New System Build Day 8

So last night was day 8 of the attempted system build. I received the GPU to test with along with some other goodies. Picked up another 8TB HD to backup my server. Shooting for 12 of them but I only need to get 1 a month. Hopefully 10TB will come down in price and I can go to those before too long. Also picked up a mouse. Couldn't believe I didn't have a spare mouse that wasn't PS2. Even worse I put all the PS2 ones away where they aren't easy to get to. Finally a video cable to go from display port to HDMI in case I ever do get the system working. Both my monitors are HDMI but the GPU only has 1 HDMI output.

Well I said attempted build because even with the other GPU no luck at all. Tried everything I can think of. 2 different monitors, 2 different cables, swapped the memory chips using every combination of 2 out of the 4. Different slot on the motherbord for the GPU. Tech support for the motherboard gave me a few others to try. Took the motherboard completely out of the case and put it back back on the box. They had me remove the battery from the board and wait 10 minutes before putting it back in. Even try only 1 memory chip. All failed to get any results.

The current theory is the BIOS that is installed on the board isn't new enough to recognize the CPU. So in order to get the system working I need to flash the BIOS. Problem is you can't flash the BIOS unless you can boot to the setup. That requires the CPU be installed. Nice catch 22. Back in the old days you could flash a BIOS without anything installed. Well PSU and a floppy drive were needed. Didn't need memory, GPU, or processor.

So now I'm stuck with a couple of options. First order another CPU that will work with the BIOS. Not a good option as that's expensive even if I don't buy parts to build a complete system to go with the CPU. Second take the system to a shop. Also not a good option as it's expensive and there aren't any shops that I know of. Just other under people like me that work on them on the side and I have no idea where to even find one of them. Third is to tear apart a working system and pull the CPU. Assuming I have a compatible CPU in the first place. Don't like this option either as there is no guarantee it's not a bad motherboard and won't kill the CPU leaving me down either the bar computer or my steem node.

This really sucks.