Please help with new PC

zakjattaway

zakjattaway

zakjattaway

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Joined
20 Jun 2013
Posts
175
Location
England, Kent
Hi All,

Firstly I am not sure where this thread needs to be posted so if it is in the wrong area then please can you move it.

I have recently purchased the following components for my PC and put this all together on Saturday.

1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM with FREE Grid 2 PC Game £187.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x NZXT Phantom Enthusiast USB3.0 Full Tower Case - Black £104.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £77.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £72
1 x Corsair Hydro H60 V2 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011 / 1150 / 1366 / 1155 / 1156 / AM2 / AM3) £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £49.99
1 x Thermaltake Smart Series 530w Modular '80Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit £39.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99

I have had so many issues with the installation of Windows 8 it is unreal which is why I need some advice.

I installed Windows 8 onto my SSD but this was after around 10 reformat/partions and installation as every time it would come up with a new error such as missing HAL or missing NTLDR files. After the 100th time of trying to re install it without 1 error pop up it worked but now all my PC is doing is crashing randomly and going into repair.

The main question is as there are so many different errors with the installation of Windows 8 would you say I have been provided with a dodgey installation DVD or it is an error with the SSD or some other component.

This is the first build I have done so I would not put it past me that I may have done something wrong. Does anyone know if there is a service where I can send the PC back to be looked at and I pay for them to build the PC correctly and install the OS correctly for me.

Thank you very much!

Zak
 
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Hello

Did you have the standard HDD plugged in when doing the installation? Usually best to just have the ssd plugged in by itself for the intial install etc, then when it's all up and running plug the standard hdd in.
 
Thanks for the response. Yes I did have my HDD unplugged whilst installing onto the SSD. I also had to remove the GFX card and run the reformats and so on running on the onboard graphics.

I done this with Parted Magic. Its just odd how it is coming up with so many errors.

Thanks again.
 
Just to eliminate the installer and the SSD, try installing on to the HDD.. just as a test. Unplug the SSD while you do. If that works, then it's going to be either the SSD or installer. Try then loading windows 8 on another machine (don't resister it - this is just a test) . It that then works, it has to be the SSD. Check the SSD manufactures website for any disk checking/diagnostic software.
 
Can you actually get into windows or is it crashing before you get that far. Disconnect hdd.
If you can get into the bios, have a look under boot priorities. Does it say efi/uefi boot manager, if so just click on that and see if that gets you into windows.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. I shall give this all a go when I get back home today and pop a response in here soon.

I did manage to get into the OS after multiple reinstallations but it is extremely unreliable and is restarting over and over again due to various errors.

Thanks
Zak
 
Hi All,

Once again thanks for all the suggestions. I have just tried the memchecker tool and this has picked up some errors so I am thinking this may be the issue.

BUT!...

It is a weird one. The first time I run the memchecker it picked up around 350 errors. This was with two 4GB modules plugged in. I then removed one and the memchecker picked up no errors on that 1 module. I then replaced it with the other module and this then come up with no errors so by now I was thinking what is going on!

I then tried each individual module in the other slot and still both come up with no errors. I then put them both back in to their original slots and the errors then started popping up again.

I can only assume this is the issue but the fact the modules work perfectly fine on their own but when they are together they then do not work correctly.

Does anyone has any suggestions on what may be the cause of this and where the issue lies?

Thank you very much.
Zak
 
The slots they are installed in is important, check the user manual (I know, I know), it should describe valid configurations. Something else to check might be that your memory is getting the correct voltage. Maybe having two installed is causing enough power draw to drop the voltage below reliable operating levels.
 
Apologies for not stating the main component in my original post. I have update the spec. The RAM I am using is the following.

Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

I have double checked the RAM setup. I am sure the PSU is efficient enough for the RAM I have.

Thanks
Zak
 
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I've seen Crucial RAM and Giga Z87 issues mentioned before around this forum, I cant be 100% certain but thats were I would point the finger at.
 
Thats not what I wanted to hear stulid! I wanted you to tell me a fix! ;)

If I have tested the RAM and so on do you know if I would be able to send the RAM back and get some other modules? I dont mind paying extra for this of course.

Thanks
Zak
 
I am still looking into this. I am going to take a look at the timings and voltage this evening. Hopefully I will get there some time soon. I will keep you posted on my findings and if I find a fix.

Thanks,
Zak
 
Hi All,

I have replace the RAM with some new Black Mamba modules and this seems to have fixed the issue. Memtest was bringing up errors on the memory so it may have been faulty memory or it may have simply been incompatible for the Z87-D3HP MOBO. As I have seen previous threads saying they have had issues with this RAM on this MOBO I would just suggest keeping away from putting them together.

Hope this has been helpful. Thanks for the help!

Zak
 
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