self build help please

DJPUP · 7 Mar 2016 at 18:28

need help please, I am a new builder and I bought the following components:

MSI Z170A Krait Gaming motherboard

Ballistix Sport LT 8GB of DDR4 RAM

Intel core i5-6600K 3.9GHz Skylake Socket LGA1151 CPU

Olymp Twin Tower High Performance CPU Cooler - 140mm

from watching many youtube videos on how to build a PC I was pretty confidant that i could build it on my own.

I put it all together as per You-Tube, Thermal paste on CPU, Heat sync fitted with the fans and i installed the Ram into Dimm slots 2 and 4 and turned it on, the lights on the motherboard that indicate the CPU or RAM has either not been detected or have failed started to flash, any ideas please??

I did try to remove one ram stick and try just one into the Dimm 2 slot and swapped them over but still getting the same light indicator

Completely gutted it hasn't worked first time, and now a bit stumped.

Any ideas? please help me.

ED209 · 7 Mar 2016 at 19:09

if you have re seated the ram already and tried with different sticks check the cooler.

make sure its not done up too tight as this can bend the cpu\board, maybe loosen it off a bit.

if this doesn't work remove the cooler and inspect the pins on the bottom of the CPU to make sure there not bent and also check the cpu socket on the mobo too.

are you using a dedicated gpu or the one in the CPU?

DJPUP · 7 Mar 2016 at 19:29

Thank you for the reply, I will try out what you said to do now.

i am using a MSI GeForce GTX 960 Gaming 4096MB as my graphics card

Thanks again.

DJPUP · 7 Mar 2016 at 19:45

I removed the CPU cooler yesterday and used acetone to remove the thermal compound that was on it but the paste is still on the CPU and has gone a little bit hard, do you think i should put the CPU cooler back on now or remove and reinstall the compound on to the the CPU and then put on the CPU cooler back on?

koooowweeee · 7 Mar 2016 at 20:03

Remover it all first. Just tighten it up enough. Don't over do it

Also try ram slot 1.

DJPUP · 7 Mar 2016 at 20:04

OK, thank you.

DJPUP · 8 Mar 2016 at 20:24

Hi again,

I tried reinstalling the CPU cooler a little looser this time but when I turned the PC back on it showed the same thing. I also tried installing the RAM into DIMM slot one but this also showed no difference.

Something has to be faulty doesn't it?

Danny75 · 8 Mar 2016 at 20:32

DJPUP said:
Hi again,

I tried reinstalling the CPU cooler a little looser this time but when I turned the PC back on it showed the same thing. I also tried installing the RAM into DIMM slot one but this also showed no difference.

Any more ideas as to what's causing this?

Did you inspect the motherboard's CPU socket pins carefully?

Which PSU are you using?

Is the 8-pin (or 4-pin) EPS power cable from the PSU for the CPU, connected to the motherboard?

Have you tried posting without any drives attached?

Have you tried building out of the case?

Can you borrow some different RAM to test?

trackrat · 8 Mar 2016 at 21:49

A few months ago I had two sticks of Ballistix RAM for a new build and had a similar problem to you, when I only had one stick in the computer would boot regardless of which stick I put in, but when I put the pair in it refused to boot.
Just re-read your post and it seems that you only have one stick of RAM
so if you can try another brand.
Just had a look on the Crucial site and it does not show the single 8GB stick as compatible with you motherboard, only 2 X 4 GB sticks.