Raja, the benefit of the doubt is well deserved. I tried all you've suggested multiple times before I even asked for help on this site. the AI Charger+ crashed my whole system and it was unrecoverable after several hours of trying. I am telling you it triggered something and it locked either the CPU or a UEFI setting. I've reinstalled Windows 3 times to no avail. Changed tons of CPU tweaks, cleared CMOS and updated UEFI to the latest version 0711 in both UEFI chips. If time allows today, I will put the CPU back into my old motherboard (ASUS Z87 Deluxe) to narrow down if it is the board or the CPU itself that got locked up. I will keep you posted. I have two other ASUS rigs I built that kick butt (1. ASUS Rampage IV Extreme LGA 2011 w/ 3930K & 2. ASUS Crosshair V Formula Z AM3+ 8350 Vishera) and have them ripping fast. A lot of experience building since the pentium 4 days and have never had this happen. I think the PROS will have to fix this. I take the blame for many mistakes I've made over the years but this one was not my fault. But if ASUS doesn't want to cover me on this issue, I will still just buy a new ASUS board as I am a die hard ASUS fan and have no other type of Rig. ASUS is the best, the AI Chargers is NOT...LOL.