DISK BOOT FAILURE - help

[gelat]

Went to bed, woke up to this message:

DISK BOOT FAILURE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

I tried to recover the drive (150GB raptor) and nothing worked. Then BIOS said it had a smart failure. I RMA'd the drive to Western Digital, and they sent a new one.

I clean installed Vista from upgrade disk, and on the second install (remember, upgrade DVDs need to install twice), it failed. Tried again, failed. Then I remembered, cant install vista with 4GB, so I removed a stick, and installed Vista again.

This time, it worked, so I shutdown, put my second stick in, and BAM

DISK BOOT FAILURE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

I removed a stick, and reinstalled windows. As soon as I put my second stick, the drive goes insane.

This setup had worked find for a YEAR. I dont think the memory is bad, as the first install of vista worked with 4GB (the 1st part that is), and I was actually in Windows.

Any ideas?

 

[RebateMonger]

As always, start with a thorough memory test and hard drive test. You can use Memtest86+ and the disk maker's diagnostics utility.

Double-check all cables and connectors and connections. If you have spare data or power cables, use them.

 

[gelat]

UPDATE:
Memtest said no errors (tested sticks one by one)
Data lifeguard said no errors on drive

I moved my sticks of RAM from slots 1 & 3 to 2 & 4, and now it's booting.
I suppose my memory controller could have gone bad on slot 3???

Doesn't make sense since I could install part 1 of Vista fine using that slot?

FYI - boot order in BIOS was proper as well as active partition set #1 in Vista