[RAMChYLD]

your old motherboard is Socket 1155

Were you referring to the P8H77-M or B75M-A? Or both?

Both. The 1155 socket is only usable on Sandy Bridge And Ivy Bridge CPUs. The CPU you tried to install, 4770, is Haswell and uses socket 1150. It has already been declared obsolete by Intel and has been replaced with Broadwell, which is also incompatible because it's also socket 1150. Also, the H77 is obsolete and replaced by the H97 (H97 is Socket 1150 and compatible with the CPU you're trying to install). And according to information I found, Socket 1150 will be declared obsolete in a few months and replaced with socket 1151. Broadwell will also be declared obsolete and be replaced with Skylake, and the H97 will be declared obsolete and replaced by H170.

Intel backwards compatibility window for each ecosystem is only 2 years. The 2 years for Well ecosystem is already almost up. Might was well wait a few more months for the Lake ecosystem to launch.

Although since the PC would be used only for games, I suggest getting Z170 motherboard instead. The Z series is for gamers and support things like multi-video-card Crossfire/SLI, as well as crazy large amounts of RAM and combining multiple hard disks to increase speed and size. H series is for mainstream and usually doesn't support those features.

[cpd2009]

Sandy... if you decide to go for a new build in a few years, would you consider an AMD processor/APU? According to Wikipedia, their next series of FX-based APU's, Excavator, is slated for release this year. The AMD FX series appears to lean towards high performance in contrast to their lesser-expensive APU's like the A6-5200.

[cpd2009]

Okay... I have an odd problem with old Jasper right now.

I installed MandrakeLinux 9.1. Old, yes, but wanted to see if it would work. It does, except it doesn't pick up his Radeon 9600 video card and I can't install the proprietary driver. So, I decide to run PCLinuxOS .92 from 2005...

...and Jasper makes three short high beeps before the screen blanks out. He appears frozen at this state

The same thing happens if I run SeaTools for a short length of time. Appears to run fine, three short beeps and screen goes blank. What is strange is that MandrakeLinux runs without beeping or screen blanking.

I read up on the AMI Bios beep codes, and apparently 3 short beeps indicate a RAM problem. I did notice one RAM stick seemed unseated, so I reseated it. Same problem is still happening.

I guess I will go ahead and reseat all the RAM and make a MemTest86+ disc. If Memtest86+ is also affected by that beeping thing, then I will have to go the trial and error route. And that will take some time.

[RAMChYLD]

hmmm... from the way you put things, I think the unseated bar of RAM may be broken. Try removing it and see if the problem persists. if it does, well, time to hit eBay.

[RAMChYLD]

Christmas still sucks. Klondike bars are good.

[cpd2009]

hmmm... from the way you put things, I think the unseated bar of RAM may be broken. Try removing it and see if the problem persists. if it does, well, time to hit eBay.

I need to go the trial and error route. MemTest86+ encountered one error during the first test of one and a half passes. I restarted the test from the beginning and the error didn't appear.

Even so, I took out both 512mb RAM sticks which I believe I sourced from eBay at one point. He only has 384mb RAM at the present, but good enough for testing. I shall test the remaining two sticks and if they pass, I shall attempt to run PCLinuxOS 2005 again. If the random shutdowns keep happening, I shall test the two 512mb sticks and rinse/repeat.

[cpd2009]

Oookay.... the reduced RAM came out fine in Memtest86+, but Jasper is still beeping and blanking, but this time, he beeps four times and the screen blanks out and comes back. And it happens like every 30 seconds.

I'm wondering if his video card is acting up or misconfigured. I have to check the BIOS and possibly reseat the card... perhaps even blowing dust out of the AGP slot. Only other AGP card I have on hand is the original Nvidia RIVA TNT2 Jasper came with. I don't know where my old Radeon 9200 card went.

First though, I will go ahead and swap out the RAM with the two 512mb sticks and run the test again. I shall see if SeaTools remains stable afterwards. If not, then I shall tinker with the video card.

Edit: Looks like one of the 512mb RAM sticks is going bad, not sure which one. I shall find the bad RAM stick and get rid of it. I also got the RIVA TNT2 card going as well and I'll see if MandrakeLinux will work with that.

[cpd2009]

Well...

It appears I found out why Jasper kept blanking out. It may have been the wireless PS/2 keyboard activating some sort of sleep function. I pressed a key after he blanked out, and there was one small beep and he came back to life.

The keyboard has some "Office Lock" thing. I turned it off and so far, no random sleep. I shall wait to see if it holds.

In the end, it led me to discover Jasper's faulty RAM stick so all wasn't lost.

[huckleberrypie]

'Tis 'swell that you managed to have that issue sorted out.

[cpd2009]

'Tis 'swell that you managed to have that issue sorted out.

Yes, and I ended up doing far more work than necessary. Worth it in the end, as evidenced by the faulty RAM stick.

Turns out that his BIOS settings loaded defaults, and it turned on "Suspend Mode", set to 30 seconds. I turned this off and the blink-and-blank issue hasn't returned since.

Jasper always had a quirky BIOS. Some times if he is left off for a long period of time, he will forget some things and the BIOS will reset itself, even though the clock continues to run just fine. I do wonder when his CMOS battery will finally run down? The current battery is nearly 15 years old as it is.