All new hardware and it wont work! Help PLEASE!

[smallfrycel]

serrrrrriously dont know what the heck is wrong with this AT ALL!

How can I determine what the problem is?

How do I know if one of the parts what we bought is faulty or not? - Could it possibly be the motherboard thats causing the problems? Could it be the CPU?

this is the 4th day we've been trying to figure out wtf is wrong with this machine. I just don't understand what would cause the machine to BSOD completely randomly if everything is new, and compatible with everything.

Could there be a virus somewhere?

I'm clutching at straws, I just want the thing to work!

If there's nothing wrong with the RAM then what else could it be, and why can't we or anybody for that matter find it?

  feel like I'm pounding my head against a brick wall! If I take the parts back to the shop, what do I say, and will they give me replacements?

[Dark Mantis]

Hi again,

Just wanted to check that when you bought the modules they were purchased as a matched kit not two seperate modules weren't they ?

and you have installed them in DDR3_1 and DDR3_2

You can download the Intel Burn Test here:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/IntelBurnTest-v2.3-download-2047.html

Most of these tests don't need Windows to run so you don't have to worry about that.

Do watch the tempertures with this test though. They don't call it Burn Test for nothing!
To be honest I don't find it any better than Memtest for the memory but you can try it if you want.

[absic]

serrrrrriously dont know what the heck is wrong with this AT ALL!

How can I determine what the problem is?

  feel like I'm pounding my head against a brick wall! If I take the parts back to the shop, what do I say, and will they give me replacements?

I understand your frustration and facing these kind of issues can be a real nightmare. The fact that everything seems to be OK in BIOS but once into the operating system you are getting these BSOD's would point to a driver problem of some sort.

This STOP error can occur during startup or at any other time. The 8 digit hexadecimal number 0x0000000A translates to the bug check code “IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL” which may be caused by the following:

A kernel-level application or device driver running in kernel mode tried to read or write to a memory location that had restricted permissions. The code IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL indicates that the interrupt request level (IRQL) was higher than the number that was expected. A process running in kernel mode cannot access a process that has an IRQL which is greater than its own.
Components of the hardware may have failed such as the memory chip, the processor or motherboard. It may also indicate problems in video or disk adapters or device driver incompatibility issues.
Computer Hardware may not be OS compatible.
This STOP error usually results from the faulty installation of System Services, BIOS firmware or device drivers.
It can also be caused by incompatible virus scanners or backup tools.
Sometimes viruses or the anti-virus software that is running on the computer may cause problems.

A full list of the hardware being used would help but without that information my best guess would be either Audio or Graphic drivers being the main culprit.

[smallfrycel]

Ok so last night we got to bed around 4 am.
We've changed two things and it hasn't BSOD in 14 hours.

There was a serial ATA cable attached to the board and not connected to anything else, which has now been removed.
And we've also removed one of the memory sticks.

I think after he's finished work (which will be late due to not working for the past 3 days) he's going to test it with the other memory stick in and see if it was just the cable that was there, or infact it is the memory stick.

He's been playing videos and sound almost all day and its been fine.

A kernel-level application or device driver running in kernel mode tried to read or write to a memory location that had restricted permissions.

could this be caused by the serial ATA cable that was attached to the motherboard and nothing else? Would have this been why it was BSOD? Or would it not even make a difference?


thanks for all your help guys, really appreciate it!

[absic]

Having a SATA cable attached to the motherboard and not to anything else shouldn't cause the kind of problems you've been facing. I actually have a couple of unconnected SATA cables in my own PC as I tend to swap HDDs a LOT and they have never cause a problem.

[smallfrycel]

its been on for almost 15 hours now

ok he just turned it off and put the other ram stick in went to turn it on and now the bootmng is missing  

he can boot from the vista dvd but wtf now caused that?

[Dark Mantis]

As absic said there is no chance the unused SATA cable had anything to do with it. In fact I have one attached now to my machine but it doesn't make any difference.

It has to be the memory, one way or another.

[smallfrycel]

As absic said there is no chance the unused SATA cable had anything to do with it. In fact I have one attached now to my machine but it doesn't make any difference.

It has to be the memory, one way or another.

but would the memory cause the bootmng to disappear?

if he pulls out the ram stick technically if thats the problem it should all work fine again for another 15 hours? or will this bootmng thing go missing every time he shuts down and restarts or turns it on ?

or is this a motherboard problem again now? ......... man this is doing my head in

[Dark Mantis]

Missing bootmngr is the message you get when Windows can't find the drive to boot from. This would indicate that there is something wrong with the drive-cable-controller setup. Obviously the easiest one to check is the cable so I would suggest swapping the SATA cable with another one. While he is there swap the power cable to the drive too. It is quite possible that when swapping the memory over he just moved the cable etc enough to disturb the connection.

[smallfrycel]

he just said he didnt touch the cables because theyre clipped in securly so that you cant move them. well you can but you have to unclip it

so would that mean that  if the controller's gone, then it would be the motherboard thats the problem?

[Niffler]

This code "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" used to be seen quite regularly when installing windows, (from 98 to xp). I have seen it many times and the solution , excluding a hardware problem, was to strip back the comp to the basics. That is 1 stick of ram, 1 h/d and 1 optical drive. (Obviously you need graphics card, k/b, mouse and monitor). With this basic setup install the O/S. Then let it run and install all the drivers required for the mobo, graphics. Install one at a time. When the system becomes stable you can then install anything else you might have including the 2nd stick of ram. All of the above will work assuming that none of the components are faulty. I have however only come across this problem one or twice with Vista, but failing everything else and the advice given in previous posts it might be worth a try. 

[Dark Mantis]

he just said he didnt touch the cables because theyre clipped in securly so that you cant move them. well you can but you have to unclip it

so would that mean that  if the controller's gone, then it would be the motherboard thats the problem?

When I said moved the cable I only meant a fraction as in if there was a bad connection. Any slight movement of the board etc could be enough. But as I said it could be any of the three components, if we are to revert to guessing then yours is as good as mine.

[smallfrycel]

When I said moved the cable I only meant a fraction as in if there was a bad connection. Any slight movement of the board etc could be enough. But as I said it could be any of the three components, if we are to revert to guessing then yours is as good as mine.

i soooo completely just dont understand why this isnt working as it should. the parts weren't exactly cheap and now what do I do with it all. It seems like we have tried everything, even taking everything out and putting it all back in one by one, starting from scratch with formatting the hard drives and installing windows vista again.

Does it have something to do with the harddrives on the system? He has 3. one of them is partitioned with windows on it. Its all running the default drivers that come with windows. I know last night when he tried to install the drivers for the graphics card it BSOD. The only thing I can think is that the motherboard (rev 1.5) isn't actually 1.5. Its on the latest F 8 - however im noticing that the rev 1.4 versions of the motherboard have F 10. And how come theres not much information about the rev 1.5 version?

The Gigabyte site clearly says that the motherboard supports the CPU - but does it really? we have a Phenom II x6 - even though the actual motherboard box only says x4............. is this the actual problem?
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3621#ov

we can get it up and running, but its only a matter of time before it BSOD or when its powered down and then can no longer start or has a problem when it starts again.

A new motherboard, a new CPU, a new power supply, new ram and a new graphics card. Not exactly cheap like I said, and none of it seems to be working together.

I just wanna take it all back to bloody Scan. If I take all the parts back tomorrow what do I say, "It just doesnt work?!" I want replacements. Is it worth me even trying to take it back, and will they allow it? Now he's looking at taking it back and getting something which actually says it supports x6
( http://event.asus.com/mb/2010/m4_6cores/ ) If we get a new board, what if that doesnt fix it.

I've read and re-read sooooooo much information about this I actually get a headache trying to find information atleast which is even similar to what the problems are with this. It seems we have tried everything. and no we're going round in circles, because nothing seems to be solving the problem.

What do you suggest I do from this point on?

Dark Mantis, youve been great helping me from the start, what do you think? If i take the parts back, and say they're faulty do I get the same or something different? Or do I just not bother? and spend another almost £300 on another lot - what do I do with what I've got then?

[Dark Mantis]

Well I do understand your predicament and can imagine how you must be feeling at the moment.

There is no compatibility issue between the motherboard and your processor for sure.

You have two choices really. You can take the components back to Scan and they will probably want to check them before replacing any faulty parts but I don't know how long that will take them. The obvious benefit is that they might find a problem.

The other option as I see it is to start at the beginning and follow my instructions to the letter. This is important because I am not there to see what is happening and so need to know that what I say is being followed exactly.

You must consider your options and then post back.

[absic]

Hi there,

when faced with this particular kind of problem DM is quite correct. The best thing to do is step back and start over again until you can find exactly what is causing the system to be unstable.

You still haven't posted a complete list of your hardware, despite being asked to and it really would help, as there may be something else that is causing these issues other than the obvious things like RAM.