First Time Frustrations

[constantconfusion]

It all began with the spirit of christmas and the will to achieve... For christmas i received a GPU and a PSU to power it as upgrades for an older computer. Boy was i excited! I got home from the merriment with the family looking forward to a week's vacation of playing silly computer games with less sharp edged polygons.

I installed the PSU with no problem, but when it came to installing the graphics card, i realised my measurements were off when the card wouldn't fit. So i took this as a sign. A sign to BUILD MY FIRST COMPUTER around these parts i had received. Sounds easy enough. So here is a run down of what I am working with-- all brand new parts except CD ROM drive:
MoBo: Biostar TA 790GX 128M
PSU: Corsair ts650w
GPU: Radeon 4670HD with Hybrid Crossfire using Paddle Card from MoBo.
RAM: 4 gig Dual Channal DDR 2 OCZ
CPU: AMD Athalon II x2 processor @ 3Ghz
HDD: WD Caviar Green 500gb SATA
CD/DVD: old SATA drive from previous computer
Fans: 3
Great. So i put everything together and connect all the wires and fire it up to head into the BIOS menu to disable the floppy drive (which i dont have) and set CD ROM drive to boot priority #1 so as to install Windows 7 64 bit. Everything is lit up and sounds fine; fans are running, CD drive opens and spins, keyboard works.
In the BIOS, it recognizes the HDD at SATA 1 and the CD Rom at SATA 4. The RAM is listed at 4gigs. The CPU is correctly identified and so is the HDD. Everything appears to be recognized. "Wonderful," i say and proceed to save changes, reboot and run Windows 7 install disk. Upon reboot the machine accesses the CD and begins the "Loading Windows Files" screen with progression bar. Then things go to hell.

After the bar is full and it finishes loading, it bounces me to the Blue Screen with Error "Machine_Check_Exception." This i know is a very general error that typically refers to a problem with the Hardware. So i checked all the hardware and reinstalled the RAM and the video Card and the HDD as well as the CPU and its fan. Everything is connected to the PSU. I just cant figure out what component is failing. I have gone through the Checklist of things to do before creating a new thread. The only thing i have not done is reset the CMOS, but to me it seems that since the thing is so new that nothing has changed that would require me to revert back to original settings... but i could be wrong.

I know this is probably a very generalized and probably common error message, and that something is not connected properly, but i would really appreciate any help, ideas or suggestions as to what i may do. Should i call Tech Support? Should i provide you guys with pictures? Should i give up and bring it to a technician? Anything would be of great help-- if i missed any detail or spec, please let me know. As i mentioned this is my first homebuilt (which is currently nothing more than a very expensive space heater-- so cold in new england!!!), so please be gentle with the hazing.
--confused.

 

[jitpublisher]

Memory. Check to make sure the memory is set to the correct voltage and timings in the BIOS.
Some other things to try:
Bump the voltage to overvolt .01~.05 volts. (Especially if you are using 4 sticks)
If you are running 4 sticks, try the install with only 2, or even only 1 stick.
Replace the sticks after install.
And next to lastly, you could have a bad memory stick.
And very lastly, it could be something else entirely, but most usually this is memory related.

 

[vanekl]

When windows boots and tries to load a driver it thinks it should have for the hardware it discovers it may blue-screen if it can't find the driver.

One way to test this is to disconnect the hardware you don't absolutely need and then see if Windows boots. For example, you really don't need your discrete video card because you also have integrated.

You can also try gently washing (and drying) the CD.

Windows can be very stubborn at times. Don't give up if you run up against a windows problem until you have tested multiple times.

And lastly, you should consider flashing your BIOS, especially if Biostar has a newer version for your particular motherboard.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Memory. Check to make sure the memory is set to the correct voltage and timings in the BIOS.
Some other things to try:
Bump the voltage to overvolt .01~.05 volts. (Especially if you are using 4 sticks)
If you are running 4 sticks, try the install with only 2, or even only 1 stick.
Replace the sticks after install.
And next to lastly, you could have a bad memory stick.
And very lastly, it could be something else entirely, but most usually this is memory related.

I completely agree with jitpublisher. The majority of BSOD's that I've seen were RAM related. Which exact "4 gig Dual Channal DDR 2 OCZ" RAM kit do you have? The RAM will have a sticker on the side with its rated speed, timings, and voltage. You should manually set those values in the BIOS. It would also be a good idea to run Memtest86+ for multiple passes to ensure the RAM is not faulty.

 

[branflakes71]

I agree that you should check the RAM first. Try the install with the minimum sticks needed.