New System Crashes during XP install

[Diomedes]

Oh i am sooo frustrated at the moment....

about a week ago i got the following brand new parts:
Liteon 16xDVD ±R/RW
DDR2 2048MB PC2-5300 667Mhz DDR2 Dual Channel(2x1024MB) GeiL
XFX GeForce 7600GT XXX Edition 256meg DDR3 Dual DVI PCI-E(590Mhz)Xtrem
AMD Athlon™ 64 AM2 3500+ Processor Retail (AM2)
Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 AM2, nFORCE 4 SLI, PCIE, Dual DDRII, SATAII,GLAN
Seagate SATAII NCQ 250GB 7200RPM 16mb Cache 1

Well i put it all together and fire her up... all looks good so i go to install windows but my burner is rooted and won't open at all so i figure righto it is dead and send it back.....

So a couple of days later i get the new burner go to install windows ( the burner opened this time) and it just the install either hang/reboots at random locations but always before it actaully gets in to the GUI. The further i have gotten is after i have formatted the HD and selected it then gets ready to go and just hungs....

Also i notice the north brigde heat sink gets really hot.... I have done a bit of reading on the web and it one guy said that if you use the 24 pin PSU connector you don't need the 4 pin one is that correct? If i don't plug the 4 pin one in nothing happens i have tried it with just the 20 pin conntector and the 4 pin it works fine and the northbridge is not getting hot so i guess that is good?

Any way back to the main problem.... I thought that it must be a ram problem so i check the ram voltage ect in bios and they all match what the ram says it can handle.

So next i run the memtester86 the first time i ran it there were 4 errors all on test 5... Any way i not sure what i did but i am running memtester again and this time there have not been any errors so far.

Any suggestions???

 

[shadowduck]

Oh i am sooo frustrated at the moment....

about a week ago i got the following brand new parts:
Liteon 16xDVD ±R/RW
DDR2 2048MB PC2-5300 667Mhz DDR2 Dual Channel(2x1024MB) GeiL
XFX GeForce 7600GT XXX Edition 256meg DDR3 Dual DVI PCI-E(590Mhz)Xtrem
AMD Athlon™ 64 AM2 3500+ Processor Retail (AM2)
Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 AM2, nFORCE 4 SLI, PCIE, Dual DDRII, SATAII,GLAN
Seagate SATAII NCQ 250GB 7200RPM 16mb Cache 1

Well i put it all together and fire her up... all looks good so i go to install windows but my burner is rooted and won't open at all so i figure righto it is dead and send it back.....

So a couple of days later i get the new burner go to install windows ( the burner opened this time) and it just the install either hang/reboots at random locations but always before it actaully gets in to the GUI. The further i have gotten is after i have formatted the HD and selected it then gets ready to go and just hungs....

Also i notice the north brigde heat sink gets really hot.... I have done a bit of reading on the web and it one guy said that if you use the 24 pin PSU connector you don't need the 4 pin one is that correct? If i don't plug the 4 pin one in nothing happens i have tried it with just the 20 pin conntector and the 4 pin it works fine and the northbridge is not getting hot so i guess that is good?

Any way back to the main problem.... I thought that it must be a ram problem so i check the ram voltage ect in bios and they all match what the ram says it can handle.

So next i run the memtester86 the first time i ran it there were 4 errors all on test 5... Any way i not sure what i did but i am running memtester again and this time there have not been any errors so far.

Any suggestions???

While you very well may have some heat issues, your Windows problems sound like faulty RAM.

Run Memtest86 overnight on your RAM and see what happens. You should get zero errors if the RAM is good. (I would expect lots of errors for yours though.)

 

[Diomedes]

Ok so if the there are errors then the RAM is no good and send it back? Or could it be the MOBO? I don't have any DDR2 to test it with

 

[Diomedes]

Ok I have started running memtest again now and already got 4 errors... on the first pass.So is there any need to keep running it or is that it problem solved i send the ram back????

 

[Mondoman]

First, get your power cables plugged in correctly. The manual will explain it. Use the 24pin cable for the main 24pin power connector. Use the square 4-pin yellow & black wired one for the +12V auxiliary connector. Check your MB manual for any other needed power connector (from the photo it looks like you may need to plug in a 4-pins-in-a-row Molex connector right next to the first PCIE 1x slot).

Now, install just one DIMM at a time. Run memtest86+ with each DIMM installed alone, to see if just one DIMM is faulty. Make sure the DIMM is securely installed when you install it -- you should hear a click from each end as the white plastic lock snaps into place in the notch on the end of the DIMM. Any failures on memtest86+, and you should RMA the DIMM.

Which exact model number of Geil memory did you order? Also, what is the brand and model number of your power supply?

 

[shadowduck]

Ok I have started running memtest again now and already got 4 errors... on the first pass.So is there any need to keep running it or is that it problem solved i send the ram back????

You have bad RAM. Sorry. Send it back and try again. But do with Mondoman is telling you to do to isolate the problem.

 

[Diomedes]

Model number of Ram is Geil 1GB PC2 5300 DDR 667 CL 5-5-5-15: Gx22GB5300LPC

Power supply is K Power Supply K1056 400W P4 power supply.

Ok I have plugged the 24 pin connector in and the 4 pin 12V one and also the extra PCI-E power connector... i was not sure this looks like it should just take a standard HD power lead is this right?? well the standard HD pwer lead went in fine...

So i have rerun the Memtester and this time after one pass i had 121856 errors !!!! LOL hmm so i think shadow duck is right and the ram is rooted..

Hmmm i am not sure if there is much point testing the sticks one at a time as if i send them back they both gotta go back together as it was a matched pair ....

Could my power supply not have enough grunt??? but that wouldn't make the memtest have errors would it??

Thanks for all the help guys hmm unless any one has any other ideas i will send the RAM back oh more delays before my computer is going.

Why is the northbridge heat sink getting hot... i guess it is a heat sink and that is it job... so maybe it is normal???

 

[Diomedes]

Any one got any more ideas... the ram appears to be faulty but is my power supply good enough? Could that be the problem??

 

[Mondoman]

Since it seems that your PS is a no-name, likely your PS is NOT sufficient for your system. It's hard to know if that's causing the memory problems. However, it is quite unlikely that BOTH sticks of RAM are bad. Thus, if you test the system with one stick at a time, and find that only one stick gives errors, you know it's the RAM that's bad. If EACH stick seems to give errors, I would get a new, decent, PS first, then retest the RAM.

 

[Diomedes]

Ok thanks for the advice Mondoman...

I did what you said i run the memtester on each stick of ram separately for 2 passes and no error were found LOL so what does this mean???

I am now trying the memtester with both sticks of ram in again...

Could one of the Ram slots be faulty???

 

[ej4love]

I'm having a similar problem, and its my power supply, if i add two sticks of memory it won't power up, if i add another hard drive, a better video card, it will not boot, it will go into windows some time and cut off, get a better power supply, and that should take care of your problem.

 

[Diomedes]

Yeah i have been having a look and i now think that it is almost definately the power suppy the one i got only has a single 12V rail from what i can tell .... I should have just paid the extra for a decent one...

Thermaltake 430W Purepower Power Supply - Silent Pure Power Supply with Dual Fans

Does that sound ok??? I guess this isn't the right place to ask i should put it in the power supply one...

 

[fpdoc]

I run a 450W PC Power and Cooling PSU in my Dell 8200. They have a good rep, although my first PSU died, they replaced it without a problem and it has been working great ever since.
I just order a Silent Cool 700W (a little overkill) for my new rig. At 199, it's a good deal for the quality and reliability. It is SLI cert and runs 60A at the 12v rail.

 

[Mobius]

What part of "RAM has errors" isn't being comprehended here? Computer memory isn't like yours: 99% isn't good enough. 99.999999999999% isn't good enough. Memory MUST RUN ERROR FREE!

ANY error in Memtest means the memory is fucked. I mean 1 error, in a week of solid testing using the boot-from-floppy version means "send the memory back".

What more has to be said for grud's sake??? YOUR MEMORY IS BAD. REPLACE IT.

 

[tamalsmith]

What part of "RAM has errors" isn't being comprehended here? Computer memory isn't like yours: 99% isn't good enough. 99.999999999999% isn't good enough. Memory MUST RUN ERROR FREE!

ANY error in Memtest means the memory is ******. I mean 1 error, in a week of solid testing using the boot-from-floppy version means "send the memory back".

What more has to be said for grud's sake??? YOUR MEMORY IS BAD. REPLACE IT.

you need to read everything carefully SIR..
and also calm down
its not like you're the president of the world to command what people does.
besides its easily 2 things, ram or psu, and it seems psu is the problem

 

[Mondoman]

Check out the PS forum. The Thermaltake you mention is decent quality, but perhaps a bit underpowered for your purposes. You can get a good quality PS for around the same price -- this one is VERY good quality and has plenty of power for you: Fortron Sparkle FSP/SPI ATX-400PN 400W ATX12V 20/24PIN Power Supply http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17076&vpn=ATX-400-PN-B&manufacture=Fortron%20Source
It has 18A on each of TWO +12V rails.