Before I start, I would like to point out that this is the first computer I have ever put together by myself, so the cause of error might be wrong placement of cords on the motherboard.

here are my specs.
-GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4 ATX Intel Motherboard
-G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual
-Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Processor
-ASUS Radeon HD 4850 EAH4850/HTDI/512M Video Card
-Antec Nine Hundred Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window
-Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
-Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DVR-215DBK
-Rosewill RX850-D-B 850W Power Supply

basically, i can follow instructions well and i believe i have all the correct connections, such as power supply and sata cords.

i booted it up for the first time without any disks in it and it said boot disk failure, and then shut off. then i put the disk in and it starts to load the disk up, but before it fully loads up, the pc just completely shuts off, entire thing and all. now it just randomly shuts off from the start up to the point where it starts to load up the Vista disk.

some of my friends recommended me to check to make sure placement of the hard drive and ram are correct, but i havent had the chance to do this yet.

any ideas or suggestions would be tremendously appreciated.

Because this is your first system, I strongly suggest you read Welcome to The PC Guide! - and get a good overview of the process and there is an excellent troubleshooting guide on the site that is invaluable.

As a quick summary: building a system from scratch usually starts with checking components in partial assemblies. For example, I would always start with the motherboard, cpu, ram, and power supply outside of the case. This would be run for several hours. Finally, add video and storage .. etc.

Hope this helps.

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Layne P. Heiny / Administrator for Tux Reports Network

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