Z97x UH5D BK - cannot enter bios or boot - error code A9

[freemanator]

Hello everyone,

My friend's computer recently starting having boot up issues and he asked if I would take a look. I don't know what his initial problems were but now it will not boot at all. The computer has been working for approximately 1 year with no recent changes.

The basic parts are:
Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UH5D-BK
intel i5 4690k
GSkill Sniper 2x4Gb
EVGA 500w power supply

I've already disconnected everything and tried to boot multiple times. Removed power and cleared the cmos as well. Tried booting with memory from a machine that is working, in single and dual configurations. All with the same results. The computer turns on and goes through many codes to finally stop at A9. The screen is black with a flashing cursor in the top left. Completely unresponsive.

Currently, the only pieces connected are:
1 4Gb stick memory
1 keyboard (known good)
hdmi from mobo -> monitor

Any advice would be appreciated.

[dmdilks]

See if you can connect to a monitor that has a VGA or DVI. When you use HDMI it will load the VGA & DVI first before it gets to HDMI. That might be why you are not seeing the Bios screen.

[freemanator]

Ya I have done that as well. Still the same screen. Blank with a flashing cursor in the top left. Code is still on A9.

Thanks!

[connoleg]

Ya I have done that as well. Still the same screen. Blank with a flashing cursor in the top left. Code is still on A9.

Thanks!

I have the same thing on a Z97-D3H, tried everything, all connections and processor reconnected - nothing. The mob did boot a few times at first but now the flashing cursor of death.

[absic]

If you are using a GPU card, try removing that and using the on-board graphics to see if you can get into the BIOS/Start-up the PC.

After you have removed the GPU and before you try to restart I would also advise removing the CMOS battery and all external power to the PC for at least a couple of minutes to clear motherboard settings.

If you can get into BIOS you will need to reset date and time as well as loading Optimized Defaults before doing anything else.