And the CPU socket is toasted

[RealNeil]

Quick question for people with new intel platforms. If you don't plug in CPU. Would the system still have display output? Or just no display?

With no CPU plugged in the system actually stays on. But no display

My x99 boards all run to a degree without the CPU in them, meaning that you don't need a CPU installed to Upgrade the BIOS on the board. Just apply power to it and plug a flash drive into the proper USB port (usually marked "BIOS" on the I/O shield) and it will read and install the new BIOS from the flash drive without the CPU.

I needed this function on two of my X99 boards that were made for older CPUs than the i7-6800K and i7-6850K CPUs that I had for them. You ~could~ try upgrading/downgrading your BIOS to see if that helps. (probably not)

 

[biffzinker]

Intel Core i7-6850K sitting at $219.99
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-i7-6850K-Broadwell-E-6-Core-3-6-GHz-LGA-2011-V3/302471337438?epid=20003304699&hash=item466cb255de:g:amEAAOSw3GtZvbl6

Core i7-5960X for $309 + $7.00 S/H
Long url to Ebay

 

[RealNeil]

Good deal on that 6850K I paid over 400 for mine when it was new.

 

[xkm1948]

My x99 boards all run to a degree without the CPU in them, meaning that you don't need a CPU installed to Upgrade the BIOS on the board. Just apply power to it and plug a flash drive into the proper USB port (usually marked "BIOS" on the I/O shield) and it will read and install the new BIOS from the flash drive without the CPU.

I needed this function on two of my X99 boards that were made for older CPUs than the i7-6800K and i7-6850K CPUs that I had for them. You ~could~ try upgrading/downgrading your BIOS to see if that helps. (probably not)

That was the very first thing I tried. It does not work. I tried two separate flash drives on the ASUS flashback USB port and it will flash for 5 seconds then turning to solid blue light, which according to ASUS website is a sign of failed programming.

I am kicking myself for selling my old 5820K go now. I should have kept it for a longer period of time, because at least that CPU has warranty until 2018.

I do not dare to touch any ebay CPU now, at least not another X99 CPU from ebay...

 

[biffzinker]

I do not dare to touch any ebay CPU now, at least not another X99 CPU from ebay...

Fair enough

 

[RealNeil]

That was the very first thing I tried. It does not work. I tried two separate flash drives on the ASUS flashback USB port and it will flash for 5 seconds then turning to solid blue light, which according to ASUS website is a sign of failed programming.

Was the BIOS file the only thing on the flash drive?

 

[xkm1948]

Was the BIOS file the only thing on the flash drive?

Not sure. I am using my MacBook to prep the file so OSX may have put something else on it. I am going to lab now and use a Windows PC this time.

Also thank you everone for the helpful advice and suggestions. I have already contacted Noctua for the missing bolts. Hopefully they would provide some mounting bolts and nuts.

 

[RealNeil]

Format the flash drive with a windows PC. Then put only the bios image on it.

 

[xkm1948]

Flashed 3701 BIOS using flasback. Turns out ASUS label on the user manual was wrong. Switched to a different USB and it flashed just fine


And bios make no difference. Still boot looping as usual. Well fuck me



EDIT:

After checking my financial situation I don't think I would be able to afford a system that I want. So I am just gonna try to get another possible replacement from ASUS and go from there.

 

[xkm1948]

ASUS X99 is kinda famous for killing HWE and BWE processors

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthre...CODE-00-over-night-after-several-small-issues

 

[HD64G]

After reading all of the previous posts, I am sure that ASUS should pay for your cpu loss above the mobo replacemement. No mobo should allow the cpu to be killed ever. Especially if the PSU has the proper security circuits. As for TR, them and the Ryzens produced after the 25th week of 2017 don't have the bug for linux based oses. Seems to be a hardware bug that got corrected once the yields became better and stock volts dropped.

 

[EarthDog]

Oh yes, i would for sure tell asus your cpu is dead and see what they say..

 

[newtekie1]

Quick question for people with new intel platforms. If you don't plug in CPU. Would the system still have display output? Or just no display?

With no CPU plugged in the system actually stays on. But no display

With no CPU, the board won't go far enough into the POST to initialize the display. So no CPU = no video. I can guarantee that ASUS lied about the board boot looping due to the BIOS, too. The board was boot looping because the VRM went dead short.

Good luck with getting a replacement CPU from ASUS.

 

[xkm1948]

Oh yes, i would for sure tell asus your cpu is dead and see what they say..

ROG forum ASUS engineers say they will not cover any damage outside of motherboard.

 

[P4-630]

@xkm1948 do you still have your previous CPU or did you sell it.

 

[xkm1948]

@xkm1948 do you still have your previous CPU or did you sell it.

I sold it already.......

 

[xkm1948]

I may have one testing CPU coming in, a huge thanks to @cadaveca

Based on the testing results here are my options:

1. Use a different BWE CPU on the replaced TUF X99, hoping it will not kill it again down the road sometime.
2. Buy an used MSI X99 from another member and buy a used 5960X or 6950X. Cost should be below $700 if I can sell the replaced TUF X99
3. Go 7900X with Asrock/MSI/Gigabyte X299.
4. Go 1950X with Asrock/MSI/Gigabyte X399, I do need to buy another cooler though because D15 doesn't fit onto TR4

I can get to a Micro center at St. Louis to get lower price on CPU and/or motherboard. I have all the other components ready to go, just the CPU and motherboard.

At the point I am kinda torn apart. On one hand I'm broke af so spending huge on hardware is as painful as it gets but barely manageable. On the other hand I fear the ASUS boards are just timed bombs waiting to go off again in the future.

Need your suggestions.

 

[EarthDog]

Asus boards arent time bombs. Do understand whatever happened, its a fluke and 9999/10000 it wont happen again.

 

[RealNeil]

As I said before, all three of my ASUS boards are running perfectly. (Two Ryzen and one H81)
The main suspect in this is the CPU that you're using.
Wait for the ~test~ CPU that you say is coming to you and test your board out. If it works with cadaveca's CPU, then use that board.

Look back at the transaction that you bought your CPU with. Was it a PayPal buy? If so, you can challenge the sale because the CPU doesn't work.
Maybe you'll get a refund. (even if it may be something like an engineering sample) You can challenge EBay sales too.

 

[xkm1948]

I bought it from an awesome guy who also is trying his best to help me.

Just browsing through the amount of failed ASUS X99 threads seems to point to a trend that ASUS at least have some sort of design flaws on their X99 line up.

Maybe this is just the 1 out of 10000 chance that I happened to have. The board was going pretty strong for 2 yrs on the 5820K overclocked at 4.25GHz. I had some really heavy load on the CPU and the board when I was using the 5820K. For the brief one month of me having that 6950X it worked flawlessly. Until when I was reinstalling Windows 10 onto the NvME SSD.

 

[RealNeil]

OK, so no issues with your seller. Good.

And yes, sometimes sh*t happens and there is no solid reason why.
Keep us posted as to what happens next.

 

[biffzinker]

I may have one testing CPU coming in, a huge thanks to @cadaveca

So back in business finally?

 

[xkm1948]

OK, so no issues with your seller. Good.

And yes, sometimes sh*t happens and there is no solid reason why.
Keep us posted as to what happens next.

Definitely will do. I appreciate all the help folk!

So back in business finally?

Don't know how long it will take before it gets here. But yeah at least I am going to check out whether the replacement TUF is a dud or not.

 

[cadaveca]

So back in business finally?

Hopefully he can confirm or deny what's working or not with the CPU loan...I want to see the end of this matter and how it plays out, and just so happen to have a 5930K sitting around unused. And no, I did not sell him the first CPU, nor am I selling him the 5930K... just a loaner.

 

[xkm1948]

Thank you so much for your help @cadaveca

I asked a colleague of mine who manages a small department server to help test out the CPU. It is one of those dell poweredge slim rack servers that happen to have another empty socket. He also risked big time getting the server offline to test for me. Sadly it would not even power on once we put the 6950X on there. Not even the click on and off looping on consumer motherboards.

Conclusion: the CPU is dead.