New Homebuilt Crashing on Me

[duncan1382]

Hi guys. I recently built an i5 rig from scratch and everything seemed to be going well. I had a little problem for about an hour getting a POST but then I noticed that I put the ram modules into the wrong slot. Not a big deal.

After that, it loaded perfectly. I installed windows 7 and everything seems to be going well.

However, whenever I stress test the machine it crashes (BSOD).

What could something like this mean? It seems to be working fine, but whenever I push the CPU load above 25-ish percent the system crashes.

One time it crashed with Prime95. The other time it was loading Eclipse (a java IDE) with a couple internet browsers running.

What's confusing to me is that everything is seemingly functional. The CPU coolers running and at low load the temperature was below 40 degrees C according to the BIOS.

I've never put together a system before, so rookie mistakes are very possible.

Please help. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Duncan

System Specs:

Windows 7 - 32 Bit Edition -- the problem?
Core i5 750
Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2
RealTek ATI 4850 1GB graphics
4GB OCZ 1333 low voltage (i5/i7 designed) ram
Samsung 24X OEM SATA DVD burner
1 TB Seagate 7200RPM SATA HD

 

[duncan1382]

I changed the RAM timing and voltage to the manufaturer's specifications..

8/8/8/24 @ 1.65 volts but I'm still coming up w/ errors in Prime95.. HOWEVER, I'm not crashing every time I open 100 chrome browsers.. so that's an improvement.

Are there any other settings that I have to make manually in the BIOS? To be honest, I though the mobo detected your Memory Speed, Timings, and stuff like that. Do we have to set it? What about CPU voltage?

 

[Griffolion]

I'm getting the feeling that the cooler may not be held on in enough tension. You'll need to go back down to the heat sink, take the thermal paste off using pure alcohol and a sterile wipe apply another batch (you only need a pea sized amount) and re-seat the heat sink. Make sure that its really held on under a lot of tension, almost as if the heat sink wants to squash the dear life out of your CPU.

Apart from that, make sure that your RAM's voltage is set correctly. DDR3 usually operates best at 1.65v but no more unless the 'low voltage' versions state otherwise (check OCZs documentation and knowledge base on their website).

Unless it was a dirty install, Win7 shouldn't be the problem at all, but why the hell did you go for 32 when 64 is bundled in?

But i digress, lastly, we could do with the spec of your PSU, it will need to be 650w or above (brand name obviously) to properly sustain this setup so if its not, thats another potential culprit.

P.S - If suspicions are being raised about your RAM, download and run Memtest86 on the modules overnight to verify. If errors are made then its your RAM, if it returns clean you're after something else.

 

[duncan1382]

I'm getting the feeling that the cooler may not be held on in enough tension. You'll need to go back down to the heat sink, take the thermal paste off using pure alcohol and a sterile wipe apply another batch (you only need a pea sized amount) and re-seat the heat sink. Make sure that its really held on under a lot of tension, almost as if the heat sink wants to squash the dear life out of your CPU.

Apart from that, make sure that your RAM's voltage is set correctly. DDR3 usually operates best at 1.65v but no more unless the 'low voltage' versions state otherwise (check OCZs documentation and knowledge base on their website).

Unless it was a dirty install, Win7 shouldn't be the problem at all, but why the hell did you go for 32 when 64 is bundled in?

But i digress, lastly, we could do with the spec of your PSU, it will need to be 650w or above (brand name obviously) to properly sustain this setup so if its not, thats another potential culprit.

P.S - If suspicions are being raised about your RAM, download and run Memtest86 on the modules overnight to verify. If errors are made then its your RAM, if it returns clean you're after something else.

I got the Enterprise edition through my dad's work and it's locked into 32 or 64 bit. He'll get me the 64 bit on monday, I just wanted to see if everything worked.

For PSU I have a 600 Watt ATX 12V Power Supply.

Is 600W not enough?

I will certainly reapply the paste if need be, but the temperature according to RealTemp 3.0 is seemingly not going too high. I don't want to venture into the whole thermal paste world if I don't have to, you know? The i5 had the paste applied to the CPU cooler for the ultimate noobies like me. haha.

 

[Griffolion]

Is the PSU a reliable brand or is it unbranded?

600W should be about enough i'd say.

In this case, run the memtest86 program to check for memory errors.

 

[duncan1382]

Is the PSU a reliable brand or is it unbranded?

600W should be about enough i'd say.

In this case, run the memtest86 program to check for memory errors.

It was a 600W OCZ, but I thought that it might be the problem so I switched to a Corsair 750W.

That didn't really help me.

It must be the thermal paste, right? The CPU is never supposed to go above 60 degrees C correct? Although I thought the i5 was safe up to 75 degrees C..

Also, when I run memtest it loads up I see "testing..." it get's to 100% and then immediately restarts.

 

[duncan1382]

I finally got it. One of the sticks of ram was bad. I had to test each stick individually, but 4 minutes w/ Memtest and it detected it. No error on the other stick.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Griffolion]

Glad to hear it. It must have seriously gone if memtest gets it in 4 minutes, it can take overnight on some occasions!

Happy 'puting.