Boot issue: No beep, no display, just error code 0033

Hey everyone,

Here is what I am working with:
Motherboard: ASUS 890gx Extreme 3
CPU: Intel Core i7
COOLER: CM Hyper 212 Evo
VGA: NVIDIA GeForce GTX
RAM: 8 GB DDR3 1333 Corsair
SSD: SanDisk SSD, 120 GB
HDD: Seagate Hard Drive 1 TB
PSU: LC Power GP3 560W

So, out of nowhere tonight, something just decided to quit on me. When I hit the power button, the LED lights kick in and all the fans start spinning away like nothing is wrong. But there is no "beep" to signal life, and instead of a boot screen, I am just staring at a black monitor with a tiny "0033" code sitting in the bottom right corner. It is just total darkness aside from that little number.
I tried pulling out all the RAM sticks to test them one by one, but no luck there either. Interestingly, when I strip all the memory out entirely, I do get those usual three beeps indicating the system can't find any memory. I also played around with the graphics, trying both the integrated port and my dedicated card on the PCI slot, but the result was exactly the same. Now, I am certainly no hardware wizard, but I did some digging online and managed to try a CMOS clear. I pressed the clear CMOS button, shut everything down, unplugged the power, popped the battery out, messed with the jumpers, put the battery back in, and fired it up. Once again, I got that 0033 error, though after about 15 seconds, the BIOS screen finally popped up along with a message saying the CMOS settings were invalid. I tapped DEL to enter the setup and tried to at least fix the clock, but the whole thing just froze solid on me. After a restart, I was right back to a black screen and that stubborn 0033. On the two-digit display on the motherboard, it is now showing a 38.

I ended up leaving the power cable unplugged overnight and took the battery out of the motherboard entirely. When I turned it back on, I actually heard a beep and Windows managed to load! However, the mouse was completely dead and I didn't have a driver for it. I tried to navigate through the keyboard to install something, but it was a lost cause. As soon as I restarted, I was back to the 0033 error. Later, I pulled the battery again, popped it back in, and once more, Windows successfully booted up. It turns out my mouse had actually died on its own (tested a different one and it works fine), so as far as I can tell, the rest of the components seem to be behaving normally.

Honestly, I am feeling pretty lost here. At first, I was almost certain the motherboard had given up the ghost, but now I am wondering if the power supply might be acting up too, especially since my mouse died at the same time...

I even checked out some tech support forums, but I haven't had much luck finding an answer yet... 😢

Pretty sure he just pointed out exactly where the process went south. If you look at it, it breaks down the whole thing step by step here:

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/347...page=38#manual

Take a look, might help... 🤷

William Richardson12 said:Pretty sure he just pointed out exactly where the process went south. If you look at it, it breaks down the whole thing step by step here:

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/347...page=38#manual

Take a look, might help... 🤷

says:

AA: Uninstall POST INT1Ch vector and INT09h vector. N/A

I honestly have no clue what any of that means... :/

Seems like an MBO issue if it won't boot up. You still got a warranty on that?
If you do, just dump it on the repair shop and let them deal with the headache. Give 'em the whole rig and make it their problem. Those ASUS MBOs can be total lemons out of the box sometimes...

William Richardson12 said:Seems like an MBO issue if it won't boot up. You still got a warranty on that?
If you do, just dump it on the repair shop and let them deal with the headache. Give 'em the whole rig and make it their problem. Those ASUS MBOs can be total lemons out of the box sometimes...

I feel the exact same way, honestly. Unfortunately, I don't have any warranty coverage left since the machine is about four years old now—it's definitely lived a full life. Even though everything seems to be running fine at this very moment, I'm genuinely terrified to even try restarting my computer because I'm scared it might just die on me again... so I'm really stuck on what my next move should be.

Betty Barnes3 said:I feel the exact same way, honestly. Unfortunately, I don't have any warranty coverage left since the machine is about four years old now—it's definitely lived a full life. Even though everything seems to be running fine at this very moment, I'm genuinely terrified to even try restarting my computer because I'm scared it might just die on me again... so I'm really stuck on what my next move should be.

Just let it run while it lasts. When it finally dies, grab a used one for like 150-$67—just make sure it isn't an ASUS—and keep going. You'll have a solid processor on it...

So, I gave it a restart and it’s actually working now... I was keeping a close eye on the POST codes on the motherboard, and after that final 00—which is the last code listed in the manual indicating everything is running smoothly—it jumps to AA, but the PC keeps right on going. Now I’m digging through some forums reading that if you see AA in that specific situation, it might actually be perfectly fine... who knows, honestly.

And hey, maybe it’s just the CMOS battery on the motherboard finally giving up the ghost? Hmmm... that didn't even cross my mind at first.

Betty Barnes3 said:Hey everyone,

Here is what I am working with:
Motherboard: ASUS 890gx Extreme 3
CPU: Intel Core i7
COOLER: CM Hyper 212 Evo
VGA: NVIDIA GeForce GTX
RAM: 8 GB DDR3 1333 Corsair
SSD: SanDisk SSD, 120 GB
HDD: Seagate Hard Drive 1 TB
PSU: LC Power GP3 560W

So, out of nowhere tonight, something just decided to quit on me. When I hit the power button, the LED lights kick in and all the fans start spinning away like nothing is wrong. But there is no "beep" to signal life, and instead of a boot screen, I am just staring at a black monitor with a tiny "0033" code sitting in the bottom right corner. It is just total darkness aside from that little number.
I tried pulling out all the RAM sticks to test them one by one, but no luck there either. Interestingly, when I strip all the memory out entirely, I do get those usual three beeps indicating the system can't find any memory. I also played around with the graphics, trying both the integrated port and my dedicated card on the PCI slot, but the result was exactly the same. Now, I am certainly no hardware wizard, but I did some digging online and managed to try a CMOS clear. I pressed the clear CMOS button, shut everything down, unplugged the power, popped the battery out, messed with the jumpers, put the battery back in, and fired it up. Once again, I got that 0033 error, though after about 15 seconds, the BIOS screen finally popped up along with a message saying the CMOS settings were invalid. I tapped DEL to enter the setup and tried to at least fix the clock, but the whole thing just froze solid on me. After a restart, I was right back to a black screen and that stubborn 0033. On the two-digit display on the motherboard, it is now showing a 38.

I ended up leaving the power cable unplugged overnight and took the battery out of the motherboard entirely. When I turned it back on, I actually heard a beep and Windows managed to load! However, the mouse was completely dead and I didn't have a driver for it. I tried to navigate through the keyboard to install something, but it was a lost cause. As soon as I restarted, I was back to the 0033 error. Later, I pulled the battery again, popped it back in, and once more, Windows successfully booted up. It turns out my mouse had actually died on its own (tested a different one and it works fine), so as far as I can tell, the rest of the components seem to be behaving normally.

Honestly, I am feeling pretty lost here. At first, I was almost certain the motherboard had given up the ghost, but now I am wondering if the power supply might be acting up too, especially since my mouse died at the same time...

I even checked out some tech support forums, but I haven't had much luck finding an answer yet... 😢

🤣

I pulled the cable overnight and took the battery out of the motherboard. When I turned it on, I heard a beep and macOS loaded. But my mouse wasn't working, and there was no driver for it. Tried to install it via keyboard, but nothing happened. Restarted the computer and it went right back to 0033. Later, I pulled the battery again and put it back in; turned it on and macOS loaded fine. The mouse didn't work because it turns out it was dead (another one works), but everything else seems to be running normally.

So, I'm pretty lost. At first, I was almost certain it was the motherboard, but now maybe it's the power supply since the mouse died too...

Haha, sounds like you had a fun night. 😁

Anyway, I'm thinking it might be the power supply too—not that it's totally dead, but maybe it's failing partially, or there's an issue with the connections somewhere.

A failing power supply can sometimes boot you into BIOS and mess with your head, but it usually won't let you fully boot into the OS, like macOS. Usually, you notice a hardware failure through weird graphics issues; common symptoms include BIOS freezing, screen flickering, half the screen working while the other doesn't, unstable BIOS images, or seeing ripples on the screen while in BIOS. This could probably be what the chip on your board is reporting.

I'll say this for the third time on this forum when dealing with these weird symptoms: grab some WD40 and spray all the contacts and pins on both sides, then plug everything back into the board. Check every connection; the power leads, the drives (SATA or whatever), the RAM, the PCI slots, the molex connectors, etc.

I don't even bother building or fixing PCs anymore without using WD40—I always use the used stuff, though I'll spray new parts too. After that, things either work perfectly or you catch the failure quickly. It's pretty much mandatory if the user is a heavy smoker, or whenever nicotine is basically hanging in the air.

But honestly, booting up a PC while praying it actually works isn't a great way to live. I'm 99% sure once you do that, you'll have a working, trouble-free machine again.

So, you're telling me those wet pins were pressed right against the motherboard? 🤔

William Richardson12 said:Just let it run while it lasts. When it finally dies, grab a used one for like 150-$67—just make sure it isn't an ASUS—and keep going. You'll have a solid processor on it...

Don't be so sure about that. I’ve actually been running an ASUS motherboard in my personal rig for about three or four years now without any major drama. I did have to send it in for service once because of a tricky issue with a RAM module on the board, but it was sorted out quickly. Over the last few years, I've also cycled through hardware from MSI and HP, so I've had plenty of experience with different brands under my belt.

I have to say, I’ve really come to appreciate ASUS lately; they’ve truly stepped up their game and improved quite a bit. 👍

Betty Barnes3 said:So, you're telling me those wet pins were pressed right against the motherboard? 🤔

Listen, I have a thought to share. 🎉

I have to say, I’m inclined to agree with you that it seems entirely plausible your motherboard might be starting to act up a bit. Or, if we look at it from another angle, it could easily be an issue with the power supply unit itself. If I were in your shoes, I would probably suggest reaching out to a buddy of yours who knows their way around hardware; surely someone with even a passing interest in computers will have a spare power supply lying around somewhere, especially if they've had any decent luck building rigs in the past. 😁😁

I would suggest hooking up a different power supply unit just to be safe, and then perhaps let the system run for a few days to see if everything stays stable under normal use. I remember once when my old desktop started acting up after a summer storm, and I spent hours troubleshooting only to realize the PSU had simply given up the ghost; sometimes a quick swap is the most efficient way to rule out a hardware failure.

Jessica Nelson4 said:Don't be so sure about that. I’ve actually been running an ASUS motherboard in my personal rig for about three or four years now without any major drama. I did have to send it in for service once because of a tricky issue with a RAM module on the board, but it was sorted out quickly. Over the last few years, I've also cycled through hardware from MSI and HP, so I've had plenty of experience with different brands under my belt.

I have to say, I’ve really come to appreciate ASUS lately; they’ve truly stepped up their game and improved quite a bit. 👍

Listen, I have a thought to share. 🎉

I have to say, I’m inclined to agree with you that it seems entirely plausible your motherboard might be starting to act up a bit. Or, if we look at it from another angle, it could easily be an issue with the power supply unit itself. If I were in your shoes, I would probably suggest reaching out to a buddy of yours who knows their way around hardware; surely someone with even a passing interest in computers will have a spare power supply lying around somewhere, especially if they've had any decent luck building rigs in the past. 😁😁

I would suggest hooking up a different power supply unit just to be safe, and then perhaps let the system run for a few days to see if everything stays stable under normal use. I remember once when my old desktop started acting up after a summer storm, and I spent hours troubleshooting only to realize the PSU had simply given up the ghost; sometimes a quick swap is the most efficient way to rule out a hardware failure.

Give it a shot yourself, then you'll know 😬

Look, my point is, ASUS is a gamble. From what I hear from guys who swap boards constantly, they have the highest failure rates—sometimes entire batches go bad...

And since this is an older model, you might just end up with one that's already on its last legs. Better to grab something slightly pricier (maybe $100) that was a high-end gaming or pro version back in the day, rather than some cheap $50 ASUS budget board...

William Richardson12 said:Give it a shot yourself, then you'll know 😬

Look, my point is, ASUS is a gamble. From what I hear from guys who swap boards constantly, they have the highest failure rates—sometimes entire batches go bad...

And since this is an older model, you might just end up with one that's already on its last legs. Better to grab something slightly pricier (maybe $100) that was a high-end gaming or pro version back in the day, rather than some cheap $50 ASUS budget board...

I’ve noticed quite a few motherboards in my experience that ended up in the scrap heap fall right in that 300-$233 range. Personally, I wouldn't even consider a motherboard priced under $333 when I'm shopping for something new. Having a high-quality motherboard is absolutely vital, much like having a reliable power supply.

I usually budget about 1100-$633 for a motherboard, and I'll spend anywhere from 450-1200 😁
on the power supply.

Jessica Nelson4 said:I’ve noticed quite a few motherboards in my experience that ended up in the scrap heap fall right in that 300-$233 range. Personally, I wouldn't even consider a motherboard priced under $333 when I'm shopping for something new. Having a high-quality motherboard is absolutely vital, much like having a reliable power supply.

I usually budget about 1100-$633 for a motherboard, and I'll spend anywhere from 450-1200 😁
on the power supply.

You aren't some casual user, and neither am I. I've only had an ASUS board fail once—factory defect in the first week—but everything else was fine. Now I'm sticking with HP... works like a dream.

Betty Barnes3 said:So, you're telling me those wet pins were pressed right against the motherboard? 🤔

Yeah! 🍿 Actually—you definitely want them soaked. I guess the whole idea is more about cleaning the contacts inside the motherboard slots than the pins themselves.

You spray the pins, lightly wipe them with some paper towel (leaving a thin film of WD-40 on there), and then plug it into the PC. That should ensure a perfect connection, maybe.

I suppose you can even revive parts of a PC you thought were totally dead just by doing that. It’s kind of funny how few people seem to realize that.