Just-built computer crashes on windows updates

[ffooby]

My brother just helped me build a new computer and now that I've got it up and running, I'm trying to go through the long line of the windows updates. At some points, the computer will just freeze up and crash, or randomly shut off, during these updates. Not all of them, but some of them. A lot of the time it will occur while I'm doing something else, so I've tried to update some of them and not use the computer at all while it's doing them, but I've still encountered some crashes this way.
I can't remember all of the updates it has crashed on, as it has crashed around 5-6 times give or take, but the latest ones it crashed on were the general/security updates for microsoft .net framework 4.

My build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks
Type Item Price

CPU Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-H77M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Case Rosewill Challenger-U3 ATX Mid Tower Case $49.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V

I have no graphics card yet, and am just working off the onboard graphics. I've installed the basic things from the cd that came with the mobo. I also installed bios updates.

 

[danny2000]

Are all of the fans working?

Try with only stick of ram in the pc, (if one fails, try only the other ram stick)

 

[smorizio]

make sure your runing the f9 bios on the mb. also make sure xmp profile is turned on so that the ram running at the right speed.
check that the sata ports are set to achi mode and the drives are on the intel ports. make sure the ram is locked in and the power plugs 24 pin and the 4/8 pin power. before you do any of the updates..install all the drivers..the newest intel chipset drivers..intel mei drivers intel cpu chipset drivers. the sound and network drivers. make sure there no yellow !! in windows system. then want to install a anti virus and then update ie..java..flash..after you update java and flash then update the windows update program. intel net framework first. then reboot and then do the small updates.

 

[ffooby]

I ran memtest and it didn't come up with any problems with my ram. I've installed all of my windows updates successfully, but it still bothers me that I was crashing before and I would like to find out what the problem was if there was any. My bios is f9. I'll get to installing the rest but if anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear anything else I can check.

 

[smorizio]

windows update is dumb...the download does not know what order to download the updates.sometime it installs one update the hangs or causes issues because it older then another update. i try to install the software of the updates first..ie ie..direcxtx and .net first then do the other updates.

 

[ffooby]

Please, can anyone offer any insight? This is why I'm not completely set on the idea that the graphics card can be the problem:

I see I have new windows updates to install. It starts installing most of them - updates for windows .Net framework, gets near the end, and just crashes. I've had a lot of problems with windows updates - it's what would crash my computer the most before I had the graphics card. There was no blue screen.

This is my first new computer in 6 years. I was pumped for it, and now it's so unstable, so it's very stressful. I would love any help.

 

[danny2000]

Please, can anyone offer any insight? This is why I'm not completely set on the idea that the graphics card can be the problem:

I see I have new windows updates to install. It starts installing most of them - updates for windows .Net framework, gets near the end, and just crashes. I've had a lot of problems with windows updates - it's what would crash my computer the most before I had the graphics card. There was no blue screen.

This is my first new computer in 6 years. I was pumped for it, and now it's so unstable, so it's very stressful. I would love any help.

Are you at Windows 7 SP1 yet? If not, download that manually and try to install that.

I would also try and download any Internet Explorer Rollup packages first also.

 

[ffooby]

I believe that I am, yes. What would I need the IE rollup packages for?

 

[danny2000]

I believe that I am, yes. What would I need the IE rollup packages for?

ugh, well, those are updates that come down through Windows Update. It will bypass some of the other updates that you might be having a problem with installing (one user eluded to that in a post somewhere above).

 

[ffooby]

ugh

Sorry if I'm being annoying dude. I'm asking for help in a lot of different places. I'm not trying to be difficult or stupid. If it's too much, then it's alright. I'm only trying to figure things out.

I doubt the windows updates are the root of my problem. I was just using it mainly as an example that my computer would crash a lot on. My system seems unstable in general, not just with windows updates. I've crashed when trying to watch a stream of a show. I took out my graphics card and the next time I logged in, I crashed after 5-10 seconds.

 

[danny2000]

I know that it is a pain, perhaps you should just try from scratch again, re-installing the o/s.

I didn't notice that anyone suggested testing your harddrive. I would suggest doing that first, before reinstalling.