Fatal1ty P67 Professional Error 59 + Always Fail To Boot

[Tristam]

I have a serious problem with my Fatal1ty P67 Professional motherboard. Suddenly it failed to boot to POST screen after restart. There was error code 59 shown on Dr. Debug, and the board always restarted itself automatically a few seconds after the code was shown. Then the board repeated the boot/restart process over and over again with no sign to boot to POST screen. I did contact ASRock regarding this issue but have yet to receive an answer. Here's what I can share so far:

1. All the hardwares like processor, RAM and graphics card found to be not faulty. I've checked everything and every single hardware that was installed on the P67 Professional was performed normally on another P67 motherboard (Asus P8P67 Deluxe). No faulty hardware or problem were shown or detected during test, meaning all the hardwares I used on P67 Professional are fine.

2. I never done any kind of overclocking. I'm not familiar with it and I always stay away from it. I've changed boot priority (HDD, ODD, USB) and enabled Intel XMP profile for my RAM and nothing else.

3. I've been using this motherboard since late 2011 and I never had any problem with it. Not even once.

4. I've tried clearing CMOS to no avail. Removing/swapping the battery didn't fix anything too.

5. I've tried to boot the board using only core hardwares (processor, a single RAM module and a graphics card) but it didn't fix anything.

6. The code shown on Dr. Debug before the board automatically restarted itself was 59 (it has something with CPU micro-code, if I recall it correctly).

7. The same PSU used to power the board were using to power the test board (ASUS P8P67 Deluxe) and there was nothing wrong or strange happened, meaning the PSU performed normally.

8. The issue happened so suddenly. There was no power failure nor BSOD.

According to all my friends who once used ASRock boards, they claimed it has something to do with the BIOS chip. The ones that used P67 Professional before suggested me that the faulty BIOS chip might caused it and recommended me to ask ASRock for a replacement. My board's still under warranty, at least according to ASRock claim. It was Rev. B3 board and ASRock provides 3-year (or 5-year?) warranty for it. But so far I've received no reply from ASRock regarding this issue. So what should I do now? Can anybody help me with this issue?

[Tristam]

Sorry, it wasn't Fatal1ty P67 Performance but Fatal1ty P67 Professional. I wish I could edit the title.

[synack]

Code 59 means that either your BIOS is fried or your CPU (Microcode missing or microcode update failed). Since you tested the CPU in another system, this leads me to confer with your assessment that the BIOS is fried

You can try to clear the CMOS if you haven't already. Besides that, I would request a new BIOS chip from ASRock. You could try PMing ASRock Emily here or contacting their customer support desk. here

[profJim]

Thread title changed from Performance to Professional.

Remove your motherboard from the computer case and repeat your step #5 with a minimal hardware setup with the motherboard placed on a cardboard box, beside your computer case to rule out a possible short circuit. Make sure that your bios chip is properly seated by removing and reinstalling the bios chip before you reconnect all psu power cables.

[Tristam]

Guys thanks for the replies and sorry it took so long for me to post a respond. First, I've contacted ASRock regarding this matter and they asked me to provide my contact details (address, etc) so they could send a BIOS chip replacement to me. I've provided them what they need and I haven't received anything yet. It's been over 3 weeks since the last time they claimed they'd already sent the chip to me, but I didn't receive anything. It makes me really worried.

Second, I've tried everything you've suggested. All to no avail. I'm guessing it has something with the BIOS chip itself, something that cannot be fixed by normal maintenance or at least without hardware replacement. It happened so suddenly (I've been using this motherboard since 2011 and never had any problem before) and I don't know why.

Please, I need to know. Will I get my BIOS chip replacement (like ASRock claimed)? Anybody had an experience asking a BIOS chip replacement from them and received one? Because I didn't get any delivery or package or anything during the last 3 weeks.

[kick]

afaik the fatality is pretty much like the ext 6 except colored red n black n mr fatality looks down on you(yawn) in the uefi screen.

None of us replying to posts..except for Emily tsd are connected to Asrock.
Other posters here,if you check the reads have received replacement bios chips..

Sounds unusual..that it should suddenly just die if everything else works ok.
You never overclocked anything..mind me asking why you went for the fatality then.. ?
Seating of components is v important,but since it was assembled,already dont know how that would affect things.

Since you have given up on the bios chip thats in it,you could try clearing cmos while the board is trying an initial post.
Wipe off any asrock fast boot fast usb etc utilities on the boot drive.(with the p8p67)
dont have anything connected to the non intel drive sockets.
Turn your monitor on as the machine starts to post(dont have it on standby).

clearing/resetting cmos returns to optimum defaults..or should..so your pc wont boot anyway,unless you were using ide :)
The initial p67 "asrock" post screen to uefi flashes by awfull fast on standard settings.
Do you get any output at all on the screen like a blinking cursor?


keep tapping the delete key as the machine is trying to post

If you should happen to get in to Uefi, make sure you set the time to boot from post to like 5 seconds.. the 1 second is very quick.

This was a b3 revision board from new yeh?

If you didnt do anything to it or reflash.. the whole thing should still be under guarantee.

here(Europe) they had a 2 year guarantee on boards,if you had a B2 board and got a B3 one from asrock you got an extra 1 year guarantee..so mine theoretically runs out april 2014.(or maybe its Jan 2014 considering the original B2 purchase date,but that would be a bit petty.)

Yours ,unless they improved the stnrd warranty or its different where you are, should run out late 2013.

[parsec]

IMO, you are to worried about the situation. The ASRock people that handle this may have been out of the chips, or lost the order, or lost in shipping, etc. Just contact them again.

Electronic components like any integrated circuit are actually a fraction of the size of the "chip" we see on a board. Most of the chip is just for holding the legs/contacts in position. Of the thousands of tiny transistors on a CMOS BIOS chip, all it takes is one to go bad, and the entire chip will not function. It's a miracle that they work at all. It's like removing one wire from anything, it will then no longer work. There is no warning system in place, and if there was all it could do is tell you the part it is monitoring is broken. Electronics like that have no moving parts, and when they fail, nothing happens we can see, unless it burns up for some reason.

[µcode]

One of the debug codes on my Z77 Pro3 is 0x59 but it posts just fine and microcode is updated. Do BIOS still stop on this? The CPU should still function okay without an update, just means some errata fixes will not be present (mostly fixes for rare problems or sometimes to add / remove functions). A bit like hotfixes for windows.

What version BIOS were you using? For instance if it were 3.10 you could try downloading ftp://download.asrock.com/bios/1155/...l(3.10)ROM.zip then rename the file to AS461.ROM, put it on a CD or USB flash drive and see if auto or forced recovery will work. It might be a special key sequence to use forced recovery but I do not know what it is, maybe some one else out there knows. Some time ago ctrl + home use to be popular. Might be worth a shot.

[Tristam]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions.

@kick
My problem's not related to Windows. As I explained, the board's always failed to boot to POST screen, meaning I couldn't get into BIOS. Not sure if the problem was with the BIOS, the BIOS chip or both. But I can tell you the board won't boot to POST screen anymore. It got stuck on 0x59 for a few seconds then restarted itself and got stuck again and restarted again.

@parsec
Actually I'm worried about everything. First, I've troubled ASRock staff with my repetitive complaints. And then I'm worried about the package being lost or misdelivered. And then this board still won't boot for unknown reason. Blimey, if only I knew what's wrong with this thing...

I've already contacted ASRock staff at Taiwan and told them that I haven't received the chip. They've asked me if I wanted them to send the chip again and I said yes. Not sure if they've sent the chip already (it was near Chinese New Year so I doubt they managed to ship the package on time). Right now I'm waiting for the second delivery. I hope I won't receive double packages. I'll send one back to ASRock if I do.

@µcode
Thanks for the tip and hint about ROM name. It didn't work. I'm using 3.17 and when I followed your suggestion, the board show 0x10 for a few seconds before restarted itself and back to the 0x59 doom again. Wish I could go back to 3.10 Darn, if only this board had something like ASUS. You know, something that allow me to "force" flash the BIOS with a press of a button (EZ BIOS flash button or something) and a USB drive. Did you happen to know a trick or two to force flash the BIOS?


Also, I forgot to mention this. I've removed all the modules (DIMM/RAM) and the code 0x53 was shown on debug LED. If I attach all the modules back, it went on 0x59 again. I'm using Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133MHz (16GB 4x4GB kit). The modules were working fine with my ASUS P67 board though.

[Tristam]

It's been over a month and I haven't received any help from ASRock. So I guess the warranty is no use then? I've contacted ASRock (Taiwan) several times but there was no response at all. Does ASRock tech support exist? Anybody knows how to contact ASRock official tech support?