Troubleshooting new build - need help!!

[snickyj]

I just build my first system, and cannot get it to run. It starts up, and then crashes almost immediately. I have vista home premium (OEM) installed. I cant get onto windows long enough to do much of anything - even in safe mode it crashes within 4 or 5 minutes. usually less. Cant even install drivers. I booted with the disk, and tried system repair, and it found nothing wrong, so i booted again with the disk, and reinstalled after formatting. 2nd install went smoothly (as did the first), and crashed as soon as windows started up. All the hardware looks good in BIOS. I dont know too much about software issues. I could really use some help with this. . .anything you got
thanks!

 

[antiacid]

Is your cpu cooler properly seated? Are all the power plugs filled on the mobo? Is your PSU broken? Try re-seating all the components and running memtest86 to check for ram instability.

 

[aford10]

How is it crashing? BSOD? Restarting? Freezing?

 

[snickyj]

Sorry, I guess I didnt give great info... The psu is all connected properly, and running well. The cpu cooler seems to be seated correctly - The cpu temp hasnt gone above 31 C. In BIOS, everything is being recognized in the right quantities and at the right speeds. I ran a test for problems with the ram, and all checked out well, I also ran a test to check for any bad hardware, and nothing was found. Upon a restart I clicked on a "check for solution" that said there was a problem with my network controller card (integrated) but that didn't come up the next time I restarted and ran the check again. When it crashes, it's going to blue screen with "dumping physical memory", etc... no specific info on there. System restarts immediately after, and then it crashes again soon after restart - sometimes I get a couple of minutes on windows, sometimes i dont even get that far. If I go into BIOS, it doesnt crash on me. I can stay in there forever. Only crashes once windows starts up. That's why I thought the reinstall would help, but no luck. I hope all that can tell you something. I dont really know what other info to give. If I left anything out, let me know. Thanks

 

[aford10]

Try installing windows on another HD. I'm guessing you have a bad install or a bad HD. When it goes to retreive the system files and boot up, it's not getting what it needs. Maybe corrupt files or a bad MBR. Since you have already repeated the install a few times, it leads me to believe your HD has a bad MBR.

 

[radguy]

+1 on the hard drive. A few weeks ago I upgraded to a new one and had very similar issues. I reinstalled vista 6 times and it would keep blue screening on me. I rma'd the HD and got a new every thing worked fine.