<div class="bbWrapper">Although I have used Asus before, my faith in Asus (vs Intel) is as shaky as yours. That's why I have a Xeon processor already on it's way to me.<br />
<br />
I'm probing this further with Intel to challenge Asus' assertions that all is fine and dandy, but my mind's made up who I trust in this question. Feels strange to write that after Intel has acknowledged incorrect info in Ark, but honesty builds trust.</div>
<div class="bbWrapper">OK, so just to wrap up this thread: <br />
<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul"><a href="https://communities.intel.com/message/284576#284576" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">Intel say they have not tested the C216 chipset with desktop processors</a> and offer to trust Asus if they say it works. This does not convince me and I would not try this. More to the point, since Asus say only the Xeon processors will support ECC with this motherboard, there is no point trying.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">I replaced the processor with a Xeon. That was not sufficient to prevent the reboot loops.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">I then replaced the PSU with a SeaSonic S12G 450W. That did the trick even though I could find nothing to suggest that there was any particular fault with the previous PSU.</li>
</ul>So my FreeNAS setup is up and running. Thanks to all who helped me diagnose these issues!</div>
<div class="bbWrapper">Moving this thread to the hardware forum, it is not a bug. Well, it might be a PEBCAK bug ;-) since it's highly suggested you do <a href="https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/building-burn-in-and-testing-your-freenas-system.17750/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="noopener">proper burn-in and testing of your hardware platform</a>.</div>
