Help, computer wont boot

[AzNPinkTuv]

Hey guys, My recent rig is in the signature.

Quick summary of the problem is, i built the rig i have in my sig a few weeks back after buying the parts about a month ago.

Edit...

so i tested each individual ram module in slot 1, then in slot 3 (the white ones where the ram is supposed to go). turns out both ram modules might be ok. they both passed memtest without errors in slot 1.

when put in slot 3, neither of the ram modules will even allow the computer to post. does that mean the slot number 3 is busted and i should RMA? Gigabyte seems to only be 20 minutes away car ride from me so i can drop by on tuesday

now i have another problem. my computer wont boot into windows even with only 1 ram module plugged in. it bluescreens when it starts to load the windows 7 logo and then restarts itself and is an endless cycle.

what does that signify? do i need to reinstall because the on's and off's may have corrupted my windows?

 

[ekoostik]

Have you done any tweaking in the BIOS?

So each stick works by itself in slot 1, or by itself in slot 3? But with both slots filled it doesn't work?

It sounds like you have the right slots but just to be sure - by slot 1 you mean the 2nd slot from the CPU and by slot 3 you mean the 4th slot from the CPU, right?

A reinstall couldn't hurt if you have the time. Odd that it stopped working now. Are you sure you're getting the RAM fully seated? When you did the initial install, did you only have one stick inserted?

Have you gone into BIOS and done a Load Optimized Defaults and tried to boot with the RAM inserted? If that doesn't work try Load Fail-Safe Defaults.

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

to answer your questions,
yeah each slot works by itself in slot 1 but in slot 3, originally the computer just one day stopped booting. and yes im using the right slots. (white ones_

i just reflashed the board and reset the CMOS by taking the battery out and it now loads into windows but im only getting access to 2 gigs of my 4 gigs. other part says hardware reserved in win7 and in the bios, it recognizes the second dimm in slot 3 but it doesnt say dimm slot is enabled.

can anyone give me some input on how to enable this? or is my mobo just busted. i havent reseated my CPU today (lack of time) but last i checked, all the pins are fine so i dont know whats really going on.

i dont really know what brought about this since my voltages and temp were mostly stock (bumped vcore to 1.28 to hit 3.6 on air, and it ran stable for a long time. although now that i look back to it, sometimes when i left my computer on, such as in the middle of gaming or something, the screen would display just solid lines and i would need to reboot. happened a few times. could these 2 be related to my ram somehow failing or my mobo being pushed to hard so the dimm slot eventually failed?

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

Update:

so i checked my pins just now, and one was alittle bit bent and i put it back in line with a pair of tweezers. my ram issue is now solved.

I cant get it to boot into windows tho, everytime the windows screen pops up with the loading bar on the bottom and the 4 circles forming the logo, the computer freezes and restarts after a BSOD. I dont know what exactly is wrong with it since hte BSOD flashees and then just shuts off and i dont know how to get a memory dump done to check what the problem is.

my bios now shows all 4 gigs enabled as does memtest which is good though so my DIMM slot and ram werent broken as i thought they were.

should i now reinstall windows since im getting these issues?

 

[ekoostik]

Glad to see you got the memory situation sorted. Usually with the socket 1156s (and I think I've read 1366s) when you run into the problem with 4 GBs installed but only 2 GBs usable it's because of poor contact with pins. Sometimes reseating the CPU is enough to fix it, sometimes you have to check for bent pins, as you discovered.

If you're going to reinstall the OS, and this seems to be a good time to do that, I would first revert your board back to stock so the system is as stable as possible and to avoid any corruptiong during the install. Go into BIOS and choose "Load Optimized Defaults". You may also want to take this opportunity to upgrade your BIOS to the latest if you haven't done so already. Use the QFlash option, do not use the windows based @BIOS it can cause corruption and especially given your BSOD issues.

After you've Loaded Optimized Defaults, re-install, and then run for a while to make sure you have a stable system before you start changing anything. That way once you start overclocking if you run into any issues you'll know its related to the OC and will remove doubts about the hardware.

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

currently, im running Memtest for a few hours just to make sure memory is stable at optimized settings.

Could you tell me exactly what AHCP or whatever it is that all the people are telling me to set it to is different from IDE in the bios and how the 64 hpet or whatever benefits me over 32bit. do these settings matter much?

also, why exactly is my windows not booting? is it because the files got corrupt? or will we never find out. I do plan on doing a reinstall since nothing seems to be the problem but im curious as to why i could boot into windows with 1 stick of ram and a minimalist boot earlier after i reseated my pin and now i cant.

 

[ekoostik]

Could you tell me exactly what AHCP or whatever it is that all the people are telling me to set it to is different from IDE in the bios and how the 64 hpet or whatever benefits me over 32bit. do these settings matter much?

HPET Mode should be set to match your OS, e.g. if you're 64-bit Windows then set HPET Mode to 64-bit.

AHCI is the newer standard vs the older IDE. There are definite differences, their usefulness and affect on performance is often debated. I opted for AHCI. Read this for some more detail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Host_Controller_Interface

also, why exactly is my windows not booting? is it because the files got corrupt? or will we never find out. I do plan on doing a reinstall since nothing seems to be the problem but im curious as to why i could boot into windows with 1 stick of ram and a minimalist boot earlier after i reseated my pin and now i cant.

If the system was unstable during install, it's possible something was corrupted then. Or perhaps with your OC when you got the second RAM stick working the OC was unstable. A file could have been corrupted, I don't know, but that's why I recommend taking small steps, making just a few changes at a time. Re-installing your OS with BIOS at defaults and testing for stability will give that assurance that everythings fine. Then you can start messing with BIOS.

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

the first time i installed with all the componenets in the slots they are currently in everything was at stock is what im saying.

but yeah, with all the ons and offs and fiddling maybe i fudged something up. reinstalls are pretty painless i guess

just need to redownload Wow and L4D 2 =/

howw long do you think i should run everything at stock before i start OC'ing again. im planning to run a session of prime for ~6 hours tonight after i do the reinstall

 

[ekoostik]

6 hours should do it. I also like to use Intel Burn Test (uses linpack), you can decide whether or not that's necessary. But I would run a few gaming sessions to make sure its stable under your 'every day' use. Once you've done some stability testing and put it through a few normal use sessions, that should give you a good sense the system is stable at stock.

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

eko, thanks for being so helpful so far.

I ran the intel burn test at maximum stress 15 times last night and it stated it was stable at stock speeds.

I did notice some things today however that kind if are worrying to me.

When i was playing WoW doing a raid (all settings are on with 8x multisample at 1920x1080), a bunch of blue verticle bars showed up and i had to force reboot. i dont kno wwhat the cause of that is.

2nd, the +12 volt rail in speedfan is showing 13-15V when running prime 95 and intel burn test. i didnt check when i was playing games. that worrys me because either the sensor is fried or the mobo itself is being overvolted like crazy.

what should i do? everything is on stock.

if it matter's right now im running 1 dvd sony optiplex, 1 seagate harddrive, 1 i5 750, 3 yate loon low speeds, 2 stock case fans, 1 hd5770. but not all of those things are on the 12 rail so i dont know whats going on.

 

[busydude]

Maybe it is your PSU that's causing the problem, maybe.

What is your current PSU btw?

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

im using the antec earthwatt 650

all the other rails seem to be fine.

and i havent had any other issues so far. seems stable right now the system at stock.

will update more