Finished building but can't get it up and running.... HELP

Surveyor · 3 Nov 2011 at 00:21

Loosen each of the 4 screws holding the H80 block onto the CPU by 1 turn and see what happens then.

Overtighening the CPU cooler can distort the motherboard and affect the RAM slots.

mikeyparkster · 3 Nov 2011 at 00:24

OK I just tried loosening the Cooler block by a notch.... and I reset the CMOS again and I now have a picture with 1 stick of ram in slot 4

Surveyor · 3 Nov 2011 at 00:26

Try it now and see if it will work with RAM in slot 1.

If that works try 2 sticks in slots 1 and 3.

mikeyparkster · 3 Nov 2011 at 00:32

OK I just reseated the ram to slots 1 and 3 again.. it detects 8 gig and is loading up everytime....sweeet...

seems that it was the Overtightening of the Cooler!!! Nice one mate... I'll try install windows Now I guess

Surveyor · 3 Nov 2011 at 00:39

Before trying to install Windows just check in the BIOS what settings have been set for the RAM.

Particularly check the speed is set to 1600MHz and the voltage is 1.5V.

The timings should be 10-10-10-28.

Check the SATA mode is set to AHCI, this can offer some benefit for HDD's as well as SSD's.

Then have a go at installing Windows.

Reaper 392 · 3 Nov 2011 at 00:41

mikeyparkster said:
wait 3 wires for power?? I have a molex from the top of the case.........there are no other molex's.... there' s a slot above the PCIE but this is labelled SLI / x fire connector - can I use this for powering fans? will the 24 pin + 8 pin be sufficient?

i didnt realise it was labelled crossfire/SLI. that sounds like its only there to provide extra power to the PCIe slots when lots of them are populated.
in that case you will only need to add a molex in there if you have two graphics cards installed, or if you have 1 graphics card and a load of other expansion cards.

mikeyparkster said:
O rly??? I'll have to move that then... and presumably I should move the wire from the spinny fan that came with the H80 to CPU fan instead?

yep, its a very common mistake to make, but the pump needs full power constantly, whereas the fans need PWM control, which is why ive suggested the locations i have

mikeyparkster · 3 Nov 2011 at 00:45

Surveyor said:
Before trying to install Windows just check in the BIOS what settings have been set for the RAM.

Particularly check the speed is set to 1600MHz and the voltage is 1.5V.

The timings should be 10-10-10-28.

Check the SATA mode is set to AHCI, this can offer some benefit for HDD's as well as SSD's.

Then have a go at installing Windows.

yep 1600 at 1.5 volts and its 10, 10, 10, 28 as you say
I changed it from IDE to AHCI -

OK I just tried installing windows.. My USB mouse isn't working :/
Am I supposed to install something before I install windows lol?
whats changed since windows XP (I skipped vista?)

Also I tried formatting the HDD and it won't let me... confused

Surveyor · 3 Nov 2011 at 00:46

@Reaper 392

I think we've moved on from connecting up the H80 and I believe it's connected correctly this way:

The cooling block appears to have 2 cables coming from it:

1) A molex connector for power. This needs to be connected to a molex power cable from the power supply.

2) A pump speed monitoring cable which should be connected to the CPU fan connector on the motherboard (4 or 5 on the chart above).

The fans are connected to the 2 connectors on the cooling block.

mikeyparkster · 3 Nov 2011 at 00:48

Surveyor said:
@Reaper 392

I think we've moved on from connecting up the H80 and I belive it's connected correctly this way:

The cooling block appears to have 2 cables coming from it:

1) A molex connector for power. This needs to be connected to a molex power cable from the power supply.

2) A pump speed monitoring cable which should be connected to the CPU fan connector on the motherboard (4 or 5 on the chart above).

The fans are connected to the 2 connectors on the cooling block.

Yes this is my current setup, I have the 3 pin into CPU1 (3 pin) and the molex into the POWER supply unit cable.... the 2 fans that came with it are plugged into the Cooler itself

Surveyor · 3 Nov 2011 at 00:53

mikeyparkster said:
OK I just tried installing windows.. My USB mouse isn't working :/
Am I supposed to install something before I install windows lol?
whats changed since windows XP (I skipped vista?)

Also I tried formatting the HDD and it won't let me... confused

Make sure you have the SATA data cable from the HDD plugged into one of the black SATA ports on the motherboard.

When you format during the Windows installation use quick format.

For the mouse make sure you have Legacy USB Support enabled in the BIOS.

If you have an old basic mouse try using that until you've installed Windows. They work better with the basic drivers used during Windows installation.

mikeyparkster · 3 Nov 2011 at 01:09

"This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk, ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in computer's Bios menu"

It can detect tere is a disk 0 partition 1 with 931.5GB - free space - primary

what do?

mikeyparkster · 3 Nov 2011 at 01:12

usb mouse + keyboard are working now

edit: thought they were as had power on.... but now they aren't ..

Surveyor · 3 Nov 2011 at 01:17

mikeyparkster said:
"This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk, ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in computer's Bios menu"

It can detect tere is a disk 0 partition 1 with 931.5GB - free space - primary

what do?

You've connected it to a black port on the motherboard?

If you have try swapping it to one of the first pair of grey ports next to the black ones.

If that still doesn't work try changing the Intel Controller back to IDE mode.

mikeyparkster · 3 Nov 2011 at 01:18

how do I get past the above message

"This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk, ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in computer's Bios menu"

My hdd is plugged in to the SATA port on the computer ... yes..... its either 12 or 14 it in... the optical drive is in one or the other...they both have 2 cables going into it aswell

L shape+ sata

Surveyor · 3 Nov 2011 at 01:32

mikeyparkster said:
how do I get past the above message

"This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk, ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in computer's Bios menu"

My hdd is plugged in to the SATA port on the computer ... yes..... its either 12 or 14 it in... the optical drive is in one or the other...they both have 2 cables going into it aswell

L shape+ sata

I really don't know what you mean by 12 or 14.

Just tell me if the drives are plugged into the black ports on the motherboard.

Change the Intel SATA mode back to IDE for simplicity.

I assume you're booting from the Windows DVD? You need to set the DVD drive as the first boot device in the BIOS.

mikeyparkster · 3 Nov 2011 at 01:38

wups I was plugging it in to the grey ports...swapped them around to the black ones further down...graphics card is really in the way which was bit of a pain...

yep its working now

what are the grey ports for??

Surveyor · 3 Nov 2011 at 01:42

The 4 black ports are Intel SATA 2 ports. They're all you need for a HDD and DVD drive.

The first 2 grey ports next to the black ones are Intel SATA 3 ports. These are of benefit if you have a fast SSD.

The last 2 grey ports are SATA 3 from an add in controller so not as good as the Intel SATA 3 ports.

Are you able to get on with installing Windows now?

mikeyparkster · 3 Nov 2011 at 01:52

YEP it's well on its way.... Thanks for all your help so far.....was pulling my hair out re the cooler plug stopping the machine loading

Surveyor · 3 Nov 2011 at 01:55

Good news.

I'm off to bed now so I'll check back tomorrow.

Good luck and post an update on how it goes.

mikeyparkster · 3 Nov 2011 at 01:57

I will do, work all day this week so I will be doing it all in the evenings... thanks so much.

Should I install the latest drivers or do they have known issues? any recommended drivers / any bios updates anyone knows about?