Computer troubles

[Koishii]

In need of a bit of advice please if anyone can help?

System details:

Vista64 ultimate
Asus Maximus Formula X38 MB Rev 1.01 (Bios 0907)
E8500 @ stock settings (idle temp 38°C)
8MB G.Skill DDR2 PK PC2-8500C5 (DRAM Freq @ 534.3MHz)
EVGA GTX280
Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB
Coolermaster Real Power 1000w PSU
Dell 2407WFP

Problem: Occasionally, when booting I am getting one short beep and then during POST I am getting continuous short beeps and what sounds like a fast vibrating noise coming from the internal speaker. This is an intermittent problem so it is causing me a headache to diagnose.

When it does this I am able to get into the BIOS and I notice that my HD is not listed. If I let the POST continue it will sometimes tell me that I need to insert some bootable media or the system will reboot itself. Initially I thought this was the result of my hard failing so I bought a new one (wanted a 2nd hard drive anyway) and installed the OS onto this. Everything was fine until the next day when I booted up and the problem repeated again with just the new hard drive installed.

I have stripped the system down to bare essentials and tried that way. Sometimes it boots fine other times it boots with the problem.

Ran a full MemTest and passed with no errors.

My system is only 4 months old and has been working perfectly fine up until a few week ago after I installed a new EVGA GTX 280 graphics card. Could this be the root of the problem? Would a graphics card cause this kind of a problem? I don't know as I don't have another graphics card to test the system with as my old one (9800 GX2) is still with the manufacturer being repaired and the company I bought it from can't tell me how long that is going to take...

Can't test the card in my other computer as it is an AGP system.

I have tried to Google my problem but not had much joy there as answers seem to be different dependent upon components but I have tried all suggestions to no avail.

Apart from this intermittent problem my system runs sweetly...

Any advice would sure be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Koishii]

Thanks for the replies. Will change cables and try different ports when I get home from work.

Cheers

 

[Koishii]

The continuous beeping noise seems to come from the board but the vibrating noise definitely was coming through my speaker.

I have now changed my sata cables over and ensured they are seated perfectly, and so far after a dozen boots the noise has not yet reoccurred. Fingers crossed it is fixed but as it was an intermittent problem to start off with I will have to keep my eye (or ears ) on it. Hopefully all will be well.

Thanks again.

 

[Koishii]

Need some help again please.

Noise started re-occuring so I got in touch with OCUK and they RMA'd the board.

Today I received the board back from them after testing and they have declared if fault free.

I have put the board back in my system and used new sata cables, checked that everything was fitted correctly and booted up.... the problem is still there.

short continuous beep and computer will not get past POST. I can get into the BIOS and my hard drives are not showing. I have connected an older hard drive for a test and the same happens with that.

I keep getting a message to insert or attach some bootable media. I have tried all sata ports on the board and it is still the same.

I have tried all my components in my XP machine and my graphics card in a friends PC and they all work without any problems.

Question is where do I go from here?

 

[Koishii]

Power supply checks out ok and all cables correct and firmly in place.

Got back in touch with OCUK and it turns out they never tested the MB with a hard drive attached!! So now have to return it to them again for further testing. Hopefully this may identify the problem... possible sata controller fault they say??