New pc issues...

[Neilg]

Backstory: bought a core2duo, conroe xfire MB, 2gig of kingmax ram and an ATI fireGL card. Put it all together, got it working. Installed max and photoshopfirst, didnt connect it to the internet or do anything else, used it properly for one day then shut it down as you would.

Now when I turn it on, it gets to the windows loading screen flashing up and then dissapears and restarts. Doesnt matter if I pick safe mode or last compatible settings - the second it tries to get into windows it just restarts.

More information I was asked for from the other places I asked for help (although theyre all clueless):

"I dont even have a soundcard or any extra stuff in there - its stripped down to the absolute basics and its a 500W power supply in a file server case.

Temps & voltages

Vcore - 1.2~
3.3 - 3.3~
5 - 5.05
12 - 12.45
CPU and MB temps are 31 and 24 respectivly."

Please help

[DaForce]

Did you install motherboard drivers before installing anything else?

Also how many HDD's you got plugged in?

Download memtest86 iso version and boot from it to check memory to make sure thats all ok.

[jujubee]

Check your video drivers - sounds like that is more of the issue. Switch from whatever driving method (D3D or openGL) to the the opposite. There is a command line method of doing so from the Max directory:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\3dsMax8\3dsmax.exe -h

[DaForce]

juju, he cant even get into windows or safe mode so changing the display drive that max uses aint gonna do squat.

Also if it were a display driver problem then booting into safe mode would be fine. as it loads the default vga driver.

Its more likely a corrupt windows/hardware problem.

[val2]

can you get to the bios?

[jujubee]

juju, he cant even get into windows or safe mode so changing the display drive that max uses aint gonna do squat.

Oh. That's what I get for not reading the post entirely. Don't know what I was thinking...

It does sound like a memory issue. You can try leaving in one stick, seeing what happens, then repeat with the other. Memtests don't always work and are sometimes time-consuming.

[Neilg]

Thanks for the help guys.

Got 2 360gb hd's, and I'm pretty sure I installed the MB drivers although I messed about with the hardware straight after. Possibly changed my primary and slave drives round... Could that be it?
I'll try checking the RAM by taking sticks out tonight and see if its obvious, if not i'll do a memtest.

Thanks again, dont know what i'd do without this place.

[DaForce]

It could certainl be one of the HDD"s causing the problem. Although I have only seen it cause windows to lock up and not boot into windows.

Try disconnecting the HDD that doesnt have windows on it and boot up.

[Neilg]

So I unplugged the HD, it worked, put it back in, and it worked again
did a bit of messing about with the way the hard drives are recognised in the BIOS first, although I cant remember what I did, haha.


Lets hope it stays this way, and thanks for all the help guys.

[DaForce]

Well good to hear your got it working.
Even on my machine i find that sometimes the sata connection can be a little funny. So all they need is give them a little jiggle and then its all peachy.
Often happens after I have lugged my case over to a mates place for games or something... no easy feat given it weighs over 25 kilos

I hope it stays working for you

[Neilg]

Good to know its common, and that its easily sorted now though

I'll have some more to shove in 'image uploads' as time goes on now.