New build problems, Very unstable

[grimdeath]

i had to rma my mobo for another one since my first one stopped posting or doing much of anything other then powering up so i received the replacement just last night and rebuilt my pc, but unfortunatly im having MAJOR stability issues. Ive tried numerous times to get windows installed but i keep getting BSOD's and the once or twice i actually managed to get it to install it screwed up royally.

I was in the middle of installing sp2 last night when i got a blue screen and it REALLY messed up the install...i couldnt even uninstall sp2 to start over. then the second time i got windows going it was going well, i was avoiding sp2 right off the bat and getting other drivers and such installed when BLAM bsod and another screwed up copy of windows GRRR!!

Here's my specs:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice
EVGA NF4 SLI Motherboard
EVGA Nvidia 7800gt Videocard
2x512(1gb total) OCZ Platinum Ram 3200(400)
80+120 GB WD Hard Drives
Audigy 2 ZS Gamers Edition Soundcard
Fortron 450w psu w/dual 12v rails

Bios changes I can remember making:
-Disabled a floppy drive since i dont have one
-disabled onboard sound
-not a changed, but noticed my ram is running 2T settings instead of 1T like it did in my previous build(before my new upgrade)

Should i just trying reseting to standard settings with no changes?

Im getting to my wits end with at least 10 installs of windows last night failing. Any help would make you a god in my book!

 

[drum]

have you tried installing with 1 stick of ram? have you tested both sticks with memtest to check their integrity?

 

[RKS]

Originally posted by: drum
have you tried installing with 1 stick of ram? have you tested both sticks with memtest to check their integrity?

the EVGA manual has errors regarding memory slot labels. as suggested try 1 stick of ram in each of the 4 slots. i know it is a pain but i could not install XP without errors until i tried 1 stick in a different slot.

 

[grimdeath]

i know of the error, its setup like this:

slots:
1 2 3 4

and suggest you use 1 and 2 or 3 and 4, were u SHOULD use 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. Ive ran both sticks in my previous system no problem but i will try one stick at a time. I did however try moving from 1 and 2 to
and 4 last night....same thing so far...

 

[Imager]

Along with the 1 ram, try to also install without any bios changes.

Not that it should matter, but what the heck...

 

[grimdeath]

well, tried one stick here over my lunch and im now talking to ya from my computer! so what would you expect to be the problem, bad ram or bad timings? at the evga mobo forums i was told i should change the ram timings to make it work correctly

im wanting to run my full 1gb of ram!

 

[NoStateofMind]

^^^^Agreed with the above post. After having it up and running, then instal your sound card and whatever. Sounds like the way to go.

 

[grimdeath]

i already did that, video and sound are installed, along with mobo drivers. so what now? should i try running only the other stick alone and see if it runs bad?

 

[Imager]

that would be my next thing. Maybe run memtest on each stick too. May be the memory bank and not necessarily the stick too....but I think that might be rare.

 

[grimdeath]

hmm, alright, well i know what to do tonight then....at least i know now its possible for the system to be stable lol

 

[Imager]

Thats a + in the right direction! =)

 

[chocoruacal]

I don't get the 'run a stick and see if its bad' technique. Download Memtest86 onto bootable CD/Floppy and test each stick individually and then as a pair if needed. Could be bad RAM, could still be bad motherboard. Also, have you verified that the RAM is getting the proper voltage in the BIOS? The OCZ sticks I have need the voltage set manually

 

[grimdeath]

cool, good good ill try that tonight, i just assumed the "auto" function would work well enough to get started with. ill do all this after work.

 

[grimdeath]

ok, quick update

ive ran both sticks alone with ZERO problems. its been running smooth as butter. i ran 3dmark a moment ago and didnt even have a hiccup(this will be a cool system when its done heh) so about the timings...

i know very little about ram timings. what would be the best settings to go with if i just want them to work, nothing fancy or overclock. just stable. the ram is marked on the side: "2-3-2-5" so should i run that or is that a high timing?

ill check back asap

 

[grimdeath]

just wanted to say, setting the ram to the timings listed on the ram itself has solved my problems so far, been running most of the night with both sticks of ram and they've been stable, ram 3dmark and even installed and ram call of duty 2. thanks for all the help guys. ill be enjoying my new computer for christmas!