new builder. need help. unstable system

[boredombulker]

I just got done putting together my first build and I am having trouble. The build is as follows:


ARCTIC Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2, CPU Cooler - Intel & AMD, Multi-Directional Mount, 92mm PWM Fan

MSI N660TI PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card


Rosewill FORTRESS Series FORTRESS-750 750W Continuous@50°C,80 PLUS Platinum Certified,Single +12V Rail,ATX12V v2.31/EPS12V ...

ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX/GEN3 R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard


NZXT Phantom 630 CA-PH630-M1 Matte Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case


ASUS Black Blu-ray Burner SATA BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS

Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G - OEM

Seagate Desktop HDD.15 ST4000DM000 4TB SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive


AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX

G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR



So after putting it all together I start it up and everything seems fine. It loads up to screen that says new computer, mem test ok. shows located hdd's, keyboards, etc.. press DEL to enter setup. So I enter bios, lookg around everything seems fine except it clocked my mem at 1600, I figured i'd mess with it later. I went ahead and tried to load windows 7 64 bit. at the final stage "completing installation" I get BSOD. System restarts and goes back into setup. Then I get error, system component unable to install. Must restart. and it doesn force restart but i get the same error if I do. I check all my mem in the right slots, make sure it is seated properly. checked gpu, it is all the way down, clicked in and screwed in to the case. no red lights on the mobo. all seems good. I then tried 32bit windows 7 and it actually installed and started up although as soon as it does I start getting messages saying services are stopping unexpectedly left and right. can barely open start menu, the system is very unstable. after several restarts and swapping mem stick for just one instead of two and trying diff hdd to install the os on and checking all plugs, conenctions, i've went over the manual a few times and everything is plugged in and correct. I tried setting my mem to 1866 but i have no idea if it is working or not, when I restart and go back into bios, my setting says 1866 but under "tools" it shows maximum 1600. The only other thing I can say is that my case from NZXT said it came with 11 mobo standoffs but there were only TWO in the bag. not enough to use for the mobo so I am not using any. I dont think the mobo would be shorting because there are a lot of holes in the NZXT case but would it even start up if that were the case anyway? am I missing something here? why will 64 bit not install? 32 bit will but is very unstable and every time I try to do something the service force closes? could this be a defective item? processor? mem seems ok? mobo would cause this? I am lost here guys. fyi, I have already read through the checklist for new builders. the troublshooting checklist before posting and none of those seem to be an issue. I was wondering about the plastic covering he mentioned over the cpu socket as mine didnt have one. the cpu dropped right into place and if it were an issue would it even power on? I have the heatsink and fan on there and If you dont think it is an issue I don't want to go through taking it back off if it is not needed?




pls help me anyone?

thank you.

 

[giltyler]

You may need to change a bios setting to use a 4TB drive.
Have you double checked the Cooler mount for even spread of paste.and uniform contact.

 

[boredombulker]

You may need to change a bios setting to use a 4TB drive.
Have you double checked the Cooler mount for even spread of paste.and uniform contact.

I've tried with multiple drives, one being a 500gb. same issue. I triple checked everything just now and set the mem to the manufacturers timing and voltage and I am running the 64 bit install right now. it is finishing up. I am about to see if it works. As far as the cooler, yes. I used the pea method and I can see a bit of paste come out each side on top of the cpu. It has good coverage but not spilling over. The heatsink and fan and screwed down with the supplied hardware that came with it to the mount on the mobo.

 

[boredombulker]

update:

just pulled the 500gb from the system, just finished the install on the 4TB drive by itself. Removed all other drives from the system. 64 bit install went through no problems. System is up and running. seems FAST! I will need to investigate further. Problem is that I originally tried to install the OS on the 500GB with 3 other drives in the system which I planned to use for storage and for some reason windows installer created a system partition and two other partitions on the 4TB drive even though I told it to install on the 500GB. Now I went and ran the install through just to see if I could get it working and it seems like it is but my 4TB drive is only showing 2TB because it has 3 partitions (unallocated space) windows installer would not let me format it. I will investigate further but it looks for now that this may have been a bad hdd problem or I am wondering if this has something to do with the AHCI ports? this is an older seagate 500gb sata drive that was formatted before install. Could this drive have an issue trying to use the AHCI sata port?

 

[giltyler]

Did you do a quick format when installing windows?
I did a build last year with an older 4yrs drive and it needed a few tries with formatting but has run over a year since without trouble.

 

[boredombulker]

Did you do a quick format when installing windows?
I did a build last year with an older 4yrs drive and it needed a few tries with formatting but has run over a year since without trouble.

in the windows 7 installer it doesnt seem to have an option for quick format. It displays all of the drives and partitions and only has one option for format. I believe you can refresh, format, new partition or install drivers. I am going to get an SSD anyway, no big deal. I will just install the OS on that and then format the 4TB. This will work for now until I get that in. I am wondering about that 500gb drive though. It seems fine, i've never had an issue with it. It seems there was some kind of incompatibility issue, im wondering I put in IDE mode instead of AHCI. I will try to post results as I investigate further.