ASRock z77 Extreme 4 boot error [SOLVED]

Hardware Hub Motherboards
1

Tek Syndicate,

I'm having some very strange issues with my rig as of late and can't figure out how on earth to fix it. Added a few new parts and then the armies of darkness took over. It is up to you to beat back the armies of darkness!

Here are the parts in my rig:

  • AsRock z77 Extreme4 motherboard
  • Intel I5 3570k
  • Geforce GTX 550ti
  • Some dinky dvd drive
  • WD Green 2 TB as storage
  • OCZ Agility 3 60 GB (Will be for Linux Mint)
  • Samsung 840 EVO 120 GB (contains a working copy of Windows 7)
  • Some dinky wireless card
  • 2x Crucial Ballistix Elite 8GB DDR3-1866 PC3-14900 (Yes they are in the right slots for dual channel)
  • Corsair CX 430 watt PS
  • CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO

Okay so here is how it went down:

  1. Got the new Samsung Drive and threw that guy in there
  2. Attempted to use the magical and wondrous Samsung Data Migration tool to clone my old install of Win7 from the OCZ Agility to the 840 Evo. It froze halfway through and corrupted both installations.
  3. Then I get a funny boot error. The z77 Extreme4 (We will call it MB from now on) threw a chipset initialization error. (code 64 on the LED display mounted on the board). The computer wont boot past the splash screen and will not take any input from my usb keyboard.
  4. Finally get past the splash screen by employing a trusty Dell PS2 keyboard and attempting to boot about 14,547 times. I reflash the BIOS using the newest version from ASRock.
  5. Viola. I am then able to install a new version of Windows 7 onto the new Samsung 840 Evo drive after taking forever to find the legacy boot option in the BIOS to boot Gparted and wipe both SSDs.
  6. Reward myself by buying a new CPU cooler (the Hyper 212 Evo) so I can finally overclock without worrying about the stock cooler exploding in a white hot burst of fiery death.
  7. Install said cooler.
  8. Boot back into Windows to start installing software.
  9. Restart several times while installing software just fine.
  10. ANNND the same boot error occurs!!! HOORAY!!!!
  11. The boot sequence displayed on the led goes like this: 62 then 99 then 64.

I need some help here, guys. Any suggestions or motivation questions about what went wrong would help. Remember that I can't get to the BIOS to change any settings there.

I have a suspicion that in installing some of the ASRock specific drivers it may have reverted my BIOS flash to an older version that caused to original hangup. I will try to use my PS2 keyboard to get into the BIOS to attempt to reflash it again. But if that doesn't word then I am out of ideas.

Thanks in advance,

Chronic

 

 

2

did you set your sata ports on which the ssd´s are connected, set to ahci mode?

i would say, disconnect the psu, take out the bios battery for a few minutes, to reset the bios, then look if you can get into the bios, then check your sata ports configuration, if the ports on which your SSD´s are connected, are set to AHCI mode. 

Then do a windows re install on the ssd.

3

MisteryAngel,

Yes, the SATA ports are in AHCI mode. That was a great suggestion and tried the battery removal technique with no success.But thanks for your reply!

Got through to ASRock Tech Support and they walked me through various diagnostics. Eventually we concluded that the new CoolerMaster cooler I installed damaged the memory channels because the universal mounting kit did not have bumpers in between the metal screws and the board. Simple as that. ASRock RMA'd the board free of charge and my rig will be up and running once i get the replacement board up and reinstall everything.

In summary, the 64 debug code was caused by memory channel damage. ASRock came though with great customer service and offered to replace my board for free.

4

okay did you install the cooler wrong?