# ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 HERO 'Orange Light of Death' Issue Causes Boards To Burn Up



## Deleted member 24505 (Dec 25, 2021)

Anyone seen this?
Could be a problem for Asus and anyone who has one of these.
https://wccftech.com/asus-rog-maxim...-defect-several-reports-of-boards-burning-up/


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## 1100R (Dec 25, 2021)

Knock on wood.  I am waiting to mount a PC with that motherboard when the memories arrives (G.Skill 6000 MHz CL36).  Anyway in the memory scalability tests made by Anandtech with that same motherboard  have  no issues.








						Intel Alder Lake DDR5 Memory Scaling Analysis With G.Skill Trident Z5
					






					www.anandtech.com


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## silentbogo (Dec 25, 2021)

Interesting. VRM blew up with sparks and magic smoke. What's confusing, is that from all the papers I assumed that it'll take 12V straight from PSU and make VDD/VDDQ/VTT etc. using integrated PMIC.
But from what it looks like (and from random tech bits on the net), some OEMs decided to step it down to 5V instead(hence DRAM VRM is still a thing), which possibly means higher current draw by the module...but definitely not that high (especially in cases w/ only 2 DIMMs installed)....
Either a serious design f#$%-up, or they've got some defective mosfets... Or they've been lying about DDR5 power efficiency all along


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## ir_cow (Dec 25, 2021)

So far no problems. Still using the one I reviewed for DDR5 memory tests. I'm guessing its a bad batch of caps or some component in that area related to sending 5v to the DIMMs. 12v is indeed stepped down to 5v on the MB.


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## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Dec 27, 2021)

500$+ motherboard ladies and gentlemen...


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## ir_cow (Dec 27, 2021)

$600


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## AlwaysHope (Dec 27, 2021)

Had a read through that wccftech article linked by OP & looking at the pics it "appears" the board was installed without standoffs. But even then, it doesn't make sense cause' if you do that, the board will short & not even boot properly... so.... who knows!


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## Outback Bronze (Dec 27, 2021)

"As for what the 53 QCODE is, it is generally related to the incompatible memory"

Looks like the memory VRMs have blown hence code 53. Probably overclocking DDR5 to hard.


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## AlwaysHope (Dec 27, 2021)

Outback Bronze said:


> "As for what the 53 QCODE is, it is generally related to the incompatible memory"
> 
> Looks like the memory VRMs have blown hence code 53. Probably overclocking DDR5 to hard.


They still should not have blown like that. I've got boards here with OC Ram & never had a board malfunction like that ever. Incompatible memory, however one wants to interpret that is merely a product not on the QVL list. The vast majority of boards I've used over the years have not been QVL listed, yet all of them OC stable & have done it well. I do notice the use of the word "generally" though.


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## ir_cow (Dec 27, 2021)

@AlwaysHope I straight up ignore QVL lists. All that it is useful for is to tell you the "highest" frequency of memory tested on that. Funny thing is I swear those QVL lists come from the top MB with a golden sample CPU and not the actual product you are buying. No proof, but the amount of MB I've used that do not reach the MB "QVL" limit is....well a lot.


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## Outback Bronze (Dec 27, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> They still should not have blown like that.



No but DDR5 is extremely new hardware that is now just getting explored via overclockers.


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## AlwaysHope (Dec 27, 2021)

Outback Bronze said:


> No but DDR5 is extremely new hardware that is now just getting explored via overclockers.


New hardware not ready for enthusiast's market? FAIL!


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## R-T-B (Dec 27, 2021)

AlwaysHope said:


> New hardware not ready for enthusiast's market? FAIL!


More like early adopter business as usual...


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## Caring1 (Dec 27, 2021)

Could this be attributed to the voltage regulation being built onto the DDR5 Ram?


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## silentbogo (Dec 27, 2021)

Outback Bronze said:


> Looks like the memory VRMs have blown hence code 53. Probably overclocking DDR5 to hard.


The actual memory VRM is on the stick itself. Overclocking "too hard" is definitely not the case, since that pointless buck converter for RAM slots was supposedly designed to handle 4 sticks of factory-overclocked DDR5, but in few cases it blew up with just 2 sticks.


Caring1 said:


> Could this be attributed to the voltage regulation being built onto the DDR5 Ram?


That, but only consequentially. I'm 99% sure that ASUS engineers messed up somewhere.


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## Outback Bronze (Dec 27, 2021)

silentbogo said:


> The actual memory VRM is on the stick itself.



Don't motherboards promote a certain amount of VRM's for CPU and Memory? Like 14+2?

The only problem I got why there they were "not" the VRM's is most enthusiast mobo's have heatsinks on the VRMs where those chips didn't.

Edit: Ok I didnt know that DDR5 now has its VRM on DIMM. Was just reading about it on a Z690 Hero review.

 "DDR5 RAM moves the 12V Power Management IC (PMIC) onto the sticks themselves for on-DIMM voltage regulation"

But this is why they might be having failures: The Hero board includes a dedicated circuit that safely circumvents DDR5 memory PMIC restrictions so users can push past the default 1.1-volt limit to increase overclocking headroom--a feature you’ll find on many of the mid-range and greater boards.


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## Melvis (Dec 27, 2021)

ir_cow said:


> $600



Please!! Try $1100   



			https://www.pccasegear.com/products/55960/asus-rog-maximus-z690-hero-d5-motherboard


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## Adam Krazispeed (Dec 28, 2021)

Solid State Soul ( SSS ) said:


> 500$+ motherboard ladies and gentlemen...





AlwaysHope said:


> New hardware not ready for enthusiast's market? FAIL!





R-T-B said:


> More like early adopter business as usual...


i early adopted Firsst gen Ryzen1800X and ASRock Fatality X370 Professional Gaming MB and 3200 DDR4 and only issue i had was XMP not running full speed but AMD quickly fixed that,, then i got 3200 Flaire X ddr4 14-14-14-34 timings and issues gone once AMD optimized ram came out but its not like i had any fires and this platform still works even today as my storage server


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## R-T-B (Dec 28, 2021)

Adam Krazispeed said:


> i early adopted Firsst gen Ryzen1800X and ASRock Fatality X370 Professional Gaming MB and 3200 DDR4


So did I.  A word of advice, don't try compiling things on linux.

Still, I see your point.  Hardware failures are less than ideal, but not unheard of in first gen for certain.


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## Vayra86 (Dec 28, 2021)

Solid State Soul ( SSS ) said:


> 500$+ motherboard ladies and gentlemen...



Premium Fools and Money. I love articles like this. Evolution fixes everything, or at least it tries to. You ain't special. Here, have some smoke. These boards never really had any purpose apart from burning cash anyway.



Melvis said:


> Please!! Try $1100
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.pccasegear.com/products/55960/asus-rog-maximus-z690-hero-d5-motherboard



Evolution


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## Chomiq (Dec 28, 2021)

Buildzoid did a video on this, looks like some batches have one of the caps mounted backwards:


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## Vario (Dec 28, 2021)

Chomiq said:


> Buildzoid did a video on this, looks like some batches have one of the caps mounted backwards:


That is really sloppy.


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## Samyol (Dec 28, 2021)

Chomiq said:


> Buildzoid did a video on this, looks like some batches have one of the caps mounted backwards:



Going to put ASUS in a really bizarre position if this is genuinely the boards issue. Feel sorry for those affected by it.


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## R-T-B (Dec 28, 2021)

Samyol said:


> Going to put ASUS in a really bizarre position if this is genuinely the boards issue. Feel sorry for those affected by it.


IIRC ASUS recently switched to pure automated assembly (no humans).  Maybe related to this issue?  Dunno.


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## Samyol (Dec 28, 2021)

R-T-B said:


> IIRC ASUS recently switched to pure automated assembly (no humans).  Maybe related to this issue?  Dunno.


If the switch to automated assembly was recent then I suppose that could provide an explanation.


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## Vario (Dec 28, 2021)

R-T-B said:


> IIRC ASUS recently switched to pure automated assembly (no humans).  Maybe related to this issue?  Dunno.


Are they still built by ECS?


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## Chomiq (Dec 28, 2021)

R-T-B said:


> IIRC ASUS recently switched to pure automated assembly (no humans).  Maybe related to this issue?  Dunno.


People in the comments say that it might have been an issue with the belt for those specific caps. Either way, this should have been detected by the automated QC as Buildzoid mentions.


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## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Dec 28, 2021)

R-T-B said:


> IIRC ASUS recently switched to pure automated assembly (no humans).  Maybe related to this issue?  Dunno.


They switched to automated assembly in 2015, I remember them making huge deal about it and use it in marketing materials as "auto extreme"


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## ir_cow (Dec 28, 2021)

Props to Buildzoid for figuring this out. Basically if this chip is upside down, you have a problem now or soon! My review sample shown below is right side up for reference.


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## 1100R (Dec 29, 2021)

Mine


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## Caring1 (Dec 29, 2021)

ir_cow said:


> Props to Buildzoid for figuring this out. Basically if this chip is upside down, you have a problem now or soon! My review sample shown below is right side up for reference.
> 
> View attachment 230514


Opening post shows one reversed, positive side on the left, not the right.
Should be easy to spot now we know what to look for.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Dec 29, 2021)

Hopefully Asus will figure out a serial number range for the problem boards, maybe retailers can work out which are faulty before they are sold.


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## W1zzard (Dec 29, 2021)

ir_cow said:


> Props to Buildzoid for figuring this out. Basically if this chip is upside down, you have a problem now or soon! My review sample shown below is right side up for reference.
> 
> View attachment 230514


Same on mine


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## plastiscɧ (Dec 30, 2021)

It seems to be an official problem.





While Gigabyte can help itself with BIOS updates, because almost no DDR5 Ram works in the XMP profile on these boards, and if so then very unstable, ASUS has a much bigger problem here. It's about the fact that a part of the motherboard shows traces of smoke, or the chips in this area smoke off completely.

Primarily, it's about the RAM. And the "Rog" series from ASUS is aimed at those who overclock. And here we have a board in the higher price range. Namely the maximum, in all its versions. The problem has been documented several times in the ASUS forum as well as in the ASUS subreddit. So it is not an isolated case. In the picture you can see a display for error codes, not every board offers them, but the "Maximum" do.

The problem is probably the "Code 53", which speaks for Ram. ASUS is trying to fix this with BIOS updates, the background here is that some Ram manufacturers, in order to achieve the XMP, deliberately program too high voltages with which the ASUS boards can not handle. Would also explain Gigabyte. A statement from Asus is still pending, where the error lies is still unclear. But it is of course completely corrosive to buy a motherboard around 600€ so that it then officially crashes.

And no, Intel can't do anything about it, probably not ASUS either, whereas the latter remains to be seen. I always like to say it, and it fits again, never be an "early adopter", it goes in the pants anyway.

My advice, wait with the new platform, so in about six months, then the BIOS is stable, the motherboards come in revision 1.1 and then you have less trouble.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Dec 30, 2021)

It's a capacitor that is the wrong way around, probably a small batch.


ASUS Confirms Backwards Caps Are To Blame For ROG Maximus Z690 Motherboards Burning Up​https://hothardware.com/news/asus-rog-maximus-z690-motherboards-burning-simple-defect


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## GerKNG (Dec 30, 2021)

It's their new Vietnam factory (only for NA to not get stuff delivered from China)
they seem to have massive problems with QA.


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## Bones (Dec 30, 2021)

If anyone is inclined to, this is an easy fix if you know how to solder.
Just unsolder the cap, flip it around and solder it back in place - Done.

Yes, I know you shoudn't have to do that and you also have the RMA process but doing this would save the board and time required for the RMA process to play out. And there is no guarantee you won't get another in it's place just like it.
If I had one of these that's exactly what I'd do and be done with it.

Easiest way to tell is to look for the stripe on the cap itself, it should be _toward_s the POST code readout, not away from it to be correct.


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## The King (Dec 30, 2021)

Bones said:


> If anyone is inclined to, this is an easy fix if you know how to solder.
> Just unsolder the cap, flip it around and solder it back in place - Done.
> 
> Yes, I know you shoudn't have to do that and you also have the RMA process but doing this would save the board and time required for the RMA process to play out. And there is no guarantee you won't get another in it's place just like it.
> ...


You may also lose your warranty. So I would not recommend this even if you have the skills to solder like a pro.


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 30, 2021)

Vario said:


> That is really sloppy.


True, but given the shortages and how fast people are buying things, they're in a hurry to build product. The whole industry is a victim of circumstances. 

Yes, they need to be more careful.



Bones said:


> If anyone is inclined to, this is an easy fix if you know how to solder.
> Just unsolder the cap, flip it around and solder it back in place - Done.


If a suspect board has not been powered on, then yes this is a perfect solution. If it has been powered on, that is just a stop-gap solution. The cap in question starts taking damage the moment it's powered on while in backwards. There is no un-doing the damage and after one power cycle the damage is done and the cap *will* fail. The cap needs replacement after that point.


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