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Crosshair V Formula Z and FF error

Baio73
Level 8
Any update about the object?
I installed my mobo a few days ago, worked fine for 4-5 hours, then (during a Windows Seven installaion reboot) it stucked with FF error code and the CPU led on.
Tried a second CPU and a second stick of RAM, nothing changes.

Baio
CASE Lian Li 011D XL CPU AMD Ryzen 7950X3D COOLER Corsair H150i Elite Capellix MOBO Asus ROG Strix X670E-A Gaming Wifi RAM 2x16Gb Corsair Dominator Titanium 6000 [CMP32GX5M2B6000Z30] PSU Asus Thor 1200P VGA Asus ROG Strix RX 6900XT DISPLAY LG 34GK950GF AUDIO Logitech G560 SDD NVMe WD Black SN850 4Tb INPUT Logitech Pro wireless + Powerplay + Corsair MM 700 RGB - Corsair K100
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MeanMachine
Level 13
Hi Baio73 and Welcome to ROG. 😉


The dreaded "FF" POST code, or no POST at all.
This fix is best done outside a case to ensure the case isn't shorting the motherboard:

Qcode: FF indicates Fault Found.

1) If you know what burnt electronics smell like, then smell your motherboard. I'm not joking. Specifically around the VREG (left/above the socket), Southbridge (below the socket) and Chipset (right of the PCI slots) areas. If you smell burnt electronics, keep that in mind if you hit step (7b) below as that'll means its the motherboard 99.9% of the time.

2) Test the PSU with a tester, if it's not beeping/blinking at you then it's ok. Unplug and re-plug the 24-pin connection several times. Keep an eye on the "PG" and see if it ever reports 0ms or 999ms as this means it's a bad PSU (since this is unloaded it won't fail the PSU tester every time even though it will fail the motherboard every time). If you don't have PSU tester, swap in your known-good PSU.

3) With the PSU verified to be good, plug in ONLY the power to the motherboard (20+4-pin and 4/8-pin CPU power, but NOT the 4-pin molex connection if it has one). Disconnect EVERYTHING else from power (hard drives, DVD drives, etc).

4) Remove all RAM. Remove all GPUs. Remove all other PCI/PCI-e cards. Unplug all the cables (including SATA, IDE, FDD, SAS, USB, Firewire, HD Audio, and all the switches but the power switch) from the motherboard. You should have just your MoBo, CPU, HSF, PSU and a power switch connected right now. Disconnect EVERYTHING from the front and back panels of the computer, including your mouse and keyboard.
4a) if your computer does NOTHING when you hit the power button, plug the reset switch into the power switch pins on the motherboard and use the reset button in case the power button has gone bad - yes, it happens, no it won't damage anything.

5) Remove the BIOS battery and leave it out until you're told to put it back in.

6) Power on the computer. If it beeps or gives a POST code other than FF then go to (7a) below, if not check out (7b)

7a) If it beeps at you, or gives any POST code other than FF then turn it back off. Leave the BIOS battery out. You will now add in 1 piece of hardware, power it on, check if it POSTs (and gives any error other than FF), if it does, turn it back off and add the next component. Start with RAM, one stick at a time, then GPUs, one at a time, then other expansion cards, finally HDDs/DVD drives - rebooting between each and every part.

8a) If it starts giving an FF code or stops POSTing all together then the last component you added is bad.

9a) If it doesn't give a FF error code and is still POSTing with all your hardware back in, shut it down again, put the BIOS battery back in and power back on one more time. If it gives an FF code now, replace your BIOS battery.

10a) If it works with everything back in, then your motherboard lives to fight another day.

7b) If it still POSTs as FF or not at all in this condition remove the CPU, make sure the pins are intact, reseat the CPU and HSF and try it again. If it still posts FF you either have a bad motherboard (about 95% of the time or about 100% if you smelled burnt electronics in step 1) or a bad CPU (about a 5% chance).

8b) Swap in a known working motherboard if you have one to test the CPU is good, or bring in a spare CPU to test the motherboard with. Whichever part fails is the culprit, replace it and go again.

As you see it can mean a number of things, so follow these steps and see how you go.
We owe our existence to the scum of the earth, Cyanobacteria

My System Specs:

MB:ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero/WiFi GPU:EVGA GTX 1080 sc PSU:Corsair AX-1200i
CPU:
AMD R7 2700X Cooler: Corsair Hydro H115i Case: Corsair Carbide 780t

Memory:G.Skill TridentZ F4-3200C14D-16GTZR SSD:Samsung 500GB 960 EVO M.2


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MeanMachine,
Thanks for your replay... that's a very good guide.
just one question before starting... HSF stands for the CPU cooling system, right?

Baio
CASE Lian Li 011D XL CPU AMD Ryzen 7950X3D COOLER Corsair H150i Elite Capellix MOBO Asus ROG Strix X670E-A Gaming Wifi RAM 2x16Gb Corsair Dominator Titanium 6000 [CMP32GX5M2B6000Z30] PSU Asus Thor 1200P VGA Asus ROG Strix RX 6900XT DISPLAY LG 34GK950GF AUDIO Logitech G560 SDD NVMe WD Black SN850 4Tb INPUT Logitech Pro wireless + Powerplay + Corsair MM 700 RGB - Corsair K100

MeanMachine
Level 13
HSF stands for: Heat Sink Fan, Hope the Guide helps.
We owe our existence to the scum of the earth, Cyanobacteria

My System Specs:

MB:ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero/WiFi GPU:EVGA GTX 1080 sc PSU:Corsair AX-1200i
CPU:
AMD R7 2700X Cooler: Corsair Hydro H115i Case: Corsair Carbide 780t

Memory:G.Skill TridentZ F4-3200C14D-16GTZR SSD:Samsung 500GB 960 EVO M.2


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MeanMachine thanks again for your support, nice to meet someone pleased to help! 😮

First of all, I don't know if it's my suggestion speaking, but I do smell some burnt electronics on the mobo... it's very light, but some days have passed since it failed... what sounds strange to me is that the day it stucked, I'm sure I didn't smell anything at all... and I've burned several pc-stuff in the past!

Anyway I went through the rest of you guide, but got no luck... always "FF" error and the CPU led on. I tested all the components on the old mobo and they worked fine (CPU, RAM, PSU). On the other hand, the Formula Z does not work also with different CPU, RAM an PSU.

I've started the RMA process (in Italy it will take 4-5 weeks plus August, that herearound is a completely dead month :mad:), hope I'll have more luck with the next one.

By the way, I'm very disappointed with Asus. You buy a TOP product and you don't really expect to use it for 4 hours... that's incredible to me! Besides, why put onboard an error display (2-3 pages of the manual filled with codes) if in such a case it just says to you "ok, I'm broken"?!??

Baio
CASE Lian Li 011D XL CPU AMD Ryzen 7950X3D COOLER Corsair H150i Elite Capellix MOBO Asus ROG Strix X670E-A Gaming Wifi RAM 2x16Gb Corsair Dominator Titanium 6000 [CMP32GX5M2B6000Z30] PSU Asus Thor 1200P VGA Asus ROG Strix RX 6900XT DISPLAY LG 34GK950GF AUDIO Logitech G560 SDD NVMe WD Black SN850 4Tb INPUT Logitech Pro wireless + Powerplay + Corsair MM 700 RGB - Corsair K100

TheNerdBench
Level 10
Nicely done MM 🙂

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For trouble-shooting tips see my blog at:


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http://thenerdbench.blogspot.com/p/bench-testing.html


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MB: Crosshair V Formula-Z • CPU: FX-8350 • GPU: Asus Matrix R9 280x • RAM: 8GB of Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer (1866)• PSU: Thermaltake DPS Thoughpower 750 Watt • CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Frio Advanced • Keyboard: TT Sports Challanger Ultimate • Mouse: TT Sports Black Element • Case: Thermaltake GT Level 10


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