Fresh Computer freezing up.

[Frix]

I recently purchased a new computer, since I couldn't find a premade powerful enough for my needs without being outside my budget, I decided to assemble the parts myself. So that led me to order a Phenom II X4 970, and I'd thought I'd aimed for compatible hardware from the item on, but once the machine arrived, the directions for hooking up power cables were practically non-existant, including an extra power source for the video card on the motherboard that wasn't listed at all in the directions, after getting the video to display, we did a test of the cooling functions, set it in bios and left the machine running while looking at the temp, and it stayed very cool. After that, I started looking to install windows 7(64 bit) at which point the issues started falling fast and furious, the first thing it didn't take to, was having anything plugged into the USB ports while loading up, it would just freeze on the part of the system loadup where it goes checking for drives, and advertises to load from disc if possible, I removed the new mouse, and used a simpler one from my older(MUCH older) machine, and it got past that screen, and I managed to install my new copy of windows 7(64 bit), which always seems to go without a hitch, no matter how much of teh 1TB drive I format(200GB atm), after installing drivers for the video card, Chipset, and USB drivers, I was able to use the newer mouse, but it still dosen't load past that screen if I have anything else plugged in. After this I've had to deal with another problem, which frankly has me stumped. For whatever reason, and at any time from the moment it starts loading windows(Displays the four points of light that form the flag), it can just freeze up entirely, dosen't slow down, dosen't even seem to stress the processor/Ram, it just freezes on one particular frame, and dosent accept any more input until I power down the machine, or press the power button. I tried turning down the power multiplication on the processor, but there was only certain amount of length I'd feel comfortable turning it down before it would be hurting, and not helping(200x17.5 - 200x10 on the main bus.)(I left the north bus alone at 200x10). This seemed to help sytem stability somewhat, but I'm still having problems with the system freezing up, and every so often it'd tell me about a hyper bus transfer overflow.
My initial build:
CPU:
1- Phenom II X4 970
Motherboard:
1 - MSI 870-G45 Motherboard
Memory:
1 - Centon 2GB DDR3 1333 MHz stick
Video:
1 - Radeon HD 4830 Video Card - 512MB
Hard Drive:
1 - WD Caviar Black Hard drive - 1TB, 7200RPM, 64MB
Case:
Ultra Gladiator Black ATX Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Front USB, FireWire and Audio Ports(650-Watt Power Supply thrown in too.)
Power Supply:
DiabloTek PHD650 650-Watt Power Supply - ATX, SATA Ready, PCIe Ready, 20+4 Pin(Non-modular cording.)
Since I was already looking at upgrading my memory, I figured I'd go ahead and just purchase a set Dual of 4g Dual Channel DDR3 Sticks from Newegg, see if my problems were stemming from lack of memory or channels for memory to be handled through. But even after installing the new sticks, and restting my bios setting to standard, and then failsafe, I still don't know what I'm not fixing, any help at all would be appreciated.

 

[TemjinGold]

I would replace that power supply.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

You need to do some process of elimination detective work here.

Possibilities:
1. power supply
DiabloTek isn't exactly a venerable name in power supplies.

2. RAM incompatibility or bad RAM
Centos is another no-name brand, and modern motherboards can be finicky about the modules they'll work with. If you've bought several DIMMS, try using just one at a time; try different ones. You should check the MSI website for a compatibility list. If your brand isn't among the recommended types, see if you can beg/borrow/steal a compatible module and try it. Download and burn utlimatebootcd and run memtest.

3. If the above two components are confirmed working, you can flash to the latest BIOS. the 970 is a newish CPU and your motherboard might not be compatible out of the box (or at all).

4. video card
Your motherboard doesn't have onboard video, so you'll have to borrow a video you know to be working and try it instead.

5. hard drive
This seems unlikely to me given the description of the problems you're having. But you could try a different hard drive.

6. short
Your case and motherboard could be creating a short somehow. If all of the above suggestions solve nothing, take everything out of the case and put it on a wooden table; connect the basic parts you need to boot the computer. Short the power wire pins using a screw driver to boot the machine (BE VERY CAREFUL...GOOGLE THIS FIRST). If it works now, the problem is a short, which could be an issue with how you put everything together, or it could be a problem with the motherboard or case.

7. If everything else has been eliminated it's probably a bad motherboard. CPUs are rarely defective. RMA the motherboard. Consider spending a bit more to get a higher quality board with a newer (800 series) chipset.

Good luck!

 

[Frix]

Heh, I pulled the 2gb stick, and it worked just fine. Chock one up to newbness.