A Fairly New Asus Destroys Itself

LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, Alaska Icrontian
edited March 2006 in Hardware
RE: Asus P5PL2, system 4 in signature. That board is now dead. Two nights ago it just stopped working mid-stream -- no video signal, no PCI signal, no IDE signal, no motherboard beep codes, CPU heatsink room temperature, northbridge room temperature, but the fans still worked (yaaay! ??). Troubleshooting:

BIOS jumper reset - no go
CMOS battery removed and re-inserted - no go
Tested vid card in another machine - good
Tested spare vid card in system 4 - no go
replaced IDE cable - no go
checked all cables - firmly connected
reseated vid card three or for times - still no video/PCI signal (PCI vid card)
tested system with one module of RAM alone, then the other - no go
disassembled system and reassembled (for potential electrical shorts) - no go

I then disassembled the system again to prepare the motherboard for Asus RMA. When I removed the CPU heatsink support bracket on the back of the motherboard, I had a very difficult time removing the foam rubber protection pad, which fits between the board and the metal support bracket as a cushion. The cause of this removal difficulty was due to the pad having partially melted onto the motherboard! It appears that the three mosfets next the CPU significantly overheated, causing the pad underneath the motherboard to start melting. The laquer coating on the motherboard PCB was also peeling off in the effected area. Well, I saw this and said to myself, "Well Leo, there certainly are NO more troubleshooting steps necessary now."

One would think that a motherboard with an overclocking BIOS with options for every voltage, and every CPU and RAM parameter would actually have built-in hardware capable of matching the BIOS? not so in this case

DON'T BUY AN ASUS P5PL2 IF YOU WISH TO OVERCLOCK

Next step is to actually get through to the Asus' online "helpdesk". Server is down or something. The telephone support was prompt, courteous, and immediately gave me the RMA link (helpdesk.asus.com) when I told him my troubleshooting steps. So at least that part of support worked.

Comments

  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited February 2006
    How ironic. I was just reading this at pcper ...good luck Leo! :thumbsup:

    "Not to sound like a jerk - but Asus has some of the most rude, uncaring, rotten tech support personel I've ever come across in the industry. I don't know why I keep buying their boards year after year - when I know this is what happens when a question comes up.

    So, I asked about them pulling down the BIOS... here's what he told me:
    "Yes we pulled it", and "No I'm not telling you why - we don't tell end-users". I then said, "My concern is if you found it can cause hardware failures?", and his resposne was, "Even if I could tell you, we wouldn't... so is your system stable or what?".

    I then asked my question up above
    Quote:
    I should have asked this before, but what program installs the ACPI function? It's the ATK 0110 feature that's listed as "unknown device".

    and his response was, well I"m sure it's on the CD somewhere".

    I then ask, My last question is "why do you have drivers on your ftp not listed on the normal website for the A8R-MVP"? His response, "we dont keep track of web stuff, bye".

    What a jerk. "
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2006
    That sucks :(
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited February 2006
    Again, I have to state the support rep on the phone was patient and pleasant. He seemed quite satisfied when I told him what troubleshooting steps I'd taken. When I told him about the apparent scorching, he immediately told me how to find the online RMA page. But, that's the rub - I've been trying for hours to get to the "helpdesk" and all I get is "Server Not Found". Wow, that's inspiring.

    Is Asus going downhill? In researching for a new board, I'm finding lots of initial problems, returns, and RMAs with Asus. Being probably the best selling motherboard, it would make sense that Asus would have the highest number of gross returns, but it seems like they are experiencing too many for the purported quality that is (or was) Asus.

    I wonder if the competition of a resurgent Abit, assuming they fix their quality control, would nudge Asus to improve. But then, I don't know if Abit was every large enough to exert much competitve pressure on Abit anyway.

    Or, is Asus just fine, that I'm only noticing the downside?


    Now, with that said, I just ordered a new (Newegg refurbished) Asus P5WD2, 955X chipset board. According to overclockers just about everywhere, it's the best for the Pentium D series overclocking. I cross my fingers. Even with shipping to Alaska, this premium motherboard was cheaper from Newegg than anything I could find in town here that was worth having. Sorry, I'm just not going to pay CompUSA $150 CompUSA for a ho-hum Gigabyte.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited February 2006
    Leonardo wrote:
    I had a very difficult time removing the foam rubber protection pad, which fits between the board and the metal support bracket as a cushion. The cause of this removal difficulty was due to the pad having partially melted onto the motherboard! It appears that the three mosfets next the CPU significantly overheated, causing the pad underneath the motherboard to start melting. The laquer coating on the motherboard PCB was also peeling off in the effected area.


    [whispers]
    Leo - Get and AMD X2 system - They run Cooler
    Leo - Get and AMD X2 system - They run Cooler
    Leo - Get and AMD X2 system - They run Cooler
    [/whispers]
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited February 2006
    Oh, I DEFINITELY will, when they aren't so expensive. X2/M2 = performance per cycle, but not really bang per buck. Besides, the CPU waste heat did not destroy my motherboard, the Big Typhoon cools the CPU quite handily. The waste heat removed doesn't linger at all in the case, the heatsink being right next to the 120mm exhaust fan. In fact, the roasted mosfets even had a wash of relativley cool air flowing over them. It just wasn't an overclocker's board.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited February 2006
    Sledgehammer Echo's that whisper
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited February 2006
    Leonardo wrote:
    Oh, I DEFINITELY will, when they aren't so expensive. X2/M2 = performance per cycle, but not really bang per buck. Besides, the CPU waste heat did not destroy my motherboard, the Big Typhoon cools the CPU quite handily. The waste heat removed doesn't linger at all in the case, the heatsink being right next to the 120mm exhaust fan. In fact, the roasted mosfets even had a wash of relativley cool air flowing over them. It just wasn't an overclocker's board.
    CPU Power Draw - the other side of too much heat.....
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited February 2006
    CPU Power Draw - the other side of too much heat.....
    Can't argue with that. But anyway, the next motherboard will have a mosfet sink - a nice big one.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited February 2006
    Leonardo wrote:
    Can't argue with that. But anyway, the next motherboard will have a mosfet sink - a nice big one.

    Sorry to hear that the Asus roasted itself, Leo. That's one of the problems with the Pentium D procs though; they pull so damn much power that they will stress the hell out of all the power circuitry components on the mobo, unfortunately. You know, if Asus has put some nice copper mosfet heatsinks on those fets, that board would probably still be running just fine. But I've read several reviews of socket 775 boards on HardOCP that give some frighteningly high figures on the fets on the boards. If I ever decide to upgrade my IC7-G to a P4E proc, I will definitely invest in some heatsinks for the fets on the board to help keep them cool.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited February 2006
    Right. After this event, I've started noting how all the serious 775 boards come stock with pretty beefy mosfet sinks. I used to put them on boards years ago, but it was more for show and the fun of doing it. Now, it's serious business. ;D

    I'm not really sorry about the loss. I'm sure the RMA will happen, if I can ever get ahold of the online service page....

    I'll sell the RMA'd board, and this gave me an excuse to order a P5WD2.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited February 2006
    Leonardo wrote:
    Right. After this event, I've started noting how all the serious 775 boards come stock with pretty beefy mosfet sinks.
    Remember when I gave a demerit to Epox for not putting heatsinks on the mosfets on their current boards.... Their new upcoming SLI32x mobo doesn't have them either :(
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited February 2006
    Next step is to actually get through to the Asus' online "helpdesk".
    Suspecting that the RMA link the Asus telephone tech rep gave me was bad, I did some internet searches. Google returned the correct URL. Interesting that no amount of searches at the Asus site found the link! Well, within two hours after submitting an RMA request via the official email link, I received an RMA # with specific, clear instructions! At least this part of the process was impressive! :thumbup We shall see how the rest goes.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    The RMA was actually pretty fast. The replacement board that they shipped looked unused. I think they just pulled it from factory OEM stocks.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited March 2006
    Leonardo wrote:
    The RMA was actually pretty fast. The replacement board that they shipped looked unused. I think they just pulled it from factory OEM stocks.

    I've read that about Asus somewhere else too, Leo. That's a pretty good deal. :vimp:
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    I was certainly treated fairly - credit where credit is due. I did not install the RMA board, but sold it about as soon as it arrived.
  • dragonV8dragonV8 not here much New
    edited March 2006
    Good to see you ended up with a win (of sorts), Leo. From what i have read the P5WD2 is quite a good board. Hope you have a good run with it.:smiles:
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    When the P5PL2 quit, I got a P5WD2 and sent the P5P off on RMA. The P5WD2 is in system 4 (signature), and it does live up to its reputation. I'd love to have another one, but won't spend that much now. System 1 has a P5LD2, which is essentially the little brother of the P5WD2. It's voltage regulation isn't as good though. The max stable I can get out of it is 3.7GHz - the CPU voltage just droops too much under load. That's common characteristic with 775 boards and D series Intels. Another RMA that should arrive tomorrow is an MSI 945P Neo-F. That board is smooth as silk and a decent overclocker, but not up there with the P5WD2. The Neo-F is going into system 3, which also becoming a energy sucking, heat belching pig D820 system. (Why do I do these things?)

    BTW, the main reason the P5WD2s are generally superior is because of the "955X" chipset. The 955X chipsets are simply 945s that are hand picked for superior performance.
  • dragonV8dragonV8 not here much New
    edited March 2006
    The proc in #4 is definitely a winner. Considering you are on air, that is a pretty good effort.:thumbsup:

    Sally got herself the P5WD2-e Premier. It appears it doesn't supply as much power to the cpu as the WS model. From what i have read, it has something to do with the 8pin plug into the board. Looks the same as ours as it too has an 8pin plug into the board.

    Too technical for me. :-/ It appears only some minor changes between our boards. Not too much of a difference between the 955x and 975x chips.

    Guess once Sally finishes sorting our 2 troublesome comps, she will have time to set the new Asus one to work. Should go alright, i reckon.:smiles:
  • KhaosKhaos New Hampshire
    edited March 2006
    Sorry to hear about the motherboard, Leo. I too have been shopping around, and to be honest, the market is kind of discouraging. I've heard the same stories of bad initial quality with ASUS that you have, and Abit managed to lose me as a customer after releasing some truly awful NF7-S versions. I've had nothing but problems with two NF7-S series boards (Usually the 'G' versions, when not even overclocking). It's terribly disappointing after the wonderful KX7-333R.

    Starting to think I may go the DFI route when I build my new system.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    The only thing wrong with that P5PL2 was that it had a full bore overclocking BIOS but was not built to handle the pummeling of boosted voltages. It actually overclocked decently until the mosfets between the I/0 ports and the the CPU socket scorched. Asua RMA though, was outstanding. I had authorization to return the board within one day of filling in the online form at their rebate site. From the time I shipped off the bad board, I had a new, OEM board in my hands in three weeks, and that counts shipping to Alaska. I was very impressed with Asus' service on this.

    I warned the guy I sold the RMA to that he should not overclock without installing RAM sinks on the mosfets.
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