Having Problems with Build

[Virrodin]

Hi, recently I've decided to get back into gaming. Unfortunately my current system is an Acer Aspire laptop. I decided to build my own system which I've done in the past except this time around I think I've created a monster and its been nothing but headaches, problems and frustration. I apologize in advance as this could be a long post.

Firstly the components I started out with were as follows:

Motherboard is a XFX geforce 8200
CPU is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4 ghz
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4222191&CatId=2417

PSU is a Thermaltake 430W
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1389575&sku=T925-2060&srkey=thermaltake%20430

RAM 1024MB Kingston DDR2 667MHz X2
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2175880&CatId=1654

HD is a Seagate 160GB
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2937363&CatId=139

Optical Drive
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3424382&CatId=89

OS - Windows Vista 64-bit Home Basic

After putting everything together it ran much better than I expected. Then I installed some games to give it a trial run starting with Combat Arms and WoW which both installed fine. After anywhere between 2 minutes to 20 minutes the game would stop working ad freeze up and Vista would say such and such has stopped working and close program. I figured it may have been the on board video card or RAM. I went out and grabbed two more sticks of ram and an EVGA geforce 8400 video card. (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3475671&CatId=1560) After installing the new RAM sticks and video card Vista refused to boot and I had to boot from disc. After I attempted to repair several times I ended up having to format the entire drive and do a clean install.

With everything freshly installed and all of the hardware working I decided to try out the games. I gave Combat Arms a try and still the same problem persisted though it seems to occur less frequently. I decided to try another game and tried to install WoW again. On every install it encountered a fatal error and I'd have to restart the install. During some of the game crashes I'd be brought to the blue screen and vista would do a memory dump and crash.

I next ran the Microsoft memory test which brought everything up as working. I tried taking out two sticks of Ram. WoW still wouldnt install and Combat Arms still crashed. I can't really afford to throw cash at this so I was wondering if anyone could offer some help. I've tried messing around with the memory timings which did nothing. I've updated all drivers that I can find though I'm not sure if the BIOS is updating because I cant get anything to boot from disc except windows. I've tried it with the disc that came with my mobo, I've tried it with memoretst86+ as well as making my own disc with the bios drivers. none seem to boot from disc at start up even with the boot sequence switched to the optical drive first. I've never seen a system plagued with so many problems and I'm starting to feel like I just wasted a lot of money.

Thanks for giving this a look. I'm willing to try pretty much anything at this point.

 

[chechnyan]

i suspect a heat issue
check you're temps.
if all is ok
try to reinstall the driver for the graphic card
hey
isnt the onboard vedio better than the one one you purchase 8400 ??!!

 

[Proximon]

First off you bought a bad PSU. It could be causing your problems... there is no way to test that except by replacing it.
Thermaltake sells a variety of power supplies, some of which are very poor. For this reason I will never recommend any Thermaltake PSU, because too many people such as yourself assume that because one model was good all models from a vendor will be good.

"OS - Windows Vista 64-bit Home Basic "
Ouch. Where did you get that???? That could also be your problem. Basic can only ever be installed and registered once. It's limited to 4GB of RAM just like the 32-bit version. If you activated it and end up needing to change your MB, you'll likely have to call up MS and beg for a new activation.

The edition you wanted to buy was Vista 64 Home Premium OEM.

Finally, did you go into BIOS and turn off onboard video when you installed the new video card?

Update your BIOS and drivers for the motherboard from the XFX site, as applicable.

 

[Virrodin]

I've checked the temperatures and the system temp never breaks 25 and the cpu rarely above 50.

I have gone to the xfx site for the drivers but when i burn them to a disk the system wont boot from the disk and thats the only way to update. Its not even reading anything when i try and boot from disc except vista.

I could try upgrading the operating system but thats costing another 200 bucks at lest and if the os isnt the problem i'd rather not waste the money.

I did turn off my onboard before installing the new video card, everything still messed up.

If it was the psu would that only cause game freezes? I would have thought if it was the problem then there would be more problems aside from game freezes.

Thanks for the input thus far. I can try swapping out some of these parts but they happen to be te most expensive lol.

 

[Proximon]

"If it was the psu would that only cause game freezes? I would have thought if it was the problem then there would be more problems aside from game freezes. "

Yes because your PSU has to provide a different level of power during games. Still, let's not jump to any conclusions just yet.

Is this motherboard still under warranty? It seems like it may be faulty in some way, but I have never heard of anything quite like what you describe...

It really sounds as if you have some major virus, but the problem persisted through a reformat.

I'm sorry if my posts are a bit disjointed, but I'm struggling with this one a bit, and just posting ideas as they come. Let me get you a fresh pair of eyes or two

 

[Proximon]

I guess I'm feeling like the MB is failing, but I've never quite seen one go like this.

 

[dirtmountain]

I hate it when i get mystery failures like this that i can't pinpoint and say "AHA that's it!!" When i encounter a problem like this I disassemble everything and then start off as if it's a fresh build. Yeah i know it's a freaking PITA to rebuild everything and reload everything, but it's what i'd do. My thoughts are that it's a motherboard failure, but that's a random guess judged from the steps you've already taken. Make sure all your standoffs are in the right places, no shorts anyplace, recheck your manual and other directions for any problem. Good luck and hope you get it working, if not RMA the motherboard and try again.

 

[megamanx00]

Try one running the system with one stick of RAM, if one doesn't work go down the line till you've tried all 4, and see if that fixes it. If it does, try a matched pair and make sure you put them in the correct slots to run them in dual channel. Also make sure that your BIOS recognizes that they are to be run in dual channel. If it gives you problems then take that RAM out and try the other set of RAM, if it still gives you problems then move that RAM to the other two slots. If it works after that last one then you could have defective slots, it happens sometimes since those little pins can get damaged, or something else is wrong with the board. If you don't have any trouble running the RAM sticks individually, but have trouble running them in dual channel, then try running all the RAM in single channel, by changing this setting in the BIOS of course, until you can RMA the board. Also try running the RAM at the slowest possible settings and make sure the voltage is set correctly.

Of course if the system still behaves that with only one stick of RAM, no matter the RAM or the slot that it's in, then you are going to have to RMA your motherboard. I'm really thinking it's a RAM or motherboard problem. Even though it can pass Memtest it could be that the RAM itself does not operate properly at full speed in dual channel mode. I've seen RAM that can pass Memtest at it's rated speed, but will crash the system unless it's speed is lowered, and it's a pain to narrow it down ^_^.

 

[Proximon]

Thanks for the help guys, I'm sure that with the extra input we've done what we can for now

 

[Virrodin]

Ok so I got a but load of response from you guys and I thank you hugely.

Firstly I tried running the entire system off of each of the four sticks of ram. Each one I was able to boot the system and fart around on the internet and play games with the previous problems still persisting.

Today while playing Combat Arms my speaker input on the motherboard crapped out. Headphones, speakers nothing comes out of it.

I took everything apart and put it together and I've done yet another clean install and everything is still messed up. I still can't install wow and Combat Arms still keeps crahsing. If anything I'm being brought to the blue screen more frequently and it does a mem dump and crashes.

Is the consensus the mobo or psu? or a complete mystery. I'm going to be contacting XFX tomorrow. After doing some digging on the net I've found a whole bunch of people who have been having this problem with vista freezing during games. The odd thing is nobody ever seems to fix it. That or they do and they just dont come back to let the rest of us know. A lot of people seem to suggest toying with RAM timings but like I said I tried that and none of the timings made a difference so I returned it to stock settings.

I'm really hoping to resolve this soon but am seriously doubting that. The WoW expansions drops tomorrow and I can't even install! >.< I think come Friday if this isnt resolved I'm gonna grab a new mobo and hope to hell I'm not wasting more money. That or it'll take me another 2-4 weeks to work it out with XFX and get the money to get replacement parts.

 

[Proximon]

I feel your pain.

I feel pretty good about it being either your PSU or MB.

A note about your PSU needs - Your system is only going to need about 200W. I am NOT saying you should buy such a small PSU. You should have at least something 400W or over. What I am saying is that you do not need to find anything special to test with. Any old PSU sitting in a dead machine somewhere could be a test, as long as it had the right connections.

The ideal MB would be:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138128
Unless you want to spend a great deal more on an ASUS or Gigabyte board.

 

[megamanx00]

Yeah, nobody really resolders dying or dead motherboards anymore . If the sound went out then something else will go out soon too, and then the darn thing just won't turn on. The board is defective RMA or return it if you can. Proximon made a good suggestion for the motherboard.

 

[bobbknight]

All of the Vista instability problems I have been reading about have related to the 32 Bit version of home premium.
For something like the 64 bit vista home basic I haven't seen much on it.

I am guessing that the XFX might have a newer bios out that might help here.

BSOD's are indicative of driver issues, but do not exclude hardware.
Though a hardware BSOD often will say something about hardware.

I went over to the XFX web site, but they want me to register to look at the support page, so I will leave that up to you.
Though I would like to read the PDF of the motherboard manual and see what bios updates are available if any.


I would first try an out of case build.
I like my coffee table.
I just put the motherboard on the glass. But a good flat non conduction surface works fine.
Remove the bios battery for about a min or so and put it back in.
Connect the PSU, make sure all power connections are proper.
Install one stick of ram
Plug in the monitor (in this case to the video out of the motherboard)
Plug in keyboard and mouse.
Touch power switch post on the motherboard with a screwdriver momentarily. If things turn on when it is time to hit delete to go into the bios.
At this point if you can get into the bios you can move on from here.
Next connect the optical and hard drive, make sure you can see them in the bios.
This last time when you are in the bios look at the temps and voltages.

OK this is where you can put all the parts back into the case or start the install of the os and what ever else you wish to install.

 

[Virrodin]

OK so I'm going to take everything apart and give your steps a try bobbknight. Baring everything still messing up could the problem be Vista or is it doubtful? Is it accurate to assume the most likely causes are the mobo or psu? Or is it all still a mystery. I'm looking into that other mobo suggested on newegg now. Arg this is frustrating. I'm really hoping I don't go out grab and new mobo and all of the problems continue to persist.

Thanks for all the input thus far. It is much appreciated.

 

[Virrodin]

Ok heres on more thing I should mention having looked at my bios. I don't have a master and slave drive set up. I don't know if that makes a difference and I can't figure out how to make that work. Apparently the hard drive I got can't be set up like that. So the optical drive is set as master plugged into the IDE port and the hard drive is just a hard drive plugged into a SATA port. Don't know if that makes a difference so let me know. I hate being a nub.

Thanks again.

 

[Virrodin]

And yet one more last question. Could wow not be installing because the discs are over 3 years old and the 64-bit system or dvd reader isnt reading it properly.

Thanks yet again...again lol.

 

[bobbknight]

Ok heres on more thing I should mention having looked at my bios. I don't have a master and slave drive set up. I don't know if that makes a difference and I can't figure out how to make that work. Apparently the hard drive I got can't be set up like that. So the optical drive is set as master plugged into the IDE port and the hard drive is just a hard drive plugged into a SATA port. Don't know if that makes a difference so let me know. I hate being a nub.

Thanks again.

The hard drive and optical setup are ok.

 

[bobbknight]

And yet one more last question. Could wow not be installing because the discs are over 3 years old and the 64-bit system or dvd reader isnt reading it properly.

Thanks yet again...again lol.

That would only happen if the disks are really scratched up.