Problem there is that if the parts show no fault (which I suspect will be the case) then he's paid to ship back to vendor, will have to pay to ship back to himself and likely pay a fee for the NFF. He *really* needs to get the proper voltage set for his RAM, and run some testing. As for being patient... I don't think anyone here is showing any impatience whatsoever - it's all good, solid advice.Originally Posted by ExHail
Vista has issues installing with 4GB of memory but it also looks like you may also have faulty memory, I would hold of sending random components back until you have done testing. MEM test is the best advice here atm run that and see if you can find a fault.
__________________
Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.
Error exists between Keyboard & Chair replace User and press Any Key!
.... Where's the Any Key???
One other thing you can check for:
On my previous builds the motherboards had extra holes that could be mis-construed as mounting holes. DO NOT install screws at those locations as it will short out the motherboard. Check with the motherboard manual for the appropriate mounting hole locations.
Thanks for all the advice so far guys, it's quite reassuring to have help from people who know what they're talking about.
Just to eliminate a few of the possibilities, I've tried running each stick at a time, the problem persists. I've changed the ram timings to those specified for the OCZ Reaper kit, and that doesn't help. Neither does a change in voltage. I'm pretty darn sure I haven't put any screws in the mobo where they shouldn't be.
I am currently on a different PC, burning a copy of memtest on. Do I just burn it to disc, then boot from disc, simple as that?
It's quite frustrating at the moment, knowing I have a beast of a PC that won't stay on for more than a minute. I guess power really is nothing without control.
Just to reiterate what's actually happening, basically...all sorts. Sometimes I will turn it on and the PC is on, but the monitor doesn't show anything. Sometimes it freezes at varying points of the boot. Sometimes it freezes just before loading the login screen, or on the progress bar. Sometimes it gets to when the login screen should appear, then just...restarts.
In hindsight I feel quite stupid, I've spent all my cash on this build, leaving nothing spare for any possible need to return items, or replace them.
Any further advice would be hugely appreciated, as it that which has already been offered.
Time to burn memtest.
I hope when you send the motherboard in for testing that the replacement comes quickly... Its never nice to be without your PC.
You burn Memtest as you would any other .iso (ie don't just copy the file to CD, use something like Nero, CDBurnerXP or ImgBurn to burn the raw file as an image). Then boot from it and leave it for a few hours.
Can you try any other components ie HDD, cpu, PSU? I'd have said HDD prob at first glance due to similar bugger-ups i've had with a dodgy HDD.
We've all been there with first builds, check all the cables are in tight (i've forgot to plug in things a hundred times & spent hours trying to figure out what was wrong!) Check your mobo isn't shorting on the case (ie build your pc up outside of the case, be careful of static!) reseat the cpu, etc etc
Well I took it to my friends on Saturday, he had a little jiggle, turns out I didn't have the latest BIOS, or the latest GPU driver. Both were put on, using my friends monitor (;eft mine at home) and it seemed to then work fine. I got through a couple hours of Afro Samurai on it being watched from the DVD drive, then bang...freezes. So I restarted, got through another hour of Afro and then...froze. Rebooted, finished watching it, and thought, hey, I can livew with a freeze every hour or two, until next weekend when we can look for another problem. Take it home, it runs for all of 20 minutes, then the screen freezes. On a reboot, nothing will come up on the monitor (my monitor) at all.
A few things of note- when it was at my friends, three times over the space of about 6 hours, the graphics card went nuts, blowing out air like nobodys business for ages, whilst the PC had frozen. This was accompanied I think by some red lights on the GPU. Also, my monitor at home (yes this is ridiculous) has a pin missing in the connector. I'm picking up my friends monitor and will be using his from now on, generous guy.
So I'm taking it back to my friends this weekend, God knows what we can do. If it isn't fixed this weekend then I get paid on the 24th and may just get it fixed professionally. I just want my frickin PC!
My friend also suggested possible component incompatibility, so I thought I'd list it-
Asus P5Q Deluxe
4GB OCZ Reaper 1066
1TB Samsung F1 Spinpoint HDD
ATi Readeon HD4870
Q6600
1000W Collermaster RealPower PSU
Antec 900
The fact that I know can't get a display is very disheartening to me, and I don't think it's the monitor, as I see no HDD activity, and my mouse/keyboard normally light up, which they are no longer doing.
Did you actually get round to running Memtest? Do you get any error message when you restart after a freeze?
Sounds like the memory or the motherboard.
Run memtest and it'll tell you if you have a motherboard or ram issue.
Is it the Asus boards that are quite picky with RAM? Dangel has a weird issue with his current build and he has heard Asus boards being "quirky" but he uses Geil ram not OCZ and of course he is using a GTX280 and not a HD4870...common factor is motherboard.
Take a read of his thread here and if you are interested his current build here.
Hopefully the symptoms will be similar and may discern the fact the board doesn't like certain RAM/GPU/PSU configs and we can try and assist from there on.
But please do run memtest and let us know how it goes. It'll only take 15 minutes of your time to do 1 pass (enough time to go watch a tv episode and it'll have done 2 passes).
I've had the exact same issues - Was memory for me.
I'd say this is 90% memory - Run Memtest NOW. Both Crucial and Corsair ask me to run memtest before sending any parts back for testing and definitely do not take the advice from the guy claiming its the motherboard (the probability claim is false) and to send all your parts back.
You will be charged for this and in this instance your problems are bang smack in the middle of ram error territory.
Google memtest - It's easy to run. ANY errors on memtest is warrant enough for a replacement.
Last edited by CrazyMonkey; 16-09-2008 at 12:31 AM.
memtest does not prove that the memory is faulty, only that there is an issue between the motherboard and RAM.
When my machine failed memtest it was the motherboard not the RAM that was at fault.
You'd need spare (in working order) hardware to successfully pinpoint the problem.
Read the FAQ here for further information.
Last edited by sleepyhead; 16-09-2008 at 08:24 AM. Reason: Minor update
what was the problem with the mobo when u had the memtest failure? just curiours : )
I've said it before and will say it again... ITS THE MOTHERBOARD. Now take it out your PC and ship it back to the store you got it from for a replacement.
The red light on your GFX comes on because the motherboard is not communicating with the card properly. And all your components are perfectly compatible its just your useless motherboard that is not functioning properly in order to link them together.
Please stop running this guy around in circles... he should of shipped his motherboard back to the store 2 weeks ago and this problem would not have been such a big issue.
Please qualify that statement. Are you making guarantees that if he RMAs and it's a NFF you'll cover the charges?
What we're suggesting is basic troubleshooting. Had he run Memtest on the 31st August as I'd suggested we might have gotten a little further, but everything points to the fact that it's not been done as yet.
sleepyhead (16-09-2008)
Because it is an LGA 775 motherboard the memory controller is on the motherboard so I assume that went wonky and as such was the cause of memtest failure and not the RAM modules. I had almost my whole PC sent for RMA due to this problem. I assumed it was the RAM and RMA'd 3 different sets with one 1 set being faulty and the other two fine.
Thank you splash for iterating my thoughts.
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