Hi everyone! First my specs:
i5 2500k, no overclock
Z68MA-D2H-B3, LGA 1155 latest bios and drivers (as much as I could successfully install anyways)
Using onboard video card (waiting until I get this sorted out before installing my 570)
Corsair Vengeance 8 GB 1600
WD Black 1 TB
Corsair TX750 V2
Now the issue. I'm building my first pc and have been having consistent issues with BSOD (error 0x00000124) when trying to install or update certain programs, as well as sometimes surfing the net (I haven't even tried any games at this point). I originally had an Asus motherboard when I started building and getting these issues. I posted on another board and some people suggested it could be my memory. I had already tried running it with a second memory set (Kingston HyperX 8GB) with no change, but decided to run memtest anyways (86 as opposed to 86+, not sure which is better). However, my computer would crash during memtest. It was then suggested to me that it could be a motherboard issue. So I exchanged my motherboard for the Gigabyte model I currently have.
The good news was I could now run memtest without it crashing (although weird symbols started appearing on screen after the third pass). The bad news was the bsod didn't go away, as was evidenced by Windows 7 crashing the first time I tried to install it. I ran memtest on a single stick in slot 1 for three passes with no errors and no issues until the weird symbol thing. I've since used only that stick in that slot but seen no improvement. I've also run the diagnostic tests provided by WD and Intel for my HDD and CPU respectively and they've come back fine. As I see it, there are only a few possibilities: (1) These tests aren't reliable/I did them wrong and it's a hardware issue with RAM, HDD or CPU, (2) It's a motherboard issue, either hardware or software and could be compatibility related or (3)
??. I'm seriously stumped and just want to get this thing working, so any ideas would be greatly appreciated!