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andy_9_9_9_9 · ‎03-22-2017

First of all, I was a long time Asus fan since the late 90's. This has recently changed, when our around 2 years old Rampage IV Extreme stopped booting. The power supply did not power up anymore and no LED diag code was displayed. As it turns out it was the board that is defective.

We contacted Asus (Spain) and got a RMA number. Asus claims that there is a 3 year warranty. The board was picked up and sent to Czech Republic for repair two days later.

After a week it came back. Unrepaired and with a big sticker "Customer Induced Damage". There is also a red indicator pointing on some chip on the board. This PC was used by my wife, how could she damage some chip on the motherboard?? It stopped working from one day to the other.

We did not receive any email stating what is actually damaged as it is usually the case along with the RMA.

We were very busy the last months, but last week on Friday we contacted Asus Spain again and were told that we would receive an email with a description of what is actually damaged within 24-48 hours. After 72 hours we have not received an email so we called them again today to remind and were told again they will send it.

Beside of that, the distribution chain of Asus components is also flawed. We bought the board like 2,5 years ago on Amazon from a shop called PC.Componentes. I was under the assumption that it is actually the "PC Componentes" (a big vendor in Spain) as this shop had the same board advertised on its own page, but we decided to buy from Amazon because we ordered some more parts at the same time and wanted to save on shipping costs. So we contacted Amazon to get a copy of the invoice and they tell us that it was not sold by them, but through the Amazon shop of PC.Componentes and they are responsible for the invoice. So we tried to contact this "PC.Componentes" on Amazon but they never responded (disappeared) and Amazon cannot tell us who this company is. A complete joke. I don't believe they have nothing in their databases about their shops, even if they close down. We contacted "PC Componentes" and they claim it is not them but someone else using their name. So the end of the story is, we only have a proof of purchase in form of an order receipt (and also the credit card invoice to prove the purchase).

Asus does not accept this and this has probably to do with the CID sticker they bumped on the board. When sending in the RMA case we told them about the situation and they said that without the invoice we would have to pay for the repair.

Never again will we buy anything from Asus or from Amazon! We have quite a few computers in our shop (also some other Asus boards). I have read in numerous other threads how bad the support has become and how quickly the CID card is pulled. Really disappointing service for this high-end piece of equipment you sell.

If someone from Asus would look into this the RMA number is #CZA1720808

Regards
Andy

Eleiyas · ‎03-23-2017

As an ASUS Repair Technician, you'd be very much surprised at how LITTLE the CID card is used. I have units here in my department that I would slap the CID sticker on immediately but it is so so rare that they are actually sent for CID.

If the CID sticker was indeed used for you, then there is very likely a reason.

If you could post a picture here of the board with the sticker (not removed), then I'd be more than happy to help out

JustinThyme · ‎03-23-2017

Sorry to hear of your failing board.
What you must keep in mind is that repair shops staffed by actual ASUS reps are few and far between. Outsourcing at its finest. The level of service by third party companies varies from location to location. Nothing personal but Ive seen a lot of complaints from different users of different products from different manufacturers having issues with shops in eastern Europe. Sometimes such shops when a problem kicks their butt slapping a sticker on it is an easy way out.

However there are always two sides to every coin. If I had a dollar for every time I've seen the " lets throw the company under the bus and shame them publicly to get what we want" tactic I'd have a lot of dollars and would be ready for retirement. Sounds like you have an offer for help.

As for your source of purchase, that one is completely on your choices. You cant blame Amazon for a non Amazon purchase. Every Item listed also lists the who the seller is. Its often not Amazon but someone listing on Amazon. Sadly this is the result of web based business models and how they work. Youi cant expect the seller, even if you could track them down, to accept any liability after 2 years. Typically you are doing good to get a 30 day return policy, some will extend that to 60 and very few to 90 but none to over 730 days. Regardless this has nothing to do with ASUS's distribution chain. People buy items wholesale then resell them retail. A manufacturer has nothing to do with what business practices are used by global markets. They just make the items and fill the wholesale orders.

I hope you find a resolution. Just keep in mind that silly user mistakes can cook sensitive electronics.

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, I'm not sure about the former” ~ Albert Einstein

andy_9_9_9_9 · ‎03-23-2017

Thanks for your replies.

This is an image of the board and the red sticker pointing to some chip:
https://ibb.co/enqWbF

We received an email today where they claim the CID is because of oxidation (you can see the two slightly blue or cyan pins). There was a water cooled GPU in the system, but that card was removed a year ago and the system was completely on AIR for the last year, running without any problems. It is possibly a remnant of a drop of water that spilled from the GPU when removing it. It is very dry and hot here in Spain so to claim that this is the cause for the failure is funny. And this is the only spot they could find. Beside of that information the email only contained the info that it is irreparable. No info about what is actually damaged. I tried to find similar images on the internet about spill damages and could not find anything looking like those 2 blue pins. LOL. Maybe it is not even oxidation but blue color, I don't know.

Also I don't want to shame Asus publicly, I used their boards for around 20 years and never had to deal with support. This is the first time. We actually have multiple of their boards in service in our company, except the servers.

I am angry with Amazon, because all they could do is send an email to the registered email address of the shop and they got no reply. I am sure they could tell me who sold it (company name and such), this info does not just disappear after 2 years. Usually you have to keep such stuff for 5-10 years.

But however, Asus claims 3 years of warranty and we have proof of purchase (order receipt) + if needed credit card bill to prove it.

I believe something else is the problem with the board. It blew one of the BIOS like in the first few months and we switched to the second BIOS and never fixed the first one with an update (should have done that). I guess this happened now to the second one and therefore it does not boot anymore. The symptoms when the first BIOS got corrupted were similar, powered up the system and it immediately shut down, tried again to power up and shut down. When we switched to the second one it booted and worked again.

I spoke with Eleiyas and there is still some hope for a resolution. Let's see tomorrow...

andy_9_9_9_9 · ‎03-24-2017

Asus Spain referred us their web site to send them a reclamation. Sent them the same picture uploaded here, because I guess so far they have not seen it yet. It went directly to Czech Repulic getting picked up by DHL. On the phone Asus Iberica told us that they came to the conclusion of oxidation after visual inspection. So now we are waiting for their reply.

Eleiyas · ‎03-28-2017

All I can personally see from that image is that 2 pins of a chip are slightly blue in coloration, which is nigh on impossible if it were water damage or oxidization.

Again, that's only a personal opinion and ultimately it is up to our partners over at ASUS Iberica to deal with and decide the best course of action for your case.

Ultimately, I hope your case gets resolved 🙂

andy_9_9_9_9 · ‎03-29-2017

Another update. They replied with the following email (google translated):
"Good afternoon,

After conducting the consultation internally, we are informed that it is not possible to transfer the case to ASUS Holland.

We have analyzed the case again, verifying the images and, unfortunately, we maintain the diagnosis given in the RMA CZA1720808.

Saludos,
Mila S
ASUS Ibérica Customer Care"

So they stick to their diagnosis, which does not even exist. All we got is a CID sticker claiming oxidation. Judge for yourself and look at the picture above.

We still don't even know what is the problem with the board. They just reject diagnosing it, even though it is still in warranty technically (3 years).

The next step will be, that we send it to some third party as Asus is either incapable or not willing to actually tell us what is the defect. All this within warranty. Asus has become a total joke. We will stick to EVGA or Gigabyte in the future. First time dealing with Asus support and never again.

For anyone else suffering from their lack of support, there is some private repair service here in Spain specialized in X79 board repairs. 30€ flat rate for a real diagnosis + additional €60 if repairable. I guess this is the only way to find out what the problem is. I still think it is a CMOS problem. I will update again once I have an actual problem description from them, even though I hate dishing out any additional money for this crappy piece of hardware.

And by the way Asus, if anyone should read this, you have miserable ratings already, if you check BBB for example or other sites (just google: "Asus complains").

Zka17 · ‎03-29-2017

Eleiyas@ASUS wrote:
2 pins of a chip are slightly blue in coloration, which is nigh on impossible if it were water damage or oxidization.

Eleiyas, I am really trying to understand what you were trying to say there ^^^... it is or not possible to be a water damage?

Whenever you have watercooling in your system, there is a possibility of spill/leakage... that is the nature of watercooling, it has to be expected and accepted...
Now, the point is how you are managing a spill/leakage? My way to deal with this: immediately power down completely, remove the battery and all possible components (GPUs, memories, disconnect all cable) and have a fan blow on it overnight... Was all of this done when it was that " It is possibly a remnant of a drop of water that spilled from the GPU when removing it."??? If not you were looking for trouble...

As the trouble is already here - what else did you do? Took out the board and send it off for repair? Or actually did you tried troubleshooting yourself first?
I would still try to do some things before trash it - well, if the official repair fails... let me know if interested...

andy_9_9_9_9 · ‎03-29-2017

Zka17 wrote:
Eleiyas, I am really trying to understand what you were trying to say there ^^^... it is or not possible to be a water damage?

Whenever you have watercooling in your system, there is a possibility of spill/leakage... that is the nature of watercooling, it has to be expected and accepted...
Now, the point is how you are managing a spill/leakage? My way to deal with this: immediately power down completely, remove the battery and all possible components (GPUs, memories, disconnect all cable) and have a fan blow on it overnight... Was all of this done when it was that " It is possibly a remnant of a drop of water that spilled from the GPU when removing it."??? If not you were looking for trouble...

As the trouble is already here - what else did you do? Took out the board and send it off for repair? Or actually did you tried troubleshooting yourself first?
I would still try to do some things before trash it - well, if the official repair fails... let me know if interested...

My point is, the damage on the picture (https://ibb.co/enqWbF) is not from a spill. The board has never touched water. We sent it in and did not even clean it, it is a bit dusty as you can see on the image above. I was not aware of those blue/cyan pin 1 and 3 (pin 2 and 4 look "normal"). Water just does not spill like that. I guess that was Eleiyas point too. As mentioned before I googled to look at water damages/oxidation and could not find a single picture looking like those 2 blue pins. Here is a google image query to get an impression: (https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=motherboard+oxidation&num=100&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch). It is just plain bad customer service imo. On top of that we have not received any diagnosis and have to rely on a third company to tell us what the problem with the board is, even though it is still in warranty. The water cooled GPU was removed from this system more than a year ago and the system ran very well until that day when it suddenly stopped working. It was running with a platinum power supply and the board is the only damaged "thing" in our office. All the PC's components work. Anyways I am looking forward and am curious now to find out what this defect actually is.

And yes I consider the official repair as failed if all they can do is to send it across Europe and slap a CID on it, without diagnosing it. My bet is still CMOS corrupted -> 15$.

But thanks a lot for the offer, I may come back to it but will try a local source first to save on shipping costs.

Arne_Saknussemm · ‎03-29-2017

Sorry to say...but to me that looks exactly like some kind of chemical corrosion on those two pins. How it happened is anyone's guess...assuming it doesn't emanate from within that chip i.e. something leaking out of the chip itself (if that is possible) the only other conclusion is that something has come into contact with the board...which would not be ASUS' fault.

Though of course they could give you a proper diagnosis and quote for testing and repair...

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Disapointing Asus Rampage IV Extreme Warranty