Toronado97
n00b
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2009
- Messages
- 16
Let me preface this by saying I've been lurking on these boards for several years now, and this community seems to be by and large the most knowledgeable forum community on the web in regards to computer hardware.
That being said, I've had nothing but problems with a new build I just put together. I recently purchased an E5200 C2D, an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, a Gigabyte P45-UD3R, 2 x 2 GB G.Skill DDR 2 800 RAM, and a WD 640 GB Caviar Black (sata). Parts being reused from my old build are a PNY Geforce 8800 GT 512 MB, the case which is some random generic, a Samsung Lightscribe DVD Drive, and a WD 320 GB 7200 RPM IDE HD. Also, an Ultra X-Finity 550 Watt PSU.
I put the new build together a couple of weeks ago, turned it on, and the computer just beeped at me rapidly for about 10 seconds, and then would reboot. It would loop doing this forever unless the PSU was turned off. After some tinkering, I figured out that if I put RAM in slots 1,3 instead of 2,4, the computer would no longer beep, but would still reboot loop. I then discovered that if I put RAM in only slot 1, it would go right into Windows. I tried my new G.Skill RAM, my old G.Skill RAM (2 x 1 GB DDR2 800) and also a new set of Corsair XMS 2 x 2 GB DDR2800 I purchased from Fry's just for troubleshooting, and the problem would duplicate itself no matter what. I RMA'd the board.
Purchased a Gigabyte P45-UD3P from Fry's, took it home, installed it, and it booted up like a champ. YAY! Problem was, every time I played a game (fresh XP 32 bit install), the computer would hang. Sound stutter, frozen screen, total hard lock. Sometimes it would happen 3 hours into gaming, sometimes 10 minutes. Sometimes at a menu screen, others while in the actual game. I tried several nVidia drivers from 178 to the latest version, I tried updating the chipset drivers, nothing worked. GPU temps never get above 75 degrees, CPU temps never above 60. I put the motherboard on stock settings, still no help. In desperation I decided I'd switch the RAM out and try my old RAM. Well, I put the new RAM in, turned the computer on, and my old friend the rapid beep and reboot loop came back. I am now no longer able to boot the computer with any RAM in a slot other than 1, same exact problem as the old board. I took the E5200 out, and put in the old E6400 in desperation to see if anything changed, and it still won't boot. I cleared the CMOS and removed the battery to the mobo, and the damn thing booted up fine, then I turned it off, turned it back on, and it started the reboot loop again. Kept 1 RAM in slot 1, tried gaming with the E6400 and 1 stick of RAM, and the computer still crashed while gaming.
I've done 24 hours of Prime95 Small FFT, I've done 25 passes of Intel Burn Test with no stability issues (all strings matching), I've done 24 hours of memtest386 with no errors. The damn computer says it's stable, until I play a game on it and it goes to hell. The GPU works fine in another computer, and it worked fine in my old computer. This computer should actually be less power dependant than my old one, so I really don't feel like the PSU could be an issue, although it had crossed my mind. Obviously this motherboard is toast, but can I really be unlucky enough to have the same problem show up twice in a row on two motherboards? Help me HardOCP, you guys are literally my only hope. I have no idea where to go from here. HDTune shows no errors on my HD's, I've done Windows reinstall just to double check, drivers seem fine. I'm literally at my wits end here.
Sorry for the uber long read, but it's a lot of information to catch you up on. Any help at would be greatly appreciated.
That being said, I've had nothing but problems with a new build I just put together. I recently purchased an E5200 C2D, an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, a Gigabyte P45-UD3R, 2 x 2 GB G.Skill DDR 2 800 RAM, and a WD 640 GB Caviar Black (sata). Parts being reused from my old build are a PNY Geforce 8800 GT 512 MB, the case which is some random generic, a Samsung Lightscribe DVD Drive, and a WD 320 GB 7200 RPM IDE HD. Also, an Ultra X-Finity 550 Watt PSU.
I put the new build together a couple of weeks ago, turned it on, and the computer just beeped at me rapidly for about 10 seconds, and then would reboot. It would loop doing this forever unless the PSU was turned off. After some tinkering, I figured out that if I put RAM in slots 1,3 instead of 2,4, the computer would no longer beep, but would still reboot loop. I then discovered that if I put RAM in only slot 1, it would go right into Windows. I tried my new G.Skill RAM, my old G.Skill RAM (2 x 1 GB DDR2 800) and also a new set of Corsair XMS 2 x 2 GB DDR2800 I purchased from Fry's just for troubleshooting, and the problem would duplicate itself no matter what. I RMA'd the board.
Purchased a Gigabyte P45-UD3P from Fry's, took it home, installed it, and it booted up like a champ. YAY! Problem was, every time I played a game (fresh XP 32 bit install), the computer would hang. Sound stutter, frozen screen, total hard lock. Sometimes it would happen 3 hours into gaming, sometimes 10 minutes. Sometimes at a menu screen, others while in the actual game. I tried several nVidia drivers from 178 to the latest version, I tried updating the chipset drivers, nothing worked. GPU temps never get above 75 degrees, CPU temps never above 60. I put the motherboard on stock settings, still no help. In desperation I decided I'd switch the RAM out and try my old RAM. Well, I put the new RAM in, turned the computer on, and my old friend the rapid beep and reboot loop came back. I am now no longer able to boot the computer with any RAM in a slot other than 1, same exact problem as the old board. I took the E5200 out, and put in the old E6400 in desperation to see if anything changed, and it still won't boot. I cleared the CMOS and removed the battery to the mobo, and the damn thing booted up fine, then I turned it off, turned it back on, and it started the reboot loop again. Kept 1 RAM in slot 1, tried gaming with the E6400 and 1 stick of RAM, and the computer still crashed while gaming.
I've done 24 hours of Prime95 Small FFT, I've done 25 passes of Intel Burn Test with no stability issues (all strings matching), I've done 24 hours of memtest386 with no errors. The damn computer says it's stable, until I play a game on it and it goes to hell. The GPU works fine in another computer, and it worked fine in my old computer. This computer should actually be less power dependant than my old one, so I really don't feel like the PSU could be an issue, although it had crossed my mind. Obviously this motherboard is toast, but can I really be unlucky enough to have the same problem show up twice in a row on two motherboards? Help me HardOCP, you guys are literally my only hope. I have no idea where to go from here. HDTune shows no errors on my HD's, I've done Windows reinstall just to double check, drivers seem fine. I'm literally at my wits end here.
Sorry for the uber long read, but it's a lot of information to catch you up on. Any help at would be greatly appreciated.