New computer troubles

[villageidiot111]

So, two days ago I helped my friend build a computer with the following specs:

AMD X2 4200
Abit K8N Ultra
EVGA 7800GT
Fortron Blue Storm
2GB (2 x 1GB) Corsair Value Ram
WD 74GB Raptor

So, we got the system put together, and it posted fine. Installation of windows went well. However at that point it was late, so I left just after the basic drivers were installed (motherboard, video). The next day I went over there to see how the system was doing. He said that it was a great improvement over his old system, however now and then he was having lag spikes, and it had frozen once. So, I started surfing around with it, and within minutes it froze up. Twice more it froze up just surfing the internet. I thought it might be related to his ethernet driver, so we downloaded the latest motherboard driver. Upon installing that the computer now restarts whenever he logs into windows. What could the problem be, and what would be the best course of action?

Thanks for the help in advance.


P.S. I should also mention that in my troubleshooting I installed the Abit monitoring utility, and it listed all the psu rails at about 8% high, which I have found to be normal with most monitoring utilities. However, the 12v rail was at 11.8. This also concerns me, and I intend on testing the rails with a multimeter as soon as possible.

 

[imported_Gunhoe]

Did you get all the windows updates?

I think you are going to have to reinstall anyways, then get the updates asap. I had a similar problem when I built a friend a system with an X2 4400 in it.

 

[LiLithTecH]

What specific Model# of the Value Ram is it?

What do you have the Ram timings set to?

Also, what do you have the CPU voltage set to?
(should be 1.3v)

 

[2kfire]

How are temps (CPU, motherboard)? Could it be that the heatsink became mis-aligned or something when it was installed?

 

[LED]

1 Other avenue ...after installing Windows did you install a Virus program before updating from MS ?

 

[villageidiot111]

Well, I'm going over there now to reinstall windows and to search for the cause of the problem. I'm going to try everything you guys mentioned. Thanks for all your help, I hope to post soon with a resolution.

 

[villageidiot111]

Well, I got over here, and the problem is not any better. We couldn't even reinstall windows because it cannot get passed the bios. Booting from cd went to a black screen, so I disconnected the cd drive. Booting from hard drive does the same thing. I checked his cpu temp in the bios, and it was at 36 celcius, and the voltage was at 1.35, which is apparently correct according to this.

However, in the bios again I noticed that the 12v rail was at 11.7, while all the others were about 8% high. However, if it were too low, the psu would trip, right?



Also, I don't know much about ram timings. I guess his ram hasn't arrived yet, so he has a single stick of pc2700 512mb kingston in right now. What should his timings be at? I figured it would already be right because I chose optimized defaults in the bios.

Any help you guys can provide would be greatly appreciated

 

[montag451]

What voltage is the RAM at?
2.6v to 2.8v should be ok, but start low and work your way up.

Try the cpu voltage a little higher.

Can you boot to a dos prompt?
Can you run MEMTEST?
with one stick at a time? overnite for each stick?
With no unneccesary hw attached (extra drives/sound turned off in BIOS/or no soundcard/etcetcetc)

The voltages for the 12v rail are within limits. It shouldn't be a problem to have the voltages within 5% (11.4v-12.6v for the 12v rail). Some say 10% is ok, and I would concur as long as you aren't straining the psu too much with lots more periphs/drives.

 

[montag451]

What voltage is the RAM at?
2.6v to 2.8v should be ok, but start low and work your way up.

Try the cpu voltage a little higher.

Can you boot to a dos prompt?
Can you run MEMTEST?
with one stick at a time? overnite for each stick?
With no unneccesary hw attached (extra drives/sound turned off in BIOS/or no soundcard/etcetcetc)

The voltages for the 12v rail are within limits. It shouldn't be a problem to have the voltages within 5% (11.4v-12.6v for the 12v rail). Some say 10% is ok, and I would concur as long as you aren't straining the psu too much with lots more periphs/drives.

Oh, and put that BIOS setting to failsafe - not as fast, but is more reliable.
Also, is there a BIOS update you could try?