On Tue, 18 Dec 2018 02:01:29 -0500, Flasherly
wrote:

On Tue, 18 Dec 2018 00:02:53 -0600, Char Jackson
wrote:

I bumped it from 0.971v to 1.1v and I'm testing it now. The system
booted from the HDD for the first time and has been running now for
about 45 minutes. I'm optimistic.

And I almost earlier said almost the same thing: swap the CPU for one
less demanding, possibly a quad instead hexacore. Except nobody says
that:

Then, too, the board is a socket 1151 Z390, so it's not like I have
another less demanding CPU lying around.

I once refused delivery on a MB I'd already ordered, when I
called back to ask that the BIOS was dated correct and current, as
advertised, revised for a CPU requiring the update, I'd also selected
to include in the same order. The shop I was buying from, someone not
so much in the know suggested I buy another CPU, locally, and return
it for my money back, once having done my own BIOS update, in case the
MB didn't work with their CPU.

There is currently a situation in the AMD CPU camp exactly like that. As
I understand it, if you buy certain board+CPU combos, you'll need to use
a previous gen CPU, temporarily, to flash the board so that it
recognizes the newer CPU. AMD is aware of the situation and offers, free
upon request, loaner CPUs via postal mail. You're expected to use it to
flash the board, then return it to AMD.

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/pa-100
Check the section titled, "Short Term Processor Loan Boot Kit"

I'd hope a question of a better PS than you have is indicated. Both
recent Gigabyte board purchases I made from NewEgg this past six
months do well enough for stock voltages on 95W CPUs (10% overclocking
at 4GHz for a stock 3.6 quad and 3.6 on a stock 3.3GHz octal). With
whatever I've thrown them from discount $20 PS sales on a couple
500-watt EVGAs. Not especially an impressive feat of engineering, if
ASRock marginally choked-out your CPU at below standard
specifications, then, leaving enduser customers to figure it out.

In over 40 years of working with PC hardware and doing system builds, I
can't remember another time where the BIOS defaults let me down. Plenty
of times where I voluntarily changed something, but not where I couldn't
even boot with the defaults. That might be a first for me.

...You mention twenty OS install attempts and such. An unusual
fortitude, long before then, many would have returned on for their
money back.

I would say the number is much greater than 20. Probably close to 40 on
the first board, before I RMA'd it because I thought it was defective.
(ASRock agreed that it was probably defective.) Then another 30-40
attempts with the replacement board. I'm apparently a slow learner.