Solved First time build!

Hey there!

A few weeks back I posted in wanting some advise in how to build my i7 rig. Well a few things changed, and I don't have the i7. I got a few different parts here and there, and just finally put the rig together last night. But, I seem to have an endless amount of problems now, and I desperately need you help!


Here are my Specs:

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9750 3.2Ghz
EVGA 750i cheesecake
8GB Patriot Viper 800
BFG GTX 280 OC
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320 GB Sata


Ok, so first thing is first. My computer is saying my CPU is only 2.0Ghz! It states the name of the chip, but in the bios and benchmark test, it says it's only running at 2.0Ghz. What is the deal there? How does that even happen? Do I have a bad chip? Or is my chip somehow being under clocked?

Now for the FUN stuff. Ever since I first booted my computer up, I've had COUNTLESS BSOD errors here and there. By the way I'm running Vista Ultimate. As well as the errors I've encountered I've been having some odd graphic errors too. After around 20 minutes of use, all the images on my screen get changed back into like 1000 color mode (instead of Millions of Colors) so everything looks just horrible. And things like clicking on the Start Menu give me only half the menu.

I thought maybe it was the Card overheating, so I downloaded Riva Tunner and cranked the fan up to 100% to test it out, and I still get the same issues. Then I figured it was my drivers, since the ones that were on the CD were obviously old. So when I try to go to Nvidia's site and download the correct drivers, and install them, Windows says that the .EXE is corrupt. And that happens no matter what, no matter how many times I download the proper drivers.

Now, for the good 'ol BSOD. I've gotten 8 different BSOD error messages so far, and have no idea what the hell they mean.

These are the ones I've received :

0×0000001E: KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
0×0000000A: IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
0×00000024: NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM
0×0000003B: SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION
0×0000008E: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
0×0000001A: MEMORY_MANAGEMENT

What on earth does that mean? Is there always this many issues when building a computer?

I think you need to get into the BIOS and set a few things up. First being your memory. If you got DDR 667 memory and the BIOS is set up for DDR 400, this will create problems. I believe it is also clipping your CPU to 2.0Ghz. I would certainly look here. I do recall my XP computer that if the BIOS was set up to defaults, the CPU power reduced as a result of the BIOS looking for a particular RAM but my machine having a different RAM. I suggest you visit the mobo website and look for tips on tweaking the BIOS to see what hardware you have and it can then run correctly. BIOS setting at default are usually set to nonaggressive settings so we do not blow up are hardware. Emachine was famous for that and pretty much locked up the BIOS keeping us safe from ourselves.

I refer you to this thread were the computer did not recognize the mhz of the RAM installed producting BSOD. Read through it for some ideas.

http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/219994-bsod-when-i-install-2nd-stick-ram.html

Hi ScottsXJ,

I agree with avgwarhawk about getting into that BIOS

To make life easier for yourself, I'd tackle one thing at a time.

This is a fresh install of Vista? If it isn't, then it should be

RAM
Firstly I'd remove all but 2GB of ram so you'll have a more stable PC to work on for the time being. It's a very high chance that the 8GB is not set up properly yet. Your best bet would be to manually enter the manufacturers timing and voltage specs for your RAM. Once you've sorted the other CPU and driver issues, I'd re-install all the RAM and run memtest86+ for stability / errors:

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool



VIDEO CARD
For your video card, are these the drivers you're trying?:
GeForce Release 182

Did you try uninstalling the existing drivers through device manager first?

CPU
For your CPU download CPU-Z and check the info there:
CPUID

I doubt it's a bad chip, but if it's only running a 2.0ghz at load, then somethings not set up right. Where exactly is it reporting it's only at 2.0ghz? It may be reporting the C1E clock.

I'd also download CORETEMP and check what VID (stock voltage) your chip is rated at:
Core Temp

Whatever the VID is, you should manually input that into the vcore/voltage setting in BIOS. This is the required voltage specified by Intel for that chip to run at stock speeds.

Speaking of BIOS, have you flashed to a newer one?


Start with the simple stuff. Remove the RAM and concentrate on the video driver. Also definitely read up on your bios settings. Leaving most settings on auto is generally not a good idea.

Part of building own computer is to visit forum dealing with mobo, EVGA have one as does Patriot, Google can help as well. Find out details of problems/tweaks/fixes and bios upgrades - making memory work properly is first priority. Once that is tiptop rest is piece of cake and you will only run into the odd bug like everyone else.

Since you cant even download chipset drivers from Nvidia then start over Most likely bios is all wrong but when moved on make new bookmark folder called "My Computer" get relevant drivers and truly useful pages in there. Can save much time troubleshooting mistakes, also what appears to be Windows mistakes.

Does not matter if you went AMD or whatever, must research to set things up right. Dont even stop when Windows seem to behave, test with Memtest86+ and Prime95. Windows is fairly tolerant to timing/voltage/bios bugs/wrong settings, games or hard work for component is not.

Building own stuff is cool but sometimes it is a lot easier if you take the shortcut of "chosing" components you know others have no trouble with. You know those 8gb of Partriot xxxx will work on this mobo? Research again, half the fun

You said you installed the video drivers that came with the cd but you didn't state if you also installed the chipset drivers... did you?

Posting your complete specs on your profile will give a broad spectrum of what may be happening with your PC. I know I had a helluva time with mine at the beginning.

what PSU, Monitor, PC Case, Sound Card case are you using?

Are you sure your sound Card and Monitor are using x64 drivers?

Is your GTX 280 OC'ed even more than when it came from BFG?

I would try Clearing Cmos one more time, setting your bios to DEFAULT settings and try again.

Aside from this, others pretty much said what I would have done with RAM manually set by Mfg recommended specs as EVGA (only boards I have used) Auto settings are far from what you want to have. Ram auto is always undervolted, not a good thing to have, Ram timings are way off on Auto settings, etc, etc.

Perhaps, posting some pics of your pertinent Bios settings might do you some good since more of the PC gurus here can opt to have change some of them and you'll feel more at ease than doing it yourself w/o really knowing what you are going to be changing? I know I was!

Wow, thank you for all the help!

Well I found the culprit. It was my ram. The timing and voltage for it was ALL wrong. So I got the recommended settings for the RAM and my computer has been perfect since then.

And then as far as my CPU only running at 2.00GHz, it was a setting inside the BIOS. Since I did perform a CMOS reset in the beginning the core multiplier was set to the lowest possible setting. In this case, it was 6. So, I changed the multiplier to what I think it should be (8) and now it says I'm running at 3.2GHz.

Also, I haven't had any issues with the Video Card as of late. I finally got the correct drivers (thanks to the poster), and been able to Benchmark and see what I could really do!

It's funny, when my RAM wasn't set up correctly my WIE was 5.5. But as soon as I made the correct changes, it bumped it all the way up to 5.8.

But I believe all is working perfect now! Thank you for all your help!

Sweet! Have fun!

Yeah there are dif. kinds of defaults. You want "optimized", not "fail safe" or just "safe". They are the opposite

Well after loading optimized you should check all windows in bios - may be upgrade bios before doing anything. Depends. Checking EVGA forum for this model would be a good start EVGA nForce 730 and 750i Series Every bios will have "issues", question is if it matters to your components. Optimized should work out of the box though, with the exception of ram voltage/timings which often needs to be changed. They can be wrong even if computer boots and seem to work. Check specs for Patriot, volt, timings - then see if they match those in bios and in Windows with Cpu-z CPUID or similar tool. Or see if "auto"/spd match rather. May be you have to adjust manually. Also run Memtest86+ or the one in Vista. Vista has one build in for good reason.