Reversed Capacitor Causes Motherboard Fires

Asus has recalled many of the company’s ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboards after reports that the boards could catch fire due to a capacitor that was aligned wrongly. The recalled boards were manufactured in 2021 with the part number 90MB18E0-MVAAY0 and serial number starting with MA, MB, or MC according to the recall notice put out by the Taiwanese company. Asus has acted quickly after the initial reports of the motherboards catching fire and the company will replace the recalled boards with new ones.   

The statement also confirmed that the issues had been caused by “potential reversed memory capacitor issue in the production process from one of the production lines that may cause debug error code 53, no post, or motherboard components damage”. The fault had been initially diagnosed by YouTuber Buildzoid in a video you can see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VkO4wiEAY4. He correctly identified that the cause of the two MOSFETs that were burned out was not the MOSFETs themselves, but the wrongly aligned capacitor. The MOSFETs were responsible for providing 5V power to components on the motherboard, including the DDR5 modules.

The last year has seen many people work from home who have purchased new computing equipment. Also, as it is just after Christmas, many people will have been gifted new gaming computers that may use the Asus motherboards. At a cost of almost £500 the at risk motherboards are at the higher end of the company's offering. Asus has devoted a lot of time and money into pushing its ROG (Republic of Gamers) products and up till this point they have gained a good reputation in the industry. The company's will hope to safeguard that reputation with its quick response to the situation.

The full statement from the company is below-

ASUS is committed to producing the highest quality products and we take every incident report from our valued customers very seriously. We have recently received incident reports regarding the ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboard. In our ongoing investigation, we have preliminarily identified a potential reversed memory capacitor issue in the production process from one of the production lines that may cause debug error code 53, no post, or motherboard components damage. The issue potentially affects units manufactured in 2021 with the part number 90MB18E0-MVAAY0 and serial number starting with MA, MB, or MC.

You can identify your part number by referring to the product packaging:

As of December 28, 2021, there have been a few incidents reported in North America. Going forward, we are continuing our thorough inspection with our suppliers and customers to identify all possible affected ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboards in the market and will be working with relevant government agencies on a replacement program.

Thank you so much to everyone for your patience and support while we are working through the replacement program.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact ASUS customer service.

To check if your ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboard is affected by the issue, please visit the following site: https://www.asus.com/support/rog-maximus-z690-hero-checking