Only got the castors fitted the night before last.... got some help from my son.  There were other delays, vertigo, other priorities, etc, but mostly I needed a bit of help.... lifting the big beast back up on the bench, etc. 

Another reason for the delay was the castors I'd hoped to use were not going to work as first hoped.  The shafts were just a tad short and the nuts to keep them in place would not have screwed down properly.  In the end I found 4 legs from a divan bed, which, with a bit of modification, will do the job just fine.

Oh, and no wonder this monster is heavy.  Apart from all the stuff I put in it, the top and bottom bars are not hollow pipe as I first thought. No, they're solid steel.  Took a bit of drilling for the holes for the castors, too, but we got there with a bit of effort and some profanities to speed the process along.

Bollocks and double bollocks, with a couple of eff its and a damn and bugger it as well.

After getting everything set up and ready to go, it seems I have an error somewhere because the machine will not boot to Windows.  I thought it may have been due to a overclock preset I used in the BIOS, but no.  I reset the BIOS and got the BIOS page up to reset the drive/boot preferences, but then the BIOS hung on the same error as before, so it wasn't due to the overclocking.

I'm still awaiting a response from ASUS support as to what the problem may be, but I'm figuring on stripping the beast down and starting again pretty near from scratch.  One of the notices during the last BIOS post was that there was a CPU fan error, so I'm going to have to strip back pretty much everything to access the CPU and fan to check if there is an issue.

According to the last BIOS post, the CPU is being seen correctly and is operating at the correct speed, so I'm hoping if the problem is there that it's just a fan issue that can be easily fixed.  From there hopefully the machine will reboot and I can add each component one at a time to see if an issue arises.  Besides, not that I needed this setback, but now I have the accessories I was waiting on, the strip down will give me the opportunity to fix a few cabling issues I wasn't 100% happy with first time 'round.

Anyway, just to ease my annoyance, anger and frustration a little more.... Bollocks, eff it, damn and bugger it twice more.  I waited months to get all the parts and accessories, get the beast all together and ready to run, then this shit happens.  Like what computer god did I piss off and offend?  And why am I being punished when others use their computers to do bad, bad things?

Oh well, while I'm fixing it I won't be on the streets chasing wild women.      

Stay indoors and chase the tamed ones...

One issue with big/complex builds....more shit equals more shit to go wrong...

To a degree....think 'KISS'...

Won't make any difference.... I'm not likely to catch one, either way.   

Yeah, I know, but I'll get this one right once I locate the source of the error.  It's says 0d in the LCD display, but in the mobo manual it isn't in use and is reserved for a future error code, so that's of no help to me to track down the cause.  With a bit of luck it'll be an iffy CPU fan header connection or something simple like that.

Thing is, everything was ready to go, so it's a bit of a mystery as to why the machine booted several times then suddenly refused to do so.  Oh well, I'll get to the bottom of it later today [Tuesday]. 

That happened to me recently (not booting up) come to find out one of the ram sticks went bad. I pulled one out it booted, put it back in and received errors and no boot.

I hope that's not the case here, but I will check that first just in case.  At this point I just want a quick and easy fix that doesn't require warranty claims on faulty parts.  Those things can take months to resolve sometimes, so I'd rather it's something I can easily remedy myself.

Unfortunately I'm struggling with vertigo today and not much will get done with this PC unless it eases up some.  It usually improves as the day goes on.... hopefully it does today and I can get some work done.  Damned vertigo, it ruins my resolve and desire to get things done.

Damn, sod and bugger it!  I've been unable to fix this BIOS issue myself and I'm having to take the machine into the shop.... where people more experienced than I can have a go.  Hopefully it is just a matter of flashing the BIOS... when they can get into it.  The bloke at the shop seems to think that the BIOS somehow got corrupted and therefore will not post, thus not allowing the machine to boot.

Fortunately, it has been stripped back to the bare essentials so it's not as heavy.

Bugger, sod it and damn!  Just got a call from the techie and it wasn't what I wanted to hear.  After being unable to flash the BIOS using several updated versions, and/or get it to post, he did some research on this particular mobo and original BIOS version and others around the world have had the same issue with the same error code.  So, it has nothing to do with anything I did or didn't do.

It does mean, though, that I will have to return it for a warranty replacement.  That's not how I wanted it, however, as it can take some time before I get a working board back.  Oh well, no use crying, it is what it is!

Ah.....AMD .....something I've never ever had an urge to get into.

Intel's looking good round about now...

Jafo

reply 114

Ah.....AMD .....something I've never ever had an urge to get into.

Intel's looking good round about now...

What? His problem is with the motherboard, which AMD does not make. At least blame the correct manufacturer. I've been running AMDs for 20+ years without any issues. 

I've always stayed away from Gigabyte MBs...I bought one way back, and had issues with it, and from then on, have only bought ASUS. I rarely, if ever, have issues with their boards.

EDIT: Oops, I just realized the Gigabyte was for the wife's machine. Sorry to hear starkers about the board problem. I've got a new one coming in a couple days, hope I don't have anything similar (though I'm going with Threadripper, so we'll see how that goes)

...but for which it's designed.

I too have always used ASUS MoBos....but always with Intel processors....and never an issue...

Jafo

reply 114

Ah.....AMD .....something I've never ever had an urge to get into.

Intel's looking good round about now...

It has nothing to do with AMD or Intel.  The issue is with an ASUS motherboard's BIOS.

And yeah, AMD is still looking pretty good as well.

I've also been running AMDs for 20+ years without issue.... and on Gigabyte boards most of that time.  As with anything, sometimes a bad batch can get through and end-users end up with one, as has happened with me and this ASUS board, but I never had an issue with any of the Gigabyte boards I've used.

Again, It is not about AMD or Intel, or in fact the motherboard itself.  The issue is in the BIOS, which BTW is the same for the ASUS Maximus Hero VIII, the Intel equivelant, and apparently is susceptible to the same boot error.

At the end of the day we each have our preferences and generally stick to them; however, I have an Intel i7 4970K, an AMD FX 5300 Black Edition and an AMD Ryzen 7 1700.... meaning I'm user of both but a fanboi of neither.

what are the chances the replacement mobo will have latest bios flashed already?

asus bios... apparently support doesn't last that long according to their user forum (re: spectre/meldown on older models). and really hate their changelogs. "updated compatibility" or something is typically the whole note. which says absolutely nothing. if i'm going to update bios because intel (or whoever) released some security fix (yeah. another one. where someone can delete your bios), i would like to know that's actually fixed by the bios update instead of meaningless drivel that will have us guessing.

According to the techie who researched the issue, the boards were updated when ASUS became aware of the issue.

And yeah, I'd like to know more about updated BIOS's as well.

Well, after waiting and thinking a while, I've decided to upgrade the motherboard to the Asus Crosshair Extreme VI, a much more comprehensive board than the Crosshair Hero, and according to several reviews, it is more reliable and stable, too.  The Crosshair Extreme has a completely different design/layout and has a number of extras and benefits, so is well worth the extra AU$150.00

From what I'm getting at my local PC store, the Crosshair Hero has a design flaw that bottlenecks when overclocking, etc.  I don't know that I'm too concerned about overclocking at this time, but according to a number of reviews, the Crosshair Extreme overclocks very well and does not have bottleneck issues.

The other thing is that I'm getting it rebuilt at the PC shop this time.  Right now I have an arthritic right thumb that is causing all sorts of issues and I just felt it would be easier if somebody else did the basic building to get it up and running. 

A bit later on I can get back into it and do all the cabling and etc to tidy things up, but right now I can't even open a can or bottle because of this thumb.  The tendon that goes over the first knuckle flips over it from one side to the other when I try to straighten/bend my thumb, and that exacerbates the arthritic pain even more.  At the moment I can't put any pressure on the thumb at all and that makes my right hand almost useless to me.  I've had xrays done on it and hopefully my doctor can get it to a point where I can at least use it.