freezing error on new system - Help!

redfenix

So, i just constructed this system:

Thermaltake SopranoRS VG7000BWS Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W ATX 12V 2.0 Power Supply - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 -

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

ASUS EAH4850/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-8500C5D - Retail

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B - OEM


and after building it, getting it to post, install windows, and restart half a dozen times to update drivers and whatnot, it won't get past the bios splash screen. I've tried disconnecting the dvd drive, hdd, and ram, and still nothing.

in fact, when i dc the ram, i don't get any screen image at all.

things it could be:

--i didn't get to tweak the fan settings on the gpu, so it might be overheating and freezing.
--bad ram - i got it to get past the post screen once when taking one of the sticks out, but haven't been able to reproduce it., also, no combo of one or two sticks, or none, seems to help.

also, the last time i restarted, it was right before i ran the install disk for the dvd drive, and it wanted to flash the firmware.


help please? having a brand new computer just sitting here is killin me

Fantasma

Disconnecting the computer from the power supply and then resetting the bios should let you reconfigure the bios to standard settings.

Read the motherboard handbook first to do the resetting, this normally done using a jumper next to the battery.

Be careful.

redfenix

yeah, i don't think i can get that far in, frankly

it's a new gigabyte board, and apparently it has something called Qflash?
I'm not sure. I think it's some kind of soft reset

redfenix

another possibility

could it be that the ram isn't getting enough power?
it looks like it should have 2.1v, but in bios, the power for ddr seems to be hovering around 1.9 to 2.

TechBoy

It can handle a 10% difference, that's not a big issue.

Can you explain exactly what your computer is doing wrong? We can't help unless you specify where it runs into issues.

Does it not post? Does it not load windows? Does it hang while loading Windows? Does it promise to call you back but never does except when it's feeling lonely?

redfenix

ok, i managed to turn off the POST splash screen, and it hangs right when it gets to
'Testing memory'

actually, it says 'testing me'
or whatever it prints, it stops not mid word, but mid letter, actually failing to draw the entire character.
it'll then sit there for about 5-7 minutes, then load normally.
i'm posting from said computer right now

TechBoy

Well, can't be any more obvious than that.

If you have two sticks of memory, try one at a time and see if one is problematic. If both individually still do it, you might have to get both replaced.

DrFrylock

Since you can now get it to boot, run memtest overnight?

vonPoonBurGer

P35 board, 1066 memory that operates at 2.1v. Yeah, I'm not surprised you're having problems. I have a GA-P35-DS3R, and 1066 memory that operates at 2.1v. Even when I manually specified all RAM timings to match the settings the memory is supposed to support, I still had heinous stability issues when running at 1066. I eventually gave up and stepped down to 800 @ 1.8V, and I haven't had a problem since. While it kind of sucks that you can't get the most out of your memory, I gather many boards based on the P35 chipset have this problem, and it's not worth the small performance gains to put up with the stability hassles.