Asus Z10PE won't POST (B0 and B2 error codes)

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tesla100

Active Member
Jun 15, 2016
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Hi there,

I am considering buying this motherboard on eBay which is listed as "for parts or not working" (so no warranty nor returns). The seller says that he tried it with a Xeon 1650 and one non ECC 16GB module and it gave him B0 error code. With the same CPU and no RAM it gave him B2. So he couldn't even get into the BIOS. He also says he doesn't have any ECC RAM to check the motherboad (which is strange).

Do you guys think that with proper memory it will work, or these error codes don't have anything to do with that?

Thanks
 

Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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How much is the deal?

I would stay away , unless it is really really really cheap, and you have known working CPU and RAM to test it.

B0 is ram related error, but always any fault would produce B0 error too. Like bad ram slot, cpu sockets.
 

Rand__

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Mar 6, 2014
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Its an interesting offer, cheap for a dual board. Not sure its legit, given that the seller bought from a well known Japanese CPU dealer and already sold some Xeons it sounds unlikely that he shouldn't have some ECC memory to check.
 
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Marsh

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I am not familiar with EU price for dual CPU board.

In US, we could picked up SuperMicro or ASUS dual v3/v4 dual CPU board for not much more than $200 USD.
 
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tesla100

Active Member
Jun 15, 2016
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Its an interesting offer, cheap for a dual board. Not sure its legit, given that the seller bought from a well known Japanese CPU dealer and already sold some Xeons it sounds unlikely that he shouldn't have some ECC memory to check.
Exactly, that's what I thought! It seems that he has sold many workstation/server components, so it's quite suspicious that ha can't get hands one one ECC memory module in order to check this quite expensive motherboard.
 

tesla100

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Jun 15, 2016
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I am not familiar with EU price for dual CPU board.

In US, we could picked up SuperMicro or ASUS dual v3/v4 dual CPU board for not much more than $200 USD.
In EU the basic dual CPU V3/V4 motherboards are sold for 300EUR more or less. But this is a premium board, it should cost much more than that.
 

Rand__

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Yeah my fault, sorry. Got it for 110 which made it a too good deal to pass up - if it works. Will let you know if it does or not.
Gathering boards with lots of x16 slots for EDR & GPUs atm thats why I took it.
 
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Rand__

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Yeah, either a bargain or an expensive paperweight.
Maybe I'll ask for a quote from Asus if it doesn't work, might still be worth it
 
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Rand__

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So board arrived today, looks good physically.
Initial attempts fail with B7, tried CMOS reset no go, will have to start digging;)
 

Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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Wild speculation out of my ass.
check your CPU socket pins, ram socket pin.
spray some alcohol into the RAM and CPU sockets, in case dirt or heatsink compound got in.
 

Rand__

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When testing with only 1 module I got at the previously mentioned B2 error code, so I don't think that the 'I don't have ECC Ram' story is true ...

However I inspected the cpu pins and found this - very small issue, but looks like the entire pin is missing...

upload_2018-11-1_21-31-14.png
 

Rand__

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So still not sure this is the cause, but tried everything else.
Contacted Asus support also, all attempts failed.
It actually is in warranty, but no original invoice and what they call "Customer Induced Damage" means I'll have to pay for repair.
So I am going to send it in and see whether they can fix it.
Seller accepted a partial refund, so at least the total cost will still be manageable or the total loss is not as high as it could have been.
We will see;)
 

tesla100

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Jun 15, 2016
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I was going to ask you about how it went? How come he agreed to a partial refund?