ROG z370 HERO Started smoking after RAM swap!

[kalle-m]

Hi,

I changed the ram from a 8gb kit to a 16gb kit with higher frequency, i fought the damn memory training for 30-40 minutes but no luck. I cleared cmos everything. The only thing that worked and got me to the BIOS was the LN2 mode. Then it worked fine, changed it back, got the XMP set, and tried to re-set my overclock on the 8600k.

I had everything dialed in, and i decided to set the boot voltages and start to watch a movie. So i hit F10 and yes.

NOW the postcode blinked once, set itself to "00", the lights started being wonky, like there was a power surge inside the computer, same with the fans, and then i saw it, SMOKE coming from behind the GPU near the SATA ports (don't know exactly where from) and i panicked and screamed like a girl, ripped the power cord (or so i thought, it was the DP cable!!), and then panicked some more, and ripped the cord for real. Ripped the GPU out, didn't smell anything weird or smoky (even when the smoke appeared). Cleared CMOS by removing the battery and thought to myself "who am i kidding, this is never gonna work".

But hey, it started. I set the overclock again, this time without the boot voltages (though i had them set the last time before the RAM swap). Everything seems fine, i am using the computer right now.

I am going to disassemble the computer some time this weekend to take a look, but this is so strange, i cant believe my luck/unluck. How can the motherboard let something like this happen? if it was something with my settings (it was all safe voltages under 1.0v), the motherboard should power off not puke smoke 😕

My question is now, what is the usual safe "initial boot voltages" for those settings that doesn't have a "standard or recommended" suggestion in the bios. that is the only thing i can imagine has gone wrong, i set something that felt safe to me, but was crazy unsafe.

cheers

[kalle-m]

Is there no one alive to help me? did your ASUS computorsystems also go up in smoke? 😃

[Khean]

kalle-m wrote:
Is there no one alive to help me? did your ASUS computorsystems also go up in smoke? 😃

load the default settings in the BIOS by pressing F5 thats what i do when im experimenting Ocong my PC when not stable.I go back to factory setting.

[Carlyle2020]

So you still have LN2 mode activated?
... Doesn't one loose all waranty by activating it?
Please turn it off.
If you do not find a solution with LN2 mode turned off then you may already have lost some stability for good.
Mr. "buildzoid" has some very insightfull commentary in some of his motherboard vids about using LN2 mode without LN2.

Try to usb Bios update, even if it is the same Bios.
Find an old stick with 4gb max and format it in fat32 and adhere to the Bios file renaming convention mentioned on the bios page itself.
This you may do on LN2 mode on, as a very last resort.

Please reseat the two ram sticks and check the connections before plugging them in again.
Even switching them has helped some members.
...then check ALL other power connections. I personally would be so ocd as to re-plug everything.

Try out anything you can think of with LN2 mode off. If THAT fails, then consider how you much you need the 8600k.
If the answer is "not so much" then by all means (considering voltage) turn LN2 mode ON and: let her eat 🙂

ps test with the internal cpu graphics if you like to eliminate the pcie gpu factor for testing