Yeah, I do feel a bit that way, having tried everything and failing to get the machine started, just for it to miraculously start itself somehow.  Thing is, there's bugger all humidity down here, and there wasn't much before we left Qld, so I'm not too sure it would have been that.  And it wasn't the battery, either.  I replaced the original with a brand new one, and still nothing... and it wasn't the new one because Big Beasty eventually booted with the replacement.

No, I think something had come adrift during transit and I failed to find what it was with the 1st reseating.  In fact, reseating everything failed to resolve the issue on the 2nd and 3rd attempts.  Nope, to all accounts and purposes, Big Beastie was dead and I was up for a new machine.  I had given up on it and was salvaging parts for the new build when suddenly it sprung to life.... and I have no idea what I did [or didn't do] to change things.  In fact, it was what I didn't do, disconnect the machine from the power that revealed it wasn't dead.

Oh well, all's well that ends well, though I still feel inclined to do the rebuild, if only to get the additional PCIE slot.  Most mobos these days have five PCIE slots, as does my current board, and sometimes there's only four, whereas the MSI X399 I'm interested in has six, therefore allowing me to add an extra USB 3.1 card to connect all my external drives. 

Don't know why, but most motherboard manufacturers these days have cut the number of PCIE slots from 6 or 7 down to 4 or 5.  My first ASUS board had 7 PCIE slots, the latest version has only 5, which is no good to me when I have six cards to install.

You had to get there either by boat or plane....you can't walk it...so it will be humidity...one way or another.

Sub-tropics to 'just north of Antarctica'....I'd be staking money on it...

Nope, it wasn't that.... besides it was wrapped in bubblewrap then encased in polystyrene foam.... should have been humidity proofed.

However, I now know the cause as to why it appeared dead.  I reinstalled all the components to the motherboard, etc, and everything was fine, but when I began reloading the HDDs one by one and rebooting, one of them chucked a hissy fit and the machine refused to start.  Once I had removed it the machine booted as normal.

Oh well, them's the breaks.  Luckily it was one of my older drives [a 250 gigger] that had nothing too important on it, just a few downloaded programs from majorgeeks.   There's nothing that can't be replaced and updated at the same time.

I have a feeling you don't understand the dynamics of weather change.  If you hermetically sealed the machine in one place...and transported it to another....that's when you'll really have issues.

And leaving it unsealed is only a bit better....you'd have to wait till any condensations had disipated anyway.

It's why you see those little bags of silica crystals in electronics...

Yeah, there may have been slight moisture in the machine prior to transport, but it was working perfectly well the morning of removal pickup.  When it refused to start when we got here, I removed the components attached to the machine one by one and rebooted without success. I even swapped the installed RAM for spare sticks that I knew to be working okay.

At that point, however, I had not removed any hard drives.... that was an afterthought.  It was only when I removed the drives one by one that I discovered the issue.  One was faulty and was thus removed.  Once I had done that the machine booted as perfectly as before.

Besides, if it were condensation, moisture and/or humidity, why didn't the machine play up/not start when humidity was at times 90% plus in Ipswich? 

Prior to leaving, though, there was little humidity to speak of due to the drought conditions sweeping across the mainland.  Anyway, I don't much care about all that now that I've found the culprit.  I'm just happy to have a working machine again and not have to rely on my [piddly screen] 13" HP 2-in-1 to do stuff.

It's all about the change of atmospherics...not how humid it is every day.

It's the day when it's suddenly NOT humid...like moving to Tassie...

I was thinking more like fog and dew.  Warm air holds more moisture than cold air.  Warm air trapped in a box and cooling down could get a little sticky, wouldn't take much.

It's not impossible that it wasn't the cause of the HD going belly up itself...

Jafo

reply 23

It's not impossible that it wasn't the cause of the HD going belly up itself...

I had an issue with the offending drive a few months back when Windows said that there was a problem with it and needed to scan it for errors.  The scan revealed errors that needed to be repaired, and as far as I know, they were.  Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore as it was discarded and binned. 

In fact, I don't know why I hung onto it for so long, being all the other drives in the PC are 4TB or larger.  I mean, a piddly 250 gigger, didn't really belong among those monsters, did it?  

Damn, damn and bugger it!!!!  The $299.00 AMD Ryzen 1900X Threadripper I wanted has sold out on the site I was going to for the new components.  Everything else is available, just not the CPU.  The next one up in price a 2900X is $599 and it too is out of stock.  I was hoping to remain with the M-wave store to have just one shipping fee, but now I may not be able to.  Not only that, they have the best prices on the bits n' pieces I want.

I'll have to give them a call to see if and when they'll have the CPU back in stock, otherwise I can get the same 1900X CPU at another site for $323.00, or a 1920X for $431.00.  Alternatively, I could stay with M-wave and get a bundle deal of a AMD Ryzen 9 3900X with an ASUS ROG Strix 570F motherboard for $1,178.00.  Going that way, however, I'd lose the 6th PCIE slot, but a CPU cooler comes with the package so I'd save $150 there.  The other thing I'd lose would be the 3rd M2 slot the X399 board has.

I dunno, it's a trade off between the Threadripper 1900X and the Ryzen 9 3900X.  I'd prefer the Threadripper because it's a MSI mobo rather than ASUS one, but I'll have to wait until Monday and decide which way I'll go when I have all the facts.

Well I'm finally going to get what I really want [within my budget, that is] instead of having to compromise and not being completely satisfied with the end product.  Anyway, it ended up turning out pretty good that the Threadripper 1900x was out of stock and had been discontinued.  I'm now getting the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2920X for $599 instead. It has been out of stock but will become available again on Thursday 15 Jan....

Yeah, there are more powerful Threadrippers out there, but they'd always be way over my budget, ranging upwards of $1500 to over $3000.  Besides, the 2920X is quite a bit faster than the 1900X, which is still available through other dealers, but the 2920X is better value for money. 

Sadly, though, the MSI X399 SLI Plus motherboard will no longer be available at M-Wave, but I can still get it through another dealer, and because I'd prefer that motherboard over ASUS, Gigabyte and other X399 boards, I don't mind paying the extra bucks to get what I really want.  I have gone a tad over-budget, but for me it's all about the satisfaction I gain from the final product.  However, I can sell another of my self-build PCs and entirely pay for this new build with a bit left over, so being a tad over budget now will become irrelevant later.

First it was the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1900X not being available; then it was the 2920X being hard to get, and now it's the damn motherboard being discontinued/out of stock.  What've I got to do to catch a break.... just fechen once, that's all I'm asking, just fechen once, that when I order stuff they've actually got what I've ordered after seeing it for sale online and paying for it.

The one good thing is that the Threadripper 2920X came back into stock at M-Wave this morning and is now paid for and on its way, along with water cooling and a couple of other little nick knacks to spruce up the big Beastie ..... when I finally get to rebuild it.

 Anyway, I'm awaiting an email from the mobo vendor, CPL, to let me know if they can supply the next MSI X399 motherboard up in the range.  If not I will seek a speedy refund because I've been researching much of the night to locate another vendor with the MSI mobos in stock.  I believe I may have found one that's listing as having 4 in stock and 6 others available at his supplier.  Hopefully that is correct and he'll get back to me by email in the morning.  I have done business with this vendor before and he's usually pretty reliable.

Okay, I feel much better now that I've had a bitch and a moan to get it off my chest.... see ya's  

Isn't that just because Tassie is still living in the 60's .... and yer lucky to even have electric lights?

I'm allowed to rag on Tassie....cos I was born on King Island....

Jafo

reply 28

Isn't that just because Tassie is still living in the 60's .... and yer lucky to even have electric lights?

I'm allowed to rag on Tassie....cos I was born on King Island....

 Nah, it has bugger all to do with Tassie, though I'd say it has progressed well past the 60's.  Mind you, I did see one odd-bod hippy who was draped in beads and had flowers in his hair.  And then there was the bloke who still thinks Robert Menzies is still PM.

Anyway, Tassie has most of the the major stores that the mainland has....even adult shops that sell naughty stuff to hopefully prevent second head syndrome.  Shoot, we even have computer stores that have all the latest tech... like WOW.  Who'd have believed it.... floppy drives and discs to store yer documents on. Yup, we got puters down here.... even television, and soon we might even get them new fangled ones with the coloured screens.

Besides, the stores that failed to deliver are located on the mainland in Sydney and Melbourne.  Oh, and while we're ragging on places, I heard that a lot of people in Ballaraat still ride on horse and cart to go shopping.... to get to church on Sundays.  And what's with those horse-drawn ambulances?  Like you wouldn't wanna get sick, would ya!

So, the upshot of it all is that I heard back from a Qld vendor who definitely has the motherboard I originally wanted, the MSI X399 SLI Plus.  Now I'm happy.  And for good measure, he has put it aside for me to ensure it isn't sold prior to payment for my order being received, which sometimes can take a few days to process.

You almost got it....

Ballaarat ....