I pressed the power button. Nothing. The motherboard’s Q-LEDs were dead. My $700 motherboard was now a very expensive, very flat paperweight. I had just performed a BIOS update in the middle of a power cycle. I had bricked it. I spent the next hour Googling “ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3” and “USB BIOS Flashback” while hyperventilating into a bag of potato chips. Most forums said the same thing: “RMA the board.” Or, “Buy a CH341A programmer and clip.”
And then the lights flickered.
Whoosh.
And my cat? He now has his own dedicated power strip. With a lock.
“No. No, no, no, no.” I whispered into the void.
