AW hell.
Looks like my maximus formula is toast.
The 'clear cmos' button on the back is broken , and in true asus fashion it's not just a 2 wire switch.....it's a dpdt 6 wire , and the board wont even power up without some sort of ******* connection through that switch.
There's nothing left of the switch to test out either , it's in 8 pieces.
ffs !