Your PC doesn't boot or crashes? A little FAQ :)

[Nickel020]

Here's another little guide I'm working on. Note that this is also a work in progress!

Feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

The most likely (hardware) causes of instability are your RAM and your PSU. From my experience it’s less likely to be the board itself than one of those two.
But the most likely cause overall is simply user error. I can’t remember how many people’s systems were “defective” even though the only thing wrong was a not properly connected cable or a wrong BIOS setting.

Here’s a little checklist to try if you have problems (work in progress, will be expanded & improved):

1. Check and double check every cable connection! Disconnect all the cables and re-connect them. Ask in the forums if you’re unsure about how to connect something!
   
2. Then you should try to run Windows memory diagnostic (boot of the Vista DVD) or Memtest (I also like the Ultimate Boot CD, Windows memory diagnostic and Memtest are both on there). If that fails you've got bad RAM. To be reasonably sure about stability you need to let this run for a few hours. A quick check for like 30 minutes is OK though especially if your PC is extremely unstable as in crashing very quickly when in Windows.
   Important: Also try each RAM stick individually, if problems only occur when one specific one is installed then that one is bad! Make sure RAM is inserted in the right slots (look at the manual/ask in the forums).
   
3. If you can get into the BIOS then use “Load optimized defaults” and see if the PC becomes stable. You might have gotten a returned board whose BIOS settings are not set to default. If you’re overclocking it’s crucial that the PC runs fine at stock settings!
   
4. If you can’t get into BIOS try resetting CMOS (see the board manual on how to do this).If that doesn't help try removing the AC power plug and the board's battery which will fully discharge the board and very often helps.