I am happy to report that w/ the new psu, everything seems to be running fine. I'm typing this on my gaming rig right now. I've only done a minor stress test, but so far so good. I have some more testing to do, but so far seems the psu may have been the issue all along.
ok... so I spoke too soon. I ran some updates, and shut the pc down about a day ago. I went to start it up today, and it wouldn't boot to windows. It restarted itself on it's own, then prompted me to run a system restore. I did that, but then it crashed to blue screen. /sigh.
I'd still go with the motherboard. They cost about $100 or so. If you can return the open box one, that would be ideal. But, if they wont accept it, just don't buy anything there any more and get the new mobo from newgegg. What mobo do you have now? Gigabyte, MSI or ASUS seem to be good ones. I've always like the specs on ASRock motherboards - but, I've never had one. You'll fix this. It will prolly cost you something. Growing pains, I guess.
I pulled all the components out last night and set up a bare bones external build. I have 2, 2gb sticks of ddr3 memory, and there are 4 (2 x dual channel) slots on the board. I used stick 1 (which is the stick I have used for testing previously) in slots 1 & 3, and got the same results as before. As in.. can't boot to windows, won't repair, blue screen, etc. I removed it and placed stick 2 into slot 2, and voila, it works! I spent the rest of the night doing some testing, and installing drivers, and everything seemed to work ok. Now since I wasn't thorough to the extreme in my testing, I'm not sure if it's the memory slots or that one stick that may be bad. But that definitely tells me something. It also could have something to do w/ me not having any spacers between the board and the tray, but that can be easily resolved.
More testing tonight (if I have time). I'll test each stick in each slot to be sure, and will follow up.
I did some more thorough testing. I'm not sure if 1 stick of ram is bad or not, but it sure seems like it from the test. I tested each stick (alone) in every slot, and here are the results:
ram stick one:
mobo slot 1 - fail 2 - boot 3 - fail 4 - fail
ram stick two:
mobo slot 1 - boot 2 - boot 3 - boot 4 - boot
I ran a window memory diagnostic on each stick, and both came up clean. working on running a memtest86 test, then will post those results.
Ran memtest86 for about an hour last night w/ both sticks in and it came up clean. Got through 2 test cycles and passed both w/ 0 errors. That tells me it's more than likely not the ram, though I find it odd that stick 2 works everytime, whereas stick 1 does not.
Ok... so my brand new Corsair psu just died on me. Still waiting for my Corsair memory RMA to go through, now the new psu died on me. I came down stairs and my pc was off. I didn't think much about it (even though I didn't remember turning it off) until it wouldn't turn back on. Checked to make sure the psu was switched on (sometimes I switch it off - during storms and such), check. Checked to see if the power strip had tripped, nope. Took off the cover to see that the fans would make one rotation, then nothing. I pulled it out and tested my old psu (the Apevia one I replaced), and it works just fine. So I did the ole paper clip test on another good psu I had, worked. Did the paper clip test on the corsair psu, nothing. So looks like I'll be RMAing my brand new psu, along with my brand new Corsair memory. Not very happy with Corsair right now. I thought it was supposed to be one of the high end brands?
You know, on a positive note, at least this one was easy to figure out lol. It took me all of 20 minutes to diagnose, and discover the issue. I'll take that all day long! Much better than weeks of testing, and still not knowing exactly what the issue is.
I used to get all worked up about a particular company for one reason or another. The whole loyalty thing changes so quickly because it's based on faith. If you believe that Corsair uses better parts or tests the products more carefully, then, you pay a premium price for that security. It's really much more about successful marketing techniques. I still hate Microsoft because of their successful marketing techniques. They created a monopoly in OS's. The point is that I can still be swayed to buy the 'better' product if they advertise in a convincing way.
What I'm really trying to say here is that no matter who puts their name on a product, the capacitors are made by the same few capacitor companies. Resistors, voltage regulators, ICs, printed circuit boards all are made the same way. OK, the bearings in a fan can be different and last longer if you pay more money. You can buy a passable GPU for $50 or a killer for $500. There are still real differences out there. But, I just don't go faithfully with certain brand names. They all eventually fail - newer technology or bad component.
I've been using 600 watt Rosewell PSUs for about 5 years with no problems. I was always told that only the best brand name PSU is suitable. It will save you money if you spend it on a good name. When you take apart a PSU, you see the same parts.
I've always only bought the cheapest psu's I could get, mostly off newegg shell shocker deals. I spent $20 on a 550w logisys psu years ago, and that thing still works. I've never had any issue worth mentioning until I purchased this $150 "brand name" psu. Now it was a lot heavier than any of my other psu's, so that comforted me to think that the components might be better because they were heavier. But I guess that didn't make much of a difference after all lol.
Comments
thoughts?
I pulled all the components out last night and set up a bare bones external build. I have 2, 2gb sticks of ddr3 memory, and there are 4 (2 x dual channel) slots on the board. I used stick 1 (which is the stick I have used for testing previously) in slots 1 & 3, and got the same results as before. As in.. can't boot to windows, won't repair, blue screen, etc. I removed it and placed stick 2 into slot 2, and voila, it works! I spent the rest of the night doing some testing, and installing drivers, and everything seemed to work ok. Now since I wasn't thorough to the extreme in my testing, I'm not sure if it's the memory slots or that one stick that may be bad. But that definitely tells me something. It also could have something to do w/ me not having any spacers between the board and the tray, but that can be easily resolved.
More testing tonight (if I have time). I'll test each stick in each slot to be sure, and will follow up.
ram stick one:
mobo slot
1 - fail
2 - boot
3 - fail
4 - fail
ram stick two:
mobo slot
1 - boot
2 - boot
3 - boot
4 - boot
I ran a window memory diagnostic on each stick, and both came up clean. working on running a memtest86 test, then will post those results.
Out of curiosity what config did you have the sticks in when you ran memtest? Was RAM stick one in one of the bad slots (1, 3, 4)?
What I'm really trying to say here is that no matter who puts their name on a product, the capacitors are made by the same few capacitor companies. Resistors, voltage regulators, ICs, printed circuit boards all are made the same way. OK, the bearings in a fan can be different and last longer if you pay more money. You can buy a passable GPU for $50 or a killer for $500. There are still real differences out there. But, I just don't go faithfully with certain brand names. They all eventually fail - newer technology or bad component.
I've been using 600 watt Rosewell PSUs for about 5 years with no problems. I was always told that only the best brand name PSU is suitable. It will save you money if you spend it on a good name. When you take apart a PSU, you see the same parts.