new computer problems

[harle]

I recently built a computer. Everything was working fine until i tried downloading something. Everytime i would download something, specifically in Firefox, it would give me the NSIS error saying that the file is either corrupted or incomplete. When i would download something in IE, it would say that windows security has blocked this program because it has no digital sigature. I tried fixing this problem by turning everything off windows security, and disabling the program in startup, but the window still comes up saying the same thing.

I happened to get soulseek to download and install without corrupting, but when i started searcing something, it gave me the blue screen of death, and i think it said "drive ircq not equal or less." I really dont know how im going to fix this problem

The two main things i need to get working are:

1. being able to download programs without corrupting
2. gettting windows to stop giving me the blue screen of death after opening up some programs

System Specs:

amd athlon 64 3500+
asus a8n-sli
Evga geforce 7800 GT
Corsair XMS 1 gig(2x512 mb) DDR 400
seagate 200gb ultra pata drive
NEC DVD-RW

Any help would be much appreciated

 

[mechBgon]

Hi harle, welcome to the Forums What you're describing is often caused by inadequate memory voltage, either because the motherboard was left on AUTO for the DIMM voltage or because the power supply is junk, or both.

1) what brand & model is the power supply, and be precise (the label on the side of the PSU will say). If it is some cheap, freebie unit that came with the case, then replace it with a quality aftermarket unit with plenty of wattage. Seasonic S12-500, Antec TruePower2 or NeoPowerHE series, Enermax, Fortron, PC Power & Cooling (nice stuff), something of good quality and I'd go into the 500W range if it were me. But I'm crazy, ask anyone

2) what precise model of Corsair XMS is it (the labels on the modules will tell which variant... C2, XL, LL, Pro, etc)

3) was the mobo's VDIMM left on AUTO? If so, it will probably want raising, that's in the Advanced > JumperFree section of the BIOS menus. What to raise it to... 2.8 volts is a safe all-around bet for Corsair XMS products.

4) on your motherboard, make sure to plug in the EZ Plug, which is a 4-pin power receptacle on the surface of the motherboard just above the upper video-card slot. More wires = better power delivery.

 

[harle]

thank you for for the help, mechbgon.

This actually sounds like it might be exactly what is wrong with my comptuer.

The first thing that i noticed is that the power supply fan was not working. I honestly know nothing about power supplies, so i assumed that the outside fan only started up when the power supply was getting warm, but it never seemed to start at all. The power supply came with this antec case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129158
and seems like a very good power supply, as i have heard that antec makes is a great brand.

Also, the memory that is purchased was this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145449

I hope that zipzoomfly will just let me return the power supply and not the whole case. I am still within the 30 day purchase period, so i am able to send it back without any hassles.

Although i get where this can casue the blue screen, i dont really see how it contributes to corruption of downloads.

Anyways, thank you so much for the help. I have been working on this problem for 6 days now, and i had until this point given up. Now hopefully it works out to being a problem with the power supply only

 

[mechBgon]

The rear fan on the Antec SmartPower units only runs when its temperature gets high enough, so that's all good. And a 500W SmartPower II should be enough to run your stuff. So try raising your memory voltage to 2.8 volts and plugging in the EZ Plug if you didn't already, and it shouldn't take long to find out if that's the solution or not

Memory corruption manifests itself in BSODs and often in corrupted decompression of compressed files, such as during Windows Setup when copying files from the Windows CD, that's another telltale situation.

It could also be a haywire installation of NIS, too, I'm just going for the easy stuff first here Corsair specs up to 2.8 volts on all the XMS modules I'm aware of, so give it a try.

 

[harle]

Is there anyway that i can check if my PSU is working correctly without hooking a multimeter up to it. I've heard that you can check volts in the bios, but i do not know what volts are normal.

Also, I changed the setting in the bios for my ram to 2.8, and when the computer starts up, it says "pnp bios has changed," and it prompts me to install. I did not really know what i was installing, but i was guessing it had to do with the changes that i just made. Anyways, when i tried installing it, it said that it did not install. I do not really know why it did not, but does this mean that the new settings for my ram are not going into effect?

Again, further help with this problem would be much appreciated

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Hi harle, welcome to the Forums What you're describing is often caused by inadequate memory voltage, either because the motherboard was left on AUTO for the DIMM voltage or because the power supply is junk, or both.

1) what brand & model is the power supply, and be precise (the label on the side of the PSU will say). If it is some cheap, freebie unit that came with the case, then replace it with a quality aftermarket unit with plenty of wattage. Seasonic S12-500, Antec TruePower2 or NeoPowerHE series, Enermax, Fortron, PC Power & Cooling (nice stuff), something of good quality and I'd go into the 500W range if it were me. But I'm crazy, ask anyone

2) what precise model of Corsair XMS is it (the labels on the modules will tell which variant... C2, XL, LL, Pro, etc)

3) was the mobo's VDIMM left on AUTO? If so, it will probably want raising, that's in the Advanced > JumperFree section of the BIOS menus. What to raise it to... 2.8 volts is a safe all-around bet for Corsair XMS products.

4) on your motherboard, make sure to plug in the EZ Plug, which is a 4-pin power receptacle on the surface of the motherboard just above the upper video-card slot. More wires = better power delivery.

Yup, he's crazy....but also DAMN good at fixing computers!

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: harle
Is there anyway that i can check if my PSU is working correctly without hooking a multimeter up to it. I've heard that you can check volts in the bios, but i do not know what volts are normal.

Also, I changed the setting in the bios for my ram to 2.8, and when the computer starts up, it says "pnp bios has changed," and it prompts me to install. I did not really know what i was installing, but i was guessing it had to do with the changes that i just made. Anyways, when i tried installing it, it said that it did not install. I do not really know why it did not, but does this mean that the new settings for my ram are not going into effect?

Again, further help with this problem would be much appreciated

You shouldn't get the message from just changing the RAM voltage in BIOS. Either you changed something else or you need to do some BIOS tweeking. In your BIOS there is a setting something along the lines of "PNP OS" or "NON-PNP OS", you should have it set to "NON PNP OS" for Win2k and XP.

You're in good hands from here.

 

[harle]

Ok, so i changed the settings to 2.8 in the bios. When i tried downloading something, it would still corrupt the file.

Also, i was able to to download and install soulseek, but when i started searching for something, and the computer immediately went to the blue screen of death and said i think "driver ircq not equal or less" It does this everytime i try to use soulseek

Ive been working on this problem for 8 days now, which was about 2 days after i finally built the computer, and i have not even had the chance to enjoy the computer. I really hope that this does not end up being a hardware problem because i do not want to send anything back to zipzoomfly because it will take so long to get back.

I was wondering if this could possibly be bios problems? I do not think i have the latest drivers for some of my computer hardware.

 

[mechBgon]

I think I would start from the top. If Windows is corrupted, then it isn't likely to un-corrupt now that the cause has been corrected. Or maybe I'm totally on the wrong track and it's NIS that went bad on you. Anyway, if you want to try again, refer to this thread. I gave pretty much the whole routine in the generally-accepted "proper" order, which may not be the most intuitive order.

You can skip the AMD Processor Driver since you don't have a dual-core model, unlike that guy. The rest should apply. Better luck this time!


edit: thanks for the compliments, BadThad

 

[harle]

So, I finally got around to re-installing windows(a week of midterms is not fun). I changed the voltage settings on my ram to 2.8 Thankfully, I can say that the system is now working great. There are still a few minor problems, but im pretty sure i can figure them out myself.

Thank you for the constant help mechbgon. I think i would still be at my earlier stage of insanity if i did not get your help.

One last question, hopefully. When i update with the win66 chipset, does that include the latest bios for the motherboard?

Again, thank you for all your help.