[Solved: CPU issue] Corsair AX1500i Takes 5 minutes to power-on.

[SuperConker]

As the title says.

 

 

 

I have had this PSU for almost 7 years now and it's been working great, until today.

 

Had left my computer running for a few days (non-stop) and had to shut it down this morning to install an older "Intel 750 NVMe" SSD drive

(was going to Secure-Erase it, and use it in an older computer).

 

 

 

So i powered the computer down, and unplugged all the cables

(monitor/cat7/usb-cables) and lastly the Power-cord.

 

After installing the older SSD i noticed that the computer would not start up

(no beeps or any image on the screen).

 

The Evga X99 Classified motherboard was just giving an "Error 68" on it's little LED.

This error is supposed to mean that there is something wrong with the PCIE devices.

 

 

 

So i powered the computer off and disconnected all cables again, and re-installed my Samsung 980 PRO (It's in a PCIE to M.2 adapter).

And i thought for sure the problem would go away (since the SSD was the only change).

 

 

 

To my disappointment the same Error code (68) showed up again.

This time i suspected maybe one of my other PCIE devices were bad.

 

I then removed the GPU (Titan X Maxwell) and the Intel AX200 Wifi (PCIE card) and also the Samsung 980 Pro,

and turned the computer back on.

 

 

 

I thought for sure this would give a different Error-code on the Motherboard Diagnostic-Led (but it did not).

And with no PCIE-devices to speak of, the computer still did not want to power on

(no Post-beeps or anything, and still giving Error 68).

 

 

 

Next it tried disconnecting all devices like the GPU/SSD/Network-card, and also all the USB and Sata devices.

(So that there would only be the PSU and the Motherboard, with the CPU and RAM when powering up).

 

And yet again, i was faced with the same "Error 68" on the motherboard.

 

 

 

At this point i suspected it can only be the PSU, or the Motherboard.

So i turned the computer off, and re-installed all the parts.

 

I decided to let the computer sit for a while after powering it on,

to see if anything would happen.

 

And after 5 or so minutes of waiting, the computer suddenly posted.

This would be typical for failing Capacitors to do, so i suspected it was the PSU at this point.

 

 

 

After it Posted i noticed that the spinning circles for Windows 10 was taking about 5 minutes to finish (this normally takes seconds).

 

And during this wait, my Logitech G910 keyboard was turning itself on and off every 5 seconds

(which seems like another power-related problem).

 

 

 

When i finally get into Windows10, i went to check Device Manager to see if there was something wrong with the Keyboard,

only to find no question-marks next to it.

 

I did however spot another device with a yellow exclamation-mark next to it,

so i double clicked it to see what kind of error it was, and i found this error:

 

This device cannot start. (Code 10)

STATUS_DEVICE_POWER_FAILURE

 

So, yet another power-related error.

 

 

 

I have now restarted the computer several times, and everytime i do it takes over 5 minutes for it to Post

Same thing happens if i turn it off, and back on again.

 

 

 

Could this all be the Motherboard still? (or maybe even the CPU or RAM?)

Or does this sound like a PSU-problem to anyone else?

 

To me it sounds like a PSU problem (seeing as the computer needs to "warm up" for 5 minutes before it can Post).

 

Just wanted to see what others think before i RMA the PSU.

Edited May 16, 2021 by SuperConker

[Vegan]

X99 is pretty old, the AX1500i is probably fine its the rest of the machine I would look at.

 

Try a clean install of Windows on a different SSD and see if everything is working

[SuperConker]

As stated above, i removed all un-needed devices (including the SSD) and it did not change anything,

so re-installing Windows will not solve this issue.

 

The computer doesn't want to power on until after 5 minutes or so of waiting (just fans spinning)

just seems like something a failing PSU would do.

[Vegan]

A few friends used to use X99 and retired it for a more recent rig

 

could be the X99 has outlived its service life

[jonnyguru]

As the title says.

 

 

 

I have had this PSU for almost 7 years now and it's been working great, until today.

 

Had left my computer running for a few days (non-stop) and had to shut it down this morning to install an older "Intel 750 NVMe" SSD drive

(was going to Secure-Erase it, and use it in an older computer).

 

 

 

So i powered the computer down, and unplugged all the cables

(monitor/cat7/usb-cables) and lastly the Power-cord.

 

After installing the older SSD i noticed that the computer would not start up

(no beeps or any image on the screen).

 

The Evga X99 Classified motherboard was just giving an "Error 68" on it's little LED.

This error is supposed to mean that there is something wrong with the PCIE devices.

 

 

 

So i powered the computer off and disconnected all cables again, and re-installed my Samsung 980 PRO (It's in a PCIE to M.2 adapter).

And i thought for sure the problem would go away (since the SSD was the only change).

 

 

 

To my disappointment the same Error code (68) showed up again.

This time i suspected maybe one of my other PCIE devices were bad.

 

I then removed the GPU (Titan X Maxwell) and the Intel AX200 Wifi (PCIE card) and also the Samsung 980 Pro,

and turned the computer back on.

 

 

 

I thought for sure this would give a different Error-code on the Motherboard Diagnostic-Led (but it did not).

And with no PCIE-devices to speak of, the computer still did not want to power on

(no Post-beeps or anything, and still giving Error 68).

 

 

 

Next it tried disconnecting all devices like the GPU/SSD/Network-card, and also all the USB and Sata devices.

(So that there would only be the PSU and the Motherboard, with the CPU and RAM when powering up).

 

And yet again, i was faced with the same "Error 68" on the motherboard.

 

 

 

At this point i suspected it can only be the PSU, or the Motherboard.

So i turned the computer off, and re-installed all the parts.

 

I decided to let the computer sit for a while after powering it on,

to see if anything would happen.

 

And after 5 or so minutes of waiting, the computer suddenly posted.

This would be typical for failing Capacitors to do, so i suspected it was the PSU at this point.

 

 

 

After it Posted i noticed that the spinning circles for Windows 10 was taking about 5 minutes to finish (this normally takes seconds).

 

And during this wait, my Logitech G910 keyboard was turning itself on and off every 5 seconds

(which seems like another power-related problem).

 

 

 

When i finally get into Windows10, i went to check Device Manager to see if there was something wrong with the Keyboard,

only to find no question-marks next to it.

 

I did however spot another device with a yellow exclamation-mark next to it,

so i double clicked it to see what kind of error it was, and i found this error:

 

This device cannot start. (Code 10)

STATUS_DEVICE_POWER_FAILURE

 

So, yet another power-related error.

 

 

 

I have now restarted the computer several times, and everytime i do it takes over 5 minutes for it to Post

Same thing happens if i turn it off, and back on again.

 

 

 

Could this all be the Motherboard still? (or maybe even the CPU or RAM?)

Or does this sound like a PSU-problem to anyone else?

 

To me it sounds like a PSU problem (seeing as the computer needs to "warm up" for 5 minutes before it can Post).

 

Just wanted to see what others think before i RMA the PSU.

 

Motherboard.

[SuperConker]

Today i was able to borrow a very old Corsair AX850 psu (from 2010) to see if that would change anything.

Sadly, same problem occurred with that PSU.

 

 

 

So now i was down to only the Motherboard, CPU and Ram being the fault.

 

I don't have another X99 motherboard or another set of DDR4 Ram to test,

but i do have a different CPU (Core i7 5820k) so i went and got that.

 

 

 

Before testing the other CPU i decided to check the Bios menu to see if i could see anything wrong in there (since Windows was taking so long to start up).

 

I didn't immediately see anything wrong in there, until just before i was about to exit the Bios Menu.

To my surprise the CPU frequency and Multiplier is not showing at the top like it is supposed to (even the RAM frequency is missing).

 

 

 

 

The red squares at the top are not normal, and are supposed to show the CPU Multiplier and the CPU/Ram Frequency.

I also noticed that the "CPU VIN" was set to AUTO (and a very high value at that).

 

I had completely forgotten to change/lower it's value 5 months ago, so that was definitely bad news.

 

(I put a blue square around the "CPU Voltage Target" as this is a fairly normal voltage to use for overclocking Haswell-E CPU's).

 

 

 

Had to google VIN voltages and X99 a little, and my concern was correct.

Intel only recommends using VIN voltages between 0.400v and 0.600v (ontop of CPU Vcore).

 

Mine was set to AUTO and it had been running at a VIN of +0.789v (ontop of the Vcore of 1.320v) which is a little bit too much.

 

I should have manually set the VIN to 1.850v or somewhere around there.

Sadly, it was running at 2.109v (on AUTO) for 5 months.

 

 

 

I realized at this point that the Overclock i had done to the CPU must have damaged it (as it had been running for 5 months like that).

 

So i turned the computer off, and removed the CMOS battery to see if the CPU would still work.

This only worsened the problem, now the motherboard would turn on and off several times instead of staying on.

 

After turning the computer off and resetting the CMOS a few times, i was finally able to get it to post.

 

 

 

Changing regular setting in the BIOS menu worked fine (onboard devices, UEFI settings etc.).

 

However, clicking the "+" and "-" buttons on the "CPU Voltage Target" causes the computer to immediately lock up.

Safe to say, i think the "Xeon E5-1660 V3" is damaged.

 

 

 

After installing the "Core i7 5820k" into the Motherboard everything seem to work fine again.

 

Computer Posts quickly on the first try now, and Windows 10 loads at a normal speed.

And that Error i saw in Device Manager is also gone.

 

 

 

So what i initially thought was a PSU or Motherboard issue, turned out to be a CPU issue

(due to a small user-error/oversight made during Overclocking).

 

Perhaps the Xeon CPU is not completely dead, but it's definitely damaged.

Edited May 19, 2021 by SuperConker

[Vegan]

Check to be sure you have the latest BIOS if you are intent in attempting to resurrect the X99