[Sorry, I wasn't on the last page of the thread, hate it when that happens.  You're all way ahead of me again.] 

Good to see we've been a help.

I had a beeping beep of a beeping computer once....beeping annoyed me for yonks...so I got fairly good at hunting down BIOS's codes....[mine was a ram issue].

Playing with old hardware is much more of a challenge though....harder to find the info.

My $6.40 machine has 2gig...but can take 6 ...so I'll be running the gauntlet of compatible ram myself soonish...

Hehe, well I'm on the big beasty now. I finally got the wireless network adapter working, and thus the internet.... woohoo!  The 11" laptop is a more than useful device when nothing else is working right, but there's nothing better than a 27" screen when yer eyes are 60 years old and not seeing so well anymore.

Bit by bit I'm getting out the kinks and hiccups to have this sexy beast running like clockwork, though for a while I thought I may have to rewrite Windows.   While Acronis True Image allowed me to reinstall Windows to dissimilar hardware, I'll admit that I had some doubts about the success of transferring from an AMD machine to an Intel one. Well it worked okay, but I'm still stripping out drivers and other stuff related to that installation, just in case there's a potential for conflict.  Better to be safe than sorry I always say.

Anyway, this old fart has lost too much beauty sleep over the years, insomnia, being a dirty stop-out and all that, so I'm off to bed.

Mark...dunno if this might help? http://www.gcsdstaff.org/roodhouse/?p=2206

Thanks, Seth, that article is quite interesting, so I've bookmarked it for future reference.  I don't need to worry about it this time because Acronis ported Windows for me, which then installed the appropriate Intel drivers for me... well except for the network adapter ones.  I pretty much cleaned out any residual AMD drivers and reg entries, but according to the article it's no longer necessary as ImageX does this automatically during/after the transfer. 

Nice find, matey.

I'm still finding bugs here and there.  Today I attempted to convert some video and moments into the task I get this high pitched beep that turned into a high pitched hum.  Now I did a search and came up with a possibility it is the sound card reacting to something in the process, possibly analogue issues.  The thing is, it doesn't sound like it is coming from the sound card directly, but rather from the sound card's front panel, which essentially provides additional connectivity options to those at the rear..  I'm going to check all the connections and drivers, etc, to see if the problems lies somewhere there, but if anyone else has any experience or knowledge of this kind of fault, I'd be pleased to hear your thoughts.

The graphics card is a Gigabyte Radeon 7970 HD with the most recent drivers, and the sound card is a Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatality Championship... here, also with the most recent drivers. 

Anyway, think away and see what you come up with.

Nope, no experience or knowledge of this kind of fault, you've done the drivers, now I would remove the sound card and see if the issue goes away, at least it might help pinpoint where you need to concentrate your efforts.

That and disconnect the front panel to see if either have any bearing on it... then reinstall, reconnect them to see if the noise is still there.  I have used the graphics card and sound card together before without issues, but that was on another motherboard, which leads me to think it isn't too serious and has a relatively simple explanation and fix.

Anyway, I shall investigate it in the morning... it's that time again were I call it a night. So I'll thank you for your help and bid you adieu for now.

So, you get the sound when the CPU is under load, I would check the CPU temps, maybe the cooler isn't working correctly.

I currently have the side off and the sound is not coming from the CPU... the temps are okay and I have an alarm set to go off when the CPU temp reaches 58c, which it didn't.  It is loudest at the front of the case where the sound card front panel is.  Now what I read was that it is likely a conflict between the graphics card and analogue sound under certain conditions, and the front panel has an adjoining cable to the sound card that carries analogue sound.  I feel the source of the problem lies there, perhaps a cable or connection out of place or touching something it shouldn't, but I've not taken a look as yet because of vertigo causing my day to be unsettled, etc.  It usually passes later in the day so I shall investigate then and report back with whatever.

Well I tried removing the sound card and front panel and the noise disappeared, but when I reinstalled them the noise returned.  It obviously requires further investigation, and I will get to the bottom of it because I'm a stubborn old fart who doesn't like to be beaten by a PC that should be behaving itself.

Anyway, all the other issues [booting and the RAM, have been resolved and the machine is running very well.  It boots 1st time every time now, but it wasn't that the graphics card needed reseating, as I discovered shortly after telling Jafo it had resolved the issue.  However, I knew it to be graphics card related so I checked my drivers to see if they were up to date.  It turns out that was the issue, It was running with the drivers Windows installed once I got the internet up and running, so I tracked down the most recent software from AMD/ATI, installed it and viola, the issue was resolved.  I think what may have been happening is that I had fast boot enabled in the BIOS, and the graphics card wasn't enabling quickly enough with the generic driver, hence the PC not starting on the 1st attempt.

All in all I am very happy with the build and do not regret for one moment switching from AMD to Intel.  It is a bit faster than my AMD FX8350 build and it is quite responsive when opening, closing programs, etc.  I still have a few little things to adjust and tinker with to have everything the way I like, but those are mostly unimportant software items that I'll sort out when I next use them.  However, I do want to rearrange my drives, starting at D: for my most used, and in descending order to the least used/important. 

Yes, I'm an organisational and tidy freak who has to have everything in its right place... which means I should get my A into G [arse into gear] and properly set up my new man cave, even if it is upstairs.... did like downstairs better, but oh well....

Oh, and I'm still so totally loving this case.... hinged left side panel, hot swap drives.. oh, I'm so being spoiled with convenience and easy PC living that it might be criminal... but I hope not.

Anyway, the main reason for posting so soon again is that I just discovered the source of the high pitch hum.  It was the onboard speaker [which is in close proximity to the sound card and its front panel] sounding an alarm.  It turns out that my CPU fan alarm was mistakenly set to 48c, not 58c... the extra click in the tens column when setting it in the Bios obviously didn't register.  Doh!  But all's well that ends well.

 Rig looks great. Sorry to hear your having so many problems. Hope your better soon.

Jafo, I got 2 of the Vantec enclosures. They are sweet. I had never even heard of them till you mentioned them here earlier.

thanks, mate, I appreciate the thought.  With the arthritis I can often work around it and get by, but the vertigo just turns my whole day upside down and i get little or nothing done... and sometimes it can last for days, weeks at a time.  I have an appointment with an ENT specialist early next month and I'm hoping he/she will get to the bottom of it sooner rather than later. 

I know it has something to do with my right ear because I can feel pressure and discomfort there all the time, and some days I have this nagging pain in the side of my neck just below the ear, which suggests to me it may be an inner ear problem deep in or on the ear canal.  My sister had a similar problem and it was discovered she had a tumor on the outer side of her ear canal, for which she had surgery to remove.

And yeah, it is a nice rig, isn't it!

They ARE good....though one of mine mostly refuses to spin up its fan...so the fan icon flashes...and I get the 10 beep warning every hour or so.

If I leave it going it 'eventually' [days/weeks] remembers to spin up and all's good.

Fan's not all that important anyway....venting is OK....