Odd Problems with the New Build

althius

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Everything was going well. I assembled the Computer, got Vista 64 installed, ran 3DMark06... it all went well.

Did a quick Prime Test (20 min) just to make sure things were good... and all seemed well.

So I thought I'd install the game that came with my graphics card, "Company of Heroes". Took awhile to install, and I had a problem where it wasn't opening fullscreen, but I dl'ed a patch, and I was able to go fullscreen. Played with it for awhile, and then it 'crashed' and I got an error about not finding the graphics driver or something along those lines.

So I went to restart. When I did... I noticed the start up sound stuttered. I loaded up IE, and it seemed to be 'slow' and unsmooth (although it is possible this was just my perception). So I shut down to let it sit for a moment and then restarted it. I never got into windows. It would just hang on a black screen for awile and I think it flashed a BSOD for a millisecond before rebooting.

So obviously I was very upset. Bascially I could only load into Vista every other time. Once it would hang and reset, then I would get a 'start in safe mode' menu and load as 'normal'. It would then load, but still with the audio stutter.

I figured this must be some sort of problem with what I installed, so I did a restore back to an earlier point in the day. It STILL wasn't working in the exact same way. Very odd. I started to think it might be a hardware problem.

Just to be sure I formatted my OS partition and reinstalled Vista. Still had the audio problem. First thing after install I went to install the newest drivers from NVIDIA. After the reboot, all hell broke loose. I couldn't load at all... I'd get to the point where the logo would flash on the screen and the startup music would normally play, but the graphics were all screwed up, black and white boxes... looked like when a 386 would crash. Really nasty. Looked nothing like what it should. I could only load in safe mode.

It was late so I went to bed. Sad and defeated. :cry:

This morning I got up, unplugged the computer from the wall, and took the side panel off to make sure everything was plugged in well. RAM, Graphics Card, SATA cables, power to the MB. It all looked good... but I unplugged and replugged just to be sure.

Then I loaded up VISTA and it was fine... no problems at all... sound was perfect and everything else was smooth. Very odd. I've installed all the Vista patches, and drivers for my computer. No problems. I did an hour of PRIME and no problems at all.

What should I do at this point? What do I need to test? What could the problem have been? Should I just keep on keeping on?

Please advise. I want to make sure everything is good, and I'm not going to have some sort of problem after my return time is up at New Egg.

Thanks in advance.
 

beurling

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run memtest to make sure your memory isn't at all faulty. Memory is the #1 cause of BSOD's. Often it can be solved by upping the memory voltage a tiny smidge. nice set-up btw.
 

althius

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Thanks I'll try that. I do have my memory voltage +.4v to take it to the rated 2.2v, although I have the timings loosened to 5-5-5-15.
 

rallyimprezive

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Id say that is re-seating everything solved your problem, that was the problem...but Id be leary that some component has a bad connection or something.

Take everything apart again, check for damage, bent pins, funny looking build up, whatever. Just be completely obsessive.

Then try not to kick your computer anymore. ;)
 

althius

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Yeah... I know what you mean. I tried to plug and unplug everything except for the CPU/HS. My case is really tight around the PSU, but I think they are all in okay. I thought that MAYBE the SATA connection to the HD was a little wobbly? I dunno... I could just be obsessing. That's why I want to test the Bejeezes out of it before I start installing anymore software.

Anyone else have any ideas of what I can do?
 

ohiou_grad_06

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Too bad you don't use Mac, only reason I say that, is we use a great little program called tech tools pro, excellent program, saved me from replacing a couple of hard drives by telling me they had bad blocks and to write 0's over the entire drive.
 

althius

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So I have tested everything I can think of.

I ran PRIME95 small for 3 hours... idle 26 load 38. No problems.
I ran PRIME95 blend for 8 hours. No problems.
I ran SeaTools Long Test to check the HDD. No problems.
I ran MEMTEST all the way through (Couple of Hours)
I did the 'artifact' test in ATITOOL for 45 mintues or so. No problems.
Installed and Ran 3DMARK06 over a couple times, just to simulate some 'real world' situations. No problems. Consistantly scored around 11,675. (+/- 50).

I'm out of ideas of things to test. Anyone have any thoughts? If not, should I try and re-install Company of Heroes? Or am I just asking for trouble?
 

SpudTECH

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I think you probaly solved it by reseating as rallyimprezive said... the parts you list in your build are realy good so I wouldn't worry too much. I have had a couple of customers custom builds that I had just built, bluescreen for no reason and pulled my hair out over it... after I dissasembled them and rebuilt them and reinstalled windows there were no problems...1 even came back for an upgrade not to long ago and the customer reported it ran perfect from the day he picked it up.

REMEMBER: we are dealing with windows and you can't expect perfection out of the box.