New Custom Computer Issues {Please Help!}

[MrAllfather]

A couple days ago I put together a custom computer (I reused my hard drive, disk drive, psu, and gpu from my older rig--although all 4 components were upgrades and were not part of the initial system). I tried starting it up and got into a startup repair loop, where it would ask to go to startup repair or start normally. When I would hit startup repair, it would say that the problem could not be fixed automatically. Starting normally or in safe mode simply restarted automatically when booting. Assuming a problem with the Hard Drive, I formated it and ran every chkdsk fix. Now upon trying to install Win7 (same issue with Vista as well), I have gotten about every blue screen error (BSOD) imaginable--whether during Windows install or just prior. Without using the install disk (legit copy btw) I recieve the bootmgr is missing thing. I have attempted reseating RAM and even only using 1 stick. I have tested RAM and harddrive but no issues show up. PSU is adequate. I have even replaced the SATA cables. Please help, I have searched and searched for 4 days to no avail.

Specs:
CPU- FX-4170 Quad Core Zambezi 4.2ghz
GPU- ATI Radeon HD 5770
Mobo- ASRock 970 Pro3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6gb/s usb 3.0 ATX
RAM- 2 sticks, 4g each.
Case- Antec 300 Illusion

Any help would be immensly appreciated. I am desperate and frustrated and, quite honestly, very bored.

 

[ilysaml]

Make sure you set the SATA mode to IDE or AHCI mode.
If it's not a problem with the HDD/SSD or RAM it may be a motherboard issue.
You didn't state what kind of PSU you have. also make sure that the CPU is not overheating, check the temps in BIOS.

Download Memtest86 and run it for a couple of hours to check your RAM stability.

 

[MrAllfather]

Make sure you set the SATA mode to IDE or AHCI mode.
If it's not a problem with the HDD/SSD or RAM it may be a motherboard issue.
You didn't state what kind of PSU you have. also make sure that the CPU is not overheating, check the temps in BIOS.

Download Memtest86 and run it for a couple of hours to check your RAM stability.

The RAM is fine. It is compatable with the mobo (DDR3) and I bought the RAM 2 days ago. The CPU stays at a good 40F average. I am at work so I cant give PSU info atm but its voltage matches the mobo and has a power of 520 watts. Please keep in mind this is a fredh PC with no OS. I appreciate the reply.

 

[MrAllfather]

Sounds like a tired old hard drive with a bunch of read/write errors.

I was afraid of this, but it worked perfectly in my other computer a few days prior, and I also formatted it and ran chkdsk /r /f. Wouldnt that fix any issues?

 

[MrAllfather]

It is something to do with the mobo, I think. Someone please help!

 

[ilysaml]

Getting a new RAM doesn't mean it's free of failure, maybe it's something with in proper latency configuration, it may cause that BSOD.

Burn Memtest86+ ISO, boot it and run for a couple of hours and see if any errors showing.

 

[smorizio]

first start with the mb bios make sure it has all the bios updates. the newest bios for your mb is 1.6. also look under mb ram qal list and see if your ram has been tested. most times with some amd mb and ram the mb does not set the ram speed or timing right. use cpu-z look at the ram speed that the mb set. then look under the spd tab to see that your ram is running one of it default speed. use gpu-z to check that the gpu and the pci slot is working. also use hardware monitor to look at the gpu and cpu temps.

 

[MrAllfather]

It isn't your motherboard or any other component, its your hard drive. They are cheap, buy a new one. I already told you what to do to test. Just because it isn't the answer you want to hear doesn't make it the wrong one....

I appreciate your advice, but i tested the hard drive in another comp. Worked fine. I also tried a diff HDD in my rig. Same issue. Its not the hard drive.



A thought: since i formatted the HDD, would i need the mobo and cpu drivers to boot correctly? As for the BIOS, I updated it to 1.1 - the apparent latest version. Again, same problem.

 

[MrAllfather]

Update: I put my HDD in another comp and installed Win7 64bit onto it. Now at boot when it is loading windows, my computer automatically resets. It is stuck in a windows repair loop where it keeps askingto windows repair or start normally. Starting normally does the suto reset loop and rrepair gets a BSOD or simply restarts the system.

(BIOS is 1.11 not 1.1. Made a mistake in previous post)

I still can't seem to fix this issue. I don't think my Mobo included a warranty. Any help at all would be AMAZING. As for those who have already replied, thanks. I appreciate it, greatly.

 

[smorizio]

windows installed the drivers for the other mb. you have to use the f8 safe mode and go in and under windows system..device manager remove all the devices there.

 

[MrAllfather]

Would you mind postft hring a screen shot of the SMART data from the hard drive? In your first post you said, "Without using the install disk (legit copy in btw) I recieve the bootmgr is missing thing." That is 100% a data corruption issue on the hard drive. If its a new installation and that happens, I've yet to see the cause be anything other than a bad hard drive.

What did you do to test the hard drive on the other computer? You said something about you installing Windows 7 on the hard drive while installed in another computer. Did you try to use that installation in the computer in question? 90% of the time that won't work due to driver conflicts and difference in hardware on differing platforms.

I figured the boot manager was missing because the hard drive was formatted. Like I had said, "Without using the install disk..." .
And yes, i used the installation disk successfully on the other computer. My plan was to get Windows on the HDD since it would not install successfully. Mind you, I unplugged the HDD in THAT computer, so drivers were not an issue.

Heres an update for you:
I can now boot into windows and do stuff perfectly fine without BSOD, startup repair loop, or any other interruption. However, 10 minutes into reinstalling all my lost programs and games (I doubt these are related), I get a new BSOD that says, "dumping physical memory to disk" or something like that and goes to 100 then restarts.
Note: I am not running in OC mode, have 2 sticks of ram each 4g, and I did not seem to get this issue with only one stick of the ram (had one in while troubleshooting boot). i have already reseated the RAM twice. Thanks for your persisting help.

 

[ilysaml]

I don't know why "iknowhowtofixit" insisted that it's a problem with the HDD, in every post he seemed to be sure and that made a true fool of himself, it wasn't helping at all.

@OP
Me and Smorizio told you to check the RAM settings and test it via RAM testing softwares, because I myself RMAed OCZ Platinum because it was causing BSOD randomly, and my Corsair RAM was causing the same when I OCed the CPU so I had to manually adjust the timings.

 

[MrAllfather]

I don't know why "iknowhowtofixit" insisted that it's a problem with the HDD, in every post he seemed to be sure and that made a true fool of himself, it wasn't helping at all.

@OP
Me and Smorizio told you to check the RAM settings and test it via RAM testing softwares, because I myself RMAed OCZ Platinum because it was causing BSOD randomly, and my Corsair RAM was causing the same when I OCed the CPU so I had to manually adjust the timings.

Will-do. I had changed DRAM settings to AUTO in BIOS. Figured that would fix. Oh well. Thanks for the suggestoon. I will get back to you when I get around to testing the RAM.

MrA

 

[ilysaml]

Whatever.... Call me when you finally check your hard drive's SMART data (screenshot would be great....). Until then, this thread is pointless because no variables are being eliminated.

If there's a problem with the HDD a warning message will be displayed upon the BIOS splash screen saying " SMART Failure Predicted on Hard Disk
WARNING: Immediately back-up your data and replace your hard disk drive. A failure may be imminent, or similar quotes depending on the manufacturer of the MOBO.

Assuming that the OP didn't enable the SMART option in the BIOS, a long delay would be noticed upon the Startup of the PC.

If there's a problem with the HDD, it wouldn't pass any of the chkdsk commands that the OP referred to.