System Not POSTing/Booting

[-rascal-]

Well this is inconvenient.

 

My X99 system decided not to boot this afternoon.

System has been running problem-free for ~2 years...until today.

 

When I flick on the power switch, the system is getting power ... on-board power + reset button's LEDs are on, the two PCI-E connector LEDs on my ASUS ROG R9-280X Platinum lights up.

I click the power button, and all fans spin up, Q-code output starts flashing through codes, make it to '25', and the system powers off.

Powers off like someone pulled the plug.

 

The system was last known to be working about ~2 days ago.

It woke up from sleep / hibernate mode (someone hit the keyboard), and everything was working -- RGB LEDs, all fans were going, etc.

When I checked back the next day, the system was off...just didn't alert me. My brother could've shut the system down.

 

Anyways, I'm still troubleshooting the system, and I've done the following so far:

1. Replace the PSU (EVGA P2 850W) with another PSU that I have on-hand (Corsair TX850)  -- I first thought the PSU might be faulty.
2. Swapped around DRAM slots, and tried a single stick of RAM in different slots -- thought maybe one or more of my 4 RAM sticks were faulty
3. Swapped video card with an R9-Fury -- maybe the second-hand 280X is faulty
4. Tried a different PCI-E X16 slot -- thought maybe PCI-E slot is dead

I am thinking something might be shorting, or the motherboard / CPU kicked the bucket...in the progress of pulling the motherboard, and doing the ol' motherboard-on-top-of-cardboard-box troubleshooting.

 

System configuration is in my signature but....

• i7-6800K @ 4.0 GHz
• 32 GB (4 X 8 GB) DDR4-3000 TridentZ 
• ASUS R9-280X / 2x Sapphire NITRO R9-Fury
• EVGA P2 850W PSU
• SanDisk 480 SATA III SSD
• Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (CPU cooler I bought to initially test the system out...haven't had the time to put together my custom loop yet)
• Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Tempered Glass Edition case
• 2x RGB stripes daisy-chained together 

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Thanks!

 

Update: No immediate signs of damage on the back of the motherboard. I do see...what seems like soldering flux residue on some of the pins on the back of one DIMM slot...but that slot is unused.

 

[gepowr]

5 minutes ago, -rascal- said:

Well this is inconvenient.

 

My X99 system decided not to boot this afternoon.

System has been running problem-free for ~2 years...until today.

 

When I flick on the power switch, the system is getting power ... on-board power + reset button's LEDs are on, the two PCI-E connector LEDs on my ASUS ROG R9-280X Platinum lights up.

I click the power button, and all fans spin up, Q-code output starts flashing through codes, make it to '25', and the system powers off.

Powers off like someone pulled the plug.

 

The system was last known to be working about ~2 days ago.

It woke up from sleep / hibernate mode (someone hit the keyboard), and everything was working -- RGB LEDs, all fans were going, etc.

When I checked back the next day, the system was off...just didn't alert me. My brother could've shut the system down.

 

Anyways, I'm still troubleshooting the system, and I've done the following so far:

1. Replace the PSU (EVGA P2 850W) with another PSU that I have on-hand (Corsair TX850)  -- I first thought the PSU might be faulty.
2. Swapped around DRAM slots, and tried a single stick of RAM in different slots -- thought maybe one or more of my 4 RAM sticks were faulty
3. Swapped video card with an R9-Fury -- maybe the second-hand 280X is faulty
4. Tried a different PCI-E X16 slot -- thought maybe PCI-E slot is dead

I am thinking something might be shorting, or the motherboard / CPU kicked the bucket...in the progress of pulling the motherboard, and doing the ol' motherboard-on-top-of-cardboard-box troubleshooting.

 

System configuration is in my signature but....

• i7-6800K @ 4.0 GHz
• 32 GB (4 X 8 GB) DDR4-3000 TridentZ 
• ASUS R9-280X / 2x Sapphire NITRO R9-Fury
• EVGA P2 850W PSU
• SanDisk 480 SATA III SSD
• Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (CPU cooler I bought to initially test the system out...haven't had the time to put together my custom loop yet)
• Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Tempered Glass Edition case
• 2x RGB stripes daisy-chained together 

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Thanks!

 

Have you tried clearing cmos yet ? While i'm not familiar with the X99 platform the Q-code '25' is basically indicating a memory initialization right ? So if you hadn't tried swapping ram modules yet, i would've guessed that the ram is causing this problem. Did you make sure there's nothing shorting out in the ram slots ? I once had the same problem with my Z97 rig: Simply reseating every ram module fixed it permanently. 

[-rascal-]

11 minutes ago, gepowr said:

Have you tried clearing cmos yet ? While i'm not familiar with the X99 platform the Q-code '25' is basically indicating a memory initialization right ? So if you hadn't tried swapping ram modules yet, i would've guessed that the ram is causing this problem. Did you make sure there's nothing shorting out in the ram slots ? I once had the same problem with my Z97 rig: Simply reseating every ram module fixed it permanently. 

 

I've already tried re-seating the RAM, but I'm going to thoroughly check all the DIMM slots again.

Going to check the DIMM and DIMM slots, like you said, and maybe pull the CPU.

 

I just pressed the clear CMOS button found on the motherboard; it now makes it to Q-Code 14 before shutting down.

A quick google search, and this is what came up on the ASUS forum...

 

Quote

Qcode 14 is: Pre memory CPU initialization is started. Stopping at this point means it could be related to a few things and post will not advance until rectified.

Possible issues:
Your MB has a short to the case stand-offs.
Your DIMMs are incompatible with the CPU or MB.
DIMM slots contaminated or not seated properly.
Improper cabling connections.
You may have bent pins in the CPU socket.
All will have to be checked and If this continues, you will have to Benchtest outside your case.

 

I'll try again....but so far... bench-top troubleshooting is still a no-go.

[-rascal-]

1 hour ago, gepowr said:

Have you tried clearing cmos yet ? While i'm not familiar with the X99 platform the Q-code '25' is basically indicating a memory initialization right ? So if you hadn't tried swapping ram modules yet, i would've guessed that the ram is causing this problem. Did you make sure there's nothing shorting out in the ram slots ? I once had the same problem with my Z97 rig: Simply reseating every ram module fixed it permanently. 

 

No go...

 

Suspecting PSU and/or motherboard (e.g. PSU died, taking down motherboard with it).

If that's the situation, I need to see what else is dead or alive.

[-rascal-]

Doesn't look good...

• Tested system with another known working 850W PSU -- system does not work
• Tested PSU in two known working systems -- both systems does not start up properly with the EVGA PSU
• Tested GPU + SSD is another system -- they do work

Meaning...

• PSU confirmed dead
• Motherboard and/or CPU and/or RAM is also dead

I might use this chance to upgrade CPU + motherboard...but fingers crossed RAM is still alive. It would be $500+ worth of RAM...

[Spotty]

3 hours ago, -rascal- said:

When I flick on the power switch, the system is getting power ... on-board power + reset button's LEDs are on, the two PCI-E connector LEDs on my ASUS ROG R9-280X Platinum lights up.

I click the power button, and all fans spin up, Q-code output starts flashing through codes, make it to '25', and the system powers off.

Powers off like someone pulled the plug.

Assuming you've already tried reseating the memory, reseat the CPU and see if that helps.