My Dual Harper - Asus Z7S WS living review *56K warning*

[jcool]

Yeah, crappy FSB OCability and two too many NF200's made sure of that.
It doesn't die though, at least.

[ZIO]

Hey J-cool,

Been a while I'm still up and running on my Z7S, although it did eat 2 sticks of RAM. I found the heatsink on the VRM chip to be inadequate which likely promoted the failures seen in this area. It dislodges easily and does not automatically reattach due to unproperly tensioned springs and the wrong thermal paste, they use a putty, which causes other issues like caking on across the assembly.

This is a simple flaw that causes major problems like blow VRM's, a nice thick copper heatsink across these parts with the proper paste plus more tension mounts to more fully secure the heatsink would have done wonders for this board. So a flaw in thermal engineering. Fire whoever approved that sink design. They should have something more like the Fatality boards which have improved copper heatsinks with nice thick baseplates that dont bend when you touch them.

[jcool]

I always re-checked (and sometimes reseated) the VRM sinks because yeah, they suck. They can move during transport etc.
My last boards didn't die due to bad VRM cooling, I am sure of that.

ZIO if you were running 24/7 load like I do your Z7S would be long gone as well

[ulvac]

Been a while since I've posted. Interesting to see how this has evolved. For those who've taken their VRM heat sinks off, did anyone manage to pull a part number off the chips?

[STEvil]

STEvil - 2
angelshonnny - 1
Jaco - 2
jcool - 6+
spiro - 1
4DoorGTZ - 1
taymans - 2
DanTheBanjoman - 1
Serlv - 1
ZIO -1
colombodk - 1
romanzen - 1
lombardi - 1

added a bunch

[STEvil]

STEvil - 2
angelshonnny - 1
Jaco - 3
jcool - 6+
spiro - 1
4DoorGTZ - 1
taymans - 2
DanTheBanjoman - 1
Serlv - 1
ZIO -1
colombodk - 1
romanzen - 1
lombardi - 1


+1

[jcool]

Ok, so I just swapped mobos for the 3rd or 4th time.. Dual X5450 back online. I really didn't want to do this, but every other option would have involved downtime and monetary investment, both of which are currently out of the question.

And since this POS board has proven that it will die regardless of what settings I use, I'm now back at full speed. If it's gonna die anyway might as well do some damage while it lasts... Next RMA scheduled in 6 months

Yay, my 4th board just went down. That's 8 month since the last dead one, not bad
Oh well, this is it for me. Thankfully I just copied over all the data from that rig a few days ago, so I don't need to rebuild it this time. I'll just sell off the parts and RMA the motherboard once again. Or maybe I'll just use a sledgehammer

Anyone looking for a pair of X5450's or some FBdimm, PM me...

[STEvil]

oh, I thought it was Jaco's board that went down?

[Apoptosis]

I had an ASUS Z7S blow up on me while at an idle back in November 2009 and I thought it was a fluke. It took out a 1000W PC&P power supply when it went also. Sucked, but ASUS replaced the board and it worked perfectly till yesterday.

On a Saturday morning with the system running it went up in smoke again and took out yet another power supply. I do a Google search on it this morning and what do I find... It's a very common issue. Not a happy camper.

The first four photos are from the 11/2009 blow up. The last two are from the 2010 blow up from yesterday morning.

I agree with the others in this thread that you shouldn't use this board and if you own one you should return it. The PWM design they are using is badly designed and it's not a matter of if the board is going to fail, but when.

The First board lasted April 2009 to November 2009 (7 months) the replacement lasted from November 2009 to July 2010 (8 months). Looks like this is also what others are seeing as jcool said his went out in 8 months as well. My system had great cooling too, so I don't think that is an issue.

The first one set of a fire alarm in the building. It even got hot enough to melt off the heat sink standoffs and permanently charred the chassis.

The count should be:

STEvil - 2
angelshonnny - 1
Jaco - 3
jcool - 6+
spiro - 1
4DoorGTZ - 1
taymans - 2
DanTheBanjoman - 1
Serlv - 1
ZIO -1
colombodk - 1
romanzen - 1
lombardi - 1
Apoptosis - 2

[s0lid]

Apoptosis:

That looks so brutal, board burned from both sides O.o

[STEvil]

STEvil - 2
angelshonnny - 1
Jaco/taymans - 3
jcool - 6+
spiro - 1
4DoorGTZ - 1
DanTheBanjoman - 1
Serlv - 1
ZIO -1
colombodk - 1
romanzen - 1
lombardi - 1
Apoptosis - 2

22

[[XC] serlv]

It is a crime that Asus has not done anything to make this right. ^*(&^&%$s!

[trueg50]

Their RMA guys still replacing this board with the same model?

[jcool]

Yep, just got a new one from Asus NL
But the other dead one I sent in wasn't replaced, because it has been the 3rd time so I got my money back. Not from Asus though, but my Distributer.. now they have to pay for what Asus failed to fix :/

[MrMojoZ]

I sent in an ASUS board in that couldn't get past the BIOS screen, they sent it back to not posting at all. No more BIOS screen lockup though right?

[jcool]

Yep, just got a new one from Asus NL
But the other dead one I sent in wasn't replaced, because it has been the 3rd time so I got my money back. Not from Asus though, but my Distributer.. now they have to pay for what Asus failed to fix :/

Belay that.. I just got a message from my distro, stating that they are forwarding the manufacturer's credit for the dead motherboard
So it seems Asus has finally started to take responsibility for their faulty product. OR, they just realised it was the 3rd time that this particular board died within 2 years, which means they are legally obliged to give me my money back
Probably the latter...

[ulvac]

I've managed to keep mine running since Aug '08 by babying it (knock on wood). Sorta pointless; it's been off for extended periods of time for other reasons. Anyway, in anticipation of this board failing sometime, or maybe proactively dealing with the problem, which make and model mobo would the community recommend to drop these Xeons into? I'm looking at a Supermicro X7DWA-N, a Tyan S5397, an Intel Skulltrail (if I can find one), and an Asus DSEB-DG. I'd really like to get to crunching again.

[jcool]

X7DWA-N and the DSEB-DG are both excellent boards. The Skulltrail will work great as well, it has a high power consumption though. No idea about the Tyan.. I heard they were somewhat flimsy, and being on my 2nd Dual LGA1366 Tyan already, I wouldn't neccessarily go for them.
By the way, if anyone is interested in my X5450's or the FBDimm, drop me a PM

[WhiteFireDragon]

those pics from Apoptosis are freakin crazy on what happens to a mobo. i wonder if asus will be responsible if his house burnt down

[ZIO]

HI- Long time no post- MY motherboard finally succumbed to bad engineering and died today. I won't be trying to revive it it looks like it fried in the same place as APOPTOSIS's MB.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I am sooooooooooooo sad now.

[Panther_Seraphi]

Are you going to RMA or ask for your money back?

[ZIO]

ASUS doesn't give refunds to customers, just distributors. When I told them the problem, they indicated that I can return the MB and if the damage is bad enough they would replace the MB entirely. It looks very similar to APOPTOSIS's damage, front and back damage with likely multi-layer damage to the circuit and conductor pathways surrounding the damage. I do not think this MB can be repaired.

When the failure occured it filled the house with acrid smoke.

I am going to talk to an ASUS supervisor about possible replacement of other parts destroyed by the failure under warranty. 2 RAM modules were taken out during the failure.

The supervisor at ASUS said any components that "happen" to fail at the same time as the MB have to be replaced by the manufacturer of the failed component not by ASUS.

The Supervisor also told me that the repair manager has to make the call as to the replacement of the MB with a new one, is warranted by the amount of damage done to the MB during the failure. I have to say that from what I can see there's no way to make this MB reliable after a failure of this type with resulting ionization damage to the physical MB as it was eroded away by internal electrical arcing. It is like a hole got burned through the MB from the front to the back.

They had better send me a new replacement.

Annnnd to top off my bad day, it's gonna take 2-3 WEEKS!!!!

[STEvil]

STEvil - 2
angelshonnny - 1
Jaco/taymans - 3
jcool - 6+
spiro - 1
4DoorGTZ - 1
DanTheBanjoman - 1
Serlv - 1
ZIO -2
colombodk - 1
romanzen - 1
lombardi - 1
Apoptosis - 2

23

Noting about the PSU, my Antec 1000w went out not long after the Z7S... wonder if it was injured when the Z7S blew?

[s0lid]

Possible, short circuitinng fets can damage psu a little, and that's the main reason why z7s burn.

[alpha0ne]

Sorry if this has already been discussed but is it possible to launch a class action suit against Anus re this problem ??

Oh and I have been using the miss spelling name for many years now after one too many dead mobo's, same applies to anything NV