Stuck in a boot loop after gpu driver update

[djskinny]

Just finished a custom cooling loop and wanted to test thermals. Updated nvidia driver and ran both cpu and gpu stress tests and everything went fine. Pleased with these results, I shut the system down to reinstall my sound card (yes, i know sound cards arent really necessary anymore but i digress). After installing both mother and daughter cards, I turned the system back on and no post. After searching and reading, i realized that I spaced and put the card in the pcie slot that is shared with the M.2 (Oops). I removed the card and tried again. No post.

 

So now when I turn on the system, it gets stuck in a boot loop. It doesn't get stuck on any one code in particular. It just steadily cycles through them and starts over when it gets to the "dxe initialization" part. So I reseated all the memory sticks and no change. I took all the memory out and installed one stick at a time, there are 8 sticks, no change. I reseated the cpu, no change. I tried the MemOk! Button, no change. I reflashed the BIOS, no change. I took the CMOS battery out and put it back in 10 mins later, no change.

The only piece of hardware I can swap out is the motherboard, but I realized that the pcie slots are spaced differently and like I said I just finished a custom water loop so I figured I'd appeal to the more tech savvy before going down that road.

The specs are as follows:
i7-5930K 4.1Ghz
64GB of DDR4
2x MSI 1080ti FE cards
1TB Samsung 960 Evo

1200W PSU

Win 10 Pro

Any help and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Spakes]

Other than disassemblying the build and swapping GPUs (or using one at a time), I have no ideas... I hope, your loop is not using hardline tubing...

DXE means that it tries to initialize some hardware, but something wrong happens and voila, boot loop... Try using only CPU and GPU, after that add one stick of RAM (to the farthest left from CPU socket), then SSD.

My bet: something is wrong with SSD.

[djskinny]

Being that this is my first time with custom water cooling, it is not hardline. I wanted to get comfortable with softline before moving to hardline tubing.

 

I didn't think about it being the m.2 but I guess I could take that out and see if the computer will at least make it to the BIOS. I do have another video card I can put in and maybe I'll be able to get it in there without having to break the loop. Fingers crossed. 

 

Hopefully, I'll have time tomorrow before I have to go to work to do some more troubleshooting. Thanks for the advice and I'll update as soon as possible.

 

Update: I took out the nvme and boot loop. I took out graphic cards and tried one at a time and boot loop. Went and bought cheap compatible ddr4 memory and boot loop.

 

There is a new development though. The last error code in the boot loop is "b9" which the manual says "reserved for future ami codes". The code before that is "bd" which the manual stats the same thing. 

Edited October 31, 2019 by djskinny
updating troubleshooting steps

[djskinny]

Just thought I'd give an update:

 

I bought a couple of RAM sticks (different brand) and plugged them in and got the same boot loop. So I swapped to my backup motherboard, which has a bent cpu pin, and used my original RAM sticks and hit the start button.

 

I got into the BIOS! However, only half the RAM sticks were being acknowledged. Hmmm...turned the computer back off and switched the RAM sticks around only on the slots left of the socket and booted backup. Now none of the those sticks were being recognized. Hmmm...turned it back off and took all the RAM out and put in the new RAM into slots that had not showed anything in the previous two boots, which are the slots I'm supposed to use when only installing two sticks. They showed!

 

Booted into Windows and ran both a CPU and GPU stress test to test stability. Both tests ran without a hitch. Left the computer running for about 90 mins and I decided that I'd at least start putting the case back together. As soon as I put the lid back on, the screen went black. I restarted and back to the same boot loop. I considered a sledgehammer but then decided against it...….for now.

 

Now I'm thinking it might be the CPU. Although if it is the CPU, then why did nothing happen during the CPU stress test?