PC crashes trying to install Windows

Wizzfizz · 28 Mar 2017 at 15:54

Hey guys,

I bought a second hand bundle from the MM last week. The problem is formating and installing Windows 7, it gets right to the end of the installation and the system just freezes up and crashes. I even tried Windows XP to test and exact same thing happens right at end of finalizing installation.

Parts are:

Gigabyte EP41 UD3L
Core2Duo E7500
2GB (2 x 1Gb) of DDR2 800 RAM
9500GT,
Brand new WD Black 1TB HDD and Evga 600w PSU.

Any ideas?

Cheers

IvanDobskey · 28 Mar 2017 at 16:20

Is it all at stock? I'd do a bios reset to be sure.

Could be a ram issue though.

Wizzfizz · 28 Mar 2017 at 16:30

All stock including cooler yes and cleaned/reseated CPU and heat sink with mx-2. Temps are around 35 degrees.

RAM is what i'll test next see if it boots past POST a stick at a time then try an install.

Quick google and it seems a common problem?

Cheers

IvanDobskey · 28 Mar 2017 at 16:33

Are you sure the hard drive is good?

Worth trying a spare if you have one.

My money is on the ram though.

Wizzfizz · 28 Mar 2017 at 16:39

Drive is fine brand new last week and was working fine over the weekend. Also tested another drive and exact same thing is happening; crashing right at the end on completing installation.

So tried two drives and two different OS installations and same thing reproduced. Will try RAM in a bit see what that does.

Cheers

IvanDobskey · 28 Mar 2017 at 16:56

Good luck

Rroff · 28 Mar 2017 at 16:59

You might need to setup the RAM timings, etc. correctly - on LGA775 platforms it wasn't unusual that default settings weren't stable and/or ran into issues related to FSB holes (might have to look up in the manual what RAM speeds are supported as sometimes getting higher rated sticks to work at proper speeds required a bit of messing about with the FSB).

Wizzfizz · 28 Mar 2017 at 17:33

I'll look into that thanks.

Ok so tried a stick at a time in all 4 slots and it wont get past POST, but, together they get to Windows installation, as if they only work together not on there own.

Also clr cmos so will try two fresh installs see if that does anything. Out of ideas then lol

Rroff · 28 Mar 2017 at 17:35

Board supports upto 1066MHz RAM so shouldn't really be an issue like it was with earlier boards that maybe only supported 667MHz officially but still.

Not sure if there are any dual channel settings that would stop it working if one of the channels was empty (would have thought it would just default to single channel) - maybe does suggest you will have to manually dial in RAM settings though.

Wizzfizz · 28 Mar 2017 at 18:07

Is it me or is that suggesting 553mhz ram in which case the motherboard won't take? Or am I wrong?

I have two of those

Appreciate the help

Memory

4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 8 GB of system memory

Dual channel memory architecture

Support for DDR2 1066(OC)/800/667 MHz memory modules
(Go to GIGABYTE's website for the latest memory support list.

breadturbo · 28 Mar 2017 at 19:05

A check on the gigabyte website suggests that board only supports sticks over 512mb capacity as dual sided. (that one appears single sided?)
Something to check

http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Memory/mb_memory_ga-ep41-ud3l.pdf
http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/kvr533d2n4_1g.pdf

Wizzfizz · 28 Mar 2017 at 20:28

These are 1gb sticks, no idea how to find out if they're single of dual sided

Thanks

breadturbo · 28 Mar 2017 at 20:29

Wizzfizz said:
These are 1gb sticks, no idea how to find out if they're single of dual sided

Thanks

Look at them

- do they have chips on one or both sides?

Wizzfizz · 28 Mar 2017 at 21:33

My head is hurting and can't seem to get Windows installed, keeps crashing at the complete installation, trying both Windows 7 and XP (to test). Same result.

Benihana · 28 Mar 2017 at 22:53

I'd try running Memtest, it could be a faulty stick, failing that reset the bios to default values and see if that helps. Almost certainly a RAM issue.

Steampunk · 28 Mar 2017 at 23:12

I've seen something similar when installing Win 7 on a drive set as RAID in the BIOS. Install runs fine, and then crashes when trying to reboot because it doesn't have the correct RAID drivers and can't read the disk. You need to supply the RAID drivers at the beginning of the installation, and then it works fine. Or set your drive back to AHCI.

Habakkuk · 29 Mar 2017 at 00:44

Agree with the RAM issue - run Memtest86+ from a USB stick to verify.

Wizzfizz · 29 Mar 2017 at 11:21

I'm going to try memtest this afternoon, as I'm thinking it's RAM related.

Cheers guys

Wizzfizz · 30 Mar 2017 at 01:15

I've done what i can, both ram modules will only work together, not on there own that is a no go. Tried each stick on there own in each slot; each time clr cmos. Still same is happening as above. Keep losing usb aswell, as in very random if it works when booting.

Memtest+ freezes out at not even past 20%, if lucky.

Habakkuk · 30 Mar 2017 at 01:59

Great - some motherboards want RAM to work in pairs, which is why you're not able to single-slot load them.

Clearing out the CMOS would have cleared any RAM timings or presets so it's not that.

I'd recommend getting new RAM - this has failed, which is unusual but happens.