ASUS X570 Dark Hero Crashing/Hanging system

[CommanderAlex]

Hello all, I am having strange issues with this motherboard in my system. 

 

The issues I am having are listed down below. 

 

The system crashes whenever I install the audio drivers for the motherboard. The system will work fine in gaming and then the sound hangs/screen freezes. The screen will go black and then the system will reboot by itself. The motherboard gets stuck on VGA LED but then I hear the Windows chime in the background as if the monitor is turned off. I try to reboot the system again and it repeats this process. I have to shut off the power at the PSU and hold the power button in. I plug the PSU back in and turn it on and it works fine. I try to get back into the game and the same thing happens-freezes, system reboots to black screen, Windows chime in the background. I did try to clean install Windows 10, even Windows 11. Every TIME the audio drivers are installed from the motherboard manufacturer's support page, the system does this. Also, the system will refuse to boot and get stuck on Q-Code A2. This happens when the system goes to sleep, gets waken up and then I restart the OS. After restarting, the system will not boot and will show the ASUS boot screen (ASUS ROG logo). I have tried another SSD and this still happens.. I've updated the BIOS to different revisions and has no effect on the system. 

 

TL DR:

• Audio drivers causing hard crash/automatic reboot by motherboard. VGA light turns on and Windows chime can be heard in speakers as if the monitor is off. 
• A2 POST code error when system is put to sleep, then waken up and is rebooted. 
• System will work fine with generic audio drivers when I was on Windows 11. Installed latest audio drivers and system experiences issues with audio drivers crashing. 

 

Here are my specifications down below: 

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3600 CL18 (4x8GB sticks)
• GPU: ASUS TUF Gaming RX 6900 XT
• SSD: Samsung EVO 1TB, tried Samsung EVO Plus 1TB- still get A2 POST code when this happens. 
• HDD: 2x 1TB Western Digital Blue drives
• PSU: EVGA P2 1600W, one year old
• CPU cooler: Noctua NH-D15
• OS: Tried Windows 11 and Windows 10, both clean installs. 

Please help me determine what is wrong with this system, as I'm ready to bring back the CPU and motherboard and get it exchanged. 

[kb5zue]

POST cycle will not continue until the error with your HDD or SSD is fixed and you will continue to get QCODE A2. You will receive an A2 error if you do not have any drive connected.

If you can, test the drives in another system and check all cabling and SATA connections are correct and functional.
Test first the drive containing your OS and leave the other drives out of the loop for now.
Ensure your Bios is up to date and use your rear IO panel and a USB for the flashback.

 

https://windowsreport.com/fix-a2-boot-error/

 

[CommanderAlex]

5 minutes ago, kb5zue said:

POST cycle will not continue until the error with your HDD or SSD is fixed and you will continue to get QCODE A2. You will receive an A2 error if you do not have any drive connected.

If you can, test the drives in another system and check all cabling and SATA connections are correct and functional.
Test first the drive containing your OS and leave the other drives out of the loop for now.
Ensure your Bios is up to date and use your rear IO panel and a USB for the flashback.

 

https://windowsreport.com/fix-a2-boot-error/

 

I've tried two SSDs and this issue happens. This only happens when the computer is put to sleep, waken and rebooted will get stuck on A2. I'll see what I can do given you showed this to me. I'll report back with information on what is going on. 

[kb5zue]

Just now, CommanderAlex said:

I've tried two SSDs and this issue happens. This only happens when the computer is put to sleep, waken and rebooted will get stuck on A2. I'll see what I can do given you showed this to me. I'll report back with information on what is going on. 

Great.  From what I read maybe there is the possibility of a bad drive.  Just thinkin.....  Maybe the possibility of a bad OS install.  One of my first steps would be to disconnect everything except the boot drive.  Then using something like the AOMEI Partition Assistant I would hose the boot drive and reinstall windows.

 

Good Luck and let me know what happens.

[CommanderAlex]

9 minutes ago, kb5zue said:

Great.  From what I read maybe there is the possibility of a bad drive.  Just thinkin.....  Maybe the possibility of a bad OS install.  One of my first steps would be to disconnect everything except the boot drive.  Then using something like the AOMEI Partition Assistant I would hose the boot drive and reinstall windows.

 

Good Luck and let me know what happens.

That's what I will be doing right now. I shut the system down and pulled both HDDs out and started it back up and I am going to let it sit in sleep for a bit, then wake the computer up. Afterwards, I'll reboot and see if it gets stuck on A2 again. I had reinstalled Windows 10 on the EVO drive and got A2. I did a fresh install of Windows 10 on the EVO Plus drive and got A2 today-a few hours after I installed the OS and brand new SSD (EVO Plus). I believe I had these issues when I was on another platform (Intel X299) with being stuck in boot after rebooting (after waking from sleep). I'm wondering if the 970 EVO drive I have is the problem as the one of the HDDs have been in use since 2015. The other HDD in 2019. 

[CommanderAlex]

@kb5zue

 

UPDATE: So, after letting the system sit for about 35 minutes, I woke it up from sleep. I did a couple things on the computer and then I rebooted. I still got code A2. I also have two ODDs still looked up via SATA and I decided to unplug power to one of them, then proceeded to reboot and it rebooted fine. Before, I rebooted and it would get stuck on code A2, so it appears that one of the ODDs is bad. 

 

But now the question remains with the audio drivers, why does the audio drivers crash the system if they are installed, yet generic audio drivers work fine??

[kb5zue]

If your "installed" audio drivers crash the machine and the Windows/Generic drivers work fine, then why install the other drivers at all?  It's sort of like a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" sort of thing.  

[CommanderAlex]

3 minutes ago, kb5zue said:

If your "installed" audio drivers crash the machine and the Windows/Generic drivers work fine, then why install the other drivers at all?  It's sort of like a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" sort of thing.  

Yeah, I understand that, but at the same time, they should work since they are directly downloaded from the support page on ASUS' website. I'm just more confused why they don't work on a $450 motherboard. 

[kb5zue]

Yea, I agree with you 100% but that's just the way it is I suppose.  Just out of curiosity, does your machine need a BIOS update?  When I upgraded my machine from AM3 to AM4, the first thing I did even before installing Windows for the initial install, I upgaded the BIOS.  It's a long-shot for sure, but right off the top of my head, it's the only thing I can think of at this point.  Sorry.

 

Good Luck.

[CommanderAlex]

12 minutes ago, kb5zue said:

Yea, I agree with you 100% but that's just the way it is I suppose.  Just out of curiosity, does your machine need a BIOS update?  When I upgraded my machine from AM3 to AM4, the first thing I did even before installing Windows for the initial install, I upgaded the BIOS.  It's a long-shot for sure, but right off the top of my head, it's the only thing I can think of at this point.  Sorry.

 

Good Luck.

As of right now, no BIOS update as I just updated it on Jan.1st 2022 after seeing there was an update for version 3904 from 12/15/2021. I was on version 3801 (8/12/2021). I've had the audio driver crashes before on version 3601 (6/16/2021) about 3 weeks from when I purchased it...and unfortunately was out of the return window.