I am having issues with my build. There is no display and no boot/post. My motherboard LEDs are on and stays on unless I switch off power. The fans are all running- PSU, CPU fan, even the GPU fans are running. My motherboard is giving me Q-code 00 and on my little motherboard display screen it says CPU CODE 00. The Q-LED also displays a Red light which indicates an issue relating to CPU. See below for picture.

I have started an RMA process with Intel but I want to see if anyone can recommend any steps I may have not taken already or perhaps someone has run into this problem and fixed it? Please read thoroughly.

All parts are/were brand new.

CPU: Intel Core i9-10980XE CPU 2: Intel Core i9-10900 (Have not yet tried, picking it up tomorrow from my storage to test for boot/post/display)

MOBO: ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II

RAM 1: Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 64GB 3600mhz RAM 2: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 16GB 3600mhz

GPU 1: RTX 2080 TI Founder’s Edition GPU 2: RTX 2080 TI Gigabyte GPU 3: RTX 2080 TI ASUS GPU 4: RTX 2080 TI ASUS GPU 5: RTX 2080 TI EVGA GPU 6: No GPU

PSU 1: EVGA GQ Series 850w 80 Plus Gold Modular PSU 2: Corsair CX Series 750w 80 Plus Bronze PSU 3: Corsair HX Series 1200w 80 Plus Platinum Certified Fully Modular

CPU Cooler 1: Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CPU Cooler 2: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 Black Edition 120mm CPU Cooler 3: No Cooler

SSD: WD_BLACK 1TB NVMe SSD

Steps I have taken:

CMOS

• Tried resetting CMOS through CMOS_Reset button on mobo

• Tried resetting CMOS by removing battery cell for 7 hours

• Tried resetting CMOS by removing battery for 10 minutes and attempting to power on 3 times during so

MEMORY/RAM

• Tried reseating RAM

• Tried booting with only one RAM stick in different slots

• Tried completely different RAM

CPU

• Tried reseating CPU

• Tried clearing thermal post off CPU

• Tried blowing dust/dirt/debris off CPU

• Tried looking for bent pins on socket + CPU

• Tried looking for blown fuses

• Tried moving modular PSU to CPU cable connection to different PSU port as well as mobo port; my mobo has two CPU ports but it refuses to spin fans or show any signs of boot or fan spinning if I have both motherboard CPU ports plugged in.

• Tried running CPU with two different CPU coolers as well as no cooler

PSU

• Tried 3 different PSU all of which were brand new and tested on my i7 build except for 1200w but PSU isn’t problem as motherboard showing signs of consistent life/doesn’t turn off by itself.

CASE/CHASSIS

• Tried looking for any short circuits or grounding issues

• Tried removing/decreasing amount of standoffs

EVERYTHING

• Tried to unplug and re-plug everything

• Tried to look for any loose connections

• Tried to push in connections anyways

• Tried with several GPUs and without GPUs

• Tried different power cable

I tried a couple other things but all didn’t work. I’m hoping to avoid RMA but if I have to I will. Trying my spare i9 10900 tomorrow. If it boots then it probably is dead. Thinking about also buying another X299/Lga2066 mobo just to fully test out if 10980XE is actually really dead. Will keep you guys updated.

UPDATE

I tried my spare brand new i9-10900X and it is still giving CPU CODE: 00. The good news is that I am positive that my 10980XE does not need RMA. But now the only thing left here is my motherboard. That is the only thing I have not changed throughout this whole process. If anyone else has this issue, I hope this helps anyone else having CPU CODE: 00.

I just finished connecting all the parts, click on the power button and nothing, code 00 stuck, i removed all ram sticks but 1, checked psu connectors, clicked on bios clear button. Nothing.

Asus dark hero z790 14900k Gskill trident z5 ddr5 6800 48gb