[~Raven]

I built a computer for the first time (yay!?) but it's having problems.

Firefox crashes all the time (like, every 15 minutes). I've tried playing some games, but those crash too after a few minutes. "_____ has stopped working"

I tried testing with prime95 and get "rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4" errors on all workers within a few seconds or a few minutes.

I tried tests with OCCT. The first CPU test says "error detected on core #__" within a few seconds. Never the same core number. The second CPU test crashes the computer after a few minutes and gives the BSOD error "page fault in nonpaged area" or "IRQL not less or equal". I watched the temps while I was testing and the cores were sitting at around 50 C at 100% CPU usage.

I ran memtest86+ for 13 passes and it hasn't found any errors yet. I do have 16GB so how long should I make it test? And should I test all sticks at the same time or just one at a time?

I didn't change any of the bios settings expect boot drive priority, all is at what it was at default. I didn't try any OC or anything like that(I wish, can't even get it to work at stock!).

I installed the newest drivers for the mobo and video card. Except there was 2 mobo drivers(Marvell Preinstall Driver, Intel SATA Preinstall driver) I couldn't install because all that was in the folder is a .oem file and some sys and dll files... uh how do I install that? On the mobo website it said "Note: Press F6 during Windows setup to read from floppy." A floppy? That stuff we used 10 years ago?

I ran windows updates, and installed everything. Also installed java, abobe flash player, net framework, active x, and all that jazz.

And the moment you've all been waiting for:

Mobo: gigabyte z68x ud3h b3
CPU: i5 2500k
RAM: x2 G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Memory
HHD: samsung spinpoint f3 1TB
SSD: Crucial M4 SSD Micron C400 128GB
heatsink: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus
PSU: Silverstone Strider 750 Plus 750W Modular Power Supply ATX 24PIN 135mm Fan 60A 80+ Silver Black
GPU: MSI twin forzr III N570GTX Power Edition OC GeForce GTX 570


That'd be a sweet rig... if it worked

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Are you 200% sure you only installed a case standoff where there is a corresponding motherboard mounting hole?

13 complete passes should be good, but note MemTest can report nothing wrong and yet the RAM still have problems.

I would try running with just 2 sticks at a time and see what happens.

[Digerati]

Are you 200% sure you only installed a case standoff where there is a corresponding motherboard mounting hole?

13 complete passes should be good, but note MemTest can report nothing wrong and yet the RAM still have problems.

I would try running with just 2 sticks at a time and see what happens.

[~Raven]

So I tried booting with only 2 sticks of RAM, and it worked It didn't fail the prime95 or OCCT tests within seconds anymore. Didn't crash any games.

So I figured that one of the two other sticks could be defective. So I try booting off the other 2 sticks, and... it also works. At that point I'm wondering if 1 of the 2 unused DIMM slot is defective or something.

So I put back all 4 sticks in, and boot. This time the error is back. I remove one of the sticks and boot. Error is gone. I put a different stick in the slot, and boot. It works. At that point I'm kinda puzzled lol as it can't be the RAM or the slot.

I plug the last stick back in (all 4 now in) and I boot. Error is gone and everything works.

Could 1 of them have just been inserted wrong? It's kinda hard to mess up really.. and I'm pretty sure I inserted them all correctly. No idea what happened there, but it works fine now lol As long as the problem doesn't come back.

[Digerati]

Could 1 of them have just been inserted wrong?

Wrong? Not really. I mean "wrong" can only mean one of two things, backwards or not fully inserted. Backwards is possible, but requires a lot of force and definitely causes permanent damage. Not fully inserted is possible, but then you tried all four slots more than once.

In my old radio maintenance days, we would call it "FM" - not for frequency modulation, but for a certain type of magic!

[corbek]

I have had issues like this before. Today I was at work and I had to unlock something. I put the key in it didn't turn. I took the key out turned it around and reinserted it and it wouldn't unlock. I sat there looking at the key for 30 seconds and then decided to try again and it worked... /facepalm. It's just the way the world works sometimes. Also, make sure you check to see if all your ram is being used through windows 7. I can't remember exactly where to go to find that info right now, I am currently on windows xp. If it shows up that only 12 GB are installed you know that one stick isn't properly inserted.