At what point will Asus just upgrade me to a working model of motherboard?

[tehllama42]

Story time:

A year and a half ago I decided to spend a few thousand dollars on a new computer, and went exclusively with Asus/ROG products where I needed one. The GPU I received was defective out of the box, and after two RMA's, after the third version of that ENGTX580 somebody intelligent at the call center decided to just send me a new, and most importantly, working ENGTX670. Zero problems since, I've been happy in that regard.

The biggest issue has been the 7 Maximus 4 Gene-Z motherboards.

Yes, SEVEN of them.

First one, DOA - the really common north bridge fault where it would stick on dbug code 34. Sent it back to the retailer who was happy to cross-ship.
Second one - ditto. I bought a second one and got a full return on the first. Probably should have gone different make.
Third one finally worked for the better part of two months, long enough for the retailer return policy to run out.

Third one finally goes belly up, and stops recognizing any RAM whatsoever. Call Asus, once again I'm without a computer for three weeks.
Fourth one arrives - same north bridge problem, it locks at debug code 34. I start wondering if these things are even tested before shipping out.
Fifth one arrives, the integrated graphics won't run iirc - but that's the only problem. It wouldn't have been an issue, except this was in the midst of the second RMA for the GPU. Send that back - I wish I still had that board at this point.
Sixth one arrives - this is the most functional one I've had yet, but it was DOA technically as well. It took me hours of troubleshooting, but I was able to conclude that the A2 DIMM slot causes errors - all four sticks of ram work in every conceivable configuration if I'm running it with 4GB, 8GB, or 12GB of RAM, it just won't run if there's anything in that slot. At this point, I'm willing to accept it, after having a computer which has ran literally half of the time I've owned it thanks to the dazzlingly bad quality control and quality assurance. I get a solid 5 months out of the board in that configuration, until a month ago. Sixth one randomly just stops turning on. Power button and reset button illuminate, board powers up, I see the LED by the GO button come on, and then nothing.

Call Asus, ask for another one. At this point, there are close relatives I've talked to less frequently than the Asus customer support staff. Because I'm in the middle of an online course semester, I opt to cross-ship it. New board arrives.
Seventh one is DOA. The CPU fan/controller does nothing, and after about 3 minutes the CPU gets to 70*C and shuts off, but it was long enough for me to discover that there are tons of other problems with this board as well (no audio, NIC doesn't work, etc).

Because this is a cross-ship, both boards have now become effectively standard RMA's, and I'm effectively without a computer for an entire semester my last year of a CS degree. My Asus TF101 tablet is awesome, but it doesn't do what my primary computer does. I NEED A WORKING COMPUTER, and the RMA process has only provided that for roughly 8 months of the last 18.

I'm keeping this post short to limit how much frustration gets routed through my keyboard, but this is seriously asinine - anybody have suggestions on how to go forward with this, other than just accepting that I'll probably never get a working one of these in the next six months, it'll go out of warranty, and I might as well just go out and buy a completely different make/model motherboard now instead of waiting?

[Shawnnepc]

That number of failures is waaaaaaaay beyond the norm.

At this point I would verify that the other components in your computer are operating properly.

I would test the RAM and PSU first as those could be the most likely culprits.

I realize you might not have a way to test your RAM in your present condition, but I would test the PSU before I would do anything else.

Please contact cl-Albert on the forums for assistance with replacement. When speaking to him be sure to ask for the board to be tested before it is shipped out. This will cause a small delay in the turnaround time for your motherboard, but will be guaranteed to work.

** assuming you don't have issues with your other components **

tehllama42 wrote:
Story time:

A year and a half ago I decided to spend a few thousand dollars on a new computer, and went exclusively with Asus/ROG products where I needed one. The GPU I received was defective out of the box, and after two RMA's, after the third version of that ENGTX580 somebody intelligent at the call center decided to just send me a new, and most importantly, working ENGTX670. Zero problems since, I've been happy in that regard.

The biggest issue has been the 7 Maximus 4 Gene-Z motherboards.

Yes, SEVEN of them.

First one, DOA - the really common north bridge fault where it would stick on dbug code 34. Sent it back to the retailer who was happy to cross-ship.
Second one - ditto. I bought a second one and got a full return on the first. Probably should have gone different make.
Third one finally worked for the better part of two months, long enough for the retailer return policy to run out.

Third one finally goes belly up, and stops recognizing any RAM whatsoever. Call Asus, once again I'm without a computer for three weeks.
Fourth one arrives - same north bridge problem, it locks at debug code 34. I start wondering if these things are even tested before shipping out.
Fifth one arrives, the integrated graphics won't run iirc - but that's the only problem. It wouldn't have been an issue, except this was in the midst of the second RMA for the GPU. Send that back - I wish I still had that board at this point.
Sixth one arrives - this is the most functional one I've had yet, but it was DOA technically as well. It took me hours of troubleshooting, but I was able to conclude that the A2 DIMM slot causes errors - all four sticks of ram work in every conceivable configuration if I'm running it with 4GB, 8GB, or 12GB of RAM, it just won't run if there's anything in that slot. At this point, I'm willing to accept it, after having a computer which has ran literally half of the time I've owned it thanks to the dazzlingly bad quality control and quality assurance. I get a solid 5 months out of the board in that configuration, until a month ago. Sixth one randomly just stops turning on. Power button and reset button illuminate, board powers up, I see the LED by the GO button come on, and then nothing.

Call Asus, ask for another one. At this point, there are close relatives I've talked to less frequently than the Asus customer support staff. Because I'm in the middle of an online course semester, I opt to cross-ship it. New board arrives.
Seventh one is DOA. The CPU fan/controller does nothing, and after about 3 minutes the CPU gets to 70*C and shuts off, but it was long enough for me to discover that there are tons of other problems with this board as well (no audio, NIC doesn't work, etc).

Because this is a cross-ship, both boards have now become effectively standard RMA's, and I'm effectively without a computer for an entire semester my last year of a CS degree. My Asus TF101 tablet is awesome, but it doesn't do what my primary computer does. I NEED A WORKING COMPUTER, and the RMA process has only provided that for roughly 8 months of the last 18.

I'm keeping this post short to limit how much frustration gets routed through my keyboard, but this is seriously asinine - anybody have suggestions on how to go forward with this, other than just accepting that I'll probably never get a working one of these in the next six months, it'll go out of warranty, and I might as well just go out and buy a completely different make/model motherboard now instead of waiting?

[tehllama42]

I do appreciate the reply, for the longest time I really was convinced other components were the culprit, and I've spent weeks troubleshooting this problem; but every time I got a different motherboard it worked fine until I found another error that was directly attributable to that board.

I borrowed a friend's MSI board, and could do literally everything I could prior to the most recent failure - it just turned on and ran like nothing happened, and did the requisite 5 restarts to update all the drivers so I could troubleshoot the endless BSOD train when I went back to this motherboard. Memtest has come back fine as I suspected, and I don't have a way to test the PSU other than taking known good components, booting it up, and running it like a gaming rig - which it does fine with other motherboards.

I'm just at a loss for what the procedure is with the refurb boards - are these things just shipped back to Foxconn or somewhere and when received back just drop-shipped out to customers? I'm pretty ok with a few of the motherboards I've gotten being slightly defective, or something that a test configuration may not immediately point out (e.g. the A2 DIMM slot not working, or if the integrated graphics was buggy), but I'm absolutely livid that a mobo can get sent to a customer without a cursory test to see if it functions at all. There is nothing about the other components I have that could make a motherboard just quit running a CPU fan; there isn't a valid answer for getting two Debug34'd boards which won't go past POST that can be traced to anything but the motherboard (or wouldn't be repeatable with a non-DOA motherboard).
I'm not unwilling to rule out that other components might be part of my current set of issues, but 100% of my past experience has exclusively been hardware issues with Asus ROG products, that when replaced with newer, or known good parts the issues cease entirely.

[Shawnnepc]

You'll need to get a PSU tester and test that PSU.

As you stated prior, one of the boards worked for a period of time and then failed again.

It's possible that your PSU is giving dirty voltage and is causing rapid failures.

I've seen cases where some of those boards needed replacement due to poor repair of a referb board, but never at the quantity you've specified.

As we've said, PM Albert and see if they can give you a retail replacement based on your prior RMA history and with a case like this I don't see why they wouldn't.

The only problem is, if that replacement board fails in the same way it's very likely that your components are the cause and I'm not sure if you could get another replacement.

What's the manufacturer and wattage of your PSU?

It may be worthwhile to contact the PSU vendor and RMA out that PSU while you're waiting for your replacement board.

Do you have a UPS connected to your computer?

Does the dwelling have proper grounding?

tehllama42 wrote:
I do appreciate the reply, for the longest time I really was convinced other components were the culprit, and I've spent weeks troubleshooting this problem; but every time I got a different motherboard it worked fine until I found another error that was directly attributable to that board.

I borrowed a friend's MSI board, and could do literally everything I could prior to the most recent failure - it just turned on and ran like nothing happened, and did the requisite 5 restarts to update all the drivers so I could troubleshoot the endless BSOD train when I went back to this motherboard. Memtest has come back fine as I suspected, and I don't have a way to test the PSU other than taking known good components, booting it up, and running it like a gaming rig - which it does fine with other motherboards.

I'm just at a loss for what the procedure is with the refurb boards - are these things just shipped back to Foxconn or somewhere and when received back just drop-shipped out to customers? I'm pretty ok with a few of the motherboards I've gotten being slightly defective, or something that a test configuration may not immediately point out (e.g. the A2 DIMM slot not working, or if the integrated graphics was buggy), but I'm absolutely livid that a mobo can get sent to a customer without a cursory test to see if it functions at all. There is nothing about the other components I have that could make a motherboard just quit running a CPU fan; there isn't a valid answer for getting two Debug34'd boards which won't go past POST that can be traced to anything but the motherboard (or wouldn't be repeatable with a non-DOA motherboard).
I'm not unwilling to rule out that other components might be part of my current set of issues, but 100% of my past experience has exclusively been hardware issues with Asus ROG products, that when replaced with newer, or known good parts the issues cease entirely.

[tehllama42]

Shawnnepc wrote:
You'll need to get a PSU tester and test that PSU.

As you stated prior, one of the boards worked for a period of time and then failed again.

It's possible that your PSU is giving dirty voltage and is causing rapid failures.

I've seen cases where some of those boards needed replacement due to poor repair of a referb board, but never at the quantity you've specified.

As we've said, PM Albert and see if they can give you a retail replacement based on your prior RMA history and with a case like this I don't see why they wouldn't.

The only problem is, if that replacement board fails in the same way it's very likely that your components are the cause and I'm not sure if you could get another replacement.

What's the manufacturer and wattage of your PSU?

It may be worthwhile to contact the PSU vendor and RMA out that PSU while you're waiting for your replacement board.

Do you have a UPS connected to your computer?

Does the dwelling have proper grounding?

Between MB #4 and #5 I was really convinced my PSU was at fault - it's an 850W OCZ ZX Gold Series, which is overkill for the net power demands I've asked of this thing (2600k CPU, ENGTX 670 - everything @ box stock clock).

I have no UPS/CPS system on this, and the grounding was in question (this house took a massive lightning strike in '09, which friend an entire desktop, monitor, modem, and printer), but it's been since repaired. The same way I currently wish I had that one board with buggy internal graphics (since desired configuration is DisplayPort output through my VGA card anyway), I don't want to RMA something that isn't the root cause.

What keeps pointing me back to motherboard is that they'll function, often for months, and quit. I don't have access to a PSU tester, but the best I can do is hot-swap the motherboards between mine and my friend's computer - at which point his computer has all the issues mine does, and mine (with his cheap and cheerful min-spec MSI board) churns along without issue.

Right now, I'm stuck using the computer as-is (I've ghetto rigged it to run the CPU fan off a manually controlled chassis fan) to get through this summer semester of classes, and the computer limps along fine in Safe Mode w/ Networking, but there are those days where I'd almost rather just go buy a $80 motherboard to have, because I'm trying to predict the likelihood that the replacement board I get will last much past the 2yr cap on my original warranty.

[chrsplmr]

WOW+ ... Welcome to ROG First and Most Importantly .. but WOW ..

This leaves the PSU ... these thing are notoriously a PITA ... the only way to
check for sure without testing equipment is another PSU ...

Now that said .. yikes and crap .. [7] ??? I feel your pain.
Do as Shawnnepa has suggested and then hang in there .. it usually .. may I say
that again 'usually' isnt possible to have 7 failures without it being another factor.
We have all been there .. yep .. myself included .. embarrassingly .. but true ...
something in the mix is mess'n with ya bro ..
If not .. you are the most unLucky ROG I have ever read about ...

I cant thank you enough+ for your patience and the respect that you displayed here as it
is only proof of your true ROGness .. hang in there and trust that this Will be
resolved ..

I did however have to laugh out loud to read that you 'were keeping it short' .. lol.
Worry not of this .. and well . frankly . it wasn't .. hahhaa but it was to the polite point.

PM cl-Albert and see if he can follow up on your RMA's and get you ROG'n like you should be ..

PM .. [this means PrivateMessege above in the inbox] ... or just click HERE [ cl-Albert ] copy/paste or type in recipient and subject and then the messase. Best of Luck.c.

[Gorman]

Welcome to RoG.

[chrsplmr]

Did you PM cl-Albert with this ??? What was the outcome ? If not, why not ???

[HiVizMan]

Please do contact the customer liaison person as indicated.

[cl-Albert]

@Tehllama42, thanks for checking with me about this.
Can you also please sent me a PM (cl-Albert) with any of your RMA numbers, so I can check into it more on my side?