Problem with Windows 7 startup

Tteddy1982

Hi, I recently built a pc, my specs are as follows.

Windows 7 64 bit Home premium
intel sandybridge i5 2500k
Ati Radeon 6950
2 x 4 gb Cosair Vengeance Ram
Sabertooth p67 motherboard
Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F3 7200rpm
LG Electronics 24x DVD-RW
Seasonic x series 750w modular PSU

Its been running fine since I built it until yesterday when I got a blue screen and windows crashed. When I tried to restart I get to my motherboard bios fine but as soon as I try to start windows I see a flash of a blue screen and Im then advised to start the Startup repair tool as windows failed to launch, I have tried to start in safe mode and I get the same result. Running the repair tool finds no problems so I ran the memory diagnostic tool. This gives me a message saying there is a hardware problem, it then completes the scan and then the windows boots as normal.

The issue seems to be with the RAM, I have found that if I only use 1 4gb stick of ram windows boots fine and the thing is it doesn't matter which stick both work on their own but not together. I have also tried them in all available slots in every possible combination, it still remains that windows will run with a single stick of ram but not with two.

Im at a bit of a loss as to how to fix it, if it is a faulty stick of ram then I would have found that when i tried both separately, if its a faulty slot then I would have found that when I tried all of them. Im not the most tech savy person but I can usually fix problems like this but this is stumping me, if anyone can help please let me know. If this is the wrong board to post this on please let me know that too . Thanks loads for any help.

Tea_Bag

what voltage do they run at according to box, and what voltage is the motherboard supplying? vengeance RAM usually has 1.5v and 1.65v variants iirc.

if theyre the same, try overvolting a little.

first through, run memtest (bootable version) on both sticks. just cause you can get into windows doesn't make it OK. it's also easier to replace RAM than a motherboard.

Overheal

run memtest from a bootable and verify that the ram is intact.

Tteddy1982

I ran memtest within windows on both sticks separately and left it for maybe and hour and half with each and saw no errors reported. I tried running the memory diagnostic with a single stick in and no problems were detected on one and the other again gives the message saying hardware problems were detected, this is leading me to believe it maybe a faulty stick of ram. I haven't tried running memtest from a bootable, can I just download and run from an external usb? I just don't have any blank discs around at the minute. Thanks loads for the help.

Overheal

Overheal wrote: »

run memtest from a bootable and verify that the ram is intact.

speaking of my own advice why wont my new build let me boot from USB. Grr. Even with a manual override in the UEFI bios the program doesn't seem to want to run, it just proceeds to load windows 7.

Nothingbetter2d

Overheal wrote: »

speaking of my own advice why wont my new build let me boot from USB. Grr. Even with a manual override in the UEFI bios the program doesn't seem to want to run, it just proceeds to load windows 7.

did you make the usb drive a bootable disk?

Overheal

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

did you make the usb drive a bootable disk?

I let memtest's installer do that. It formatted the drive to FAT32 and should have been bootable after that

Monotype

Try disabling the hard drives. If it doesn't boot from it then, it's either not recognising the drive as a boot device or booting from USB is disabled. There's usually a menu with a few options about USB somewhere.

Boom_Bap

I get the same problem with my work machine and found the source recently. The power cable wasnt fully inserted. Sounds silly and basic, but it could be a case that there is not enough power to your machine.

Overheal

Boom_Bap wrote: »

I get the same problem with my work machine and found the source recently. The power cable wasnt fully inserted. Sounds silly and basic, but it could be a case that there is not enough power to your machine.

Running great on Prime95 and Dirt3 in the OS, and it doesnt have enough juice to boot a flash drive?

Monotype

USB uses 5V while most of the rest of the system uses 12V.
I'd expect a lot more problems if this was the case as hard drive circuit boards use 5V too, but it's no harm in checking it if you've looked everywhere else.