Pc Problems ( new build )

Hello everyone im having a pc issue im wondering if i could get some help on this please.


First let me try and give you all the detail so you guys can narrow down my problem.


I just build a new pc and everything installed perfectly , I installed vista , worked fine. Then i updated all the windows updates and every other driver. I installed Crysis and hellgate london and both games crash right away. my screen goes black and i get a bsod , when vista reloads windows says its a video card driver issue.

My pc details are

The Computer is on default settings ( nothing is overclocked , except the vid card which is factory overclocked )

Everything is new except the cpu

Cpu - E6600 [ running default speed ] ( borrowing from my bro , he got a q6700 im using the e6600 until i can get the 9450. the chip was oced for 2 months at 3ghz stock cooling no heat issues thou , the case door was left open )
Mobo - Asus P5E
Ram - Gskill 2x2 4gig PC8000 This one
Hard Drive 1 - Western Digital Raptor X
Hard Drive 2 - Western Digital 3200AAKS
Sound Card - X-Fi ExtemeGamer
PSU - Corsair 620HX
Monitor - 24" WestingHouse L2410NM
Vid Card - XFX 8800GT Alpha Dog Edition XXX ( Factory Overclocked )This One
Cpu Cooler - Thermalright Ultra Exteme 120 with a Scythe Fan
Dvd Drive - Asus This One
Used AS5 for the thermal compound.

Im using 2 Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm fans 1 for the cpu and 1 for the vid card.
both are connected to the 4pin on the mobo im also using another 120mm case fan on the mobo 4 pin. the other 2 fans are on the psu connectors.

Plugged in the mobo 8 pin volt , there was a cap over the back 4 took it off to install the 8pin one ( not sure if this matters over the 4 pin one ).


Now here is what i did. First i tried installing the drivers that came on the xfx cd , didnt work. Btw the os is vista 64bit. when i tried installing it , it said the system was not 64 bit weird but it actually is. ( Drivers on the cd are 167.26 )
I went online and downloaded the Newest nvidia drivers 64bit , these installed perfectly and the game loaded and went into the menu when i try and play the game crysis , and hellgate london both would not run for more then 2 mins.
I went and installed driver cleaner , Then Tried the 167.26 , 169.25 , 169.32 , 169.38 , 171.16 , 169.21, and the omega nvidia drivers. None would work , all of them gave me a Bsod after starting the single player or multiplayer mode.

I noticed the vid card was getting hot even thou riva tuner was on 60% so i went and installed the thermalright Gt for the 8800Gt, temps dropped down to 29C idle and 37C load.
Even thou the temps dropped still the same crash.
I went ahead and flashed the asus bios to the newest one from the mobo website. That didnt help either. next i tested the memory ran memtest for 4 hrs , no errors at all.
After about 2 days of trying to find the problem i decided to try vista 32 bit , same problem as the 64 bit , this time thou the drivers on the xfx cd installed. but still same problem.
I ran a Video 3d test and after about 5 mins of the 3d simulation it gave me a bsod , whats going on ?? , is my card bad or something ?.

I then tried and installed the drivers that came with my bro's Bfg 8800Gt , it was the 167 forceware not sure exactly what 167 but im sure it was 167. After getting a msg saying they were not the correct drivers for the xfx card i went ahead and still installed them. I tried running my games and hellgate london played for about 3-5 hrs before i got another bsod. in that time period i got around 3 bsod and crysis no matter what would not go past the menu. Every time windows started i would get a msg from vista 64 and 32 bit saying that there was a nvidia driver issue that caused this problem. Can anyone help me out here im going nuts trying to figure this out. I finally get a nice pc upgrade since my last one was a P4 3ghz Northwood and my new one wont play games without crashing

I formatted the os a few times also 2x for the 64 bit vista and once for the 32bit , this also didnt help same problem all 3 formats , i checked to see if any cables were loose all were in all the way.

My friend is using the same 32bit vista i have and he has a 8800Gt Bfg one and he has no issues at all. im going nuts here , i dont know what the problem is .

Any kind of advice would be helpful , thank you.

Did you try his card in your system?
Did you try another PSU?
Is your system OC'd at all?
If so, what is your PCI-E Frequency and PCI-E Overvoltage set to?

nope i havent tried his card in my system.
i havent tried another psu because i dont have another one , i have the one in my old p4 which is a thermaltake purepower 560W , i can use that if u think its ok for testing.

nope nothing is oced , all defaul settings , the vid card is the only thing oced and thats by the vid card maker. i havent even tried to oc anything yet , was gonna wait until i got the 9450 cpu and then i was gonna oc it.

is your memory running at the reccomended voltage in the bios? i'm not sure of the exact model you are running but i just checked newegg for G.Skill PC8000 and it should be set on 2.0-2.1V

You could also have him try your card in his system.

ill give it a try and let you guys know , i guess ill start with the memory voltage first.

i upped the memory voltage to 2.0 , didnt help still keeps crashing.

i can take a picture of my bios pages with my camera and show it to you guys , just incase something is enabled that it should'nt be.

also ill try and switch his 8800Gt with mine and see if that helps

I switched my gfx card with my bros and he also tested mine and i changed the mobo aswell , so now that i changed everything in the system i know its not hardware related , im still getting crashes.

I noticed on the bottom of windows taskbar a ! icon shows up after i installed drivers all the time , i clicked on it now and saw it says that the nvidia drivers did not install correctly and its asking me to either reinstall them or run them the way they are. On windows its asking me to restart the pc since the drivers just finished installing.

I never noticed this before , so it looks like the drivers are not installing properly for some reason , does anyone know why this is happening , can i fix this somehow so the drivers wont get a messed up install ?.

when i try and reinstall the drivers its telling me im not running 64bit , but the same os im using i tested it on my friends pc and his 8800Gt installed and works fine , i tested all my hardware and no error , the only thing i did'nt try is another hard drive and switch my psu . i did a clean uninstall of the drivers and tried to reinstall again , worked this time but my games still crash , what do you guys think i should do its been 3 days already since ive had this issue and im going crazy here

k i went to safe mode and installed the drivers from there this time , they installed fine. my games ran for about 2 mins this time , but they still crash , here is the error i keep getting , ive been getting this error for the last 3 days since i made the pc.




i havent gotten much sleep today only like 4 hrs worth i tried to sleep , but i kept thinking about the pc.

took the pic with my camera. also everytime i install the drivers on my old pc i see a Nvidia directory on my C drive , on this current os i dont see one anywhere ??


other people are having the same issue http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=58034

well if you have a version of xp lying around and you really want to determine if its software or hardware, i would say install vista even if its as a dual boot

just formated the raptor drive with xp pro and still there is a crash in games but instead of getting a blue screen the game just gets completely pixelated and loops the sound back 2 back and the pc locks up and just keeps repeating the game sound. I reformatted back to vista 64bit again now , just finished.


im gonna replace the ram , the mobo , the vid card and test them out 1 by 1 to see whats going on.

Do you guys have any suggestions ? i could really use some help here.

xglarmy said:

Plugged in the mobo 8 pin volt , there was a cap over the back 4 took it off to install the 8pin one ( not sure if this matters over the 4 pin one ).

Click to expand...

Was there a reason you did this? I don't know if it will have an effect, but my mobo had a similar setup and I just plugged in a 4-pin and have had no problems.

I would also try a different PSU.

Try a different PSU.

Also, run Memtest again but this time, on each stick of RAM separately as well as different slots.

Also, I just want to make sure of the following:

1. You've already tested the video card in another system, correct?
2. You've already tested the RAM in another system, correct?
3. You've already tested the hard drive in another system, correct?
4. You've already tested the PSU in another system, correct?
5. You've already tested the CPU in another system, correct?
6. You've already used a different PSU, correct?
7. You've already used a different motherboard, correct?
8. You've already used a different set of RAM, correct?
9. You've already used a different video card, correct?
10. You've already used a different hard drive, correct?
11. You've already used a different DVD drive, correct?
12. Have you reassembled the PC outside of the case?
13. You have removed the sound card and any un-neccessary hardware, correct?

wow thanks for all the help guys , after 3 damn days i found the problems , check this out.

1st. the drives on the cd that came with xfx are trash
2nd. the power connecter on the card is messed up i tried 3 wires and had to wiggle it a few times. noticed it wasn't getting enough power.
3rd. the raptor had 2 jumpers on the back which was causing issues with my other hd.

i pulled everything out of the case and tested each part 1 by 1 in my bro's pc.

after all the tests i noticed the vid card connector was bad , there was 2 jumpers on the back of the hd which was causing conflicts, after i pulled the jumpers off, my 2nd hd showed up on my pc , and to top if all of the garphic card drivers cd was messed up , im never buying another xfx product again !!!! wish i got evga or bfg .


finally i can get some sleep now , my eyes are blood shot red

xglarmy said:

1st. the drives on the cd that came with xfx are trash

Click to expand...

Huh, I assumed that you were using the latest drivers, not the drivers that came with the card.

Well, remembered an old lesson about assumptions.

i did try the new drivers , i tried few of them actually , but the connector was also messed up so it wasnt getting power fully also , i didnt notice that until i tried my bro's bfg card.


now my last question for you guys

i installed my thermalright gt on the xfx card , obviously im going to take it off before i rma this sucker , but the ram heatsinks are taped on , thank god i didnt use ASC for a permanent hold. but anyways where can i get replacement heatsinks for the Thermalright Gt , since im sure theyre not gonna stick again unless i use ASC and make it permanent.