ROG Front Base Issues

[YouWhat]

First I would of liked the AAFP cable to of been long enough, having gone through UK tech support and have gotten no where fast!!

ASUS CASEID=RWTM20140627193740516-689 Please click here if you wish to reply this mail!
Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting Asus Customer Support.

Please be informed that Asus as a manufacturer only offers a warranty service to our customers for faulty units as outlined in the warranty card. Asus do not sell nor provide any parts directly to customers.

In your case you need an extra part to complete your build successfully and I would advise you to go back to the reseller as we can only advise you to buy the required parts via one of the below parts sellers or search online.

http://eshop.asus.com/en-GB/
www.asusparts.eu
www.notebookrepair.co.uk
www.laptop-power.co.uk
www.psaparts.co.uk
www.expansys.com
www.computerbasement.co.uk

Kindly note that the reseller holds the contract of sales with you and might be able to do more for you than Asus.

We are sorry for the inconvenience caused and I do understand this is a very unfortunate situation for you.

Please do not hesitate to contact us again for any further questions.

Kind regards,
Kiona A.
ASUS UK Support team

Hotline: 01442-265548
Email: http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx
Website: www.asus.com

All I wanted was the longer replacement AAFP cable sent to me that should of been packaged as standard, not having to run around banging my head against a wall to try and get it!!, to be told this is really beyond a joke!!!

Secondly...

The Front Base and my Maximus VII Hero motherboard don't like playing together at all, the fan controller doesn't work, I have tried everything I can find online to sort it, from flashing the firmware (which always fails) to reinstalling drivers, clean installs of windows 7! The strangest thing is, while the Front Base is plugged into the USB2 socket for the firmware update, it does actually control the which is even more frustrating as it doesn't when it's plugged into the ROG_EXT port.

I press the overclock button, and windows freezes, I press the escape mode button, and nothing happens, and when I plug headphones into the audio socket, I get the loudest screeching noise and no sound from what is actually supposed to come out... Until I press the soundstage button on my motherboard.

I really expected more from it being Asus, let alone a ROG product, the question is do I have to return it as I have had about enough from this and its inability to do what it is supposed to.

Can someone from Asus / ROG please reply as soon as possible please as I am at a loss now as to where to go with this, or whether it is just really a pretty paperweight, also please sort out something with the AAFP cable, as I shouldn't be expected to pay out any more for replacement cables because the one supplied is too short, a longer cable should of been supplied as standard and I am really suprised that it hasn't been.

[HiVizMan]

In the UK it is my understanding that all support for ASUS products if via the retailer for the first year. I am so sorry that you are having this kind of hassle. Please do keep us updated how OCUK sort this for you.

[YouWhat]

Quick update for you all

Today I got the replacement Front Base unit from OCUK, the other was RMA'd, this 1 actually controlls the fans, the hide pron button works, just the over clock button still having issues, so i think that down to the profiles in the bios, although they shouldn't cause any problems.

The AAFP cable is still to short though, so will chase up OCUK in morning and see if they have heard off Asus yet about these cables.

[DekonX]

Isnt this something that you should look at before you purchase stuff?! I mean obviously you should check the length of the cables and then compare with your case size to see if things will fit/reach. I feel this is more of an issue with the case, unless of course the wires are only like 3inches long. Where as I can see the problem.

Id also like to say that while I do believe that if ASUS is selling this unit. I believe they should have considered WHERE they placed their AAFP connector on the ROG boards since its the furthest possible spot away from the front of the case (well atleast on the crosshair v formula-z board anyways). Id atleast hope they gave you more than ample amounts of cable for a few reasons. Mostly because many cases now are made for wire managment I would hate to have to do a direct run from that thing to my board due to lack of cable.

Anyways a quick search on ebay yielded the expected results for an 11" extension cable that should solve your problem.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/APEVIA-CVTAUDIOE25-11-Audio-Extension-Cable-/191228292615?pt=US_Video_Cables...

Again, I feel that there is probably just a miss communication here for the parts. Im sure that asus probably only intended the front base to be used with certain sized cases as such any that are larger wont necessarily be supported. Many things like this should be explicitly stated so that people know how much cable they will get, while they should also know how much they will need. Its like buying that beasty video card only to find out that your case is too small for it to fit in. I hope that cable I linked will solve your problems though. Im sure you can find one on amazon too. However ebay usually lists all kinds of random chineese things that you only really find if you need it.

[YouWhat]

DekonX wrote:
Isnt this something that you should look at before you purchase stuff?! I mean obviously you should check the length of the cables and then compare with your case size to see if things will fit/reach. I feel this is more of an issue with the case, unless of course the wires are only like 3inches long. Where as I can see the problem.

Id also like to say that while I do believe that if ASUS is selling this unit. I believe they should have considered WHERE they placed their AAFP connector on the ROG boards since its the furthest possible spot away from the front of the case (well atleast on the crosshair v formula-z board anyways). Id atleast hope they gave you more than ample amounts of cable for a few reasons. Mostly because many cases now are made for wire managment I would hate to have to do a direct run from that thing to my board due to lack of cable.

Anyways a quick search on ebay yielded the expected results for an 11" extension cable that should solve your problem.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/APEVIA-CVTAUDIOE25-11-Audio-Extension-Cable-/191228292615?pt=US_Video_Cables...

Again, I feel that there is probably just a miss communication here for the parts. Im sure that asus probably only intended the front base to be used with certain sized cases as such any that are larger wont necessarily be supported. Many things like this should be explicitly stated so that people know how much cable they will get, while they should also know how much they will need. Its like buying that beasty video card only to find out that your case is too small for it to fit in. I hope that cable I linked will solve your problems though. Im sure you can find one on amazon too. However ebay usually lists all kinds of random chineese things that you only really find if you need it.

Nowhere does Asus state any information regarding cable lengths, sizes of cases etc etc, so that being said, they should support all cases of all sizes and make sure there is ample cable there for the purpose.

[Webalistic]

DekonX wrote:
Anyways a quick search on ebay yielded the expected results for an 11" extension cable that should solve your problem.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/APEVIA-CVTAUDIOE25-11-Audio-Extension-Cable-/191228292615?pt=US_Video_Cables...

Such a cable may provide a solution indeed. But the US $58.35 shipping is a bit excessive.

Asus' USA support providing a longer cable tells me they recognised the need for such a thing. However the Asus support in the rest of the world slamming the door in user faces on this thing is annoying to say the least. Just make it available as a part. Resellers have something to sell and make money off. Everybody happy.

[DekonX]

Webalistic wrote:
Such a cable may provide a solution indeed. But the US $58.35 shipping is a bit excessive.

Asus' USA support providing a longer cable tells me they recognised the need for such a thing. However the Asus support in the rest of the world slamming the door in user faces on this thing is annoying to say the least. Just make it available as a part. Resellers have something to sell and make money off. Everybody happy.

Google search that cable name. You might be able to find a seller closer to you so the shipping price isnt so insane.

[HiVizMan]

I am constantly asking for information re the issues mentioned here. Will post back as soon as I hear anything.

[YouWhat]

HiVizMan wrote:
I am constantly asking for information re the issues mentioned here. Will post back as soon as I hear anything.

Thanks HiVizMan for any help you can get us.

OCUK are still trying to get answers from Asus about this cable when I last spoke to them, will be chasing it up again very soon, I am just giving them some time to try and get some answers

[YouWhat]

Another thing I have noticed regarding the front base (or Pront Base according to the ECC directive cert) is that it has the capability to control 2 cpu and 3 fan headers, the M7H has 4 fan headers and 2 cpu....

Is Asus going to do some sort of update to rectify this, or is this hardware encoded and can't be changed??

[YouWhat]

HiVizMan, I have just had a thought, I don't know if it relevant or not, but the 1st front base unit I had that didn't work with the Z97 mobo, it had a black sticker with white V40 on it, the replacement (from the RMA) has a white sticker with black writing, and it works, so not sure if that is any help to show some sort of difference between them, or just pure chance that the sticker colour is different.