First post, by lafoxxx
I'll try to tell the whole story -- maybe these details will be important.
Part 1
PIII-S 1133 MHz
GA-6VTXE-A
2x128 ACE SDRAM
The system worked like this for over 10 years, according to the previous owner.
When I bought it, I installed GeForce2 Ti and Diamond MX300. Installed Windows 98 and Drivers -- all good.
Then the PSU failed almost immediately, then -- the HDD (it was some Fujitsu from 1999). So I replaced these components, installed Windows from scratch -- so far so good, no issues. Even could overclock the FSB up to 150 MHz without any issues.
Part 2
After a while I decided to replace the GPU with ASUS Ti4200.
Before installing the card, I, as usual, I cleaned it with some ethyl alcohol and let it dry thoroughly.
When I installed it, the bracket (the part you have to screw to the case) was around 1/8" higher than normal (later I realized it happened because the bracket below the GPU had to be re-aligned, and this would have fixed this problem). I decided not to force the card into the slot, and turned the power on.
The system didn't post -- I was greeted with a series of short beeps (like 8 short beeps or something).
Tried GF2 -- POST ok.
Then again tried GF4 -- this time I decided to force the card into slot -- and all seemed OK.
No beep, no picture. After I hit DEL, there was that horrible noise coming from the PC speaker -- like intro of 'Horror ZOMBIES from the crypt' (1992): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O3Hevv0ET4
When I reinstalled the card, all seemed well, so I decided I'll never touch it -- since it's now in working position.
FSB overclocking still works.
Part 3
I bought some Hynix 512MB sticks.
Decided to install them without cleaning.
Computer booted OK, but the Windows didn't boot completely -- it shut itself off, with usual PC speaker click (but the fans are still spnning) -- no POST. Then there was this scary, screeching rattle (less than 0.5 second long) coming from the PC speaker.
Installed old 2x128 ACE sticks -- all OK.
Installed new sticks one by one -- for testing, after cleaning them with some alcohol.
Sometimes the OS doesn't boot completely and reboots with that scary PC speaker rattle, sometimes it can work longer (2-3 minutes), sometimes -- it shuts off when I press 'Shut down' in Start menu.
Remembered I have been using overclocking -- turned it off -- problem solved. Even memtest (Windows, All free memory) showed no issues. Literally everything works great without overclock.
BUT
When I decided to install old ACE sticks -- even them now show these symptoms with OC enabled.
What's going on?