Maximus VII Impact - Burnt, Bent, Damaged :(

[kaefers]

Hi everyone.

This happened on my VII Impact: https://imgur.com/a/nkzcp
That area started smoking a little and giving off a burning stench while I was just setting up the board today.
Now there is a hint of green on that beige (resistor?) and an bad smell.
A little more detail here: https://imgur.com/sXMzPzs

I did not have a gpu installed.
I did not have the SFX card or mPCIe card installed.
The board was lying on it's cardboard box.
It was just the VII Impact, 4790K and 1x8GB DDR3, 24pin and 8pin (Corsair AX 860i), Kraken X61.

The cpu, psu and memory are fine, tested with another board.


But to make things worse:
In my panic unplugging everything I damaged the cpu socket - while checking the cpu for damage 😞
Some lightly bent pins, and one pin completely broken off... https://imgur.com/PP5mMBR
Found an Intel Haswell datasheet - the one missing pin seems to be 'M26' (VSS).

With only 24pin and 8pin connected, the empty board powers on and shows '00' status.
There is no further smoke. I will test this board with a cheap Celeron later on.


Why did this thing go up in smoke? What does that lower left area of the board do?


Best, k

[NemesisChild]

Sounds like you blew a capacitor or resistor.
The warranty is voided and there's not much you can do about a broken pin.

You would be better off trashing the board, return the Celeron for refund or exchange for a new board.

Good luck!

[Nate152]

Hi kaefers

They likely won't rma it due to user damage with the broken socket pin.

Code 00 in your situation is likely the board, you could try your 4790k in your other pc to be sure it's still ok.

They have them on amazon but because they're discontinued you'll pay alot more.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00MI8D1YE/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all&qid=1463021051&...

[Pandur]

Yeah sounds like the board is a loss. I wouldn't risk damaging more hardware trying to fix this. Accept it's a wreck and move along.

[kaefers]

Thanks for your responses guys.

I just still think that thing on the board should not have started smoking in the first place. It was fine before.
Especially since I had nothing else plugged in at the time, no gpu, so SFX, no PCIe combo card, no fan riser card, no TPM...
And everything that I had connected (cpu, ram, psu, cooler) - they were and are still fine.
I fail to see what I could have done to cause that, and that really bugs me.

Of course, I understand that I have now damaged the cpu socket in the process and that really s***s in terms of claiming warranty at all.

Still waiting for the Celeron. I know it's maybe not the smartest thing, but it's likely the cpu will be fine.
All pins are in line again, apart from the one that is broken off.
And if the board with cpu still runs, then I just have no clue what happened in the first place...

EDIT:
So with the Celeron, a stick of DDR3, 8pin, 24pin, stock cooler - code is still 00, fans spins, nothing happens at all.
Also, cpu and ram are still fine afterwards. Looks like whatever made the board pop has killed it for good... 😕

Going to see what Asus support says, but probably nothing eh...

[kaefers]

This is the reply from Asus customer support I just received.

I only mentioned the burn damage, not the damage I caused to the cpu socket afterwards!
I was hoping this way they would not brush me off right away, but indeed they have anyway:

"Based on the provided information I understand that there was little smoke coming from just above the PCIE_x16 slot.
I'm sorry to inform you that ASUS does not handle repairs for components, In or Out of Warranty.
[...] you will need to have the product inspected and repaired by any local computer repair shop of your choosing."

Also the automated ASUS Call Center only directs me to email for any motherboard enquires.

Wow. That is really nice. 😞


P.S.:
I was just talking to BT customer service, who appartently own Dabs.com.
They told me they can't help me, dabs.com redirects me to shop.bt.com.
They recommend to contact the manufacturer and they won't be able to help me.
WTF

[Nate152]

I was able to read your deleted post and you said the Asus representative you spoke with said they don't handle repairs in or out of warranty? That's when he should have mentioned an RMA and I don't see why they wouldn't RMA it other than the broken socket pin.

But either way unfortunately you're stuck in a dilemma, either over pay for another maximus vii impact or upgrade. It's 455.05 at amazon, I added the maximus vii impact to my cart and it took 50 dollars off with a gift card which put it to 405.00 if that helps ease the pain.

[kaefers]

Hi Nate152,

many thanks for your help and suggestions, I do appreciate it. I deleted it b/c frankly it doesn't matter.

I am very disappointed by the customer service, even when just describing the original issue only, without my dumb mistake.
And the retailer not being available either doesn't make it better.
The Asus service guy came back to me again after I told him about socket damage and this thread,
his answer remained the same. He didn't even understand correctly that the retailer did not refuse because of socket damage but because they are now a different company.
Just generic copy paste bla bla.

Safe to say, I will buy another board, and it's not going to ever be Asus again. A board shouldn't go up in smoke.

Again thanks for your help, thread can be closed.