The real problem is Asus support and return practice. They still are good until something goes wrong. In this case the consequences forced them to do something.
I agree. I've seen this a few times on the forums. I noticed it depends were you are.
Mind you, it should never be but in my case I've never had that issue. I just changed the one I have and asked for advanced return and it was granted.
I've noticed over the years that Asus usually isn't refusing to RMA but it takes them a quite a while before acknowledging an issue with their boards. I think I can understand from reading issues in the ROG forums. Often the problem is either user related or incompatible hardware. I've seen myself argue for a week that my board was faulty but it actually was incompatible hardware (which I would have never thought because I've been using the same hardware on Asus boards for many years). It probably was a driver issue (Which often is but not sure) and gets fixed within unfortunately a few weeks (not days) .
Now, what gets us all peeved is that we have to play the role of computer technician and have detailed proof of the problem. So our first line of thinking is "Why should I prove it? I know it's that" It doesn't really make sense. If we know it's that then we should be able to prove it.
For example my sound issue on this board. I had proof that the board was booting way slower when the driver was installed. NO issues using the board without the driver. So had to be the driver. I even did a boot trace showing that the loading issues was with sound chip.
They couldn't repro the issue, so they said look we will RMA the board because we aren't saying that you're wrong, we just can't repro the problem.
I got irritated because I said another board won't change a thing. Then I said OK, you want to change the board, I don't want a refurbished or repaired board. I want a new board and I want advanced exchange. They said it's tougher because of the pandemic, They only have repaired boards. Nonetheless they agreed but said I'd have to wait until they had one in stock. Finally, a week later they shipped a new board.
Meanwhile, I continued to search because I said to myself, If they are right then it's something else. So I started testing the board thoroughly (what I admit I should have done at first.) You start bare-bones and work your way up. I disconnected everything and tried booting. Well, go figure everything booted fine.
Well to make a long story short (well it is long

) after installing one item after the other I found the problem (not the solution). As soon as I plugged my Logitech C615 (new but old model) boot slow down started. Now, was it the USB port? No because moving around port to port did the same thing.
I didn't want to wait to see if it was driver related so I ordered another web cam (a Nexigo) I wanted to try them out at the same time. PROBLEM SOLVED.
So in the end, it wasn't the board that had an issue. It was either driver or hardware related. (haven't retested).
This all goes to show that we often jump the gun to blame the board maker. So I can sort of understand why Asus wants detailed proof before blaming the board (just as long as they are testing on their end).
Like I said, at least they didn't do like Gigabyte and say, "Power supply?" No problems.
And again, I agree Asus should have the same support & RMA arrangements anywhere you live. :)
