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A wee bit dramatic? Maybe.
New:
Athlon 64 x2 5000+
Gigabyte 780G AM2
4GB Gskill DDR800
WD 600GB 7200RPM
EVGA 8800GTS 512 G92
bTarantula 550W PSU
Thermaltake Spirit II NB Cooler
3x Enermax Marathon case fans
Dell 2408WFP
The Full Story (skip to the end if you just want the current state):
Day 1:
I hook up the above hardware with the exception of the PSU which is actually a BFG 650W from a previous build. I power up, the fans barely spin then stop.
I swap out the BFG and try testing with a working OCZ ModStream from my previous gaming rig. I hook it up, power it on and "POP". The Modstream is dead. It will no longer power the new or old setup. Hooray!
Day 2:
I got to the store and buy a bTarantula 550W modular PSU. I hook this baby up and presto, the system springs to life. Having successfully started on the workbench, I now shut it all down and do the case install. I test again and it works. Celebration all around...(with the exception of a short ceremony with taps being played for my dead OCZ. RMA is created for that baby)
Day 3:
I install Vista Business successfully, motherboard drivers, video card drivers, etc. Everything looks great. I'm concerned because my old Lian Li case fans seem anemic in their air movement, so I start installing monitoring software (CPUID Hardware Monitor, for starters). I discover that a probe is reading 85C idle somewhere in my system. My CPU, both cores, and GPU and "system ambient" temps are all accounted for with good temps (mid 30's C, 40C for GPU). I start doing research and posting here (in Overclocking and Cooling section...ref: Holy HOT chipset batman!).
Day 4-5:
Back to microcenter I go to buy more crap. The NB on this 780 seems like it could fry an egg, so I buy a Thermaltake Spirit II NB cooler and 3 new case fans. Install goes smoothly and the Spirit II feels only warm to the touch. Stupid temp probe still reads 85C, so I deduce it's a bullshit reading. That's not hard to imagine since right next to it are readings saying my CPU cores are 8 and 10 C. I run some Orthos PRIME stress tests succesfully.
Day 6:
I get home from work to find my machine at the post screen...but frozen. Considering I left it idling at the desktop in Vista, this isn't encouraging. I reboot. A few minutes into operation, Firefox crashes...followed by Vista being unable to kill the app...followed by Vista becoming unresponsive. I reboot and run Memtestx86 for a couple hours. No errors.
Day 7:
CURRENT STATE
I reboot...and Vista doesn't come up. It just goes black after POST is completed. I reboot and try safe mode with Networking. It hangs trying to load files. I reboot and try straight safe mode...and it hangs about half way through loading files. Thinking my Vista install could have become corrupted, I boot from the Vista CD and wipe the drive and do a reinstall. Everything seems painfully slow (though this could be patience waning at this point). I leave the install going overnight for the normal Vista install | reboot | install happyness.
Morning comes (this morning) and I find Vista installer is hung at "Completing Install" at the very end. I reboot, and the same thing: black screen trying to get into Vista.
I disconnect every device, remove the hard drive, and set up "frankenstein" style again to rule out any overloading of the PSU, shorting to the Lian Li case, etc. Thinking my NB cooler install might not have gone as well as I'd thought, I take it off and check the surface. The NB chip looks good, no crushing or burning and the thermal grease isn't too thick or smeared off the chip. I reinstall the NB cooler. I hooked up the video card, motherboard (main ATX + 4pin 12v), a BenQ DVD rom drive, and the WD hard drive. I left for work this morning with my next attempt at a fresh Vista install going.
I don't think I've worked on a machine that's downward spiral'd like this once it was working.
Any suggestions on where to go from here? I'm running out of ideas and I'd hate to just RMA everything because I can't figure it out...
My current thoughts:
Motherboard is defective
CPU is defective
Possibly overloading the PSU? Can't see how this is possible since bad behavior persists with minimal hardware hookup...
Memory should be clean since it has passed overnight memtest x86, right?
New:
Athlon 64 x2 5000+
Gigabyte 780G AM2
4GB Gskill DDR800
WD 600GB 7200RPM
EVGA 8800GTS 512 G92
bTarantula 550W PSU
Thermaltake Spirit II NB Cooler
3x Enermax Marathon case fans
Dell 2408WFP
The Full Story (skip to the end if you just want the current state):
Day 1:
I hook up the above hardware with the exception of the PSU which is actually a BFG 650W from a previous build. I power up, the fans barely spin then stop.
I swap out the BFG and try testing with a working OCZ ModStream from my previous gaming rig. I hook it up, power it on and "POP". The Modstream is dead. It will no longer power the new or old setup. Hooray!
Day 2:
I got to the store and buy a bTarantula 550W modular PSU. I hook this baby up and presto, the system springs to life. Having successfully started on the workbench, I now shut it all down and do the case install. I test again and it works. Celebration all around...(with the exception of a short ceremony with taps being played for my dead OCZ. RMA is created for that baby)
Day 3:
I install Vista Business successfully, motherboard drivers, video card drivers, etc. Everything looks great. I'm concerned because my old Lian Li case fans seem anemic in their air movement, so I start installing monitoring software (CPUID Hardware Monitor, for starters). I discover that a probe is reading 85C idle somewhere in my system. My CPU, both cores, and GPU and "system ambient" temps are all accounted for with good temps (mid 30's C, 40C for GPU). I start doing research and posting here (in Overclocking and Cooling section...ref: Holy HOT chipset batman!).
Day 4-5:
Back to microcenter I go to buy more crap. The NB on this 780 seems like it could fry an egg, so I buy a Thermaltake Spirit II NB cooler and 3 new case fans. Install goes smoothly and the Spirit II feels only warm to the touch. Stupid temp probe still reads 85C, so I deduce it's a bullshit reading. That's not hard to imagine since right next to it are readings saying my CPU cores are 8 and 10 C. I run some Orthos PRIME stress tests succesfully.
Day 6:
I get home from work to find my machine at the post screen...but frozen. Considering I left it idling at the desktop in Vista, this isn't encouraging. I reboot. A few minutes into operation, Firefox crashes...followed by Vista being unable to kill the app...followed by Vista becoming unresponsive. I reboot and run Memtestx86 for a couple hours. No errors.
Day 7:
CURRENT STATE
I reboot...and Vista doesn't come up. It just goes black after POST is completed. I reboot and try safe mode with Networking. It hangs trying to load files. I reboot and try straight safe mode...and it hangs about half way through loading files. Thinking my Vista install could have become corrupted, I boot from the Vista CD and wipe the drive and do a reinstall. Everything seems painfully slow (though this could be patience waning at this point). I leave the install going overnight for the normal Vista install | reboot | install happyness.
Morning comes (this morning) and I find Vista installer is hung at "Completing Install" at the very end. I reboot, and the same thing: black screen trying to get into Vista.
I disconnect every device, remove the hard drive, and set up "frankenstein" style again to rule out any overloading of the PSU, shorting to the Lian Li case, etc. Thinking my NB cooler install might not have gone as well as I'd thought, I take it off and check the surface. The NB chip looks good, no crushing or burning and the thermal grease isn't too thick or smeared off the chip. I reinstall the NB cooler. I hooked up the video card, motherboard (main ATX + 4pin 12v), a BenQ DVD rom drive, and the WD hard drive. I left for work this morning with my next attempt at a fresh Vista install going.
I don't think I've worked on a machine that's downward spiral'd like this once it was working.
Any suggestions on where to go from here? I'm running out of ideas and I'd hate to just RMA everything because I can't figure it out...
My current thoughts:
Motherboard is defective
CPU is defective
Possibly overloading the PSU? Can't see how this is possible since bad behavior persists with minimal hardware hookup...
Memory should be clean since it has passed overnight memtest x86, right?
