for a year and some parts for 2 years. the only new thing is the 980ti i upgraded from asus 780ti a few weeks ago. the gpu's are not the problem. 

I know my stuff when it comes to computer parts. i just dont know my stuff when it comes to softwarebugs/crashes/errors whatever.

Also, can I ask that you've tried using your pc without the 750ti in your pc? The 750ti isn't going to help much with PhysX, maybe it's a dead card. Just a recommendation.

[79 Potatoes]

@MoDRun Probably both GPUs are sucking power from the slots, plug the auxiliar molex connector near the slots if you haven't already

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

Well, maybe you could try OC'ing your cpu and see if it helps any. Maybe it's under too much load for what you want to do at stock clocks.

If you didnt read my main post properly, the issue is that i cant even get into the bios so i cant do anything at all. also ocing the cpu isnt a solution because the problem isnt that and i dont even think thats how it works.

either way the cpu runs at about 70-80% load when i multitask heavily aka hearthstone youtube gta5 50 chrome tabs and a few more games running on 5 monitors without problems. while recently i have only watched youtube plus gta5 nothing more on 3 monitors

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

 

@MoDRun Probably both GPUs are sucking power from the slots, plug the auxiliar molex connector near the slots if you haven't already

i understand what you are thinking but thats not the problem because the 750ti draws like no power at all and this havent been a problem for the last year and i have been using even more gpu's before

 

anyway i have alredy tried booting the pc without the 750ti in it just the 980ti

 

 

-snip-

 

yes i have tried without the 750ti. im mainly using it to run more monitors not for physx but that helps too. also i dont know how a dead gpu could possibly cause the pc not to boot at all not even to bios

[79 Potatoes]

i understand what you are thinking but thats not the problem because the 750ti draws like no power at all and this havent been a problem for the last year and i have been using even more gpu's before

anyway i have alredy tried booting the pc without the 750ti in it just the 980ti

The connector is there because of that reason, multiGPU, you're loading up to 60 W more than expected. Just try, it doesn't hurt.

First time I saw one of these plugs I looked in the manual, the manufacturer strictly recommended it for multiple GPUs, even if they're 2 low power ones.

 

If it works, that means that you caused a circuitry degradation due to overload...

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

The connector is there because of that reason, multiGPU, you're loading up to 60 W more than expected. Just try, it doesn't hurt.

First time I saw one of these plugs I looked in the manual, the manufacturer strictly recommended it for multiple GPUs, even if they're 2 low power ones.

 

If it works, that means that you caused a circuitry degradation due to overload...

im only running the 980ti now , and i dont even have one of them molex cables

[DrunkPenguinz]

yes i have tried without the 750ti. im mainly using it to run more monitors not for physx but that helps too. also i dont know how a dead gpu could possibly cause the pc not to boot at all not even to bios

From my understanding of what I've looked up, the error code Q-code 66 is a memory problem.

The AE standing for "Legacy Boot Event" which means it isn't detecting an OS.

[79 Potatoes]

im only running the 980ti now , and i dont even have one of them molex cables

...

The RM850 comes with 8 of them, search the cables if you saved them

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

 

...

The RM850 comes with 8 of them, search the cables if you saved them

well sure ill keep looking for them. anyways even if theres nothing onscreen i know that the pc havent booted to windows because the fans are spinning at full speed which they do when windows havent fully loaded yet.

 

 

From my understanding of what I've looked up, the error code Q-code 66 is a memory problem.

The AE standing for "Legacy Boot Event" which means it isn't detecting an OS.

my asus user manual is saying codes 63 to 67 are "cpu DXE initialization is started" while AE is legacy boot event. but okay ill have a look at the ram sticks see if i can do anything with them withouth having to remove the cpu heatsink :\

 

But yeah thats another problem - the os - the os is installed on my 120gb ssd but for the os to actualy run i have to tell the pc in bios to boot from the 240gb ssd and i have had a thread about this before and no one could help with it or understand why.

[79 Potatoes]

well sure ill keep looking for them. anyways even if theres nothing onscreen i know that the pc havent booted to windows because the fans are spinning at full speed which they do when windows havent fully loaded yet.

OK, let's hope the think isn't broken.

I'm reading the whole thing again trice, does any of the 4 Q LEDs stay on?

If no, Can you plug the 750 Ti in the last slot? 

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

OK, let's hope the think isn't broken.

I'm reading the whole thing again trice, does any of the 4 Q LEDs stay on?

If no, Can you plug the 750 Ti in the last slot? 

i dont know what you mean by 4 q leds? 

i currently have my 980ti in the second lowest slot which is as far down as it can go and i can also try switching the 980ti to the 750ti if that possibly helps idk. 

[79 Potatoes]

i dont know what you mean by 4 q leds? 

i currently have my 980ti in the second lowest slot which is as far down as it can go and i can also try switching the 980ti to the 750ti if that possibly helps idk. 

iirc you already tried the 750 Ti alone (unless I misread something?), so it'd be the same in the 2nd slot

Anyway, I meant this:

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

iirc you already tried the 750 Ti alone (unless I misread something?), so it'd be the same in the 2nd slot

Anyway, I meant this:

when i turn the pc on- The third light blinked, the second light blinked and then the first light stays on.

yes i have tried the 750ti alone and the 980ti alone.

also i forgot to mention something in the main post - the pc once crashed leading me having to reboot when i simply unplugged a displayport monitor cable from the 750ti gpu once if i remember correctly.

[79 Potatoes]

when i turn the pc on- The third light blinked, the second light blinked and then the first light stays on.

yes i have tried the 750ti alone and the 980ti alone.

also i forgot to mention something in the main post - the pc once crashed leading me having to reboot when i simply unplugged a displayport monitor cable from the 750ti gpu once if i remember correctly.

Boot_Device stays on? 

Can you enter your BIOS if you unplug the main drive and any USB storage?

PS: blinking doesn't matter, that's just a check

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

 

Boot_Device stays on?

Can you enter your BIOS if you unplug the main drive and any USB storage?

PS: blinking doesn't matter, that's just a check

I just tried to turn it on with 1 stick of ram, no gpu, and no drives and it still gives -q66 so that removes any ssd failure and gpu failure right? and possibly memory failure too? i removed all sticks and put one back in on the slot far right made sure its fully seated

 

So if i find a cpu somewhere or possibly both cpu and gpu it might work temporary?

PROGRESS! i seated the 750ti in one of the slots thats never been used just to make sure and yes i can indeed enter bios now!

 

althought not so sure what to continue to do now

[79 Potatoes]

 

I just tried to turn it on with 1 stick of ram, no gpu, and no drives and it still gives -q66 so that removes any ssd failure and gpu failure right? and possibly memory failure too? i removed all sticks and put one back in on the slot far right made sure its fully seated

 

So if i find a cpu somewhere or possibly both cpu and gpu it might work temporary?

The problem is that DXE also involves MB devices, though any AM3/AM3+ CPU or AM3+ mb could clear what's the issue.

 

 

PROGRESS! i seated the 750ti in one of the slots thats never been used just to make sure and yes i can indeed enter bios now!

 

althought not so sure what to continue to do now

3rd slot? or you made it to the 4th?

Well, try to see what happens if you set default values

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

3rd slot? or you made it to the 4th?

Well, try to see what happens if you set default values

idk what you mean default values but we got another success - i connected the drives again and got into windows but i still have to enter bios and click the 240gb drive otherwise it says windows error. I have a 120gb drive where i installed windows, a 240gb games only drive and a 480gb games plus other things drive. you woul think id have to boot with the 120gb one but nope windows cant boot unless i say windows is on the 240gb drive... so weird.

now i just have to figure out what part is actualy something wrong with if any. i thought at first the cpu was damaged or something because i couldnt expalin the random pc shutdowns by itself. but i dont know atm

 

[79 Potatoes]

idk what you mean default values but we got another success - i connected the drives again and got into windows but i still have to enter bios and click the 240gb drive otherwise it says windows error. I have a 120gb drive where i installed windows, a 240gb games only drive and a 480gb games plus other things drive. you woul think id have to boot with the 120gb one but nope windows cant boot unless i say windows is on the 240gb drive... so weird.

now i just have to figure out what part is actualy something wrong with if any. i thought at first the cpu was damaged or something because i couldnt expalin the random pc shutdowns by itself. but i dont know atm

 

Default BIOS values, similar to clearing CMOS, but there's always that option in BIOS, according to your manual it'd be in the right-down corner in EZ mode. In advanced mode it's in the Exit Menu as "Load Optimized Defaults"

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

Default BIOS values, similar to clearing CMOS, but there's always that option in BIOS, according to your manual it'd be in the right-down corner in EZ mode. In advanced mode it's in the Exit Menu as "Load Optimized Defaults"

Thanks for sticking with me the other day. Pc died completely a while after i managed to get it to work again. Turns out the cpu was broken so i have now replaced the cpu and everythings fine