Troubleshooting help & build advice needed

Kanped

New member
Hey, guys. I've been running my current rig for a while now but I've run into some problems and I know this isn't a place for troubleshooting but I didn't see a specific area for that and I trust you guys to know your stuff. If the hardware's buggered (as I suspect), then I would also like some build advice.

Anyway; running an AsRock Extreme 4 Z77 board. For a long time, I was getting error notifications saying 'The last USB device you connected has not been recognized' but everything seemed to be working OK so I just disabled the notification and carried on. Then a little while ago, I hit the power button and nothing happened; like the PSU was switched off. Removed a few USB devices and hey presto, it booted as normal.

Except then, my web browsers started crashing constantly and the PC would deadlock while gaming fairly frequently. Now, I use a USB audio interface for sound so I was guessing that it was the USB controller on the MoBo that was causing the issue. Next time the 'USB device not recognized' error appeared, I went into device manager and noticed that the AsRock USB controller host was not responding; the driver had crashed. I also then noticed that my Crossfire was disabled and while Windows (and AMD's CCC) recognized both cards, the option for it was missing, like the crossfire bridge was missing but I checked it and it was installed fine, same as always.

Now, since updating to Windows 10, I'd had a bunch of weird bugs like different redistributables refusing to install (had to edit the registry to even update Windows because Silverlight wouldn't update to the latest version on 8.1). So, I reformatted my drives, reinstalled Windows 10 to a clean install, then it deadlocked again in about 5 minutes. So, I formatted again and installed Windows 7. Seems more stable but in 2 days I've had 5 bluescreens; USB errors. The web browsers still crash from time to time, too.

So, I reckon the MoBo is buggered but it could be the PSU. I've tried using different external hardware, to no avail (switched to an old Firewire audio interface, different mouse, PS2 keyboard). Is there any way to diagnose this any further and find out for sure?

Secondly, if it *is* the MoBo, there doesn't seem much point in trying to get a Z77 board from somewhere; things have moved on and that. I really don't have much of a budget but I can save up for a while.

So, I'm running 16GB DDR3 RAM at 1600Mhz, 2x PowerColor 2GB 7850s and a 750W Silverpower PSU.

If I'm getting a new MoBo and CPU, what should I get? I don't need something that's going to completely be overpowered for the existing rig and end up with a bottleneck elsewhere. I was running a 3570k OC'd to 4.5GHz, so something a wee bit better than that would be nice. Looking for the current standard gaming setup, basically but I do audio production as well so single-core performance is also a consideration for me.

Thanks for reading the long post and for any help anyone can provide.
 
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Having had an ASRock motherboard SATA controller fail on me and wipe out data on my hard drives, I have absolutely zero confidence in their products and have serious doubts about their build quality. All IMHO of course.

I very much doubt it's your PSU causing the USB controller to fail. So I suspect it's the motherboard.

For gaming and single core performance, I'd suggest a Skylake i5-6600K CPU in a Z170 motherboard with 8 or 16gb of DDR4 memory. The 6600K overclocks like a champ with decent cooling.

Or you could save money and go for a 4690K and Z97 motherboard and be able to use your current memory, depending if you need the latest kit or not. Again, lots of overclocking headroom to boost up that single core performance.
 
I was actually looking at the 6600k with the ASUS Z170-K motherboard but I didn't realise that my current memory wouldn't run with it. That could hamper that plan a bit but then I suppose I would be wanting to upgrade the RAM and GPU at some point anyway. It'll just come down to what I can afford and when, I guess but if I want to upgrade at some point in the not too distant future, maybe it makes more sense to wait until I can get the memory as well.

Thanks for the reassurance on the AsRock front, too. It's such an unusual problem but it seems like it makes the most sense given what's been happening.

Oh, should mention; I'm using a BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 air cooler. No idea if that fits the new board or if it still holds up for OCing a 6600k...
 
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It may be a Z77 USB/Windows 10 issue. I have a gigabyte Z77 UD3H and have noticed recently it's playing up a bit.

I get Code 04 hang on boot, Random USB device behaviour etc.

The Code 04 seems to be a constant when I start up after a shutdown, typically overnight. If I hit the reset button it reboots and it starts normally.

I've only started looking this morning in case it was the start of the end of my MOBO but it seems to be caused by certain USB devices in certain USB 3 ports. Tonight I'll completely unplug my X-52 and see what happens. The only other devices I have plugged in are USB keyboard/mouse, Xbox 360 wireless adaptor and HX850i PSU link.

No problems at all until Win 10. A dead Motherboard would be the only reason I'd upgrade to Z170 atm. The cost versus performance increase isn't worth it otherwise.
 
It may be a Z77 USB/Windows 10 issue.

The thought occurred to me too, which is why I went back to Win 7 but it's still happening. I don't have a PS2 mouse, but I've tried removing every other USB device and it's still happening. I'm pretty convinced it's the hardware at this point.
 
Just throwing my two cents in, I think you should really have at least 16gb these days for gaming.

I wouldn't want to run less than 16 GB for the audio stuff, anyway. I could be running up to 50 or so individual processes in real time; you really need all you can get.
 
I'd hazard a guess most of your issues are linked to the PSU. Its the weakest part of your build if its the Sp-B700 as that is the only 700w model they sold that wasn't a Seasonic PSU. How old is it and what exact model is it?

You're also getting problems that are typical to Windows 10 so I'd discount those for the time being.
 
Take out one of your GPUs and try a few days like that. I have no idea what the power draw is on your 7850s, but having two of them with an overclocked 3570k isnt healthy on a 700W PSU.

Do you have your video cards overclocked as well? The moment you start overclocking a CPU or GPU the power draw goes up drastically.
 
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