Stubborn RIVE that just refuses to function.

[DeviLoThorn]

I was told to start my own thread. A good idea but i didn't really want to do it because i've practically lost any hope. I dont know how many times i've explained my situation and the malfunctions to customer service reps, third party repair professionals, online forums and computer friends. But here goes:
Bought this RIVE a year ago. was DOA. Shipped back to Asus, said it was a loose CPU socket. Then the PSU shorted out, and even after replacing with a new PSU, it wouldn't POST. Fans would spin up for one second, then it would die down. Stand by lights would come on. So i bought a brand new PSU and brand new drives, and somehow everything worked again (even though the replaced PSU worked with other systems). 2 weeks ago, i had the same problem, again. Fans would spin up for one second, and then nothing. I took it for professional repair. The technician managed to get it to start, but got stuck on error code 65. So i took it home, and after testing out different RAM slots, i got past that and got the board to POST. I then got stuck in i-rog 2 up date loop. When it hit 91% for the second time, it crashed. So after waiting 8 hours only to get a crash, i tried desperately to revive the system. Now powering on with BIOS 1 yields an infinite power on/off loop. Fans and lights will come on, then die, then come on, then die. Powering on with BIOS 2 would get me stuck at error code 00, with my GPU heating up very quickly, and the CPU LED a solid red, and all the other exact same situation as described in: http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?49042-Please-help-DOA-advanced-RMA-RIVE
And as expected, i've tried all the normal trouble shooting. Reseating CPU, bread boarding, no bent pins, cleared CMOS, Memok, rewiring, no GPU, no RAM, one RAM (across all red slots). I'm tired guys. I'm sick and tired of this. I just want a system that works. I'm close to buying a brand new system, pre-built, no asus parts.

Asus RIVE
Nvidia 690
Kingston h20 2133 mhz
i7 3960x
corsair h80i
OCZ 1000w Fatality

Edit: I just noticed that the 2 BIOS chips get REALLY REALLY hot when the board is stuck on error code 00. Hot enough to make your hand recoil from touching them.
Edit Edit: i fixed it pulling them out and reversing the direction they were facing. This did not solve my issue tho. When i swapped the places of the BIOS chips (putting chip 2 into chip 1's slot) Both bios would get to error code 00. When i swapped it back, BIOS 1 would get stuck again in the power on/off loop.

[DeviLoThorn]

After some more testing the board decided that it would screw with me some more: I left it running on error 00, and felt around the board. I noticed that the caps next to the PCIE slots were getting pretty hot, and so was the backside under/around the SATA ports. After noting this, the board suddenly shut down. Then it would no longer start. Switching to both BIOS yielded the same problem i had before i had taken it to a third party technician: fans come to life for one second, then dies. Subsequent presses of the power button yielded the same result. I've decided that i'm done with this board. I've asked the asus customer rep i've been emailing back and forth for a few weeks to provide me with the tracking number to my advanced RMA board within 2 business days or give me the number to their supervisor. I've had it with Asus ROG boards, i've had it with RIVE. The amount of time energy and frustration i spent refreshing emails, being put on hold, refreshing forum threads far out weigh the benefit of buying a non-doa ROG board with all its fancy features. I will be staying away from Asus products and will recommend everybody else to.

[Chino]

Please locate the long and thin sticker that's on your motherboard. You'll see a barcode and a bunch of numbers on it. I need you to post the last 4 digits here for me.

[DeviLoThorn]

Chino wrote:
Please locate the long and thin sticker that's on your motherboard. You'll see a barcode and a bunch of numbers on it. I need you to post the last 4 digits here for me.

1305

[Chino]

1. Download the 4901 BIOS from Asus website.
2. Format a USB pendrive to FAT32.
3. Extract the BIOS file and rename the file to R4E.CAP.
4. Put the BIOS file on your USB pendrive.
5. Connect the USB pendrive to the white USB Port.
6. Press the ROG Connect button for three seconds until the LED begins to blink, then release.
7. Wait until the LED stops blinking.
8. Power on your system.

Report back your results. What is on the DEBUG LED? Is it still in a boot loop? And does any of the 4 QLEDs beside the 24 pin power connector reman lit?

[DeviLoThorn]

Did steps 1-8
Now i'm back at error/debug code 00. CPU_LED is a solid red, 2 green LEDs next to the Start/Reset button. GPU warm.

[Chino]

Correct.

Remove the 4 pin and 8 pin power cables from your motherboard leaving only the 24 pin power cable connected. Push the start button. Did the fan come to life for one second then shuts down? I'm assuming you have the H80i or a fan connected to the CPU_FAN header.

[DeviLoThorn]

I unplugged all cables to the motherboard except the 24pin motherboard power cable. Fans comes on and stays on. Same situation as previous with CPU power cables attached, except now the debug/error code LEDs dont come on at all.

[Chino]

See if you can test the motherboard with another known working CPU. But I'm almost 100% certain that your motherboard is the problem.

[DeviLoThorn]

Got the advanced RMA board in the mail today. Dead too. Same issues, same debug codes, same lights. South bridge came loose out of the socket, fan was dead on it, too. What now asus?