H57M-USB3 rev 2.0 - Unable to Install Windows

[Froklsnt]

Hello, I normally try to solve my technical problems via googling through threads like these, but I've tried everything I could find and I've hit a wall. So, I'm here asking for help. I'm posting this here because it seems to be either a hardware or BIOS-based problem.

I had a desktop running Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit which had a lock-up problem, intermittently freezing in place and later resetting itself. This had apparently corrupted Windows quite a bit, so I was looking to repair the machine and reinstall. I believed it was a memory problem, so I purchased new RAM and a new SATA SSD on which to reinstall Windows. I made the hardware changes, and the Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit install got past the "loading files" screen to "Starting Windows" and hung before the animated logo even began.

Since the initial attempt, I have tried the following:

• Toggling AHCI/IDE mode in BIOS
• Disconnecting all unnecessary peripherals
• Turning off unnecessary peripherals in BIOS
• Resetting the BIOS Values to "Optimal"
• Resetting the BIOS Values to "Failsafe"
• Used Partition Magic to pre-format the new SSD
• Tried a Windows XP Disc - got a BSOD before the installer started
• Reloading the latest BIOS (F9)- This process crawled for hours and then failed on my first attempt, but it worked the second time
• Hard Resetting CMOS values
• Changing the CMOS Battery
• Confirmed that the Windows 7 disc was readable on another machine

I can't guarantee I've tried all those things in all possible combinations, but I've been pretty thorough I think. I still have never even seen the "Starting Windows" logo animation.

The only solutions I've read about in my googling that I haven't tried are an incompatibility of a PSU, or voltage settings in BIOS. I haven't had the knowledge/resources on hand to try those. The computer was previously working with this PSU, but it was having freeze-ups as I stated. The hardware is a mix of new and old parts I've recombined. The hardware is as follows:

• Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-H57M-USB3 rev 2.0, with latest BIOS (F9) and a fresh CMOS Battery
• Processor - Intel Core i5-650 3.2GHz Clarkdale Dual-Core 3.2GHz LGA 1156 73W
• CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper TX3
• Memory - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
• Power Supply - GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI-B 600W ATX12V
• SSD - SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III
• Optical Drive - SAMSUNG Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-/+R 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Combo Model SH-B123L/RSBP
• Case - APEVIA X-TELSTAR-GN ATX
• Internal Card Reader - Rosewill RCR-IC001 40-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" - Attached to internal USB header
• LCD Monitor connected via DVI
• PS2 Keyboard and basic optical USB Mouse

BIOS sees all the hardware.

There is also a second optical drive and four HDDs which currently have their SATA cables detached, but are still attached to power. I have the old RAM on hand if that is somehow helpful: OCZ Signature 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)

There is also a chance that I may be able to get the old Windows 7 installation to boot still, I haven't tried. I intended to delete its partition on the HDD when I got Windows installed on the new SSD, but I never got that far. I'm not sure if that will be helpful somehow.

I'm happy to post any BIOS values of relevance. I'll try just about anything at this point, at least anything I can readily try before I have to order new hardware. If it comes to that so be it, but this machine was working (if unstable) until this reinstall attempt. Any help is appreciated, thank you.

[absic]

Have you tried installing Windows with just one of the sticks of RAM installed?

Can you try running a live install of Ubuntu or other Linux based system? This might help narrow down the problem to either hardware or software.

If the system has been previously unstable is there adequate cooling? Overheating of the CPU or motherboard components can cause fatal BSODS, such as the one you are describing.

How old is the PSU? Power output can drop over time from the PSU and it could be that it is not giving enough voltage for a stable system. If you can't test the actual output from the PSU then the only other option is to try with a different one. Of course, this is often easier said than done.

Have you tried running Memtest to confirm if the problem is RAM related? - This option may help but if the system crashes before completing the tests then it is more likely to be due to another component rather than the RAM.

[Froklsnt]

Have you tried installing Windows with just one of the sticks of RAM installed?

Can you try running a live install of Ubuntu or other Linux based system? This might help narrow down the problem to either hardware or software.

If the system has been previously unstable is there adequate cooling? Overheating of the CPU or motherboard components can cause fatal BSODS, such as the one you are describing.

How old is the PSU? Power output can drop over time from the PSU and it could be that it is not giving enough voltage for a stable system. If you can't test the actual output from the PSU then the only other option is to try with a different one. Of course, this is often easier said than done.

Have you tried running Memtest to confirm if the problem is RAM related? - This option may help but if the system crashes before completing the tests then it is more likely to be due to another component rather than the RAM.

Thanks absic. I believe I did make one attempt with a single RAM stick, but I can try that one again. The RAM I'm using is brand new, just purchased. I can run Memtest on it anyway, it's worth the double check.

I ran PartitionMagic off a CD on the machine during this process and that worked, but I have not tried Linux to date. I have an Ubuntu Disc at home I can try a live install with and report back on.

I did find a huge dust bunny clogging the main air intake when I made the upgrades (shame on me I know  ), so that may explain some of the earlier instability. That being said, the case is fairly well ventilated and I upgraded the processor heat sink not long ago, so I would be surprised if it was still a cooling issue causing the install problem.

As for the PSU, I believe its 5 years old. I don't have a PSU tester but I do have a multimeter, so I could perform some tests. I wouldn't expect a PSU issue (or a cooling issue for that matter) to cause an installation to freeze at the same point every time though, it sounds too much like some sort of driver/hardware incompatibility issue. Those problems wouldn't have such repeatable timing.

[absic]

As for the PSU, I believe its 5 years old. I don't have a PSU tester but I do have a multimeter, so I could perform some tests. I wouldn't expect a PSU issue (or a cooling issue for that matter) to cause an installation to freeze at the same point every time though, it sounds too much like some sort of driver/hardware incompatibility issue. Those problems wouldn't have such repeatable timing.

I would tend to agree with you but...... experience has taught me never to discount anything and at certain stages of the install process, such as a restart, more power is drawn from the PSU than it is when then system is just running normally.

Also, as the OS install takes place, it loads drivers for various devices and if the crash is occurring at the same point everytime one of these could be the problem.

The USB card reader could be an issue, did you remove this device from the internal USB header when trying to install the OS?

Ah, the joys of troubleshooting. Wouldn't it be great if just for once, there was a really simple fix for this kind of issue! 

[Froklsnt]

I would tend to agree with you but...... experience has taught me never to discount anything and at certain stages of the install process, such as a restart, more power is drawn from the PSU than it is when then system is just running normally.

Also, as the OS install takes place, it loads drivers for various devices and if the crash is occurring at the same point everytime one of these could be the problem.

The USB card reader could be an issue, did you remove this device from the internal USB header when trying to install the OS?

Ah, the joys of troubleshooting. Wouldn't it be great if just for once, there was a really simple fix for this kind of issue! 

I was concerned about the card reader and did make an attempt without it, to no benefit. The BIOS can actually see the card reader. I used an SD card to flash the BIOS actually, because I didn't own any flash drives small enough for the system to detect them.

On that topic in fact, one possible suggestion I haven't tried yet is the "Intel SATA Preinstall driver (For AHCI / RAID Mode)" from the Gigabyte website:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3443#dl
I'm not sure if I get far enough in the process to tell the installer to look for it, we'll see. The other issue is, this driver is written for floppy install and I'm not sure if I have a floppy drive lying around anymore, I have to go rummaging. But I'm wondering if it would work off a flash drive or the like, or if it's hard coded to look in A:\

[Froklsnt]

Alright, I've tried a bunch of your suggestions absic:

Have you tried installing Windows with just one of the sticks of RAM installed?

Can you try running a live install of Ubuntu or other Linux based system? This might help narrow down the problem to either hardware or software.

If the system has been previously unstable is there adequate cooling? Overheating of the CPU or motherboard components can cause fatal BSODS, such as the one you are describing.

How old is the PSU? Power output can drop over time from the PSU and it could be that it is not giving enough voltage for a stable system. If you can't test the actual output from the PSU then the only other option is to try with a different one. Of course, this is often easier said than done.

Have you tried running Memtest to confirm if the problem is RAM related? - This option may help but if the system crashes before completing the tests then it is more likely to be due to another component rather than the RAM.

System wouldn't even post with only one stick of RAM in, but worked just fine when I put the second one back.

I tried to use the Preinstallation drivers, but as I suspected, it froze before ever reaching that part of the process.

I got Ubuntu to work just fine running off the CD. Used it to recreate my Memtest86 USB Stick.

And that was the most curious result. Memtest86 crashed after about 5 seconds, and the machine reset itself. I guess that rules the RAM out, and it certainly implicates that there's more wrong than a simple BIOS setting. Any idea what sort of hardware problems would trigger a reset 5 seconds into a Memtest86 run?

Oh and I misidentified my PSU. Correct PSU is CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-650TX 650W

[absic]

OK, so now I am confused! At least your not alone with being puzzled by this.

I would still suspect the RAM or the CPU as being the probable cause but then that would seem to be discounted by the fact that you were able to run a live install of Ubuntu and create the MemTest USB Stick.

Why does a PC shutdown after only a few seconds? The normal reason would be to prevent damage to the CPU because of overheating or some other issue. When you made your changes to the cooler could you have damaged any of the CPU socket pins? Stupid question but did you replace the thermal paste when you reinstalled the cooler? When the system shuts down, can you quickly boot back into BIOS and check the System Temperatures? This may help as it could show you if something is overheating.

Why could you not get the PC started with only one stick of RAM but it then started with both sticks installed? Possible the problem is with one of the sticks of RAM, the slot on the motherboard or the memory controller on the CPU. Did you try swapping the RAM modules to see if the stick that wouldn't start the PC was working if you put it into the other RAM slot? A bit of trial and error is needed here to make sure that you check all possible configurations (even the ones that seem wrong) as this could narrow the problem down if it turns out that you only have one memory channel working properly.

You do not need the pre-install drivers if you are planning on running your system in IDE or AHCI mode. You will only usually need to use them if you are planning on using a RAID Array.

[Froklsnt]

I agree, it almost all adds up... except the Ubuntu run, which went off flawlessly (other than my largely absent Linux skills).

I went ahead and disconnected all other HDDs and the USB Reader, they will remain disconnected unless/until I get this working.

I've tried 1 new RAM stick in slot 1, and 1 new RAM stick in slot 3, neither finished posting. In both cases post ran until it got to the memory speed, and died after that. They were sold as a matched set, and its a dual channel motherboard, if that's relevant. I have not swapped their positions at all, and I haven't touched slots 2 or 4. I will try booting with the slot 3 stick in slot 1, and vice versa, see if that does anything. I also have my old RAM, I'll mess around with that some and see if I discover anything. BIOS continues to see the RAM in both slots, so if there there is a bad channel, its not so bad that it can't be read.

I did reapply the thermal paste when I installed the upgraded cooler. I don't think there's much chance that I damaged the CPU, I didn't ever remove it. Moreover that upgrade happened about a year ago, and the instability predated that change; I made the change hoping it would solve the problem originally. I will confirm that I have extra thermal paste on hand, and try reseating the processor and heat sink. I'll check temperatures before and after via BIOS as well.

I did notice one piece of evidence to support the CPU as the issue: the Phase LEDs on the board, to indicate CPU loading, are going to the max during the entire boot up process. They only turned off after the Windows Install froze.

[Froklsnt]

So I tried the old RAM, and I got into the Windows installer without difficulty. I appears that while the new RAM I selected seemed compatible with the MoBo, it isn't actually supported. In fact, very very few 4GB RAM sticks are on the supported list. I have NO idea why Ubuntu ran, I'm afraid that particular mystery will just have to remain unsolved.

As for the original system instability, I'm going to hopefully chock that up the the huge dust bunny I found in the intake. If my system is still unstable, I'll give in and buy new core components. I'd assume at that point that something is wrong on the MoBo regarding how it connects to the memory.

Thanks for your help.