Remove all unnecessary hardware during the install…so you should be down to the motherboard, CPU, CPU heatsink, 1 stick of RAM, the video card, one hard drive, and one optical drive (and power supply, of course). Take it from there. Clear CMOS before trying again, in case there’s something set incorrectly.
This is something that works wonders for me.
I work on alot of people’s computers and replace ram when it test bad, every so often i go back through the box of bad ram and test it again, this time i clean the pin contacts with a pencil eraser. 85% of the ram that tested bad works good as new again. what happens is: when you install and remove the ram a couple of times it makes a track on the contacts and it oxidizes. You think the ram is bad, what do you have to lose, it’s worth a try.
remember the old nintendo systems when they first came out, the games would play great for a while then become a total pain? well i seen people blow on them, and use Q-Tips with cleaning solutions, but the pencil trick was what worked for me. I was looking at a stick of ram that cost $150us and was thinking what a F@$#ing shame, when i noticed the track left by the ram slot pins, did the old pencil trick and it was good as new. This has brought a few video cards back from the dead too.
