Bizarre fault with new system - suggestions welcome

[VonBlade]

Hi lads and lasses.

Gigabyte MA790X-UD mobo. 7750BE processor. 2x2GB Corsair 8500 DDR CAS5. ATI4850.

Installed everything fine and dandy. However I can't install Windows. You might consider this a small issue, but that's really the start of it.

Sometimes it wont let me into the BIOS screen.

Sometimes it will, but the keyboard doesn't respond.

Or the keyboard responds initially, then doesn't.

Sometimes I can get to the XP setup screen but it's Sloooooooooooooooooow (huge pauses before it does anything).

Sometimes I get all the way to "Setup is starting Windows" and the monitor powers off (like a sleep state).

Sometimes it sleeps during the copying of the setup files.

Sometimes it never gets past "press F6 to install RAID".

I've upped the RAM voltage from 1.8 to the 2.1 Corsair state.

I've tried both sticks in 1 and 2. And both sticks in 1 and 3.

I've tried one stick in 1 and 3. I've tried the other stick solo in 1 and 3.

I've tried @ 1066 and 800.

I'm totally out of ideas. Any help, or clue, would be hugely appreciated.

The only possible thing I can think of is that my PSU only has a 4 pin power connector rather than the strange 8 pin chappy the mobo needs. But according to Gigabyte and the few things I've read online it'll be fine with 4 pin.

Or, as was the case with my old memory, the memory is FUBAR.

Please. MrsVB is gagging to use it and I'm desperately out of ideas.

VB

 

[PCTwin]

are you sure the 4 pin connector is on the correct 4 pins. I had a similar problem and found I had it on the wrong pins.

 

[VonBlade]

It only fit on four of them. The top four. The only way I can get it on the bottom four is to put it on backwards, and then the latch wont lock.

 

[JN]

It only fit on four of them. The top four. The only way I can get it on the bottom four is to put it on backwards, and then the latch wont lock.

You didnt power the system on with it round the wrong way like that did ya?

Even tho MSI say it only needs 4 pins I'd deffo try to get a converter and use all 8.

 

[Brooksie]

Worth buying a 4 pin to 8 pin and seeing if that works.

 

[VonBlade]

You didnt power the system on with it round the wrong way like that did ya?

Lmfao. No way. It was clearly wrong

I've tried a different PSU and now the system is more stable, but I'm getting the "can't copy file x" and "IRQ NOT LESS" errors that indicate the memory is knackered.

Yay. So RMA time. On a weekend.

And hopefully that'll fix it. Thanks everyone.

 

[DeMoB]

Could always run memtest86+ off a CD to test that your memory actually is faulty.

Dan