Asus Maximus Formula defective Sata/IDE

Got an Asus Maximus Formula motherboard through ClubIT.com and it arrived defective I think, so I wanted to ask here.

I have a Maxtor Sata 300.1 hard drive connected with 2 Sony 20X DL Dvd burners. They would detect in bios, Post would fine and would even boot the Asus support DVD, but with error. The cables are new and worked on another MB just before new MB arrived. Bios was set in Sata Configuration to the correct drive, etc. All correct and all that I would get was:

BOOTCD: Unable to boot cd. Code: 3

Or something very close to that. Tech support could not figure it out and said defective. I am pretty experienced, worked with Asus boards in the past, but nothing like the inability to boot from cd with OS cd. Used a Maxtor Maxblast test and the hard drive passed all tests, so the problem seems to be communication from the Sony 840A burner to the MB.

Anyone know the code 3 above? What it means?

Thanks!

I am not sure about the Code 3, but you do have the sata configured as IDE, right?

Stilletto said:

I am not sure about the Code 3, but you do have the sata configured as IDE, right?

Click to expand...

Thanks and yes I do have it configured to Sata. It is also set up as drive 0 (primary) in bios.

Since this posting I removed the MB from my system and will be sending back. I might get the P5E instead, haven't decided just yet. Lots here like the P5E better for several reasons.

What is your opinion?

I think that the maximus is a great board, but at the current time it is very immature and will need time. It may soon become the premier platform, but for now, I am also changing to a more stable p35 platform. I would reccomend the p5k deluxe or the premium.