Another Threadripper build bites the dust

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New build: Have I just found the perfect Threadripper case? - Hardware Hub / Build Logs - Level1Techs Forums

After working flawlessly for 6 weeks, that build suddenly died. Asus WRX-90 with 9985WX, TeamGroup RAM.
It has done pretty hard things on occasion, like building Chromium: 95% CPU for 20+ minutes, with 7200 MT/s RAM. Didn’t flinch.
(BTW, my final Chromium build time was 23mn12s, vs 41mn30s for my previous 7970X machine, and 48mn for Gamers Nexus on a 9980X.)

In the middle of a not particularly intense work day, I decided to reboot to try something. That machine had rebooted many times before.
It decided to stop posting from then on, stuck on Q-Code 00, with the yellow DRAM light. Sequence: E5-46-00.

Things I’ve tried:

  • Clear CMOS
  • BIOS flashback
  • Remove battery overnight and clear CMOS button

Now I’m at the “remove RAM sticks” phase. I removed one so far (the one I had trouble clicking in in the beginning) with no change, will get down to only one tomorrow.
Next, I have a leftover Kingston kit I can try, that worked before on my TRX50.

Forums seem to hint towards a dead CPU instead of RAM, that would suck. How can I convince AMD that it’s not ASUS’ motherboard fault?

I did overclock that RAM pretty hard (7200 tight timings vs 6400), so I’m still hoping it’s the issue.
CPU had PBO enabled with 10X scaler, but silicon is supposed to degrade, not die suddenly.

Any ideas on how could a perfectly good machine decide to stop posting after a reboot?

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I had this happen to my system on an older BIOS maybe about 8 months ago. Was on the phone with ASUS working on an RMA for the board when I finally got the system to come back to life.

I couldn’t tell you exactly what brought it back but would suggest you keep cycling the power (from the PSU), clearing the BIOS using the button on the back I/O header (with the battery removed), etc. until you get it to work.

You might also try removing memory modules and attempting booting with less than full population.

Don’t give up.

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Removing a second stick of RAM brought it back to life.

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Looks like one bad stick, if I swap the two I removed I still get 00, if I remove the bad stick I boot with 144GB (6 sticks) recognized.
Fortunately, TEAMGROUP has a lifetime warranty, with an automated RMA generator.
They say to send the whole kit, which is probably a good idea, since another stick could fail at any time.

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Morale of the story: sometimes, the yellow DRAM light just indicates… bad DRAM.

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Try re-populating all the DIMMs and see if you can get the system back to normal operation. There’s a very good chance you don’t have a bad stick. You might be on the bloody edge of stability with your timings.