New build unstable at stock, please help to troubleshoot

Now, I dont want to proclaim I can run before I can walk.... But Plec, I think you hit the nail on the head, and I could owe you a beer.

I fiddled with a couple of ambiguous settings in the bios, one being staggered HDD spinup, the other being something about timeout. The latter meant the splashscreen displayed for a painfully long time, lesson learned. The staggered spin up however, seems to have done the trick! If this stands the test of time that is one really annoying problem solved.

Now I need to add back in the HDD and pray that doesnt add instability, and otherwise see if I am generally stable.
 
Im now copying over all music and photos from external drive, everything stable so far.

I can only assume if I remain stable that updating the firmware on the SSD was key
 
Thanks Plec, all holding up ok.

I would have persued an RMA and bought a new drive before considering a delayed HDD spinup. I googled about it, and the result talks of power loss to a drive when many drives are started at the same time. Yet I struggled with just one drive. What's your take on it?
 
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Useful info, thanks.

It's the staggered spin up option I have enabled, no specific HDD delay. So in practice it takes no longer to boot. I'm still in Windows within 10-12 secs of hitting the power button, so that doesn't bother me.

Previously if I left the machine on overnight, I would wake to find a BSOD but all ok so far.
 
Bad news BSOD tonight. Turned machine on, left it to see if it was stable, as previously had issues with BSODs when idle, and same thing tonight, after an hour or so at a guess.

BSOD said it had shut down the pc to prevent damage etc etc, and then reference STOP and then I guess some address of the fault in question. Now Im really frustrated, and somewhat back to square 1.1. Plec, any thoughts?

Is there anyway to troubleshoot the BSOD? Else Im back to installing the OS on the HDD and seeing if thats stable for prolonged period of time.
 
Another BSOD tonight and im losing my rag. Ive just ordered another set of ram, same spec, and a different cpu cooler, as my current one is tough to fit, and blocks the nearest dimm slot. Thinking about it, the issue could quite frankly be anything. When the new kit comes, I am going to rebuild the machine and see what happens. Swap the modular psu lead, change the psu socket the lead goes into.

If that fails I dont know where to go, I srriously doubt my Corsair psu is bad, so im leaning towards mobo or sdd.... God this is annoying, and getting expensive.
 
My original Scythe heatsink did the job fine, but it was a pita to fit. If I am going to potentially be fiddling with ram, then it's easier if I replace it with something with easier access. Ive gone for a Noctua with the 9mm fans.

Last couple of BSODS referenced memory, and ram is cheap, so I thought hell, no loss at adding another 4gb anyway. If I still have problems then it's a tough call. I'm struggling to grasp why the issue could be the Sdd, as surely it can't be that complicated to go wrong, vs the mobo.
 
Noctua cooler and more ram arrived this morning. Followed by a removal of all components and re-installation. Have to say the Noctua NH-U9B SE2 is a great bit of kit. V ery easy to install, far more so than my Previous Scythe, its more noisy though, and 3pin mobo header mean I cant control the speed via bios, which is a minor niggle. However, access to ram is much better. Ive thrown caution to the wind and running 2gb in each slot, firmly pushed in to see what happens. Ive reseated cpu, changed psu cables so hoping if they were one of the annoying causes, I wil have ironed it out. Now just have to be patient and see if a BSOD rears its head.
 
Yeah, so my machine has been on 24/7 since I added the ram and changed the HS and not had a single BSOD, error or anything bad of note, so I am more confident than ever that the issue is solved, though still unable to pinpoint where the problem lay. Have to say the machine is pretty quick now with 8gb of ram and the ssd running in AHCI without issue.

Thanks for following up Plec.

For anyone else reading this, I strongly recommend heatsinks that attach via tightening screws on to a backplate, opposed to clip on, or click and twist locking mechanisms.The Noctua heatsink is machined to perfection, and installion a breeze.
 
The Scythe had 4 plastic "push and twist" pins, which were tucked up right underneath the heatsink itself, making installation quite tricky, some force was needed to get the pins in, but access was the main issue, and I don't think the board warped.

The staggered spin up sorted out the ssd detection issue, of that I am certain. But even after that I continued to suffer random BSODs and some very quickly after boot. I have not cast away my old ram, I have merely added another identical set, which I can now do with the Noctua installed. I did put the old ram in the other pair if dimm slots that were previously not used.

So the solution has come from one of reseating CPU, and adding the Noctua, or changing dimm of original ram.

But as you said, it doesn't matter so long as I am stable.

I started watching Madmen on blu ray on it last night. I have a standalone blu ray player but it takes an age to read the disk and get into the main menu, which seems to be quite common of hifi separates. On the pc I am in within a matter if seconds, and picture and sound quality are great. It's nice to be able to use the machine fir what I bought it for.
 
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