Custom built PC problems - need help *solved*

Zombiemambo

I'm at my wits end here, my PC constantly crashes before I can even boot to Windows (64 bit Vista). It seems to POST just fine, but after that it doesn't work reliably at all. I get one of two errors almost every time I start it up: either it shut down unexpectedly and Windows wants me to boot normally or in safe mode (which is weird, since it's routine shutdowns), or it says it's shutting down to prevent loss of data, and it dumps memory to disk (don't know what that means). It also beeps once every time it starts up; according to the net, it doesn't mean anything (Award BIOS). Here are my specs:

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131142

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115028

Graphics card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150252

Power supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817194003

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145034

HDD : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148262

DVD drive/burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151155

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811166005

Operating System: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116204

Can anyone lend me some assistance here? I have no idea what could be wrong.

TychoCelchuuu

None of your links work. They all have the ellipses hard coded into them.

bagelpirate

1.) Try windows XP (32 first, then 64)
2.) Memory test (since it runs fine before windows)
3.) Power supply (I can't see your psu/gfx card so i can't tell for you, but make sure your PSU has enough watts on the 12v rail that the video card is going to)
4.) Those would be my first tests, if its none of those then its definately a hardware fuckup. CPU or HDD would be my first guess, besides RAM and bad install of Vista.

EDIT: Oh, and if your MoBo is one of those fancy more-features-than-an-f15 kind, try turning off (or lowest setting) of all unecasarry options (warning: time consuming)

wallabeeX

The obvious questions that weren't answered through the post:

Can you get into Windows through Safe Mode at all? Was there a power outage or surge of some type? How long has this computer been stable? Has it ever worked?

It sounds like bad RAM. It could be a bad motherboard. I don't think installing Windows XP will do anything but take an hour of your life away - either it'll work or it won't. If it does, you're stuck using a new boot of Windows because you didn't want to sort out the Vista problems, or it doesn't, and you're right where you are now. Bad power supply usually shows up in a "random reset" kind of way, not boot errors.

That's my two cents.

Zombiemambo

Alright, tried XP and some new RAM and it seems okay. Thanks for the assistance!