Building A Computer Is Normally Easy But Not Always

Shattered Computer Monitor
October 1, 2019

Loyal readers may remember two posts I wrote back in May about building a new computer. As a refresher, they are Building a Fast Computer Starts With These Parts and More Components for Building a Fast Computer. I spent a lot of time researching the various parts I wanted for a computer. Partly it was to get the perfect parts and partly because getting the parts in my hands is a time consuming process.

I finally got all the parts in mid-August and had them assembled within a couple of hours. That is when the moment of truth happens and I got a blank screen. While this was frustrating, I figured I missed something and made some adjustments. Still a blank screen. Repeat that process a number of times and now I’m really frustrated.

Asus ROG Strix Z390-E Gaming MotherboardThe only good part of the timing is that I’d be returning to Arizona and would have access to more resources. I was told by the motherboard company that the RAM I purchased wasn’t compatible. While I disagreed, I bought different RAM anyways. I got back to Arizona, made the RAM switch and it still was dead. OK, the motherboard must be bad. I ordered a different motherboard. This time I went with the Asus ROG Strix Z390-E Gaming Motherboard.

When the motherboard arrived, I had arranged to have another computer guru with me to make sure no mistakes were made in the build. The result didn’t change. It still didn’t work. I was about to depart on an extended international vacation so I asked if the guru could take the computer while I was away and continue to work on it in hopes of finding a solution. Numerous alternate parts were tried in my absence and still absolutely nothing. It just didn’t make any sense as we had all new parts.

Intel Core i9-9900K Desktop ProcessorAfter I returned from my vacation, I took the parts to the local Fry’s Electronics as I knew they had the tools to diagnose the cause of my problems. It turned out that the Intel i9-9900K was the culprit.

I contacted Amazon about a replacement, but was outside of 30 days so they passed me to Intel. Intel wanted a lot of information to verify and then they would replace it under warranty. One thing they needed was a photo of the barcode printed on the circuit board. You’ll see it in the photo I provided and this photo is with a lot of zoom. Three times I sent it and they claimed I hadn’t sent the photo. Finally I scanned the barcode myself and told them the result. Then they approved the replacement.

Five minutes later, they replied again saying they were out of stock. So instead of a replacement, I’d have to order again and they’d mail me a refund. I did purchase another chip, got it installed and everything was finally working. I’m still waiting on that check from Intel.

A few months after the ordeal began, I have a really fast computer that is working great. There is still more software to install, but I can finally get back to work. As for the vacation, I’ll share the details in a future post as it was absolutely amazing.

unsplash-logoJulia Joppien

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Foster D. Coburn III built his first Web site in 1995 and he has been working exclusively in WordPress since 2013. He has used the Divi theme exclusively since 2015. Earlier in his career he was the author of 13 best-selling books on CorelDRAW and has been a contributor to numerous technology and graphics-related magazines. Foster has taken many projects, including this Web site, from the early design stage through to a finished piece. He has been a featured speaker at many graphics conferences.

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