Have you bought a flagship Asus motherboard for your 12th gen Intel processor before December 2021? It’s best to check if it’s the ROG Maximus Z690 Hero and replace it if it is, as it could potentially start a fire in your house.
In January, a savvy YouTuber found that Asus had installed one of that $600 board’s capacitors backwards, and the company promised to work with government agencies on a replacement program. Today, seven months later, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Asus finally formally announce that recall.
According to the CPSC’s recall noticeabout 10,000 motherboards were affected with serial numbers starting in MA, MB and MC – a serial number you can find on a label next to the 24-pin ATX power connector or the motherboard box if you happen to have it saved.
You can check your serial number here, but oddly enough, Asus’s recall site doesn’t seem to be live yet. Looks like you might need to drop by customer service in the meantime.
The CPSC says there have been 10 reports of motherboard melted so far, but no injuries. It doesn’t say if any other property was damaged. Presumably the issue has been resolved for boards sold since January 2022 – as of today, the board is definitely still for sale.
Desktop PC recalls aren’t that common, but they’re popping up more and more as YouTubers have become knowledgeable about why their parts failed. Gamers Nexus played a major role in urging NZXT to recall its H1 mini-ITX case due to fire hazards, not to mention Gigabyte’s “exploding” power supplies.
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