Crosshair V Formula - Z + AMD fx - 8350 bricked. What could be the problem?

[joshmerdm]

Hi I have this problem because I'm stuck at 1503.

I'll tell you my story first

I just bought a new rig. I tried to update my BIOS to 2002 before I even install windows 8.1. Update was successful and I was able to install Windows 8.1. It was running fine but after a few hours it turned completely off (this was day 1 of my System Unit assembly). I tried to turn it on but it won't start. So we thought something was broken. We went back to the store to check for problems. The problem was the motherboard and CPU got bricked (Power Supply Unit was fine). Good thing the store had it replaced. But this time I didn't update my BIOS so I'm stuck at 1503. I just wanted to know what could be the possible problem of my motherboard and CPU so I can prevent it from happening again.

Here are my assumptions:
Update BIOS to 2002 bricked my motherboard and CPU
Disabled Cool n Quiet, setting my RAM speed to its desired frequency
Something got "short"
Chassis was placed on a carpet, might have received Electrostatic Discharge

Replies will be greatly appreciated. And sorry for my grammar. I'm a Filipino

Here are my specifications:

CPU: AMD fx-8350 black edition (stock fan)
Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair V Formula - Z (1503)
Video Card: Sapphire R9 290x TRI-X 4gb GDDR5
RAM: 2x8GB Gskill RipjawsX F3-1600C9D-16GXM
PSU: CoolerMaster v1000

[Muha_Akhusiyya]

Hi joshmerdm,
I do not see a causal relationship between your update to BIOS 2002 and what happened a few hours later. There seems to have been a different cause of the problem, perhaps a short circuit with the case, or just a faulty motherboard.
In any event, if you feel comfortable with BIOS 1503, just stick to it. IMO, this is the last BIOS that is worth keeping. If you read the BIOS threads, you will find out that everything above 1503 has annoyed quite a few people 🙂

[joshmerdm]

Muha.Akhusiyya wrote:
Hi joshmerdm,
I do not see a causal relationship between your update to BIOS 2002 and what happened a few hours later. There seems to have been a different cause of the problem, perhaps a short circuit with the case, or just a faulty motherboard.
In any event, if you feel comfortable with BIOS 1503, just stick to it. IMO, this is the last BIOS that is worth keeping. If you read the BIOS threads, you will find out that everything above 1503 has annoyed quite a few people 🙂

Thank you very much for your reply! So is it safe for me to update to 2002? And is Cool n Quiet, C1E, and other power saving options in the bios safe to disable with only a stock cooler?

[madcratebuilder]

Thank you very much for your reply! So is it safe for me to update to 2002? And is Cool n Quiet, C1E, and other power saving options in the bios safe to disable with only a stock cooler?

In my opinion, NO you can generate high temps pretty fast with just the oem cooler. I would run "optimized defaults" and see how the system runs for a few days. As far as upgrading the BIOS that's kind of a hit or miss situation. Some user have problems, some do not. Personally I have upgraded to 2002 and my system runs fine with it, but every system is different.

Welcome to the forum.

Look at a good air cooler for the cpu, I'm not up to date as I use water but I hear the Noc is very good.

[TheNerdBench]

Lots of good feedback but I do need to stress that YES is it very possible that ESD did damage the system at this type of damage may take days, weeks, months, or years to finally "appear".

Also a good idea to bench-test your system before you install it in a case; see my signature for a link to my blog that has info on ESD and bench-testing.

Good luck and have fun

[TheNerdBench]

Lots of good feedback in the responses already BUT I do need to stress that YES is it very possible that ESD did damage the system as this type of damage may take days, weeks, months, or years to finally "appear".

Also a good idea to bench-test your system before you install it in a case; see my signature for a link to my blog that has info on ESD and bench-testing.

Good luck and have fun