Severe Stability Problems in New Installation of Vista/New Computer

[Rattlin Bones]

Hi guys! I'm at the "bash head against wall" stage and would love your help.

Specs:

- OS: Vista Home Premium 64-bit (legit)
- CPU: Phenom II X3 720
- Mobo: Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P
- GPU: Asus 8800GS
- RAM: 2x2GB DDR3 Corsair XMS3 TW3X4G1333C9
- HD: WD Caviar Black WD6401AALS
- PSU: Antec EA650

This is a new computer for me, save for the GPU and other minor components I'm recycling (DVD-ROM, floppy drive). It's actually my first time putting together a computer from scratch, and I was somewhat proud of myself until the trouble started. I followed all precautions known to me, so I don't think static or shorts or anything else has caused the problem.

Basically, once I get into Vista, it's only a short amount of time until the computer resets, locks up, goes to a black screen, one of the above plus beeping[/i], or in one case, a BSOD that said something about an "IRQL" problem. This even happened during the installation of Vista itself, though seemed less of a problem, only happening once or twice. Otherwise, I'm lucky to go a couple of minutes without a crash. There have been times I've gotten farther, and able to install some updates and drivers. But nothing's helped.


Here's what I've done to troubleshoot so far:

#1, I've uninstalled everything and put the main components back together outside of the case.

CPU: Not an expert on CPUs, but the BIOS reports the temperature is fine, and I hear it's extremely rare to get a bad CPU.

Mobo: I've flashed the BIOS to the most current version.

GPU: I've re-tried the GPU in my old set-up, and it's fine there.

RAM: Don't have any other RAM or DDR3-compatible boards, but I've run five passes of memtest+ error-free on one stick, and about one pass on the other (can/will do more; just haven't had the time). I've also shuffled around the RAM to different slots on the board.

HD: Have outright reformatted and tried installing Vista on this HD on my old machine (only new PSU was shared due to how I'd set things back up), and it worked fine. Ran check disk from Vista last night for a while, and no problems turned up. I also tried connecting my old HD to the new computer set-up--the one with my old XP installation on it. And I still got crashes. Lock-ups every time I booted at the welcome screen when it popped up the activation warning.

OS: Seemed to run a bit better after BIOS update, so I tried downloading and running Prime95. Locks up or resets every time I start a test.


I've tried troubleshooting at another forum and have a techie buddy helping me over IM, but we're kind of at a loss. My experience with computers I'd say is limited, but I know the basics. Unfortunately I don't have another motherboard or CPU I can try. I would guess that a motherboard problem is most likely at this point, but I don't know how to confirm that.

One newegg reviewer said that the motherboard's auto-tweak feature was detecting his RAM voltages incorrectly, and he had to set them manually or else he had stability issues (even though he wasn't overclocking). Is this a possibility in my case? I don't know anything about tweaking RAM or what settings it should be at, so I'm not sure how to look into this.

Any thoughts? Thanks so much!

[patio]

Remove one of your 2G RAM sticks...preferably the one you have not tested yet and do a Clean re-install of Vista.

Re-boot and take the machine thru it's paces for a day or so...
If all is well after that power down  and add the 2nd stik of RAM.

PS. Remember to reinstall all your drivers...MBoard chipset drivers 1st.

[Rattlin Bones]

Thanks for your reply, patio.

Tried to do as you suggested. But this time (unlike any previously), Vista installation was extremely sluggish, taking five minutes just to reach the language selection screen, and another five to reach key entry. Finally got there though, and made it all the way to 17% file expansion when, of course, it locked up.

From there I tried to determine what was causing the slowdown. Switched DVD-ROMs. Switched IDE cables. Switched RAM sticks. Switched RAM sockets. Switched SATA outlets. No dice. Same problems.

Also got the message at post "BOOTMGR is missing", which my friend told me only comes up when there's no bootable partition on the HD. But, I was trying to boot from CD/DVD, so this confused me. I know this definitely happened after I double checked my boot order. It's what caused me to think there might be a problem with the DVD-ROM, but I had the same issue using another drive. Could this point to a motherboard problem?

For now I'm running a pass or two of memtest on both sticks. I know this isn't the most efficient use of the program, but I stupidly forgot which stick was which and I need to let the computer do something on autopilot while I take out the trash. Before I go to bed, I think I'll move the HD back to my old computer once again, and try to install Vista there again, to try to rule out a bad HD as being the cause of tonight's slowdown, at least.

Big question: if I were to go on a buying spree of replacement parts, what do you think the best purchases would be?

RAM is a good buy, as I could run all purchased sticks together after I have everything up and running. But limited use of memtest hasn't turned up anything, and those five passes I ran on the one stick would usually be enough to indicate a problem, wouldn't they?

Motherboard seems like a good option, as well. Though I'll definitely be mucking around with an RMA, restocking fee, or private sale at some point.

The Vista installation test I'm going to run later tonight will hopefully rule out a bad HD, once again.

GPU would seem to be a stretch given that it works fine in my other system.

CPU would be expensive, and a harder/more expensive item to unload/restock. And CPUs are much less likely to be bad out of the box, right?

[patio]

You can run MemTest on the RAM...follow the info on creating a bootable CD...
Grab the HDD diagnostics from the drive manuf. site (FREE) and again follow the info on creating a bootable CD.

That will at least eliminate/confirm 2 of the suspects...
Windows does NOT need to be functioning for you to run these tests.
Best of Luck and let us know...