PC Issues! don't know what is causing the problem

[Tracker]

At my wit's end with my pc, really want it to just work and be reliable, it's never really worked properly since I first got it and I gave up trying to fix it, now getting to the point where I physically cannot keep using it and now have the money to fix it properly.

i) The pc never shuts down, if you tell it to shut down it comes up with a splash screen saying that it's waiting for program X or Y to shut down, if there's no programs running at all then it say its waiting for 'Playing Window's shut down sound' to shut down.

it then hangs on the logging off screen, and after a few minutes will reboot, you have to press the reset key to restart the machine, then press the power button to power it down just as bios starts up.(sometimes it's shut down, and then come back to life again after a period of 30 seconds or so after I’ve left the room)

when it starts up after the above, it cannot find the Graphics card and defaults to a super low resolution, restarting fixes this.

ii) some of the USB ports at the back don't work, they're dead, and in one instance trying to plug something in as it goes has just powered down the whole pc.

iii)I get constant stutter playing anything, at intervals ranging from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, VOIP or audio streams will 'blur' and repeat for a few milliseconds, the screen will freeze up, audio will go back to normal and then a second or so later the screen will unsnap.
further to the above, some VOIP programs I use will instantly disconnect when this happens, making them unusable.

Most noticeable when playing Dota2 (Casters voice / action constantly stutters) and when playing online FPS games like soldier front 2 or Left for dead 2 (constant screen freezing)
iiii)occasionally (it happens intermittently) it will just full out crash, then refuse to boot up past bios, occasionally it will fail to start up at all, blue screens usually state the NVIDIA driver (I’ve used both the latest revisions and the last 'stable' revision, but it's very hard to update when the pc physically cannot reboot itself to install firmware).

occasionally when trying to empty the recycle bin it will hang for 5-10 seconds sometimes when changing resolution (tabbing in and out of a game, setting resolution, or starting up a full screen game), the screen will go black, sound will continue to play, but everything else will be unresponsive, no amount of Alt F4 or CTRL ALT DEL or other combinations will stop the sound / music (which will play normally), requires a reset to continue.

I've tried reinstalling windows several times, tried alternating between my Caviar Black drive and my SDD drive for OS, all oc'ing is disabled, pc is fully surge protected, free from dust and kept cool at all times.

strongly suspect a Motherboard issue (it was replaced 2-3 times when I first got the machine) but is it anything else? I might get my local PC shop to order & Install a new motherboard (something other than the one I currently have as I basically no longer trust the board after the 3rd / fourth board), and I'm concerned that the constant resetting will fry every other component.

any suggestions as to what the problem might be?

 

[mantadog]

You say the motherboard has been replaced 3 times already, was the same things happening before each new board? Did the new board help it at all? Have you tried a fresh installation of the OS, re seated the PCIe cards or RAM modules?

I think the best bet is to 'start again' with a clean installation of your OS as that should get rid of some of the problems you have. I cant see how all of them could be caused by one faulty component, I think you have a couple of issues going on here.

 

[Tracker]

You say the motherboard has been replaced 3 times already, was the same things happening before each new board? Did the new board help it at all? Have you tried a fresh installation of the OS, re seated the PCIe cards or RAM modules?

I think the best bet is to 'start again' with a clean installation of your OS as that should get rid of some of the problems you have. I cant see how all of them could be caused by one faulty component, I think you have a couple of issues going on here.

Always had problems with the USB Ports, and the first time i got the machine the sound panel (Mic + Headphone sockets) were not working at all.

I think it got to a point that after the third time i just avoided using the two dead usb ports, a few crashes here and there but it's steadily getting worse and worse over time.

Have reseated the memory plenty of times, it's the only part I've no qualms about touching and I need to remove it every time i open the case because the side fan connector is in such an awkward position right up against it.

what most concerns me is the constant stutter i get, if i'm streaming sound over the internet (e.g, a caster match in dota), the sound jars / blurs every 10-30 seconds for a bit or so, and reinstalling the os is a pain as the computer does not restart properly, making installation of just about anything impossible anymore, I know there must be something wrong with at least the MoBo because that's the only thing responsible for the USB ports not working, i'll try reinstalling everything again tonight, but in the meantime i'm looking for a mobo to replace the current one (preferabley a different brand, or at the very least a more reliable model).

 

[mantadog]

The maximus IV is a well respected motherboard, ASUS in particular are not known for failures.

You say you have always had problems with the USB ports, even when the board has been replaced? if you still have dead USB ports after the motherboard has been replaced then that points to something completely different than a hardware failure. Do you get power LED's illuminating when you plug something into the rear ports that are dead?

Did PCS replace the motherboard? I doubt they would have replaced the same component 3 times without at least looking at other possible reasons for the problem. Some of this may be motherboard related, but I have my doubts. The fact you are running an overclock and have such a wide variety of symptoms makes me think more than one problem is at work here.

if you want my recommendation on motherboard I would go anywhere else other than ASUS myself, the only other reliable manufacturer IMO is Gigabyte.

 

[Tracker]

PCS have replaced the motherboard, yes, at first i think they thought it was something to do with the SSD (which is why i've also experimented running OS off my traditional harddisk).

and as stated in my previous posts, i disabled all OCing, it's all stock now (ignore the signature which was accurate as of the time of first getting the pc xD)