Need troubleshooting help

[Shropshire]

I recently built a new computer and the computer seems to crash a lot. I do not know what is causing the crashes. Here are the components I have installed in my build:

Intel i7-930 (not overclocked)
MSI Big Bang Xpower Mainboard
Thermaltake 875 watt power supply
EVGA GTX 465 OC
Western Digital Black Caviar 1 TB HDD
Patriot 3 x 2GB DDR3 Memory (PSD36G1600KH)
LG Blu-Ray Reader/Writer
Case: Cooler Master Storm Sniper
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

The computer has started not recognizing my HDD and I am completely stumped on why it keeps on crashing when I start the computer up. I brought the computer in for diagnostics and the person advised I switch to ACHI instead of RAID or IDE. Should I switch to an ASUS board or is there something else causing the problem? Should I bring it to another store for a second opinion? Any and all help is appreciated from forum members. Thank you in advance.

I just realized I posted in the wrong forum. If a moderator could move this to Computer Help I would appreciate it. Thank you.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Is the problem intermittent?
Did it start all of a sudden?
Have you run Western Digital's diagnostics on the HDD?
Have you run memtest on the ram?
Have you reseated all components?
Do you get any error messages when it crashes?
Have you checked the MB for any bad caps?
Have you scanned for viruses/malware with an updated anti virus software?
Have you tried running a minimal install with just one stick of ram, GPU, HDD and CPU?

These are in no particular order and I'm hoping the questions will shed a little more light on your problem.

 

[Shropshire]

Is the problem intermittent?
Did it start all of a sudden?
Have you run Western Digital's diagnostics on the HDD?
Have you run memtest on the ram?
Have you reseated all components?
Do you get any error messages when it crashes?
Have you checked the MB for any bad caps?
Have you scanned for viruses/malware with an updated anti virus software?
Have you tried running a minimal install with just one stick of ram, GPU, HDD and CPU?

These are in no particular order and I'm hoping the questions will shed a little more light on your problem.

The problem has occurred since I built the system. What does a bad cap look like? I was running an updated anti-virus software and I couldn't find any viruses or malware.

I will reseat all the components and attempt to get the computer to start so I can check the RAM and hard disk. I will also run memtest.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Bad caps usually bulge. Since the problem has occurred since you built it, you need to do a minimal install as already mentioned and make sure that it is stable before adding more components to the system.

 

[Shropshire]

I ran memtest and the software did not find any problems with the ram granted I did not do this with each individual stick of ram. I placed once stick at a time to see which one was bad but the system booted up no problem with all three sticks. I ran the WD diagnostic tool and the hard drive is ok. The errors I get are: Memory Management, Page Fault In Nonpaged Area. I could not see a bad capacitor on the motherboard and I have flashed to the latest bios. I am stumped.

 

[mfenn]

I ran memtest and the software did not find any problems with the ram granted I did not do this with each individual stick of ram. I placed once stick at a time to see which one was bad but the system booted up no problem with all three sticks. I ran the WD diagnostic tool and the hard drive is ok. The errors I get are: Memory Management, Page Fault In Nonpaged Area. I could not see a bad capacitor on the motherboard and I have flashed to the latest bios. I am stumped.

If the crashes are occurring with all 3 memory sticks, run memtest will all 3 sticks!

 

[Shropshire]

If the crashes are occurring with all 3 memory sticks, run memtest will all 3 sticks!

I did but the funny thing is memtest does not show any errors on any of the memory sticks. I am stumped on what is causing the crashes.

 

[Shropshire]

Update my system is running error free now that I switched to Kingston Hyper X ram that was tested on my motherboard.