Rebuild not booting properly

[pastcatch]

Hey everyone,

First time poster here.

Ive rebuilt a number of rigs in the past and this one truly has me stumped. I just re-built my primary machine and decided to upgrade a few components on the old one and gift it to my brother. The new one is working flawlessly but something has gone awry with my old machine, that worked perfectly prior to me replacing these parts. Here's the story and the steps Ive taken:

Build:
Intel i5 760 v 2.8ghz 4 core
Gigabye P55A-UD4P - http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3435#ov
Geforce GTX 460 1024MB DDR5
600GB HDD
4GB Ram
750W PSU

New Upgrade Parts:
Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 6Gbps 150/550MB/S 2.5” 7MM (With 9.5MM Adapter) SSD
Corsair Vengeance Heatspreader CMZ8GX3M2A2133C11B 8GB 2X4GB DDR3 Dual Channel Memory Kit


Problem:
Boot computer, runs fine through Windows load. Starts loading programs and typical boot process - powers off about half way through the load.

Steps taken so far:
1. Clean the box - this involved un-seating most components -> GPU, RAM, PSU etc - I grounded myself and everything before hand as I have shorted a PSU before. Cleaned and replaced.
2. Install new RAM and SSD
3. Boot Machine to backup (SSD not connected at this point)
4. First crash - troubleshooting begins
5. Re-seat everything - cards, ram, psu connectors - all good - boot failed
6. Check standoffs under MOBO - good - boot failed
7. Remove new RAM - re-install both old - boot failed
8. Remove extra stick of ram - boot failed
9. Decide to forget the backup (minor files) and just reformat under the assumption there's a software failure - re-starts halfway through loading Windows files
10. Further testing of HDD (use my brand new one from existing build) - boot failed

All Im left with at this point is the possibility of it being the PSU again. Not a single part of me wanted to rip apart my new build (very happy with my cable management job and didnt want to ruin).

11. Purchase new PSU - install - boot fails (part: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems)
12. Last ditch effort after reading the Tomshardware guide (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems) - switch RAM slots - boot failed.

So that is where Im left now and Im ready to pull my hair out. I don't even know whats left to test or what could be wrong. Ive googled my problem to the moon and back and all other problems point to the PSU or HDD.

Please help me before I go crazy >.<

 

[Wes006]

Two quick questions for you. First, what OS are you running and second, can you get to the BIOS?

 

[pastcatch]

Two quick questions for you. First, what OS are you running and second, can you get to the BIOS?

Hey Wes,

Im running Windows 7 (legit copy purchased myself)
I can get to the BIOS (had to change up boot order)

Thanks,

PC

 

[alexoiu]

Have you cleared the CMOS during the troubleshooting process (unplug the power cord and remove the CMOS battery for a minute)?

 

[Wes006]

Okay, have you tried clearing CMOS? Is your SATA controller configured to use IDE or AHCI? Also, do you have any additional info. for your memory such as, manufacturer, frequencies, cas/timings, voltage ratings etc.

 

[Wes006]

If you have another machine running Windows, you can move the HDD over to it and run some disk utilities such as Sea Tools to check the disk for errors (if you decide to run Sea Tools and the HDD is not a Seagate drive, it won't be able to "fix" the errors but it will still be able to detect them). Alternatively, you can also create a bootable USB flash drive and run the utilities from there and I would also try running Memtest86.

 

[Wes006]

Here's a list of official supported memory according to Gigabyte: http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Memory/mb_memory_ga-p55a-ud4p.pdf

 

[pastcatch]

Have you cleared the CMOS during the troubleshooting process (unplug the power cord and remove the CMOS battery for a minute)?

So im not entirely sure if this was the fix or not because as I was reseating the battery I bumped the heatsink and it felt loose. Reseated that and the CPU along with the CMOS battery and voila, she booted.

Thanks for the assistance both of you!

 

[alexoiu]

No problem. Good luck!