Asus finally recalls faulty ROG Z690 Hero motherboards that were catching fire

[mongeese]

Facepalm: Asus has finally issued a recall of the ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboards that users last year reported could catch fire. Just some models are affected by the issue, but if yours is, you should send it in for a free replacement immediately.

If you missed the saga as it unfolded in December, it began something like this: about a dozen users posted photos of their Z690 Heroes with the two MOSFETs above the board's memory slots burnt-up or melted. After some head scratching on Reddit and YouTube, BuildZoid eventually figured out that the polarized capacitor that fed the MOSFETs was installed backward on some boards.

In the best-case scenario, the MOSFETs or the VRMs they were connected to would fail without fanfare and prevent the board from detecting the installed memory sticks, in turn stopping it from posting, or returning an error code 53.

In the worst-case scenario, the MOSFETs would intake too much current and slowly overheat or suddenly catch fire. Asus said that it received 10 reports of that happening but no reports of injuries. It encouraged affected users to contact customer support and said that it was working on a replacement program…

...and eight months later, that program has sort-of launched. On Thursday, the Consumer Product and Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the voluntary recall of Z690 Heroes with serial numbers starting with MA, MB, and MC.

Red arrows point out the MOSFETs and the reversed cap. Credit: u/Duhjahno

The CPSC is telling users to stop using their motherboards immediately and to head to asus.com/us/site/recalls to request a free replacement, shipping included. But, if you click that link, you'll find that Asus' site redirects you to a blog post about the issue from last year that doesn't mention the recall. Helpful.

According to the CPSC, there were about 10,000 affected boards sold in-store at Best Buy and Micro Center and online by Amazon and Newegg between October and December last year. They retailed for about $600.

You can check if your Z690 Hero is affected by looking at its serial number and entering it into the Asus checker tool. You can find it on a sticker located on either the top or bottom of the board, or if you've got the box handy, it'll be on a sticker on the side of that. Alternatively, you can watch BuildZoid's video, and he'll show you how to check which way the capacitor is installed yourself.

Presumably, Asus is working on a landing page for the recall. Meanwhile, you can get in touch with their customer support or the customer support of wherever you brought it from and get a replacement issued that way.

Masthead credit: SJ (@sjcbrn)

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https://www.techspot.com/news/95702-asus-finally-recalls-faulty-rog-z690-hero-motherboards.html

 

[ZedRM]

Seriously ASUS?!? That took you long enough. Afraid of some more bad press were we? Facepalm indeed!

 

[nodfor]

Imagine paying 600$ for a board like that, ouch.

 

[Irata]

‚Voluntary‘ recall…how nice of them. /s

 

[Morphine Child]

Why do I recall that scene from Fight Club about recalls?

 

[HardReset]

This went better than expected:

 

[takaozo]

For a 600$ board this ia quite a QA and QC, right Asus?

Last time I used an Asus board, I wanted to disable Intel ME with onboard jumper (because of some CVE published). Ofc power removed. Moved the jumper to Intel Me off and that board never came alive again.
It was an Asus CS-B for Intel gen 4. Never tried to buy again this brand.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Experts buy according to spec and noobs buy according to brand. That's why I haven't ever owned an ASUS motherboard. They're just not worth what they cost.

 

[OortCloud]

Asus make pretty good hardware most of the time, but the drivers and the software are awful.
The worst of all is Armory Crate which really stinks. Even worse, they have baked an installer for it into the BIOS now which tries to put it back on when you remove it. I won't buy another Asus motherboard since wrestling with this and the rest of their awful bloatware it tried to pile on. Shame as the ROG Crosshair Hero is a great mobo. They also have zero customer support. If you send them a message they just completely ignore it every time.

 

[Burty117]

It's amazing how differrent my experience with Asus is vs the comments above me.

I bought an Asus router that was really good but stopped working just over a year into its life. Logged a case, they gave me my money back to buy something else. I was given the option for replacement but I might as well take the money and buy a newer model.

I've also had a failed motherboard I had to sort out and their support was again top notch.

I've used Gigabyte, Asrock and MSI motherboards quite a bit but I've always preferred my Asus motherboards, fan controller actually works and the BIOS is just that bit easier to use in my opinion, otherwise they're all very similar.