Yet another X99 reboot loop

panxter · November 27, 2015

I have a desktop that I built myself, specs are as follows:

Intel i7 5960X

ASUS X99-E WS

Corsair Dominator Platinum 64GB 2400MHz DDR4

3x EVGA 980 SC

Corsair AX1500i

It all started when I first got the parts and I had to RMA 3 motherboards for being faulty for various reasons; loose CMOS battery holder, broken lines on the circuitboard and lastly, a faulty ATX connector.

I finally got a board that booted and worked, but after a week it began randomly failing to cold boot, going into a reboot cycle ending with a 'B7' q-code and starting over.

From the manual, I could see that it had something to do with NVRAM, which AFAIK is where the BIOS is stored, correct?

I updated to the latest bios at the time (june-something) and it stopped going into these random reboot loops on startup, so of course I was thrilled!

well until recently, where it went into the same reboot loop, and no amount of resetting, clearing CMOS, or anything could get it to boot.

I RMA'd both motherboard and RAM, but the new ones act the same way with the latest 1302 bios, q-code b7 and the reboot loop.

I tried the following:

Clearing CMOS (powercord detached, battery out for 10 mins) - nothing changes

Clearing cmos via clear cmos button, nothing changes

Checking RAM sticks in all possible configurations - nothing changes

Checking PSU on another computer - it works

Checked CPU cooler not too tight or putting a weird strain on the socket (it's a Corsair H110)

Installing the newest 1302 BIOS via USB Flashback

Unplugging all GPU's running with 1, 2 and 3 in various PCI slots - no difference

I tried all my RAM sticks individually in the D1 socket (manual said to use this socket for single stick setups) but they all did the same loop.

I have triple checked all connectors, taken them out and attached them again, took out the CPU, cleaned it, checked for bent pins, put it back in, reapplied new thermal compound and attached the cooler being careful not to overtighten it, nothing changed, still the same.

I have tried all 8 sticks in D1 and A1, A2, B1 and then I sort of lost track.

Have tried 2 sticks, 4 sticks and all 8 sticks, referring to the manual on what sockets to use.

Breadboarded the system, no difference.

Put it on a testbench, no change.

Heck, I even tried plugging in a different monitor to make shure it wasnt some odd voltage running back from the monitor, no change (don't know why I even tried, getting a bit desperate at this point)

I can't get into BIOS, since this loop happens at initialization.

The diag LED's goes like this when i turn it on:

1. CPU

2. DRAM

3. CPU

4. DRAM

REBOOT

And I'm getting some fairly useless q-code logs, since the computer stops in the process, but this is the longest one I've got which seems to be complete (more than 10 tries)

RESET

0000:FF

0002:02

0003:1F

0004:43

0C14:01

0C11:01

0C13:FF

0C19:58

0CA1:01

0CA7:01

0CA9:03

0CA7:01

0CA8:01

0CAA:01

0CAF:02

0C2F:13

0CB0:BC

0CB1:FF

0CB4:02

0CB2:FF

0CB1:FF

0CB3:05

0CB6:FF

0CB7:--

Power OFF

I am really open to ideas, nothing is too far fetched!

I have built several systems, never had so much trouble as this, first time I go all in and spend some proper pesos on a system instead of a more economic solution, and all I get is trouble!

Apologies for the non-perfect english, I'm not a native and I try my best. Aaand sorry for the non-perfect formatting, this is posted from my ipad, since, well, I guess you can figure why

panxter · November 28, 2015

Continued my attempts today:

I tried swapping all the power cables with a brand new set to no avail.

Tried booting without ssd or hdd, and with another drive, no change.

Triple checked CPU socket, everything looks fine.

Checked fan pins, I am using a corsair H110 cooler, pump plugged in a cha_fan, two radiator fans plugged into cpu_fan1 and 2, everything looks fine and everything spins up at startup.

Checked screws holding the mobo, all standoffs are fine (they're preinstalled, Corsair 900D case), motherboard sits nice and flat, no tension.

I can't for the life of me figure out what is wrong.

Could it be the CPU?

I dont have another 2011v3 motherboard to test, neither do I have another cpu, is there some clever way of testing this?

TheV_Machine · November 28, 2015

Cause you already installed the newest bios-version, the software might not be the problem or not the only one. your mobo can work and the software did its job, too, so maybe the bios might have a little chance, that it causes a short circuit and this hardware problem cause rthe next reboot and so the loop after the initial software failure. could be the problem, maybe not. there are many ways why your mobo sucks ass right now. if you did the general things in your bios like setting it back to factory status and your deactivated a mysterious button, which says pls reboot cause fuck my owner then i would say, that you should throw the x99 mobo into the fires of mount doom and get a performance-great mobo from another series. the x99 is infamous for its failurs, sadly. if you want to stay with this mobo, you should maybe ask satan, god, lord gaben or a guy, who knows things about mobos that i cant imagine

0x1e · November 28, 2015

Seems you have done a lot of testing, and gone through a few motherboards.

Is there a reason why you want this motherboard? Are you open to just sending it back for a refund and get a different one?

panxter · November 28, 2015

Well, I might have been a bit naive and believed in the whole 'workstation' mumbojumbo. I am running 3way SLI, a pcie firewire card and an m.2 ssd (when everything worked) so an alternate motherboard would have to support the other hardware I have. Hardware is so incredibly expensive here in Denmark, so I have to use what I have.

I considered dragging the whole thing to the store where I purchased it, they offer hardware diagnostics for 80bucks per hour, which is starting to be cheap considering the time I have spent on it already. And then they change whatever needs to be changed under RMA for free. Possibly, they might be better at diagnostics than me, but I'd rather try all I can do myself and if all else fails, then I at least have a lot of info to pass on to the store.