Asus recalls 10,000 Z690 Hero motherboards because of a backward capacitor

Did you buy a flagship Asus motherboard for your 12th Gen Intel processor anytime before December 2021? You’d best check if it’s the ROG Maximus Z690 Hero and get it swapped out if so because it could potentially start a fire in your house.

In January, a savvy YouTuber figured out that Asus installed one of that $600 board’s capacitors backward, 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 are finally formally announcing that recall.

According to the CPSC’s recall announcement, roughly 10,000 motherboards were affected with serial numbers starting in MA, MB, and MC — a serial number which you can find on a label next to the 24-pin ATX power connector or the motherboard’s box if you happened to keep it.

You can check your serial number here, but weirdly, Asus’ recall site doesn’t yet seem to be live. It looks like you may have to go through customer service in the meanwhile.

The CPSC says there have been 10 reports of melted motherboards so far but no injuries. It doesn’t say whether any other property was damaged. Presumably, the issue has been fixed for boards sold since January 2022 — as of today, the board is definitely still on sale.

Desktop PC part recalls aren’t particularly common, but they’ve been popping up more often as knowledgeable YouTubers have begun investigating why their parts failed. Gamers Nexus was instrumental in pushing NZXT to recall its H1 mini-ITX case due to a fire hazard, not to mention Gigabyte’s “exploding” power supply units.