So, think my X99 system has died... suggestions

[BluesFanUK]

I've had this about five years now, specs:

Mobo - X99-S
CPU - 5820K
Cooler - NH-D15s
GPU - 980Ti
RAM - Corsair 16GB Vengeance LPX
PSU - RM750i

As of about two or three days ago the system fails to POST, and the motherboard is showing a Q-Code of 00. Doing a quick google around this could be anything from failing motherboard, CPU or power supply. Generally not good. The cooler fan doesn't spin, but GPU, case fans and HDD's work.

What's strange is yesterday evening whilst toying around with the PC, I unplugged all the internal
drives and USB's, reseated the RAM (an effort in itself as it's right underneath the bulky cooler) and when I pressed the power button on the mobo it gave me an error code of 33. After a few more attempts it suddenly sprung into life. I was able to switch it off to get the monitor plugged in, turn it back on and then use the system for the rest of the night without any issues. I didn't move it just in case I messed it up but shut the system down as Avast needed to update.

This morning I got the same problem - cooler fan isn't spinning and the Q-code displays as 00. I don't understand what could be causing the problem, and quite frankly i'm in no mood to check each individual bit of hardware to identify the problem. Not even sure where to start.

Buying X99 parts at reasonable prices appears to be quite an effort in 2020 too, so my other option is to just bite the bullet and replace the whole thing with a more modern system, which I guess would give me better support for M2 drives, higher RAM frequency, USB 3.2, PCIe 4.0 and faster boot up (ASUS boards appear to train the memory by default on each boot).

My problem is where do I go from here? Looks like AMD will be releasing Zen 3 soon but that could mean i'm without a PC for a good few more months. Reading other threads on this forum suggest there's no real gain going from a 5820K to one of the newer Ryzen's, although I should mention I do not game on it.

Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[BS Dave]

Try a new power supply. If that’s it you don’t need to worry about zen 3. If it’s not, maybe you made sure you unpackaged it really carefully...

 

[Jacky60]

I doubt it just 'died' don't retire it until you're sure. You physically messed around with it with good intentions but you yourself said a bit of it was a pain i.e. you probably didn't do some part of that annoying bit as carefully/correctly as you could have. Have a strong coffee, give it a good clean and be absolutely sure you plug EVERYTHING in properly i.e.clean RAM slots of dust and reseat RAM. Repeat above process at least twice because that system needs to last until Oct/Nov then you'll have a viable upgrade path. Zen 3, however it stacks up, it's best to buy later this year-Sept to Jan/Feb 2021 NOT now. It wants to live and probably could use a rigorous clean with everything 'as new'. In my experience hardware failures don't tend to be 'incremental', stuff works or doesn't when it really fails it's game over. Good luck!

 

[EsaT]

One of the cheap things to try would be replacing "BIOS" battery.
Its voltage dropping can cause some crazy symptoms.

In my experience hardware failures don't tend to be 'incremental', stuff works or doesn't when it really fails it's game over.

Capacitor failure in PSU or some power circuitry can be incremental.
Though that PSU is certainly high quality one.

 

[BongoHunter]

You mention you don't game, but what does it actually get used for?

 

[Tetras]

What's strange is yesterday evening whilst toying around with the PC, I unplugged all the internal drives and USB's, reseated the RAM (an effort in itself as it's right underneath the bulky cooler) and when I pressed the power button on the mobo it gave me an error code of 33. After a few more attempts it suddenly sprung into life. I was able to switch it off to get the monitor plugged in, turn it back on and then use the system for the rest of the night without any issues. I didn't move it just in case I messed it up but shut the system down as Avast needed to update.

This morning I got the same problem - cooler fan isn't spinning and the Q-code displays as 00. I don't understand what could be causing the problem, and quite frankly i'm in no mood to check each individual bit of hardware to identify the problem. Not even sure where to start.

I'd consider taking it all out, giving it a good clean and assembling it again, if all is well you could either keep it, or sell it at that point. If you don't know what's wrong you won't be able to get much money back, cos you'd have to sell it as faulty.

 

[Jacky60]

I doubt it just 'died' don't retire it until you're sure. You physically messed around with it with good intentions but you yourself said a bit of it was trying. Have a strong coffee, give it a good clean and be absolutely sure you plug EVERYTHING in properly. Repeat above process at least twice because that system needs to last until Oct/Nov then you'll have a viable upgrade path. Zen 3, however it stacks up it's best to buy later this year-Sept to Jan/Feb 2021 NOT now.

One of the cheap things to try would be replacing "BIOS" battery.
Its voltage dropping can cause some crazy symptoms.


Capacitor failure in PSU or some power circuitry can be incremental.
Though that PSU is certainly high quality one.

I agree the degradation can be incremental but failure in my experience is usually like falling off a cliff not a 'walking wounded' PC. A replacement CMOS/BIOS battery costs very little and could well be the culprit. I've an X99 system and replaced my cmos battery 2 years ago after buying mobo in 2015.

 

[BluesFanUK]

One of the cheap things to try would be replacing "BIOS" battery.
Its voltage dropping can cause some crazy symptoms.


Capacitor failure in PSU or some power circuitry can be incremental.
Though that PSU is certainly high quality one.

Yep that's what's made me a little hesitant with just replacing it. I got the RM750i after a bit of initial research as apparently it's one of the high quality ones, though i'm no expert my previous PSU's have lasted more than five years.

Just replaced the CMOS battery and problem persists. I also did a BIOS Flashback in case there was something wrong there (shut down, plug USB in, let it update).

I have unplugged everything on the mobo and plugged it back in, so I guess my next task is to go further and remove the cooler/CPU and piece it together again as others have suggested. Right now i'm just fed up with it.

 

[koooowweeee]

Try different ram slots

 

[jigger]

It sounds like it’s related to power circuitry, although I’ve seen faulty power and data cables cause strange problems. I’d strip the system to a minimal configuration and retest.

 

[BluesFanUK]

Update - tried all the above and still a no go, either the board or CPU have had it, and the X99 platform isn't worth ploughing any more money into.

I've spent about two or three weeks now trying to put a decent build together, and i'm struggling. On AMD particularly finding the right balance between price and quality is a nightmare, the mATX/ITX boards at the lower end are cheap with average VRM's and/or lack of I/O ports, then at the other end of the scale it's just too expensive, there's no middle ground. B450 boards may be the way to go with PCIE.4.0 being as good as useless right now, but then the options become limited for future upgrade paths.

For now i'll probably just build something for £500~ to tide me over till AM5, Intel seem to be the cheaper route despite having the more expensive CPU's.

 

[faceman123]

Update - tried all the above and still a no go, either the board or CPU have had it, and the X99 platform isn't worth ploughing any more money into.

I've spent about two or three weeks now trying to put a decent build together, and i'm struggling. On AMD particularly finding the right balance between price and quality is a nightmare, the mATX/ITX boards at the lower end are cheap with average VRM's and/or lack of I/O ports, then at the other end of the scale it's just too expensive, there's no middle ground. B450 boards may be the way to go with PCIE.4.0 being as good as useless right now, but then the options become limited for future upgrade paths.

For now i'll probably just build something for £500~ to tide me over till AM5, Intel seem to be the cheaper route despite having the more expensive CPU's.

try cleaning everything with isoprop alcohol, I once almost binned a motherboard because it was shorting when touching the case, Assume the worst when diagnosing

 

[BongoHunter]

Update - tried all the above and still a no go, either the board or CPU have had it, and the X99 platform isn't worth ploughing any more money into.

I've spent about two or three weeks now trying to put a decent build together, and i'm struggling. On AMD particularly finding the right balance between price and quality is a nightmare, the mATX/ITX boards at the lower end are cheap with average VRM's and/or lack of I/O ports, then at the other end of the scale it's just too expensive, there's no middle ground. B450 boards may be the way to go with PCIE.4.0 being as good as useless right now, but then the options become limited for future upgrade paths.

For now i'll probably just build something for £500~ to tide me over till AM5, Intel seem to be the cheaper route despite having the more expensive CPU's.

I wouldn't rule out AM4 boards with average VRMs unless your aiming for a high core count - AM4 isn't much of a platform for heavy OCs anyway so most boards are going to be fine.

I agree IO options can be a pain though - what do you need lanes and ports wise?

 

[MrPils]

Update - tried all the above and still a no go, either the board or CPU have had it, and the X99 platform isn't worth ploughing any more money into.

I've spent about two or three weeks now trying to put a decent build together, and i'm struggling. On AMD particularly finding the right balance between price and quality is a nightmare, the mATX/ITX boards at the lower end are cheap with average VRM's and/or lack of I/O ports, then at the other end of the scale it's just too expensive, there's no middle ground. B450 boards may be the way to go with PCIE.4.0 being as good as useless right now, but then the options become limited for future upgrade paths.

For now i'll probably just build something for £500~ to tide me over till AM5, Intel seem to be the cheaper route despite having the more expensive CPU's.

If you're in the Liverpool area I have X99 spares...you're welcome to come round and test your stuff.

As for a new cheap build, an R5 3600, 16gb of 8pack or patriot viper and an MSI B450i Gaming AC is just under £400. You could spend the £100 saved on either an 8 core upgrade, 32gb upgrade or B550 MPG Gaming Edge upgrade and still have change.

A price comparable Intel 10400 would be locked cpu multiplier and locked memory ratio, so you could save a bit on the enthusiast memory and get a cheap 2 x 16gb dual rank kit to get some performance back. You can't really throw another £100 at it to upgrade though, just going to an unlocked cpu is more than that.

If you can be bothered tweaking the AMD will probably be faster, if you just want to plug and play and not touch anything I'd probably recommend the Intel option. Cheap new builds are easy right now

 

[~>Dg<~]

there are a lot of cheap x99 boards about now and server cpus. just have to look. basically loads of server chips have been made redundant so lots of cheap mobos for x99 were made.might be worth a try if you cant or didnt solve it.

 

[Journey]

If you're in the Liverpool area I have X99 spares...you're welcome to come round and test your stuff.

Update - tried all the above and still a no go, either the board or CPU have had it,

As per above if you are in the West Mids area, I have plenty of parts to test with and happy to have a tinker with it for you, even if you just want to dump it and leave it a day or two.

 

[BluesFanUK]

In the London area, but appreciate the offers gents.

try cleaning everything with isoprop alcohol, I once almost binned a motherboard because it was shorting when touching the case, Assume the worst when diagnosing

I managed to source a decent PSU from one of our old work machines this morning so i'll be disassembling it again before I chuck it.

If you're in the Liverpool area I have X99 spares...you're welcome to come round and test your stuff.

As for a new cheap build, an R5 3600, 16gb of 8pack or patriot viper and an MSI B450i Gaming AC is just under £400. You could spend the £100 saved on either an 8 core upgrade, 32gb upgrade or B550 MPG Gaming Edge upgrade and still have change.

A price comparable Intel 10400 would be locked cpu multiplier and locked memory ratio, so you could save a bit on the enthusiast memory and get a cheap 2 x 16gb dual rank kit to get some performance back. You can't really throw another £100 at it to upgrade though, just going to an unlocked cpu is more than that.

If you can be bothered tweaking the AMD will probably be faster, if you just want to plug and play and not touch anything I'd probably recommend the Intel option. Cheap new builds are easy right now

I started a build with the 3600 and B450i Gaming AC, though wasn't sure if it needed a BIOS update, and i'm not sure if that has the flashback button. Also a B550m board then starts to become more appealing after you reach the £120~ mark.

The first Intel part I stumbled across was the 9100F, cheap and reasonably decent, but this is where I started questioning if i'm wasting money going with a temporary solution that may snowball into a more expensive one later down the line.

I wouldn't rule out AM4 boards with average VRMs unless your aiming for a high core count - AM4 isn't much of a platform for heavy OCs anyway so most boards are going to be fine.

I agree IO options can be a pain though - what do you need lanes and ports wise?

Yeh no intention of overclocking if I go down the AMD route, the gains aren't worth it. My 5820K could reach mid 4GHz, as I understand the Ryzen processors aren't worth it, minimal gains and they run hot even at stock. I'm ok with 1 GPU and 1 m.2, couldn't careless about USB type c headers, need at least four SATA ports (without any being disabled by an m.2 drive). USB wise i'd need four USB 3.1 Gen1 as bare minimum.