Asus Impact VII boot issue. Q-Code "AE"

MicroAlex

New member
Hey mates,

Having an interesting issue with my rig that results in a AE error code. :confused:
Here is the story...

I finally decided to build myself a desktop as things in my life have changed and I have a chance to move away from bulky gaming laptops as my main productivity device.

So, recently I got my fresh stock of parts for the build.
  • i7-4790k
  • Windows 7 Pro
  • Asus Impact II
  • Corsair AX860i
  • Corsair 380T
  • Samsung EVO 840 240GB (salvaged from my laptop)
  • WD Black 2.5 inch 750GB (salvaged from my laptop)
  • NO GPU (running onboard for now, deciding at the moment)
  • Spare DDR3 stick of 1600 4GB RAM from my magic cupboard (deciding on the RAM as well).

So, after connecting my drives I have installed a fresh copy of Win7 on to the SSD. Installed the drivers, software... whatever I will need to get this PC in to a productive state.
After updates, etc were installed - the machine was functioning well. Went to Computer Management and added my WD drive as a drive D (was expecting the HDD to show up automatically but I suspect a conflict maybe occurred between the HDD and Corsairs Surviver USB key that was initialised as a Drive D in the system on boot). Once that was done I could access my WD drive for the naughty stuff :D

...But then I have decided to move the cables around in the case, replace the stock Asus SATA cable with my older solid black ones, and also to unplug my 2.5 WD Black drive for the time being.
Once the cables were tidy and everything was at a state that I felt was good enough until I decide on the last components - I have went to power up my baby and see if all is good. In result I was greeted by a BIOS screen every time I would turn on the machine. A few restarts and hard resets on the board later I have checked the error code LED lights and they have stated code "AE".

Since "AE" code means "Legacy Boot Event" I kinda got confused, but then I have also noticed that before it goes to "AE" it shows "A2". Suspecting the problem might be with the drive connection this is what I have done so far - logical and desperate solutions.
  • Reseated SATA connectors on both ends
  • Reseated SATA power connectors on both ends
  • Unplugged fans from the same SATA power cable
  • Go back to default Asus SATA data cable
  • CMOS RESET
  • Loaded Optimal Settings in BIOS...

No result! But, then I decided to reconnect my WD Black in to the chain and BAAAM! It's alive!!! The board posts, boots and functions as from the start. Removing the SATA data and power cable from the WD drive just for LOL's later on resulted in the same error code.

So my question is - WHY?! :confused:
Why is this board acting up this way? Can it possibly be something to do with the fact that the WD drive was added through the Computer Management menu as a drive D?

Had a similar problem once with RAM. Alienware laptop would not boot after some BIOS tweaks on my 16GB kit of 2133mhz memory, but had no problems if I would add another 8GB to that. Loading optimal defaults or flashing bios and battery BIOS reset had no effect. This is not relevant I am sure, but wanted to share :)

Hope someone can shine some light on this situation. And sorry for a long description.
Thanks for your time.
 
Last edited:
Could it be a thing regarding IDE/AHCI modes?

Hey, thanks for the reply.

Well as it stands the settings in the Storage Config is set to AHCI SATA mode. Drive is recognised by the BIOS and is set as the boot option. However it will not boot unless that other WD Black drive is connected as well :/ Fascinating
 
Have you replugged the disks in the sata ports you've plugged them the first time?
It reminds me of the old IDE/PATA days that the drives needed the jumper to be correctly positioned for Master, Slave. I couldn't boot my old win 98 pc because the drive came as slave from the shop
 
Have you replugged the disks in the sata ports you've plugged them the first time?
It reminds me of the old IDE/PATA days that the drives needed the jumper to be correctly positioned for Master, Slave. I couldn't boot my old win 98 pc because the drive came as slave from the shop

Yep, done all of that. Sadly it did not work.
By now I have installed a fresh copy again with all of the drivers. Performed a test by unplugging the second drive and all was fine. I have came to a conclusion that I might have installed the RAID driver by accident when going through Asus drivers and utilities that have resulted in my problem. So far I have not touched Asus RAID and Drive Unlock drivers and in result all is fine :)

Also, the system would not boot previously even if I would include another SSD or HDD in the chain if the WD Black was not plugged in. This was the hint for me that it could have been something to do with RAID/Sata drivers.
 
A similar problem can also exist if you install windows on a PC when you have more than one drive connected up.

Windows installs on the drive you choose, but the MBR ends up on another drive. Take out the drive with the MBR on it and your PC doesn't boot anymore. I always install windows on a PC with only the 1 drive connected.
 
As Munster mentions, it could be that the MBR was written to the WD Black drive, I always install the OS with only the main boot drive installed for that reason, adding in additional storage drives once everything is installed.
 
Back
Top