First time build, not working!

[grx]

Ok, I've decided to go ahead and build my own PC, and I've used the guide on this site for help. This may be a little long, because I'm trying to be complete. I hope you'll all be patient, and help me figure out what to do. Here's the hardware I'm using:


Intel C2D E6750 2.66 Ghz
Intel DP35DPM motherboard
OCZ platinum rev-2 PC6400 DDR2 dual-channel ram, 4x1GB
EVGA nVidia 8800GTS 640MB
Ultra X-finity 600 W PS
Seagate 7200.10 500GB HD SATA-300
Lite-On 20x DVD-R/W w/ lightscribe

And I'm using a Thermaltake Sporano Dx case as well as a Samsung 226BW lcd.

The build took some time, but seemed to go well. I booted up the first time, the screen flickered for a bit, and it took me to an Intel screen prompting me to hit F2 to get to BIOS. I did so, saw there was nothing essential to change, then went ahead to try and install Vista 64-bit.

Now the problems:

Vista doesn't boot-- could be because I purchased an OEM version, and didn't have an OPK. I have since downloaded one, but not used it yet.

I tried booting with a copy of xubuntu 7.04.

Got an error that said:

PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0f: Exiting Intel PXE ROM

After some google work, I found that this often had to do with the system not finding anything bootable, and was searching for a network boot. Not being connected to the network, it wasn't finding anything there. Cryptic message, but ok. I disabled the network boot option in BIOS, and more problems:

Now the boot is inconsistent. Sometimes it takes a while. Pushing reset will sometimes reset the computer, but it won't display anything to the lcd anymore and seems to hang. Other times pushing the reset and front panel power button don't do anything. I have to turn off the powersupply itself to shut it off.

I did figure out that I forgot to change the jumper on the dvd to master, and when the system does boot, it at least tells me it can't find any bootable sectors.

I did manage at this point to get the xubuntu cd to boot up. The opening menu gave an option to check the memory. Wondering if perhaps the problems were due to faulty RAM, I selected that option. The screen went blank, and the system hung, including the inoperable front buttons.

Now the most troublesome symptoms:
I noticed in the Hardware Monitoring option in BIOS that the CPU temperature would start around 45 C, and saw it get as high as 55 C. At one point, I considered the possibility of the 4 RAM modules being too much for something it was trying to do at first, so I removed two. The RAM modules were very hot when I pulled them out. With only two in, I would find the motherboard beep at me, and then shut itself down. Other times (with two or four RAM modules) the system would turn itself off. At one point (I think with only the two RAM modules) the video card couldn't provide any signal to the lcd at all, it gave me the opening screen with "Check Cable Connection" on it.

*****************

Things I have thought of:

I did not put the stock cooling fan onto the CPU with thermal paste. The instructions in the motherboard and cpu boxes said nothing about it, so I decided not to worry about it until I can get to the nearest store to buy some. May explain the CPU temp.

Could be the RAM is still faulty, though a couple of days ago I had someone put them into their computer. Booted up fine, Windows XP recognized the modules and their size just fine. Did not, however, run any kind of memory test on them.

I did not until recently see something say not to rest the motherboard on top of the static package. I did so while installing the cpu, fan, and ram. But since it boots up into BIOS, I don't think that has damaged anything.

I saw somewhere that usb keyboards can be a problem-- I'm using a GearHead wireless keyboard. It seems to work fine so far, and this motherboard doesn't have ps/2 connections anyway.



So what now? I could definitely use some help here, I already feel out of my league. What do I need to check for, what kinds of tests can I do? I saw a posting suggesting pulling everything out but the bare minimum and adding components one by one. Unfortunately, the problems don't start showing up until I start using the entire system anyway, ie trying to install an os, so I'm not seeing how that will help. If it does, I need some guidance on what I'm looking for.

These symptoms seem very strange, especially having the front panel buttons go bonkers on me on occasion. Can it really be a bad motherboard?

Please help!

[shadowpr]

i would use the out of box trouble shooter, just to make sure that the hardware is working: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409

if it's in and everything worked, check that the cables are fully inserted.

also go into bios and make sure that the boot order has the cd drive set to boot first.

the heat sink should have had some thermal paste on it when you bought it with the cpu (if you bought retail). make sure you have the heatsink on all the way and all the pins are fully in as it can be tricky.

edit: don't think that psu is on the good list either. http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195 not sure if that can cause your problems.

[Cricket]

Do this troubleshooter first. Follow the instructions and do as it says...pull the motherboard from the case and only connect what is necessary to get first POST. If your computer is able to stay up and running, we'll move on from there.

Are you using the stock Intel heatsink? If you are it's possible you don't have it installed properly. Check out this tutorial.

Cricket

[Cricket]

Oops...hit the wrong button by mistake...sorry about that.

Cricket

[grx]

Ok, I've done that step, and everything seems to work alright. The bootup screen comes up normally, and I end up with plain text saying

A bootable device has not been detected.
Please refer to the Product Guide at
...

I'm going to keep it out of the box for a bit, and try adding some things one by one, starting with the keyboard, then adding RAM. Unless there's a better idea-- please let me know if you would suggest a different next step.

[grx]

I also should mention that I did pull off the intel heatsink to make sure it was in properly-- it did have thermal paste on it, yes, and it looked evenly spread across the cpu. I'm pretty sure it was installed correctly, but double checked when I put it on this time. I'm quite confident I did that part right.

I did notice I had taken the two RAM modules before out of the Channel A instead of the Channel B. That may have been part of my problem that time.

[shadowpr]

did you set the cd drive as the first boot option in the bios?

can you get into bios?

[grx]

Yes, I can get into bios fine and the cd has been set to boot first since I started. I double checked that with just the one module.

The next step I performed was, keeping it out of the box, plugging in the DVD drive. It was recognized fine, and booted into xubuntu without trouble.

So I used the xubuntu cd to do a memory check: it hung. Exchanging modules and turning it on again, I actually got it to beep at me and say there was an error. It rebooted itself, and I ran the test again to be sure. No beeps the second time around, but it did hang up. Third module: same thing. Fourth module, it passed the test!

If all four had failed, I'd be worried it was something else. Since one passed, this seems to be a problem with the ram itself, and the motherboard/cpu seem to work fine. I had to stop because I was already late for class, but when I get back I will recheck all four to make sure a realignment of the stars doesn't change everything on me.

Does everyone agree with my assessment here? Or is there something else I should check?

Also, would I expect this ram to get pretty warm when it's used? I was surprised how warm they got...

[grx]

Ok, I've got a bit of an update.

I did some extensive testing of the ram modules (using memtest86+ on the xubuntu cd) and come to the conclusion that there is exactly 1 working module in the bunch. The reviews I saw of OCZ platinum spoke very highly of it-- but the package they arrived in was definitely worse for the wear. They may have been damaged in shipping.

So, I'll have them exchanged right away.

In the mean time, I've reassembled the out of box setup into the case, so no HD yet, but I have attached the lights/fans/buttons. Another boot, another memtest, and everything looks to be ok.

I'm still not sure how to work with an OEM version of Vista-- anybody with some experience out there? I've downloaded an OPK, but it's too big for a cd. My laptop doesn't have a dvd burner, so I'll have to find a different way to get that. In the mean time, can I install without an OPK?

Also, does anyone know what kind of temperatures I should be expecting to see on this hardware? The cpu seems to like ~50 C, which seems too high to me for some reason. Perhaps not. If anyone has some experience, I'd love to hear from you!

[shadowpr]

an oem vista is no different from a retail version when installing.

if i can do it, you can do it. if you have any trouble once you get it going, just ask.

vista will just ask you a few querstions like where you want to instal, the language, time zone. i think that's it, then it does it's thing.

[grx]

Ok, it's all up and running!

Thanks, everyone, for your input! I hope amazon gets me the replacement memory soon, so I can complete the whole thing.