[lboy777]

Okay I really need some help here before I go into absolute rage mode and tear my pc apart with a sledgehammer.

In February of this year I finally built my dream PC.

------------------------------------------------------

Specs:
Windows 7 Professional 64Bit Edition.
Intel Core i7 2600k @ 3.4Ghz.
MSI P67A GD-55 (B3).
EVGA GTX 570 Superclocked.
WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm (Main HDD).
Samsung 2TB 5400rpm (Backup HDD).
G-Skill Ripjaws, 2 x 4GB 1333Mhz RAM.
Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold 1000W PSU.
Corsair Hydro Series H80 CPU Cooler.
Samsung BD/DVD Combo.
Aerocool X-Predator Evil Green Edition.

------------------------------------------------------

About 3-4 months ago whilst in mid-PC shutdown we experienced a power cut which I thought nothing of, but come next day and I turn my PC on I log into my user and everything seems to be Extremely slow, to the point where the whole desktop went into "Not responding" mode and "End Process" this continued, so i backed up a few important things onto my backup HDD using Safe-mode which seemed to work fine. I decided to re-install the OS assuming maybe some of the drivers had corrupted, this however did not make a difference, so I contacted Western Digital and got me a replacement HDD plugged it in, installed OS and still the same problem, so I tried using different sata cables, which didint work, I even cleared the CMOS. So I ended up assuming the sata connection on the motherboard was faulty, so I got that RMA'd too, couple of days later it arrived i re-built everything and still got the same issue which by now had gotten to the point where i can only get into the BIOS as the windows Loading pulsing logo just stays on for ages and i get a complete black screen after and nothing happens. So I got my psu replaced assuming that it was damaged in the power cut and is no longer delivering enough power, this still made no difference, I then bought a stick of 2Gb DDR3 RAM and still no difference, so most recently (2 weeks ago) I got my CPU sent off to ebuyer who tested it and have said that "No Fault Has Been Found" and they are returning it to me now... I have run out of ideas of what may be the problem and I am broke so I cant pay a specialist to take a look at it. I really need some help here because I'm all out of ideas and I might just end up sledgehammering a £1500 PC lol... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Someone Help

I am so sorry for the extremely long story but I thought I'd better give every detail just so people don't ask me to try something I already have as people did when I posted a short less descriptive version on Yahoo Answers.

Thanks !!

[maddogb]

Sorry to hear that dude, try and keep a calm head, best thing to help you on fault diagnosis.
but you don't get off that easy there's still a lot of asking to do but ill try and say why im asking.

now the best approach here is to have access to another system for any essential downloads and preferably a new pendrive(old ones may be infected or corrupting data),
check sites relevent to your hardware for any hardware/bios/firmware issues and updates, download and be ready to apply them
first thing springs to mind is a fault on the early p67 chipsets and sata 6GBs ports, make sure this MB aint affected

try and write down(post) all config steps you would usually take on a new system, one may be a big mistake in your current setup ( i came across a setup like this where the guy was automatically putting his swap file on a second drive cos years ago he had been told it was a good thing to do, not with 16GB RAM where windows creates a paging file the same size, not on a 5400 drive and certainly not on a drive with about 40 thousand small files which windows was determined to index for its search database, all these were true in his case...)

before we start, you have checked the system for malware using something like malwarebytes? this is in case you simply installed the os over the old one without formatting the hdd to remove all traces?

if you have, next you need to remove all unnecessary hardware from the system, data drive, usb devices etc.

remove the partition on the existing hdd(obvs after backing up crucial data) reboot and do a new install, making sure your system is not connected to the router. (in case its a windows update)

buy a copy of company of heroes
next install the drivers supplied with the main board and gfx card, test in this config as much as you can with net disconnected if its an original win7 disk there are a lot of update windows will try and download and be careful waht software you put on, make sure its win64 compatible.
if you want to be thorough and nail this, don't deviate and report back in a couple of days

[maddogb]

oh and check you cleaned the cpu and heatsink properly after re inserting the cpu, rolled up thermal paste will cause temps to go up and cpu throttling to the extreme, check cpu temp in bios

[lboy777]

The motherboard I currently have is a B3 model which is the new fault free p67 model... when I re-installed the OS i made sure the HDD was formatted before installing it... I cant run any type of tool or diagnostic program as I can not get into windows at all and when trying to re-install Win 7 using the Bootable USB (I have a completely legit Win 7 Download Only Version) it loads files and then I just get a completely black screen again, it used to go into the Win 7 Install screen, or I can disconnect my HDD completely and it goes into the install screen. Heatsink and fan should be fine, when i get the i7 back from ebuyer ill put the stock fan back on incase my H80 is faulty or anything.

As for Company of heroes... err would that be for stress testing?... if so I have a crap load of games on steam I'm sure I could pick one of them to do any stress testing

[lboy777]

Oh and I havent changed any configs or anything of that sort AT ALL neither have I changed ANY setting in the BIOS apart from boot selection and I may be running an i7 2600k but I have not overclocked it or messed with any temp setting or timings etc

[maddogb]

OK so you loading windows via a a usb stick? (see line 4 above) get a disk preferably an original media not a torrent copy.( u can try a copy of a mates disk if you see he has the original media )
formatting is not the same as removing a partition, next install remove the partitions
if the h80 was faulty it would show in the temps in the health section of your bios sit and watch that for a while.
yes the COH was for stress testing, the first part can be run without a net connection was the only game came to mind now that can (see the last two paragraphs)
Now the point i made about doing stuff not in the plan, in your response you had already set up your network downloaded and installed steam then a game, not a good idea, stick to the plan if you want a good chance at success
i assumed you had already run diags on the individual parts via UBCD or similar, this isnt a randomly occurring fault so may well show under diags. get the diags done on the hdd as a minimum, the manuf's web site should have a bootable iso for this or get UBCD.

[lboy777]

Yes I am creating a bootable USB and running the OS Install/Repair off of it using my legit copy of Win 7 Professional 64Bit.
As far as I can remember I think my BIOS stated my CPU temp at around 40-50deg with the H80.
So how am I going to go about un-installing the OS again and formatting the HDD/removing partition when I can no longer get into the Windows Install/Repair Screen with the HDD connected. Is there a way I could connect a SATA HDD to my Laptop (like a USB Portable HDD) and be able to format it there and what not ?

I'm hoping my CPU comes back in the next few days, ebuyer haven't said anything about it being dispatched yet.

[EndlessWaves]

The Windows 7 installer should have an option to delete/format partitions.

So you've replaced everything except the graphics card?

[maddogb]

Originally Posted by lboy777

Yes I am creating a bootable USB and running the OS Install/Repair off of it using my legit copy of Win 7 Professional 64Bit.
As far as I can remember I think my BIOS stated my CPU temp at around 40-50deg with the H80.
So how am I going to go about un-installing the OS again and formatting the HDD/removing partition when I can no longer get into the Windows Install/Repair Screen with the HDD connected. Is there a way I could connect a SATA HDD to my Laptop (like a USB Portable HDD) and be able to format it there and what not ?
I'm hoping my CPU comes back in the next few days, ebuyer haven't said anything about it being dispatched yet.

as ew says the boot off the usb key will bring up the installer where u can remove the existing partition remember only the one drive connected u intend to use for the os temps look fine tho i would of expected a little lower at idle. in the bios you can set which device to boot off.
and yes you can buy a sat to usb adapter but it shouldn't be necessary
@ew the point about the vga card is relevant but the steps outlined above should show that anyway the fault will either be present with the basic install or reoccur as soon as the vga driver is installed.

[lboy777]

Originally Posted by EndlessWaves

The Windows 7 installer should have an option to delete/format partitions.

So you've replaced everything except the graphics card?

Nope not "Everything" I have replaces the HDD, Motherboard and PSU, I mentioned that I attempted to get the CPU replaced but ebuyer have tested it and have found no fault, also I have tried a 2Gb stick of ram instead of my 2x4gb... The GPU is fine as I am still able to view my BIOS and whatever else chooses to appear.
-------------------------------

I keep saying that I am unable to get to the Win Install/Repair screen from my bootable USB unless I disconnect the HDD... this is why I mentioned needing an adapter so that I can format/remove partition from another PC.

[maddogb]

Originally Posted by lboy777

I keep saying that I am unable to get to the Win Install/Repair screen from my bootable USB unless I disconnect the HDD... this is why I mentioned needing an adapter so that I can format/remove partition from another PC.

ok but you used to right? sorry about the confusion as you started the last post with

Originally Posted by lboy777

Yes I am creating a bootable USB and running the OS Install/Repair off of it using my legit copy of Win 7 Professional 64Bit.
.

so i assumed you were just asking about the method of removing the partition

is this with both hdds?
just try it, it might be worth doing a test install in the 2nd hdd with the first one disconeected should be possible without formatting it. but be careful.

[lboy777]

lol its no problem.... Hmm good idea, i got my i7 back yesterday so im going to install it today and i might give my other HDD a shot, i just dont want to mess up and lose all my backup data. But i still have a strange feeling this has something to do with my ram even though i already tested a 2gb on it i might borrow a mates stick of 4gb 1600mhz and ill test my main HDD on his pc. Sorry for the late reply, my laptops charger stopped working so i need to buy a new one, till then ill be using my ipod to reply with (i have constant bad luck with pc's xD)

[pixelpixel]

This sounds a bit like when my motherboard would only play ball with my ssd drive on the IDE setting on the motherboard. It would fail on OS install every time. I had to install the os and updates then the ahci drivers. After that I had to update the registry to get ahci working.

[lboy777]

Okay so I figured out the problem once and for all, but the problem now is how to deal with it.

I took my HDD and my RAM to a mates house and tested them on his newly built PC, the RAM came out all fine with his PC working well... and then we plugged in my HDD and the computer was not working at all, so it DEFINITELY is my HDD but now the question is how do I format it because we tried to run it along side his own HDD as a slave drive (RAID 2) or whatever its called and Hardware manager couldn't find it at all, its like its completely dead but it powers up and you can feel it spinning and some of my data is still on there so I dont feel like sending it to Western Digital.... ALSO my mate lent me a laptop HDD (2.5") of 500GB just to get me going and so we can play on steam n whatnot until my HDD is fixed but Im worried that when I install Win 7 on it its going to fail like mine did since what started off as a power cut killing my HDD and me recieving a replacement and the same thing happening again I feel as if something else is going wrong.... Is there a possibility that when we had the power cut my HDD and PSU went faulty and when i replaced the HDD the faulty PSU killed it too?

any ideas on what to do to format my HDD and any ideas as to what killed the second HDD and if i should risk installing windows on the HDD my friend lent me.

[lboy777]

Oh yea and very sorry for the long delay in replying... I hope you guys are still active in helping me sort this issue out and that I am not bothering you... :-)

[maddogb]

what usually kills hardware is not the power cut its self but the massive surge that occurs as the power comes back on, using an anti-surge gang socket will prevent that, if you cant access the disk it means you can't format it
so either wreck it( if you are so paranoid about sensitive data) or return it if there is warrenty on it.

[lboy777]

well I don't think I'm gonna wreck a £120 Hard Drive... hmm.... also when the power cut occured it happened late in the evening so I was in the middle of shutting down the PC and heading off to bed and the power cut so I was like bleh whatever and as usual in our household I switched the plugs off and the the next day when power had already returned hours before waking up I switched the plugs back on and turned the PC on and everything loaded fine but when it got to the desktop it froze and I could only access my data in safe-mode which is where i backed up my data onto the other HDD and from there it just got progressively worse to the point where now (with the replacement HDD) even the Windows pulsing loading logo doesn't come up. So I doubt this has anything to do with the power surge when power returns unless a PC can still be affected even when the plugs are off but plugged-in or possibly the fact that it had to start from a data point since the HDD stopped in a random place mid shutdown it messed up, but still doesn't explain the replacement having the same problem.