About to take on Skylake...I think [HELP ASAP]

emilledigital · January 30, 2017

TL;DR In my haste to get back up and running from a mysterious code that appears upon power on of a sandy bridge system; I ordered a Skylake component list; then to find out that the issue may not be that big [I need forum help on this part] Should I return the Skylake parts? Does this issue have some kind of stability implications?

Lately my current system has been pretty unreliable and weird - i5-2500K on a MSI B75 P45 Corporate Stable Model Motherboard - Build date Sep 30 - 2013

A code 99 appears at the bottom right of the screen and lasts enough time for me to lose momentum on the work I do - I freelance - multiple browsers - million tabs open, skype, google docs, video, graphics, sound editing, database building etc - the machine is just an all round work horse.

When the code first appeared, I couldn't find a direct answer to what exactly it meant - today I found a few posts on this forum dated 2015 that discussed the issue. Here and Here - this forum post contains a link to the MSI forum where it was indicated by a mod that 99 for MSI meant - "Super I/O initialization" and the forum post went on to add no more than "if its skipping them all quickly its fine!"

Before I found this little bit of info, I had already put the system through a battery of troubleshooting tests - tested each stick of ram in each slot one at a time and tested states with and without GPU, SSD, USB, Front Panel etc.

The tests revealed that the DIMM3 and DIMM4 slots when occupied, would not allow the PC to boot - this was unrelated to 99 however because.......

The code still appears and persists for solid periods of time - therefore based on the MSI post "it is not fine"

Amidst all this confusion - I placed an order on components for a replacement Skylake build [migration from Sandy Bridge] - but here I am making this post on the mysterious 9-code-spewing-system [it boots into windows...eventually] - what am I to do here - I'd be burning significant bank if I go ahead and keep the Skylake parts and start from scratch with a new set of unknown variables ----- or I can try to get to the bottom of shady 99 and understand if that's fixable

OR I can just trash this system and fully migrate to Skylake on the hope that I will have a system that's going to last me 1000 years and enable me to earn a damn living.

Here goes:

Should I cancel that order ? - tell me why

Can this issue be fixed?

Should I put up with a stalled boot for 20 minutes each time I have to boot up again and chug along until a new build is ABSOLUTELY NEEDED?

Edited January 31, 2017 by emilledigital
Lack of mindfulness during initial development of title

Crossbred · January 31, 2017

Personally, I would recommend a Zen system over skylake given your use case. The 12-thread model is expected to sell for around 250 usd.

Given that it is "not fine" as defined by the manufacturer I would replace it to avoid corrupting data as well as save time as it seems like a motherboard issue, which could lead to any other issue.

Alternatively you might try replacing the motherboard, but it will be risky as most are refurbished by no-name sellers.

Waiting a month for Zen might be your best bet.