Crosshair V Formula board meltdown

[Padlorr]

Hi, I recently had my Crosshair V Formula melt down during a stability test using Prime95 for a modest 4.4ghz overclock with the HT and NB both at 2600mhz. I started to smell burning plastic while monitoring core temps (staying below 60C) and I later found the 4 pin ATX power connector on my 750W PSU had melted (damaging the board). It left a burned plastic residue in the 4 pin socket so I'm not sure if I can use it again. The board is now frequently refusing to post on boot from shutdown (I can get it to boot by resetting the bios, but it seems flaky).

I'm disappointed because this seems like it could have been easily avoidable. The manual did not specify using the 8 pin over the 4 pin (or both) for overclocking, it simply instructed using one or the other (no warnings, no cautions, no guidelines, nothing). When I first installed the board I couldn't even find the 8 pin connector because of the cap that covered half of it, so I assumed the manual was inaccurate and there were just two 4 pin connectors to choose from. I tried to confirm which one to use in a chat with an Asus tech online, and I was told I could just use either one (with no preference given to using the 8 pin connector for overclocking). The forums and internet contain some debates about this and let's just say there isn't a clear consensus on whether or when to use the 8 pin vs the 4 pin (or both). Clearly, I should have been using the 8 pin connector (or both the 8 pin and 4 pin) for even modest overclocking of the FX-8150, and I feel the manual should have been clearer to recommend these configurations for overclocking which Asus may not support but their product is intended for.

This is my 2nd Asus board, and I can say I'm a real fan of Asus products. I understand why Asus does not officially support overclocking, but for a product that is made for it and marketed directly to enthusiasts, with lots of tools and software provided to encourage overclocking, I would have expected some better guidelines in the manual. I've already invested in a replacement for the PSU with the burned out connector, so I'm sincerely hoping I don't have to spring for a motherboard and/or cpu replacement on top of that.

I'm continuing to troubleshoot the boot issues I'm having, and I'm hoping that Asus will allow me to RMA the board under warranty (if necessary) on the basis that I followed the instructions in the manual to the letter and the board still melted down (so it either didn't perform to spec or the instructions in the manual were inadequate and misleading). Any help with diagnosis or RMA process would be most appreciated (how do I contact cl-jeffrey or cl-scott? Are those email prefixes to which I need to add @asus.com?).

[HiVizMan]

The 8 pin should always be populated. The 4 pin is for additional power.

But that is neither here nor there, please contact cl-albert

Regards

[Padlorr]

Thanks HiVizMan, yes I know that now. 🙂 How do I contact cl-albert? Do I email cl-albert@asus.com?

Cheers,
Parker

[Padlorr]

Ok, emailing cl-albert@asus.com didn't work. Can someone explain to to send to these kinds of addresses?

[Chino]

Padlorr wrote:
Ok, emailing cl-albert@asus.com didn't work. Can someone explain to to send to these kinds of addresses?

Here you go, mate. cl-Albert

[chrsplmr]

Private Messaging:
In the upper right hand corner of the forum .. click on Notifications, on the drop down click Inbox,
In the left column of that window under My Messages click Send New Message, In Recipient Users
type cl-Albert, then type a title then your message in the box .. click send.

you can do this with any member name or if in a thread hover over the user name in the left panel
of the member you want to post to and click Private Message when it appears.

Wha-La .... Welcome to ROG.c.

[HiVizMan]

PM him mate and my bad for not making that clear.

[Padlorr]

No worries, thank you very much gents. I've pinged him and checking for a response now.

[cl-Albert]

Hi Padlorr,

1. Saw your PM and feel free to continue to PM me, but I'm more of a notebook person than desktop, so please check with others if you still want to troubleshoot.
From what I heard it's not going to be easy to check the motherboard without risking your other parts, but we may want to see what others say.

2. It sounds like it, but can you confirm there is physical damage on the motherboard? Unfortunately, our repair department will not cover the motherboard if there is any physical damage, but if you can give me more time, I'm checking if any other options are available.

3. Can you send me a PM with your motherboard serial number when you get the chance?

Thanks.

[Padlorr]

Hi Albert, thanks for your response (and I will get you a PM with the motherboard serial number when I take it apart tomorrow). As an update, I think some of the "flaky" issues I was having and failures to boot had to do with my bios settings at lower clock speeds (e.g. High LLC, etc.). I dialed those settings back for 3.6ghz (with and without Turbo) and I seem to be booting fine now. I'm testing a modest 4.0ghz OC now in Prime95 and temps and all look good so far. I'm very interested in what others have to say about how to check the board.

Regarding your 2nd point, I won't know if there's any significant physical damage to the 2nd 4 pin connector until I get my new PSU and try to plug the 4 pin power connector in there. If I can get the plug in, then the plastic residue from the melted PSU connector may not have done any real damage. If I can't plug it in then the connector on the board could be considered damaged because the plastic from the PSU melted in there rendering that connector unusable. I don't know, does that qualify as damage to the motherboard or not? Sounds like a grey area to me.

My main point (to your repair department) is that it would not have been damaged if the manual had provided proper instructions to populate the 8 pin connector as a matter of course, so my position is that Asus bears some responsibility for this occurrence since I followed the instructions in the manual (and advice of an Asus tech online) to the letter and it melted my PSU connector. Either the instructions were inadequate, or a defect in the motherboard caused this (and the damage) to occur. I'd therefore like to get it repaired (or replaced) under warranty if that connector is no longer usable. But we can wait and see if I can plug the 4 pin connector in first before going there.

Cheers,
Parker