Strange BSODs

[r1zeek]

Recently bought myself a new rig of the following:

Asus Maximus ii Formula (ROG)
Intel Core2 Quad Core Q9650
2x2gb Corsair Dominator 8500
XFX GeForce 8800 (GTS i think not sure though)
Corsair HX750w Modular PSU
Seagate 500GB Barracuda ES.2 32mb cache

Built it all up and installed XP on it, was being troublesome as it randomly BSOD a couple of times during install and when restarting (too quick to catch the error code). I figured with my copy of XP being SP1a it was just too old so I forked out and got a new copy of Vista. Seemingly in the nick of time as then Vista failed to boot ("Windows did not start correctly, safe mode etc", then it would BSOD every time).

Installing Vista: Boot from CD (I wiped XP off the HDD so it was fresh install), loads the files, gets to the green scroll bar just before it boots the installer and this BSOD pops up:

"DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" - Removed one of the sticks of RAM and this allowed me to get to actually installing vista. At around 7% when it's "Expanding files" the same thing happens.

When I try to reboot and start the Vista install again, it then BSODs with "BAD_SYS_CONFIG" or something similar. I then have to format the HDD (by putting the XP disk in and going to the repair console) and try this again.

I suspect the RAM is the problem as i've tried a different GPU and the PSU should be more than ample, but I don't have a lot of experience building Core2 systems so any advice and help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

[r1zeek]

Found it to be faulty RAM as I suspected.

[r1zeek]

I spoke too soon, it installed Vista fine and I put the Corsair back in and upped the voltage (people say it likes 2.1v), that didn't work (I didn't let it get any further than BIOS), so put the other stick back in which is a value brand stick from another comp.

Now windows won't boot at all, just says "Windows was started incorrectly: Safe Mode, Safe Mode with CMD etc", any option just leads it to hang - safe mode hangs when it loads crcdisk.sys.

When I put the Vista disk in, it says "Windows is loading information" then it just hangs at a black screen.

I've changed the HDD and the DVD drive and all give the same reaction.

The HDD is running on the SATA channel 1 and my DVD drive is operating on the only IDE channel available on the board if that's any help.

Can anyone advise me on what the problem is or anyway to help, i'm losing my mind!

[stevie lee]

do you have ACHI mode enabled in the BIOS,

mine had strange issues with a mix of IDE and SATA devices with ACHI turned on - 5 minute boot up time, random blue screens, random processes crashing, external drive got corrupted via e-sata. i turned ACHI off - changed it it IDE->ACHI (i think) now its 2 minute boot up, no blue screens, no random crashes.

just something for you to try which may or may not work.

[r1zeek]

It was some kind of short, as when I took it out of the case it worked fine. Noticed the SupremeFX X-Fi sound card (1x PCIe) that is supplied with the mobo shorts out against the mounting screw directly below. Fixed with some electrical tape.