Problem installing XP

[nightblood]

I just built a brand new PC yesterday and was getting frustrated troubleshooting it.
Parts used


AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P16002GK -
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3160813AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
POWERCOLOR AX4350 256MD2-H Radeon HD 4350 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire
Thermaltake TR2 W0379RU 500W ATX 12V v2.2 Power Supply - Retail

It kept hanging up while doing a quick format on the hard drive.
I formatted the hard drive in another pc and then it was hanging up examining the hard drive before coping files to it.
I removed 1 ram stick and then it would hang while copying files
I ran a ram diagnostic and it came out good
I ran a hard drive diagnostic and it came out good.
I lowered the speed of the ram and that fixed the problem.

[jakegub]

Always install your OS before you start overclocking. That's my general rule at least. I like to see improvements over stock so I run benchmarks first with stock settings and go from there. If your RAM isn't stable at stock speeds you need to send it back. The fact that you had problems with the HDD on a separate machine points to a possible HDD problem.

Keep us updated on the progress of installation.

[nightblood]

The hard drive was not the problem I formatted it on another pc and brought it back to new pc where it would hang on the xp installation examine disks.
The real problem was the ram would not run at the stock speed it was rated for. I built this pc for a client which I setup at their office yesterday. I am really disappointed that the OCZ memory had this problem since I use their brand all the time.

[Sowser]

The RAM rating for that mobo is DDR3 1666(OC)/1333/1066 so it is likely that the RAM stock speed of 1600 made things hang. At what speed did it stabalize? Did you try to overclock it to 1666?

[nightblood]

The stock speed of the ram is 1333 and was unstable.
I had to set the speed to 1066

[goodguy]

I heard about this problem before.

Apparently the ram likes to run at 2.2 volts but the mobo runs it at a lower voltage by default, you can crank it up

in the bios but i don't think it will go up high enough. Haven't done it myself so can't be 100% sure.

Best answer would be to raise the bios voltage until the ram becomes stable, failing that, change the ram for a lower voltage one.

Thanks. John.

[nightblood]

OCZ specs say to run it at 1.7 volts The motherboard was defaulting it at 1.5v I raised it to 1.7v and it was still unstable at stock speeds.

[goodguy]

You could try taking it up fractions of a volt, as long as it is done for short peroids it should be okay.

It may be that the mobo does not support the speed you are after (something of a long shot) you would either have to overclock or underclock

the ram, and either undervolt or overvolt, that is the situation at the moment, or try a different ram.

But i don't think it is anything to worry about, you would not even be able to see the performance difference from the figures you have stated.

Try contacting gigabyte customer support, i have used them and they do get back to you pretty fast.

For the meantime take the voltage up slowly, i have overclocked and overvolted ram, slightly, without a problem

[goodguy]

Yes, i have a gigabyte 785 chipset mobo and phenom II combo.

I have noticed in the bios it was running the ram at the wrong speed so I have had to go in a few times and correct this.

Maybe this is a problem with the board, and there could be a bios update to fix it.

Ma be applicable to your situation as well.

[Major_A]

It could also be an issue with the enhanced speed setting. Example: I have DDR2 1066 RAM but the board defaults to DDR2 800. I enable the enhanced speed setting and it changes the clocks to 1066Mhz and adjusts the voltages. Turn this option off, if it's on, until you have 100% stability. After that then you can start playing with the clocks. Believe me, you do not want to install Windows in an unstable environment, all sorts of Windows errors start popping up even if the install seemed successful.