New pc build help needed

[ABK 92]

Ok I built my pc last weekend and im having a little bit of trouble with a few things. Well I had trouble installing any operating system on my computer but I changed the RAM sticks around and used only one and yesterday I managed to install windows 7.

Once it installed I decided to put the other RAM stick in, but the operating system does not load up just hangs at starting windows. So I think that the RAM sticks that I have got are faulty.

Anyways once I got into windows and tried to install drivers and stuff, the computer keeps freezing or the computer keeps rebooting itself without any warning (I eventually got all the drivers installed but it kept rebooting and freezing througout). Sometimes when it reboots it BSOD on me but that screen goes away without me pressing any keys on the keyboard.

Im not sure what the problem is, I think it may be the RAM causing the computer to freeze but I don't understand why the computer reboots all the time without any warning.

My specs are:

Case: Coolermaster CM 690 II Advanced Mid Tower Case

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 870 Socket AM3 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard (rev 2.1, bios version F2)

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz Socket AM3 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor

GPU: Sapphire HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Mini Display Port Out PCI-E Graphics Card

RAM: Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10666 XMS3 DHX Memory Kit

PSU: OCZ 500W Mod XStream Pro PSU - 2x PCI-E 6x SATA

HDD: Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache

DVD drive: Samsung SH-S223L 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM with LightScribe SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black

Hopefully someone here can help me, because this is really becoming frustrating, my other option is to take it to a repair place but I don't want to that as I might be able to fix it myself.

[absic]

Hi there,

I think, if I were facing your problems I would update BIOS to see if that helps. The latest version is F5a and you can download it from here: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3517&dl=1# Although it states that it is a beta version it will be OK to update to this but if you are concerned about using beta BIOS then update to F4.

I would recommend that you use the QFlash utility for updating BIOS. Check here if you don't know how to use QFlash: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2441.0.html

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

The first thing I notice is that your PSU is a little on the low side for your system. The manufacturer recommends 550W for the minimum reqirements and your is quite a long way from basic.

Try running Memtes86+ on your modules  

Memtest86+       http://www.memtest.org/

Insert one stick of memory in slot 1 and run Memtest on it for at least 10 loops and if there are no errors then swap it over with the next one and continue untill you have checked all your modules.
If you have any errors the module is faulty.
If you have any faulty modules you will have to return the whole kit as they are matched.

Post back when you have done that with the results.

[ABK 92]

Ok im not sure if I have fixed the problem entirely but in the bios I changed the memory clock speed of my  RAM from x6.66 to x5.33 which is 1066 Mhz compared to the default 1333 MHz. The system seems to be more stable and doesn't seem to freeze, this is only with one of the RAM sticks installed, I will try later on with both RAM sticks installed and see what happens.

I've also ran memtest with both RAM sticks installed and just with one stick installed and that found no errors at all

[ABK 92]

Hi there,

I think, if I were facing your problems I would update BIOS to see if that helps. The latest version is F5a and you can download it from here: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3517&dl=1# Although it states that it is a beta version it will be OK to update to this but if you are concerned about using beta BIOS then update to F4.

I would recommend that you use the QFlash utility for updating BIOS. Check here if you don't know how to use QFlash: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2441.0.html

I updated the bios last week to F4 and that made my problems worse, it wouldn't even let me install my operating system, and it also BSOD on me, so I went back to F2 and that seems more stable than F4

[absic]

Hi there,

I'm surprised updating BIOS didn't help but it could be more to do with the RAM than with the BIOS.

There have been recent issues with RAM and downclocking to 1066MHz seems to solve the problems. I wonder if there is a bad batch of RAM Modules doing the rounds.

[ABK 92]

Hi there,

I'm surprised updating BIOS didn't help but it could be more to do with the RAM than with the BIOS.

There have been recent issues with RAM and downclocking to 1066MHz seems to solve the problems. I wonder if there is a bad batch of RAM Modules doing the rounds.

If the second stick of RAM doesn't work when I try to load up windows I might RMA the RAM. If I end up having to RMA the RAM what RAM would recommend I get for the motherboard I listed in the OP

[absic]

The RAM you have should be fine and is what I would normally be looking at. It could just be a dodgy stick but running Memtest for at least 10 passes on each stick will show if there is a problem with the RAM or if we need to be looking at something else.

I use Corsair Dominator RAM on my own system but I bought 1600MHz and have pulled it back to 1333MHz because of the issues with the memory controllers on the Phenom ii CPU's.