Computer Shutting Down During Windows 7 Install

[airman]

Alright guys, I've been dealing with this for 3 days and have not been able to narrow down a culprit.

 

I had enough components laying around to basically give to my roommate so he could put together a desktop.

 

Q6600

Gigabyte P35-DS3R

All sorts of RAM (about 8 different sticks)

eVGA 8800GTS

Seagate 7200.10 500gb

Antec Earthwatts 500W

 

So, this is what is happening. Pretty much, at random points during the Windows 7 install, the computer will either shut down and restart, or the screen will go black and the DVD drive will repeatedly make short "seeks", as I'll call it. I was able to install Ubuntu 10.04 with not a lot of problems. It did shut down once, but after it was installed, it stayed smooth.

 

This is what I've done:

Memtest - pass

Hard drive short and long tests - pass

Killdisk - zeroed hard drive (had stuff left on it)

Reseated CPU, applied new thermal paste

Took computer out of case to eliminate any potential grounding issues

Tried different DVD drives, 2 different Windows 7 disks

 

I'm running another memtest now, and after it passes, I'm gonna monitor the 12v and 5v rails with a multimeter to see if they fall apart during the install.

 

The motherboard/processor sat in my closet for about 6 months before I passed it to him (he needed some money for RAM, but I ended up getting some from work)

 

Has anyone run into this before? All I can think of is power supply or the motherboard causing problems. These components worked fine for over a year before I got new components. I've been banging my head on the keyboard all day trying to sort this out. I don't have another 775 motherboard I can try to narrow it down further.

[sack_patrol]

Well, since you said you have a bunch of extra parts, why not try and the PSU and see if you get restart? If nothing else, it'll at least tell you it's not the psu. I was also gonna suggest the same thing for the mobo but you don't have an extra it seems.

 

Another long shot to try would be to try and install a different OS like Windows XP or something and see how everything reacts. That could also help to narrow it down a bit more.

[airman]

Well, since you said you have a bunch of extra parts, why not try and the PSU and see if you get restart? If nothing else, it'll at least tell you it's not the psu. I was also gonna suggest the same thing for the mobo but you don't have an extra it seems.

 

Another long shot to try would be to try and install a different OS like Windows XP or something and see how everything reacts. That could also help to narrow it down a bit more.

 

like i said, i was able to get Ubuntu to install. The only other power supply I have is the one I'm using in my desktop to type this response However, that is another option once I get some work done.

[sack_patrol]

like i said, i was able to get Ubuntu to install. The only other power supply I have is the one I'm using in my desktop to type this response However, that is another option once I get some work done.

yup, I noticed you got Ubuntu installed, but trying one more time wit another OS could prove helpful. Imagine that u get Xp installed too without any problems... At that point I'd say that there's something wrong with the Windows 7s you have although I find it hard to believe that an OS installation disk could cause a pc to restart.

 

EDIT: I was just thinking...how could the problem be the PSU or mobo(or any other hardware), since you got Ubuntu installed but not Windows 7? Doesn't make sense. If it was hardware, I think that you'd get the same reaction from the computer, no matter what you were trying to install.