Building my first computer

[Adamn]

Thanks again for all the help! This is my final build... can someone help verify that this should be good? (I do already have a hard drive) Since it's Saturday, it won't ship any sooner, anyway.


SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S223Q - OEM

NZXT Apollo Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-MA780G-UD3H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

SAPPHIRE 100269SR Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready

Antec EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B - Retail

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor Model HDZ720WFGIBOX - Retail

 

[Gilles]

Looks like a very solid build.

 

[Dvorak]

You'll need to change the mobo to a socket AM3, or change the cpu to a socket am2/am2+.

this board looks good:
ASUS M4A78 Plus

edit: or maybe not, it was trotter who said get that board, so I'm probably wrong =)

 

[Trotter]

AM3 will run on an AM2+ board. AM3 is DDR3 only, while AM2+ uses DDR2. An AM3 board could be used for the build, but they are pretty high right now. Nothing wrong with going that route, but every time I suggest it half a dozen come in screaming to not spend the extra money.

 

[Hefemeister]

That is why Trotter is the man.

The small benifit of running dual chanel ddr3 ram is definately not worth the added cost of an am3 board and ddr3 ram. Stick with the board you already have.

 

[Adamn]

Order has been placed. Again, thanks very much.

 

[Adamn]

I got all of the parts, and I'm running into one pretty big issue.

I'm relatively confident that I have everything installed the way it should be. When I turn on the computer, it posts fine, and goes to load Windows. To try to rule everything out, I currently have the processor/heatsink, one HDD, only the PWR pins, one stick (2GB) of ram, and the DVD drive installed. I've even unhooked the DVD drive when not trying to install Vista...

Windows will BSOD for a brief moment, and then reboot.

That's fine, I figure I may have to reinstall windows... I have a copy of Vista now, and go to install that.

First, it takes a very long time from loading to any dialogues in the Vista installation. It seems to be stalling out for upwards of a minute to a minute and a half on HDD accesses.

When I try to reformat ANY HDD, I get error 0x80070057, telling me that I cannot reformat.

The freaky thing is that after waiting a sufficient period of time, the Vista installer will actually begin copying files to the HDD.

Any suggestions as to what I can try? I've tried swapping the RAM that's in, and it is in the first slot.

I'm completely stuck!

 

[NightSurge]

What does the BSOD error message say? Usually those tend to represent errors with RAM or HDD, especially on a system that hasn't had Windows running much yet.

Since you've tried the RAM using different sticks, it could be the hard drive. Have you tried the other HDD? Sometimes they have bad firmware or other issues.

 

[Adamn]

The BSOD is so quick that I cannot read it. Utilizing a camera, I still got nothing. It blinks blue for two recorded frames at 60fps, not enough time for anything of use to read out.

The hard drive I'm currently trying this with (500 GB SATA) works in my other computer. I've confirmed it since, and it boots just fine. I have tried the other HDD as well, but it fails.

What's really confusing is that the Vista loader works. I also ran the included memtest on the loader for 6 hours while at work and no failures.


Does the fact that the Vista loader hung for several minutes prior to making any progress in copying files have any possible bearing? When not booting from disk, the windows XP loading screen does appear briefly. It almost feels like it's unable to write to the disc for a certain period of time. Everything I looked up for the windows error code had something to do with writing to the disc.

Is it possible that the mobo would fail exclusively in writing to the disc?

Another item of note is that currently, Windows XP 32 bit is installed on the HDD. I'm attempting to install Vista Home Premium 64 Bit.

 

[NightSurge]

Did you do a full reformat before installing Vista? You cannot install a new OS over an old OS without a good reformat

Also, if you need to check the BSOD, at POST hit F8 (usually), and it will pull up a menu where you can choose "Disable Auto Reboot On Failure".