Asus MB not posting

Troubleshooting

Getting qcode 00 and the cpu_led stays lit when trying to boot.

Parts list:

(though the 840 evo is 1tb, I couldn't find that on part picker for some reason)

Old build with a new (about a month) MB.

Full disclosure: I had to replace my original MB because I made the fatal error of applying thermal paste directly above the MB socket. Don't beer and thermal paste. Especially if you are trying out a new paste that miiiight just be a little more runny than you are used to.

So, after many bent pins and thermal paste everywhere, I just gave up and replaced the MB.

Installation of the new (not used or refurbished) Asus went without incident, and despite the the new Asus board really not liking the RAM speed, it was stable. (even if the ram was running at the MB default speed, as trying to OC it on that board was... not happening apparently.)

A week or so ago my computer started to have difficulty turning on. At first a few restarts were enough to get it to boot, giving various qcodes and nothing really consistent enough to diagnose what the issue was. All temps were well within reasonable margins, even quite cool as I wasn't running any OC.

Then eventually even restarts weren't enough, so I tried reseating my CPU and that did the trick.

For a while.

Then one day it just went "nope." and shut down while running (idle). A restart gave me a "00" qcode and the cpu_led would light up. Everything else was working as expected, fans and pump running, lights flashing, GPU fans running, but it just wasn't seeing the CPU (as far as I could tell)

And that's where I stand today.

What have I done since?

Everything I could think of, restarting after each step:

reseated the CPU
reseated with less thermal paste
reseated with more thermal paste
reseated with less thermal paste again because that was just a dumb idea
tried various tightnesses of the CPU cooler
reseated the CPU again because reasons
removed all RAM
removed all but one and then two sticks of RAM (in the appropriate slots)
swapped ram sticks
swapped ram slots because I was getting a little giddy
unplugged all excess peripherals
checked all plugs, that all power cables were plugged in and tightly, unplugged everything one by one and plugged it all back in
tried both BIOS
cleared the CMOS
flashed the BIOS via USB
flashed the #2 BIOS vis USB and tried to boot from that
tried booting with the MB removed from the case and on a non-static surface, only the bare minimum plugged in
yelled at it
tried to convince my wife to give me the money to upgrade the whole damn thing because I'm so adorable and I should probably get paid for that and I didn't want to pay for it myself.

None of that worked.

So...

I'm 99.9% that either the CPU, MB or both are shot, but on the off chance that some of you lovely people can think of something that I couldn't, I wanted to post this here.

(Keep in mind I don't have an extra CPU or MB laying around to swap out. I wish I did.)

Many thanks for reading though this wall of yuck, and for any advice you may have.

Posted Feb 9, 2019, 2:50 AM UTC