D.O.A.

 The new system arrived. I unpacked it, plugged in the necessaries and turned it on. POST! No display. I repeated the steps a few times but nothing. I tested with the motherboard's built-in VGA. Success! So why is the GPU not running. I tried to coax it back via BIOS settings but it wasn't obvious there was a selector.

I called up support and took a closer look inside the machine..

Oh shit!!!

The first thing I noticed was some small plastic fragments sitting inside the 5090's top fan bay. I carefully fished them out. I called support. They verified that the likely cause was damage in transit. It was suggested that I might attempt to remove and reinstall the GPU. As I went through the required steps, I noticed that the thumb lever for releasing the GPU appeared to be missing. This is likely what the small broken-off pieces are. There's also some twisting on the GPU's backplate, although it seemed to have still been firmly attached.

So, yeah. SHIT.

In a classic case of Bolting the stable door. The base unit was repackaged and sent back today.

pink and squishy on the inside.

Still Fragile! 

Scan.co.uk won't cover any damage done during the return transit if it isn't sent back in the same highly protected state it came in (ha, bloody ha), so I purchased additional packaging tape.

The courier was alone and not equipped with a hand tractor (one of those two-wheeled trolleys) which is, excuse my corse language FUCKING INSANE. I couldn't bear watching him drag the box to the lorry.

So, I'm not a happy camper. All said and done, we just watched a shocking and profoundly worrying geopolitical shift that makes my computer woes look a tad trivial. 

Onwards and upwards (until the U.S. occupation forces arrive in Nuuk)

Luna Lander

I know; I'm a bit mad on landers. I'll sell it on Blender Market if it, and the accompanying landing pad scene is good enough.