First/New build - First day of activation, strange issues aready

Jimmy the Rogue · 19 Jul 2012 at 22:31

This is the spec, as previously suggested by the helpful Honosuseri.

MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail
Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 700W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA - OEM (ST500DM002)
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU)
OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM

After building everything was working like a charm, the only issue being that I had forgotten to link one of the fans. Relatively minor for a first attempt I'd say. However, after installing the CD software and anti-virus programs etc., and upon trying to access another disc in Computer everything suddenly slowed considerably, almost a freeze except it would constantly flicker in and out of responding with the circular mouse loading animation, etc, etc.

I resolved to restart my PC, and since then it has blue screened (!) twice within five minutes of each other, both times performing simple tasks such as folder and internet browsing respectively. The blue screen said something about "memory management" issues, but before that point it was recognising my HDD perfectly fine as far as I know. Please help me, anything would be appreciated

Lemin · 19 Jul 2012 at 23:59

D/L & Run Memtest86+

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18261596

honosuseri · 20 Jul 2012 at 00:17

Sorry to hear you are having issues bud

Installing anti-virus software does slow the machine down as they are scanning in realtime for threats. However clearly something isn't right as you are getting BSODs

Running a memtest is a good idea as Lemin has said. What I suggest is downloading ultimatebootcd or a similar bootdisk. It's packed with diagnostic software to test your RAM, HDDs (not SSD), stress test the CPU etc etc.

Let us know how the memtest goes......have you overclocked the CPU or are you having these issues at stock speed?

Jimmy the Rogue · 20 Jul 2012 at 00:17

Lemin said:
D/L & Run Memtest86+

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18261596

Thanks for the link, I'll report back with the results.

Jimmy the Rogue · 20 Jul 2012 at 11:32

Lemin said:
D/L & Run Memtest86+

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18261596

honosuseri said:
Sorry to hear you are having issues bud

Installing anti-virus software does slow the machine down as they are scanning in realtime for threats. However clearly something isn't right as you are getting BSODs

Running a memtest is a good idea as Lemin has said. What I suggest is downloading ultimatebootcd or a similar bootdisk. It's packed with diagnostic software to test your RAM, HDDs (not SSD), stress test the CPU etc etc.

Let us know how the memtest goes......have you overclocked the CPU or are you having these issues at stock speed?

Sorry about that, apparently I missed your reply. Yeah it's definitely disheartening, I'll give those programs a try too and see what happens. And yeah, everything is still at stock settings, I'm worried to even try to OC at the moment.

As far as memtest86+ goes, immediately beforehand I updated my BIOS and checked CPU-Z and it seemed to be recognising the dual channels perfectly well. Anyway, I ran the test to completion overnight, and received 100% in passes on all RAM tests. I'm reluctant to believe the issue is solved however. Sure I haven't blue screened since then but it may only be a matter of time.

I heard after the build (typical) that I should have linked the SATA cable to the optical drive first and then to the HDD, but surely that couldn't be the cause?

Edit: I'm having a hard time making sense of the UBCD to be honest and most of the programs seem to be hardware specific, at least that's the impression I got. Also, upon turning my PC off I had to sit through Windows configuring 115 updates, and when eventually restarting without UBCD it was performing 59838 update opertions. As I've never started with a completely new build before I trust this is normal?

honosuseri · 20 Jul 2012 at 16:07

oh

UBCD was fairly simple to understand i thought. The tools are divided into sections. Memtest is on there, yes there are many HDD diagnostic tools, you can use any of them, if it's not compatible it wont harm the HDD (these tools aren't for SSDs though). It also has tools to erase the HDD if you are scrapping one (to stop people recovering your data).

You might find the windows update has resolved the issue for you, it could have well been driver related.

Jimmy the Rogue · 20 Jul 2012 at 16:58

honosuseri said:
oh

UBCD was fairly simple to understand i thought. The tools are divided into sections. Memtest is on there, yes there are many HDD diagnostic tools, you can use any of them, if it's not compatible it wont harm the HDD (these tools aren't for SSDs though). It also has tools to erase the HDD if you are scrapping one (to stop people recovering your data).

You might find the windows update has resolved the issue for you, it could have well been driver related.

It did indeed seem fairly straightforward but I'll admit that I did become worried about damaging the HDD when reading the model names and it dıdn't help my apprehension when a warning popped up telling me to exit if I didn't share the same manufacturer. If it doesn't actually matter though, I have nothing to lose by running the test.

honosuseri · 20 Jul 2012 at 17:07

Jimmy the Rogue said:
It did indeed seem fairly straightforward but I'll admit that I did become worried about damaging the HDD when reading the model names and it dıdn't help my apprehension when a warning popped up telling me to exit if I didn't share the same manufacturer. If it doesn't actually matter though, I have nothing to lose by running the test.

Seatools should be on there which is for seagate/maxtor drives. As you ordered the barracuda you have a seagate HDD.

You might well find the HDD is fine and it was a driver issue. The bootdisk is very handy as you can see it's packed full of useful stuff

Jimmy the Rogue · 20 Jul 2012 at 17:40

honosuseri said:
Seatools should be on there which is for seagate/maxtor drives. As you ordered the barracuda you have a seagate HDD.

You might well find the HDD is fine and it was a driver issue. The bootdisk is very handy as you can see it's packed full of useful stuff

I actually dıdn't see that one, but I was in something of a rush. I'll have to perform the test tomorrow evening as I'm out of town at the moment, I'll report back with my results.

And indeed, there seems to be quite a lot of useful programs on it, I've already labelled and sleeved it.

Jimmy the Rogue · 21 Jul 2012 at 22:50

So, I'm back, and the problem is quite clearly the HDD.

I ran Seatest, "ran" being very generous in this instance as before it even had an opportunity to check my HDD, it told me that supposedly I don't even have one. How on Earth is this possible? I've managed to use it so far and have clearly been downloading software. And I had considered this one of the easier installations of the build. It isn't hard, slide/screw it in and attach the SATA cables to the motherboard and PSU. How could this have gone wrong?

Bringing up what I mentioned earlier, I heard that linking to the HDD before the optical drive with the same cable could create problems but I had assumed this would just be some kind of communication error between the two when reading from a disc. I really don't understand what else could have gone wrong :confused:

honosuseri · 21 Jul 2012 at 23:12

That's a bit odd. It could be a compatibility problem, if you can see the HDD listed in the BIOS and it boots into windows (even if it does crash) it's obviously not a dead HDD.

Whilst the pc boots up (before windows) press F8 (takes some timing). This gives you boot options. From here pick safe mode with networking. See if the machine is stable in this mode (it will look dog rough thats ok). It could be a driver related problem and safe mode uses the bare minimum to get the machine going.

Can I suggest you goto your mobos webpage and download all the latest drivers and apps etc. and install them. Report back and we can go from there

Phemo · 21 Jul 2012 at 23:20

That doesn't mean anything really. It's likely that you have AHCI enabled in your BIOS and Seatools doesn't pick up a drive on a controller with AHCI enabled. You can either turn off AHCI in your BIOS then run Seatools and re-enable it afterwards or grab the Windows version of Seatools and run it there instead of messing with bootable discs.

You can get the Windows version here.

Jimmy the Rogue said:
Bringing up what I mentioned earlier, I heard that linking to the HDD before the optical drive with the same cable could create problems but I had assumed this would just be some kind of communication error between the two when reading from a disc. I really don't understand what else could have gone wrong

I have absolutely no idea what this means. A SATA cable gives a point to point connection, so one port on your motherboard goes to one device. You can only have the SATA cable plugged into a hard drive or an optical drive, not both. I don't understand what you're on about here. Can you clarify?

Jimmy the Rogue · 21 Jul 2012 at 23:58

honosuseri said:
That's a bit odd. It could be a compatibility problem, if you can see the HDD listed in the BIOS and it boots into windows (even if it does crash) it's obviously not a dead HDD.

Whilst the pc boots up (before windows) press F8 (takes some timing). This gives you boot options. From here pick safe mode with networking. See if the machine is stable in this mode (it will look dog rough thats ok). It could be a driver related problem and safe mode uses the bare minimum to get the machine going.

Can I suggest you goto your mobos webpage and download all the latest drivers and apps etc. and install them. Report back and we can go from there

I'll do as you say in a few minutes, but first I was interested in knowing a few things. When it comes to the drivers, should I be downloading everything on this page?

http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4144&dl=1#driver

Also, as something of a continuation to my query in the old thread, I tried to download Lucid VirtuMVP from the website (http://www.lucidlogix.com/) but it appears support has disappeared.

Phemo said:
That doesn't mean anything really. It's likely that you have AHCI enabled in your BIOS and Seatools doesn't pick up a drive on a controller with AHCI enabled. You can either turn off AHCI in your BIOS then run Seatools and re-enable it afterwards or grab the Windows version of Seatools and run it there instead of messing with bootable discs.

You can get the Windows version here.

I have absolutely no idea what this means. A SATA cable gives a point to point connection, so one port on your motherboard goes to one device. You can only have the SATA cable plugged into a hard drive or an optical drive, not both. I don't understand what you're on about here. Can you clarify?

Thanks for the link, I'll report back with what I find. As to what I meant, it is a single cable leading to two SATA plugs, something like this (ignore the molex plugs and pretend it ends with the two SATA plugs):

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$%28KGrHqYOKiIE13kgypfcBNldzv7FrQ~~_35.JPG

This is the closest image I could find, the cables came with the "Cooler Master Silent ProM 700W" PSU. I have the first SATA connected to the HDD and the outermost SATA connected to the optical drive. I could just simply add another individual cable which would possibly be an easy way of avoiding an issue (imagined or no).

Again guys, I apologise for my complete noobness.

honosuseri · 22 Jul 2012 at 00:07

Yes mate pretty much, the drivers are more important for now. You must have missed the lil box by download type, you select utilities, bios, or the manual sections from there

to make your life easy click me

The HDD and optical drive should be on seperate sata cables. You should have got 2 with the mobo when you bought it. Looking at those pics they seem to be the power connectors.

Phemo · 22 Jul 2012 at 00:08

Oh you're talking about the power cable, not the SATA cable. That's not a problem at all, certainly nothing to worry about

I imagine what you've found saying you shouldn't have HDs and optical drives on the same cable is referring to old legacy IDE devices where you could have two devices shared on the same data cable.

For power though, nothing to worry about.

Jimmy the Rogue · 22 Jul 2012 at 00:24

honosuseri said:
Yes mate pretty much, the drivers are more important for now. You must have missed the lil box by download type, you select utilities, bios, or the manual sections from there

to make your life easy click me

The HDD and optical drive should be on seperate sata cables. You should have got 2 with the mobo when you bought it. Looking at those pics they seem to be the power connectors.

I think I was just confused by the semantics then as they only share the same power cable. At least that isn't an issue.

Waiting to download the files at the moment, Windows update has stalled and is conflicting with the downloaders at the moment.

Should I also go through the Driver, BIOS and Manual sections on the GIGABYTE website and just download everything else when I'm done with utility? And when it comes to the BIOS section (http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4144&dl=1#bios), am I meant to make a choice or do I just download them all? I never cease to amaze myself with my own ineptitude in this area

Phemo said:
Oh you're talking about the power cable, not the SATA cable. That's not a problem at all, certainly nothing to worry about

I imagine what you've found saying you shouldn't have HDs and optical drives on the same cable is referring to old legacy IDE devices where you could have two devices shared on the same data cable.

For power though, nothing to worry about.

Indeed, thanks for your help. I guess my confusion is just becoming contagious at this point.

honosuseri · 22 Jul 2012 at 00:34

Updating the BIOS should be a last resort really bud. Just worry about the drivers for now. Once you get the rig stable we can get onto software and maybe even overclocking. Baby steps first though

Justintime · 22 Jul 2012 at 00:41

Phemo said:
It's likely that you have AHCI enabled in your BIOS and Seatools doesn't pick up a drive on a controller with AHCI enabled.

Thats not a rule, i'd say it sees 90% of the pcs i work with in AHCI mode, only if its some odd controller it has no generic drivers for etc..will it fail to see the drives.

honosuseri said:
Seatools should be on there which is for seagate/maxtor drives. As you ordered the barracuda you have a seagate HDD.

Samsung as well if you want to go by Seagate brands. However, it works for virtually ALL drives regardless of manufacturer and the generic tests don't discriminate between brands. Its the repair/remap part of the test that is brand specific.

As for the OPs problems, memory management is usually just that, memory related. Memtest it and enable any XMP profiles etc.. sometimes not doing that can get the wrong paramaters set especially where vtt and vdimm are concerned, could be a timing issue as well.

Jimmy the Rogue · 22 Jul 2012 at 01:44

honosuseri said:
Updating the BIOS should be a last resort really bud. Just worry about the drivers for now. Once you get the rig stable we can get onto software and maybe even overclocking. Baby steps first though

Tried to restart the PC and had to force a shut down because of that hanging Windows update. Not happy at all.

Also, I'm trying to update Easy Tune6, but to do so I need to uninstall my current version. When I try to uninstall it, it informs me that my GUI "is using files that need to be updated by this setup" and must be shut down.

Justintime said:
Thats not a rule, i'd say it sees 90% of the pcs i work with in AHCI mode, only if its some odd controller it has no generic drivers for etc..will it fail to see the drives.
As for the OPs problems, memory management is usually just that, memory related. Memtest it and enable any XMP profiles etc.. sometimes not doing that can get the wrong paramaters set especially where vtt and vdimm are concerned, could be a timing issue as well.

I'm assuming I can just enable XMP profiles in the BIOS somewhere.

Jimmy the Rogue · 22 Jul 2012 at 01:50

Also, I don't know if this is relevant but I entered into device controls to eject an external drive, and my HDD appeared with a large yellow triangle featuring an exclamation point next to it. I pressed diagnose and apparently there is some "USB driver" issue, but upon pressing repair Windows was unable to find any drivers by itself.

Edit: Great, and upon trying to download VirtuMVP I'm being told that an integrated graphics device was not found.