new build system crashes in vista...

[duncajcb]

xfx 680i lt
evga 9800gt
non main brand ram 2gb ddr2 dual channel

i built this system for my wife as a clone of my current system. the main differences are the ram (i use OCZ SLI ram), processor (i use q6600 OCed to 3.6), MoBo (i use evga 680i lt instead of xfx version), and OS (i use xp 64 she has vista 32).

After building the system i installed windows, everything seemed fine. Windows updated itself, reboots, etc. The problem occured when i started installing the drivers for the xfx chipset from OEM CD. At that point the drivers would only get about half way and the install would crash. I tried this several times with no difference. I then tried other drivers, same thing...would make it half way and crash. I then tried reinstalling windows...now it makes it somewhat half way and crashes. By crash i actually mean freeze...the system slows down and eventually just freezes. Now the system will freeze mid boot or it might make it into vista but freezes shortly after. i noticed i get the furthest when the system has been off for some time, but the freezing still seems random. acts alot like an unstable OC.

I amn relatively new to system building and dont know if i have given the best info.

Any comments or questions or even ideas about what could be wrong and how to verify?

ty in advance

 

[Stiffex]

Hi there Dunc, its just possible you may have a dodgy motherboard but you will need to test all the components to eliminate it from the set up.

First of all check the ram; take 1 stick from your pc and try booting the new build with it and see if the same thing happens, then just to be sure try another single stick from your pc and if the same thing happens you can eliminate the ram.

Do the same thing with the video cards to eliminate them; you also need to eliminate the hard drive, if you have a back up of your hard drive you can use you hard drive or if you have a spare one use that to eliminate hard drive problems.

It definately sounds like a hardware problem and this problem could be a number of things from incompatible ram, to faulty motherboard, you just need to find which is the culprit and RMA it.

I had a similar problem and it turned out i had a bad mobo and a bad hard drive and i also had to change the PSU because a faulty (usually cheap unbranded) PSU can damage new parts.