New gaming rig, random shutdowns

[ChromWolf]

Hey all!

Finally got my gaming rig together (thanks very much to advice from another thread on this forum)! I'm very excited to finally have everything almost up and running, but I'm having a shutdown issue. I can clearly see several troubleshooting options, but with family out of state and my being gone/busy for the holidays, I'm hoping to minimize the troubleshooting time I take so I can actually enjoy my build (and in case I need to RMA anything before I loose the ability to do so).

First, the specs:
Operating System: Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Motherboard: Asus Rampage Formula
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83 GHz 45nm (Retail)
Memory: (2) 4GB (2x2GB) GSkill DDR2 800 Dual-Channel Kit (so, 8GB/4 sticks total)
Video: (2) PowerColor Radeon HD 4850 512 MB DDR3 in CrossFire
HD: Seagate Barracude 1 TB
Optical: SATA LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner
PSU: Corsair 750W EPS12v

First Mobo was bad, I had the dreaded CPU INIT error, so RMA'd and got new one. This one (presumably, heh) works fine, POSTed and go Vista installed.

I installed Vista with just one video card and one stick of memory installed, and this seemed to go smoothly.

Threw in all the rest of the hardware (all 4 sticks of memory and the 2nd video card), hooked everything back up (incidentally, I can provide specs on the monitor and higher end mouse and keyboard should people feel they might be relevant), and started installing drivers, starting with the mobo chipset. Because the LAN was recognized, I downloaded drivers off the Asus website, and then moved on to the video drivers. Both seemed to install okay, and I think CrossFire is established as well.

Seemed to have a bit of time before first shut down; took some time to install drivers and all. First restart happened when I was updating my Vista hardware rating, so I thought maybe it was a glitch in the hardware testing and powered it back up again. Shut down again, and I instantly thought about an overheat problem. Booted into BIOS and CPU temp was at 80 degrees (!!!), and I watched it steadily rise to 87 before deciding I'd found the problem. Incidentally, all temperature-based automatic shutdowns are set to the default level of 90C.

Did manage to click down one more mounting pin of the CPU fan, but I will confess that I've noticed a fairly noticeable bowing in the motherboard when all four pins of the heatsink are inserted (which itself is a VERY difficult task)... Still, "Keeping CPU Cool" > "minor bowing" in my mind (at least for now), so I went with it. CPU temps in BIOS seemed to hang around 40-something C, about where everything else was, so I thought I'd fixed the problem. However, the restarts continue.

I'd say I've had the entirity of the parts for maybe 3 weeks (excepting the motherboard, which I've had for about 1 week), so it shouldn't be age...

Again, I've got certain fixes that seem like things I can try, but if people could still point out good places I can start with to minimize my troubleshooting time, that would be awesome! I'm hoping for a list of "Try first, try second, try third..." etc., ordered by most likely to fix.

Thanks in advance, I know you guys will set me straight!

[joshrogoff]

Do a memtest on each stick individually.

[minsonngo]

Originally Posted by joshrogoff Do a memtest on each stick individually.

+1

[ChromWolf]

MemTest comes on that Ultimate Boot CD, right?

[joshrogoff]

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic62524.html

[minsonngo]

Originally Posted by ChromWolf MemTest comes on that Ultimate Boot CD, right?

Yes.


http://ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

[ChromWolf]

OH MY FREAKING GAWD.

Well, downloaded UBCD 4.11. Memory all works fine. But it was still shutting down. What could it be...?

Well, I figured it could be that I installed the second video card, connected the CrossFire cable, and enabled it in Windows, and something still wasn't right. While I was doublechecking the CrossFire cable, I noticed the bottom GPU seemed awfully hot compared to the top one, and was a little puzzled. Was the fan working right...?

Here's the thing. With the CoolerMaster Cosmos case I've got, the PSU mounts on the bottom of the case... fairly close to the bottom of my Asus Rampage Formula motherboard. ..Close enough, in fact, to pin the freaking FIREWIRE FRONT PANEL CABLE (grrr) between the PSU and... what the... my GPU fan??

*sigh* CoolingFail.

Everything works great now, it's been up and running stably since last night, and I installed WoW and even got a chance to try it this morning to see how the graphics looked. :P

Thanks so much for your help guys! Apparently I even need help to protect my system from myself. :P