Computer freezing on installation of ANY drivers! PLEASE HELP

[jdhatt]

Hey guys,

 

so im having a really frustrating problem with my build. I was re-installing windows cause i needed to do a clean wipe on my computer, and the installation went fine. However, when i tried installing the LAN or wireless drivers the system completely freezes and i am required to do a hard reset for it to start functioning normally again. The LAN doesnt work automatically for some reason like on my old mobo so im not sure if its a motherboard problem or not. A few months ago when i did a clean windows install, the system kept freezing during the install while expanding files, and then when it finally did install after like 6 tries it froze randomly near the beginning before i installed everything, but after updating and whatnot everything seemed ok for a bit so i thought it was fine. This time i tried over 10 times last night to get the LAN drivers going so that id have an internet connection to do all the updates, but it wont let me get past that point. Does anyone have any idea what it could be? i doubt its the SSD because the problem happened on my old OCZ vertex 120gb as well (when it froze during the install and randomly at the start) before i replaced it with the 240gb mushkin. The system also froze once or twice during the bootup as well, and after the hard reset it would occasionally take much longer to bootup than usual. i know this is all very vague but hopefully somebody can shed some light on the issue. Ill do my best to provide whatever info i can to help. im planning on going an picking up some new RAM and try that to see if it works, and ill also check by taking out the video card and using onboard. Lastly, im still a rookie with all this stuff so i dont know if this is related, but for the past month my sound configuration menu where i select my default playback device NEVER opens. it just randomly stopped opening, because im constantly switching between my computer monitor/speakers to my TV/surround sound but i could never get the menu to open up, instead id have to restart the computer with the speaker cord unplugged to have it switch by default to the surround sound. OH, and i also had the startsear.info virus on all my browsers that i could not for the life of me get rid of after many hours spent searching, it was one of the reasons i wanted a clean re-install of windows. my bad if any of this is useless info im just providing as much as i can so i can fix my rig, i wanna gggaaaaaammmeeeee

 

Specs:

 

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro

Corsair AX850

3770k ivy bridge

Corsair vengeance 8gb RAM (4GB x 2)

MSI r7850 twin frozr 2GB (NOT the overclocked version at 900, but the standard 860

Mushkin Chronos deluxe 240gb SSD

2 TB western digital caviar green 

Corsair H100 cooler

Edited July 26, 2013 by jdhatt

[sulsoft]

Hello,

 

We are talking about what windows version? Xp, Vista, 7, 8?

 

You have tested RAM with memtest86+ or the windows 7 memtest?

 

In a first view i see that instability problems, normally is generated by RAM DIMM modules with problems. 99% your problem is hardware question.

 

You have tried to remove any hardware not necessery like PCI USB expansion cards or something like this?

 

You have tried to reset BIOS? This of course can be a BIOS configuration problem? You have notice some problems this kind? 

[wevsspot]

Do you have any external USB devices connected when trying to install the LAN drivers (specifically USB 3.0 devices)?

 

If Memtest checks out OK, I'd disconnect any USB devices and disable USB 3.0 in your BIOS and then try to update your drivers.  See if that helps.

[jdhatt]

oh man yeah sorry i wasnt clear about this. its WINDOWS 7 Ultimate. 

 

I tried taking one of the RAM sticks out and trying it with just one and that did nothing. I tried plugging into the onboard gpu rather than my dedicated card and that didnt do anything (i reseated the card as well). im 100% its not the SSD unless ive had two crappy SSD's in a row from different companies. should i try purchasing new RAM and see if that works? ive been really busy so i havent had a chance to run memtest yet but i should do that to be sure LOL. When i went to NCIX and described my problem the dude said it didnt sound like a memory problem and that it was most likely a bad motherboard, but i dont know whether to trust him...RMA'ing a motherboard is a real pain 

 

Now that i think about it, the USB devices plugged in was a USB stick, an external harddrive, and a xbox 360 controller pc wireless adapter. would those make an impact on that? i pretty much cant do anything on the system right now because it freezes anytime i try to install ANYTHING.