From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Thu, 7/31/2025 10:48 PM, bad sector wrote:   
   > On 7/16/25 5:19 PM, bad sector wrote:   
   >> Latest is: it 'might' be replaced by a new one.   
   >   
   > Well it went back on RMA #2 and this time they paid the postage. I received   
   the report saying 'board does not post, replaced with new one'. Put it   
   together for the Nth time, again it wouldn't go into BIOS. Tried the old   
   'test' ddr5, back and forth for    
   hours absolutely 'fuming'. Finally got into it and tried to upgrade but it   
   failed (actually didn't even start, and as said many times before the manual   
   and the BIOS dialogs are a total disgrace). After another eternity got the   
   'Crash-Free' BIOS upgrade    
   procedure started and managed to flash in the latest #1605. On the 1st reboot   
   with this BIOS all previous boot issues GONE, two 48gb ECC cards booting in a   
   second, no problems at all. WHY wasn't this the case when I got my first board   
   in December last    
   year?????   
   >   
   > But then only windows booted, still can't get into BIOS no matter how much I   
   press Del or F2 and the previuous workaround of having nothing bootable (which   
   forced it into BIOS before) is gone too and all I get is a notice to plug in   
   something bootable.    
   With the disk 'in' windows boots again. Finally I booted the Tumbleweed   
   install DVD and forced a re-grub by just changing the timeout. Back in   
   business.   
   >   
   > Still can't get into BIOS, just like the old Crosshair-IV board. I'm sorry   
   to say these people obviously have their customers do the BIOS development   
   after a premature product release and they have microcancer so far up their   
   bazooka they can't tell if    
   it's night or daylight.   
   >   
      
   "Crazy cool, man". You survived.   
      
   It sounds like they really know how to write a BIOS, for sure.   
      
   My guess is, the BIOS problems is one of keyboards. Take the machine   
   across the way for example. Two keyboards. You use the keyboard   
   that works for the occasion :-)   
      
   The guy that "owns a Dell", he has a Microsoft keyboard that he   
   can't get into the BIOS with either. He has a second keyboard   
   attached, for that reason as well.   
      
   So the idea would be:   
      
   1) Your primary keyboard should be the one you do all your typing on.   
   2) The auxiliary keyboard is for things like BIOS-key-pressing. The   
      keyboard could be some cheap piece-of-crap, whatever passes for   
      a keyboard this week at the computer store.   
      
   For testing purposes, I've had two keyboards and three mice on the   
   Test Machine, and it took the OSes over there, quite a few years   
   before that test case passed. Around 2015, there was "70% detect rate",   
   and random ones would work or not work. I was never locked out of   
   the PC, but it was hit and miss on detection. There was a USB mouse,   
   a PS/2 mouse, and a serial (RS232) mouse.   
      
   I'm pretty well out of spare keyboards. I have a beige plastic USB Apple   
   keyboard   
   as a "spare" (glare off keycaps is awful). And an ancient ADB bus Apple   
   keyboard   
   and a USB to ADB adapter (a lucky acquisition for sure), and can run that   
   keyboard   
   on a PC. I'm all out of spare PC-keyboards. I would "stock up", but the   
   selection   
   of keyboards at the store is "not so good".   
      
   But it does sound like you've learned a lot (about RMAs mainly :-) )   
   and you might have a working computer now. Might. And with ECC, too.   
   That's something I never got, in my efforts, was a working ECC.   
   Victory! The staff at Intel are envious, that they've managed to   
   get another customer set up with ECC... by having AMD as a competitor.   
      
      Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)