I just built a PC, and sofware locks up. Help please.

[marcoco]

I just built my first pc (fun fun..) and had it working wonderfully for a day.
I then decided to move my old HD to my new PC so I could copy files over.
Now my PC locks up every chance it gets (not so fun fun..)

I went back to just one HD and still have the same problem.
It locks up if I do a SCANDISK.. or if I try and create a startup boot disk.
It also locks up if I play Black & White.

I havent been able to get it to lock up in safe mode. This leads me to believe it's a software issue. So I re-format my drive and re-install win98. It locked up during the install.

My PC is a KA266-R, 1ghz Tbird (not overclocked), with 256megs Crucial & a MSI 826 Video Card.

If you have any ideas what might be causing this, please help. I'm going bonkers.

 

[spoma]

if you did a wipe of your drive and tried to do a clean install of 98 and it locked up during the install then that tells you that it is prob not software unless their is a problem with your copy of 98. make sure that all ofyour hardware is connected correctly. make sure ram seeded. make sure cpu fan is turning and make sure everything seems cool. next since you were playing with the harddrives only keep one in there and make sure that it is set to master. are you running on ide or ata100 ports. whichever make sure that it is the correct cable connected securely and that it is the master on the primary of whichever.

 

[lowlevel]

I agree with the assesment given above...were you properly grounded when you were installing/removing your components? Possibly you managed to zap a DIMM with some static electricity? If you have two DIMMs, try removing one and starting the install...if that still fails, re-install the other DIMM, remove the one that was in before and then try starting the install again.

Of course, this process won't work if you simply have one DIMM! Hope it helps you!

 

[DigitalDaddy]

What power supply are you using? Is it recommended by AMD? My dad put a system together that worked fine for a couple of days, then started locking up. He was using a 300watt and locking up. We put a Sparkle 400 watt in and it hasnt locked up since.

 

[marcoco]

I've tried to re-install everything with Only one HD.. re-installed the RAM & CDs.

I formatted the HD + tried to re-install W98.. locked up.. W2K.. locked up..
I just ordered another stick of 256 DDR from Crucial ($56.09 shipped!), I hope this
solves the problem. Maybe I can send the other one back since Its new.

As far as my Power SUpply, the reseller site said it is AMD approved. But how can you really know?

I'm going to try installing W98 on the new HD using my old PC and then move the drive over to the new PC. I tried the old drive in my new PC and it didnt lock up. I'm kind of grasping at straws here until I get my new stick-o-dram.

 

[Bnkrs]

you could also try clearing your cmos. I know I had a simillar problem when i built my first pc. I cleared the cmos. wrote 0's to the drive and starteed over and things worked fine. ALso don't just check to see that things are seated properly. physically remove them and re seat them (while being properly grounded of course)
just my $0.02

 

[GregANDTCH]

"As far as my Power SUpply, the reseller site said it is AMD approved.
But how can you really know?"

Here's a Link to AMD
AMD

 

[Techwhore]

While it could be your RAM, like some have suggested, I hightly doubt that's the problem here. More times than not when RAM is bad, even 1 stick out of 2, the machine won't even POST or will lock up much quicker.

It could be a problem with your hdd, have u tried completely removing your hdd and putting a new one in just to see if u can install an OS?

Also, what heatsink/fan are you using? You mentioned this is the first PC you've built, a good heatsink/fan is extremely important, especially when you're running at or over 1 GHz. It's even more important now that the summer months are here. Locking up the way you described is typical of a cooling issue. Make sure that you have a quality hs/f and that you've appiled an ample amount of thermal grease. You should also reattach the hs/f to assure it's on tight.