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Arkadion · ‎07-17-2016

Hey guys

So I've been trawling the forums for months looking for answers to my particular problem, and tried a few suggestions from similar problems but have still had no luck with my issue.

My system boots perfectly on a cold start, every time. But trying to reboot gives me a QCode 70, this then sits for 5mins+ before continuing to Windows.
Most of the time I couldn't be bothered and I turn the machine off and on again to get into Windows, so I'm not even sure if it consistently gets into Windows or locks up during this process.

From what I read this is a "PCH DXE initialization is started" issue. I have tried rebooting with none of the USB devices attached and I have even plugged in the EZ Plug to give extra juice to the PCI express.

Bios 1 is running 1805 and Bios 2 is Running 3202 (I think).
Both run into the same problem.

I have CSM disabled and have tried running stock settings as well.

Specs:
Rampage V Extreme USB 3.1
Intel 5960x
G Skill Trident Z F4 3200C16Q (2x 32 gig kits - so these aren't factory paired but I'm not running memory overclocks)
1x Asus Geforce 980
PSU - Thermaltake Toughpower DPS G 1050W

A bit new to this online problem solving so let me know if I left any details out to help troubleshoot 🙂

Chino · ‎07-18-2016

Clear your CMOS and test your system on stock defaults. If that doesn't work, remove one of your 32GB kits.

Arkadion · ‎07-18-2016

Thank you Chino.

I have read about the mixed kits issue and I suspect this may be the problem as I have cleared CMOS a few times with no changes.

I'm assuming these kits have batch/serial numbers and I can regroup each kit by pairing up similar numbers, as I have no idea which DIMM for which kit has gone in each slot 😛

Arkadion · ‎07-19-2016

Okay so...

Removed all the kits, then managed to pair up the original kits by serial number, they were sequential. One of them ending on 29, and the last of the kit ending on 32. The other kit ended on something like 40 and going up to 43. I'm assuming these 2 kits came pretty much out the factory at the same time 😛

Anyways I put only one group of them in the DIMM slots marked red (Which the manual shows is proper grouping for a 4-DIMM kit). Boots up fine, Shows 32 gigs in Windows 10, reboot does a QCode 70. Cleared the CMOS, tried again, same result. Tried swapping it out with the other memory kit, reads the memory fine, shows 32gigs in Windows 10. Reboot, and another Qcode 70.

So I don't even know what to try next? Is there a BIOS setting that can skip parts of the "PCH DXE initialization" perhaps?

Thanks for the help so far!

Chino · ‎07-20-2016

Are you running the latest BIOS for your motherboard?

Arkadion · ‎07-20-2016

Yup, I believe it's 3202, but regardless of which version I run, it does the same thing.

I read a post on this forum about guys corrupting their bios chips and have to reprogramme them.
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?55014-Q-code-79-before-posting-takes-too-long/page3&highli...

Do you think this is the cause? I have done the "Copy bios 2 to 1/1 to 2" option a couple of times, which I heard can cause this.

Chino · ‎07-20-2016

Have you tried testing the other PCIe slots with your GPU?

Arkadion · ‎07-20-2016

Hi Chino

Yeah I have, one thing I noticed - there are 4 LED indicators just behind the DIP switches for the PCI Express lane control. The 4th one seems to light up yellow during boot. My card is in the 3rd slot furtherest from CPU (Also PCE 16x), I know it *should* be in the first one but I have moved it there to be further away from my CPU cooler which is a bit large. Also, moving the card to the first PCIE slot doesn't make a difference.

Is there a chance of a USB hub causing issues?

elmor · ‎07-20-2016

I'd suggest starting with the bare minimums to have the system power on and see if it still does the same. If not then plug things one by one until you figure out what's causing it.

I would also urge you to try to flash the latest bios using the USB Flash Back feature which will reset the Intel ME FW.

Arkadion · ‎07-21-2016

Thanks Elmor

I'll give that another go tonight, but failing that I might order another BIOS chip or a programmer...

Cold start fine, reboot yields QCode 70