I think I’m hemorrhaging!
I just picked up a pile of parts for a new desktop machine. I got the new Intel core i7 920 to go on the new ASUS P6T Deluxe mobo with 3G of Patriot DDR3-12800 memory. I had to get a video card for it as well as there is no on board video with the P6T Deluxe. I got the ASUS EAH4550/DI/512MD3 Radeon HD 4550 512MB 64-bit GDDR3 video card. I also decided to splurge and get a new case and 450W power supply.
The only problem is that after I assembled the system, which took about an hour and a half, it fails to complete POST and I can’t even get to the BIOS 
. I get a message that says Express Gate on the screen for about a second and then one single short beep and then nothing. The screen is black and the keyboard is dead. According to the P6T mobo manual the single short beep means that the VGA was detected, the quick boot has been disabled and no keyboard was detected. Certainly the VGA was working because I did get one short message displayed and the keyboard seemed to work for a while and then it fails so the single beep does make sense. I am thinking that there might be a problem with the mobo and the PS2 keyboard connector. The keyboard does work as I am using it right now to write this post. The mobo only has one dual purposed PS2 connector. It supposedly works as both a keyboard and a mouse connector but only for one of them at a time. I don’t have a USB keyboard to try so I will be taking the system in to PCCyber to see what they can do for me.
I really want this system to work as the i7 CPU is a quad core hyperthreaded CPU. This means that it should show up as an 8 CPU system when it works. It is also supposed to be a good CPU and mobo for over clocking. The i7 920 runs at 2.66GHz but it can be OCed to 3.85GHz according one guy I was talking to at PCCyber. I just might try that when the system starts to work.
Hey, John. You ever get the system to stabilize? Did you try to overclock it?
I got the machine back and it was my fault that it was not working. I put an old optical drive that I had lying around and it was faulty in a way that made the system behave in a really odd way. It’s all fixed now with a new optical drive.
I ran the system for a couple of weeks at the normal speed of 2.66GHz and then OC’d it to 3.00GHz where it has been running ever since. If I can find a temperature monitor for this mobo and chipset I will try a higher OC rate but at this time I am quite happy with the results.
Wow, you can spell hemorrhage. Awesome.
But, a bit of an alarming statement to start your article with …
interesting post, will come back here, bookmarked your site