Maximus VI Gene not POSTing

[LoneWolf121188]

I've been working on trying to lower my Vcore, so I dropped it down by a little and rebooted. All of a sudden, the computer went from working perfectly fine to not POSTing. Nothing shows up on the screen at all. Popped open the case to find that it's hanging on code 78 ("ACPI module configuration") and its displaying the VGA LED. What the heck? All I did was bump the voltage down a bit. I reset the CMOS via the button on the back, and it's doing the same thing. What's going on?

Just to clarify: no beeps, nothing on the screen, just spinning fans. I swear all I did was change the Vcore.

 

[tungureanu]

did you pull the battery out?

 

[hokiealumnus]

If pulling the battery out & clearing CMOS doesn't work, I would try USB BIOS Flashback.

 

[LoneWolf121188]

I've tried clearing the CMOS, leaving the battery out for ~20 min, and USB flashback. Now it's giving me error code 00, with the CPU LED. I'm so confused....sounds like something died, but I have no idea what!

[EDIT] Just pulled the CPU out and reseated it. No change. Goes straight to code 00. Also tried it without RAM or GPU, same thing. [/EDIT]

 

[PolRoger]

Have tried pushing the "MEM OK" button and then try to post? This doesn't sound too good.

 

[LoneWolf121188]

Have tried pushing the "MEM OK" button and then try to post? This doesn't sound too good.

The MEM OK button doesn't appear to be doing anything. As soon as I hit the power button, the CPU_LED and code 00 appear...it's like it's not even trying to POST. Normally you see a bunch of codes flash in succession on the 2 digit display as its powering on...right now it just goes straight to 00 and hangs there. If I then press MEM OK, nothing happens.

I just tried flashing with Shammy's 0037 BIOS and the result was the same. I also checked the voltage test points and everything looks good. The CPU is getting 1.8V and the RAM is getting 1.5V.

 

[PolRoger]

Is it CPU? or motherboard??... I've seen some posts on the forums where people have mentioned a dead (Haswell) cpu... code 0??

In past (generations) I've had a new cpu die... And at first I first thought it was the motherboard... So I RMA'd the board and then discovered it was actually the cpu. I didn't have a second chip at that time to trouble shoot. I also once had a brand new board that just stop working??.. but I did have a different board available to confirm that it wasn't a dead chip.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

In past experience (on my M5G), 00 was a cold bug... Which is odd because I take it that you're on water from your signature. I would throw a post over at kingpincooling.com/forums because Shamino is great about responding to issues like these.

 

[hokiealumnus]

Check the pins in the socket and make sure none are bent.

 

[LoneWolf121188]

I think I'm declaring the mobo dead. I pulled my whole system apart and rebuilt it on a cardboard box. Same result. I tried starting the mobo with nothing installed in it, just the two power cables, and got the same result. If the mobo was working, I'd expect the lack of a CPU to give an error other than 00.

Also, I found a little bit of white gunk in the PCIe x16 port. It was on a couple of the pins. Not sure how on earth it got there, considering my GPU had been installed in that port pretty much the whole time, but that might explain why I got the VGA_LED at first. At first I thought it was TIM, but it was completely white and more waxy...I could roll it up in between my fingers and make a ball out of it. Really weird. Anyway, this board is headed back to Newegg this afternoon.

 

[MattNo5ss]

I would suspect code 00 to be a dead CPU or no CPU found; trying a new motherboard would let you know whether it's a CPU or motherboard issue.