A little help please?

[Milz]

My newly assembled computer is having a few issues.

I have purchased a AMD X4 955, Corsair Dominator 4GB and a Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H AMD 890GX.

It POSTS fine, can get into BIOS no issues. Now I've tried to install windows 7, but it just freezes when it gets to "Starting installation", before I can even format a disk! I've tired to book into an ubuntu live disk, all freeze on booting. I've run memtest, no errors. I can't pinpoint what the problem could be.

Other components in my system:
Corsair 850w PSU
Samsung DVD-RW

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Big.Wayne]

What's the rest of your specs? . . . all new or used etc?

Dodgy hard disk? . . . bOrked sata cable? . . . . flakey PSU? . . . cables not connected properly to the mobo? . . . lots of possibilities

 

[Milz]

All new.

I've changed the sata cable, I've changed the SATA port it was connected to on the motherboard for the dvd drive. I've checked every cable connected to the motherboard. Hard drives don't even come into the equation when trying to boot a live disc or loading up the windows 7 installer.

I still can't pin it down to a single component.

 

[Milz]

Very strange. I cannot install any operating system. All of the installers just freeze before I can even get to a partitioning phase.

Took my 5870 and used the onboard. From the onboard it kept crashing before I could do anything in a windows installer. However when trying linux I began getting graphical artifacts when it crashed.

I am willing to say at this point the motherboard is possibly defective.

 

[thingemajib]

doesnt sound like its the PSU. I dont know how much load is placed on a system when reading an install disk, but i doubt its much. If you've swapped out the graphics the n it cant really be that either.

A dodgy motherboard would be my first guess. Second being the DVD drive, and RAM being a third possibility.

Is it all fine and dandy if you leave it running the BIOS for an extended period of time? could you try installing with an old IDE drive you might have lying around (if this works then is most likely a borked drive or a dodgy Sata controller)?

 

[Bubba]

How long does it freeze for? I have had machines freeze at this point on both vista or seven for at least 5 minutes but then installs fine and works 100%.

 

[Milz]

doesnt sound like its the PSU. I dont know how much load is placed on a system when reading an install disk, but i doubt its much. If you've swapped out the graphics the n it cant really be that either.


A dodgy motherboard would be my first guess. Second being the DVD drive, and RAM being a third possibility.

Is it all fine and dandy if you leave it running the BIOS for an extended period of time? could you try installing with an old IDE drive you might have lying around (if this works then is most likely a borked drive or a dodgy Sata controller)?

Yeah bios is fine, left it and went to go eat food. Checked the DVD drive and tried my housemates drive as well. No difference.

I have just updated the bios to see if that resolves any issues, but I'm not holding my breath.

How long does it freeze for? I have had machines freeze at this point on both vista or seven for at least 5 minutes but then installs fine and works 100%.

It's a complete systems lock, left it for 10 minutes just to check. Nothing.

Okay so this is whats happening now, more and more often when I try to start the Windows installer.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Does the OP have a Samsung F3 hard disk BTW??

Also the RAM should be set at 1333MHZ.

 

[thingemajib]

dont suppose you could boot into memtest? or a linux liveUSB?

 

[stulid]

where do you live? someone maybe able to help test bits.

 

[Milz]

Does the OP have a Samsung F3 hard disk BTW??

Also the RAM should be set at 1333MHZ.

I don't have a Samsung F3, and my RAM is downclocked to 1333 unganged.

dont suppose you could boot into memtest? or a linux liveUSB?

I cannot boot into any OS. I've tried several linux distos. I have run memtest and passed.

where do you live? someone maybe able to help test bits.

I live in a house of student geeks. We've ruled out most things, only things we can't rule out are the motherboard and the processor.

I've now taken out 1 of the sticks of RAM, just to see what will happen. I'm clutching at straws.

 

[Milz]

Okay so after taking out one stick of RAM. I'm now at the EULA. Never gotten this far before.

Going to swap the sticks over, just to see if one is faulty.

 

[Milz]

So each stick individually works however when paired in either ganged or unganged, all OS installation fails. I think thats safe to say it's a motherboard failure then.

 

[Milz]

So each stick individually works however when paired in either ganged or unganged, all OS installation fails. I think thats safe to say it's a motherboard failure then.

AH HA!

I think I've got it! I manually set all of the RAM values and put the DRAM voltage up to 1.65v (as stated on the specifications). I can now get into a windows installer and linux live disc

 

[Mak3R]

glad you got it sorted.