- Feb 15, 2017
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TL;DR: Tried a rough install of a HDD into my x99 rig, and now my most important computer won't boot due to memory issue (POST: 61) even after uninstalling the drive, reseating RAM and CLR_CMOS.
Hello everyone,
My rig is an ASUS x99 Deluxe MoBo with:
Storage: a Crucial SSD and 2 WD Hard-drives. SSD contains bootable Win7
Memory (RAM): 4 x 8 Gb G.Skill Ripjaws Memory (32 Gb total) kit# (F4-2133C15Q-32GRR)
Intel i7 Haswell: Don't know specs off the top of my head, but I can look if needed.
Graphics: ASUS nVidia GeForce GTX 980ti
As you may be able to tell from the parts list, this is my main Game Development Rig and 3D rendering rig, and thus this computer was very expensive and means a great deal to me. So I would greatly appreciate some help ASAP and will swear my eternal gratitude to whomever can help me fix this terrible mess I appear to have gotten myself in.
What is this mess?
Let me answer with a quick story.
My rig is approaching about 2 yrs old, when I first built it, I had a few issues with my installed memory (which is on the list of supported memory modules for the motherboard), so day-1 I called ASUS about a similar issue. I do not remember what steps I followed to resolve the memory issues that I had day 1, but the cool guy from ASUS walked me through it. Since I first got a successful POST and BOOT on day 1, my machine has worked like a champ, and I have even taken it apart, cleaned and upgraded it a couple of times with no problems.
So... last night I was helping a friend with a broken laptop hard-drive by swapping it with hard-drive from my SO's laptop (she just got a new laptop, so she didn't need the laptop HDD, which was fully functional). I successfully swapped my SO's drive into my friend's laptop--but not before the drive accidentally got stuck on one of the magnets that holds the laptop clamshell closed.
After reassembling my friend's laptop, I turned it on to find that it booted straight to BIOS (instead of the newly installed HDD--which contained a fully licensed, bootable Win7). While I logically know that it takes a very strong magnet to wipe a hard disk, the magnet incident made me concerned for the contents of my SO's old drive.
So here is where things go bad... I tried to install my SO's 3.5 in laptop drive onto my rig's ASUS x99 Deluxe Board, hoping that when I powered it on that I could escape to BIOS and boot the laptop drive to verify its contents. Unfortunately, because it was late at night and I was a bit wreckless, I didn't take the time to unplug all cables, move my PC,carefully open it up and then properly mount and install the drive, however, I was very diligent about keeping the Power supply unplugged while working, and keeping myself grounded on the pins. I plugged in my PSU's power cable to the laptop drive and connected it via SATA to the board, and set the drive on a reasonably stable surface within the case.
When I powered on the machine, POST started, but I quickly received an AE Q-Code, which the MoBo manual lists as a "Legacy Boot Event" and the monitor never registered any output. Because the PC didn't seem to turn on, I shut the system down and unplugged the laptop drive from the PSU's power connector, and from the non-mobo end of the SATA cable (but I left the SATA cable connected to the MoBo). I tried to boot again an received another QCode (I believe this on was 64, which the manual states is a "CPU DXE Initialization has started" code. I read somewhere that this error code could be caused by bad connections, so I then dsconnected the SATA cable from the MoBo.
Now that my computer was back in it's original hardware setup, I was hoping it would boot, but instead, when I powered the computer on, the board lit up as expected and began POST, but after less than two seconds, the board shut itself off and restarted. On restart it appeared to begin POST, but then stalled on memory tests with an error code (Q-code) of 61 "NVRAM initialization".
I tried to reseat my RAM (from a very bad angle--mind you--as I never moved the chassis more than 6 in. from it's normal location.)
No bueno. Reseating the RAM appeared to have no effect... Tired and frustrated I went to bed praying somewhat vainly to the technology gods that I was having a nightmare and that everything would be fine in the morning.
I woke up this morning and tried to boot my machine. Same result: post code 61.
I have now setup a proper workspace, unplugged and moved my machine. I tried to boot again; POST 61. I reseated all of my RAM sticks--cleanly and carefully this time; POST 61. I have removed all of the sticks and placed one at a time in the DIMM-D1 slot as suggested by the manual for installing a single stick. POST 61 for every stick. I have also tried clearing CMOS and runnin MemOk on the MB MemOk seems to indicated memory still has issues.
So,
1. How did installing a HDD possibly mess up all of my RAM?
2. How do I know for sure if my RAM is dead?
3. How can I check all of my other components for damage before sinking cash for more RAM?
4. How on earth should I test my SO's HDD for bootable data, or did the magnet probably do it in?
5. What on Earth should I do?
Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for the help. My apologies for the lengthy post, but I wanted to be thorough. I have a job at the moment, but this machine is my near-future livelihood, so I'm just freaking out a bit.
Once again I really appreciate any advice that could help me resolve this issue.
Edit: thought this might be helpful. Link to MoBo manual:here
Hello everyone,
My rig is an ASUS x99 Deluxe MoBo with:
Storage: a Crucial SSD and 2 WD Hard-drives. SSD contains bootable Win7
Memory (RAM): 4 x 8 Gb G.Skill Ripjaws Memory (32 Gb total) kit# (F4-2133C15Q-32GRR)
Intel i7 Haswell: Don't know specs off the top of my head, but I can look if needed.
Graphics: ASUS nVidia GeForce GTX 980ti
As you may be able to tell from the parts list, this is my main Game Development Rig and 3D rendering rig, and thus this computer was very expensive and means a great deal to me. So I would greatly appreciate some help ASAP and will swear my eternal gratitude to whomever can help me fix this terrible mess I appear to have gotten myself in.
What is this mess?
Let me answer with a quick story.
My rig is approaching about 2 yrs old, when I first built it, I had a few issues with my installed memory (which is on the list of supported memory modules for the motherboard), so day-1 I called ASUS about a similar issue. I do not remember what steps I followed to resolve the memory issues that I had day 1, but the cool guy from ASUS walked me through it. Since I first got a successful POST and BOOT on day 1, my machine has worked like a champ, and I have even taken it apart, cleaned and upgraded it a couple of times with no problems.
So... last night I was helping a friend with a broken laptop hard-drive by swapping it with hard-drive from my SO's laptop (she just got a new laptop, so she didn't need the laptop HDD, which was fully functional). I successfully swapped my SO's drive into my friend's laptop--but not before the drive accidentally got stuck on one of the magnets that holds the laptop clamshell closed.
After reassembling my friend's laptop, I turned it on to find that it booted straight to BIOS (instead of the newly installed HDD--which contained a fully licensed, bootable Win7). While I logically know that it takes a very strong magnet to wipe a hard disk, the magnet incident made me concerned for the contents of my SO's old drive.
So here is where things go bad... I tried to install my SO's 3.5 in laptop drive onto my rig's ASUS x99 Deluxe Board, hoping that when I powered it on that I could escape to BIOS and boot the laptop drive to verify its contents. Unfortunately, because it was late at night and I was a bit wreckless, I didn't take the time to unplug all cables, move my PC,carefully open it up and then properly mount and install the drive, however, I was very diligent about keeping the Power supply unplugged while working, and keeping myself grounded on the pins. I plugged in my PSU's power cable to the laptop drive and connected it via SATA to the board, and set the drive on a reasonably stable surface within the case.
When I powered on the machine, POST started, but I quickly received an AE Q-Code, which the MoBo manual lists as a "Legacy Boot Event" and the monitor never registered any output. Because the PC didn't seem to turn on, I shut the system down and unplugged the laptop drive from the PSU's power connector, and from the non-mobo end of the SATA cable (but I left the SATA cable connected to the MoBo). I tried to boot again an received another QCode (I believe this on was 64, which the manual states is a "CPU DXE Initialization has started" code. I read somewhere that this error code could be caused by bad connections, so I then dsconnected the SATA cable from the MoBo.
Now that my computer was back in it's original hardware setup, I was hoping it would boot, but instead, when I powered the computer on, the board lit up as expected and began POST, but after less than two seconds, the board shut itself off and restarted. On restart it appeared to begin POST, but then stalled on memory tests with an error code (Q-code) of 61 "NVRAM initialization".
I tried to reseat my RAM (from a very bad angle--mind you--as I never moved the chassis more than 6 in. from it's normal location.)
No bueno. Reseating the RAM appeared to have no effect... Tired and frustrated I went to bed praying somewhat vainly to the technology gods that I was having a nightmare and that everything would be fine in the morning.
I woke up this morning and tried to boot my machine. Same result: post code 61.
I have now setup a proper workspace, unplugged and moved my machine. I tried to boot again; POST 61. I reseated all of my RAM sticks--cleanly and carefully this time; POST 61. I have removed all of the sticks and placed one at a time in the DIMM-D1 slot as suggested by the manual for installing a single stick. POST 61 for every stick. I have also tried clearing CMOS and runnin MemOk on the MB MemOk seems to indicated memory still has issues.
So,
1. How did installing a HDD possibly mess up all of my RAM?
2. How do I know for sure if my RAM is dead?
3. How can I check all of my other components for damage before sinking cash for more RAM?
4. How on earth should I test my SO's HDD for bootable data, or did the magnet probably do it in?
5. What on Earth should I do?
Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for the help. My apologies for the lengthy post, but I wanted to be thorough. I have a job at the moment, but this machine is my near-future livelihood, so I'm just freaking out a bit.
Once again I really appreciate any advice that could help me resolve this issue.
Edit: thought this might be helpful. Link to MoBo manual:here
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