Maximum PC

system specs:

Power supply:Corsair 850 watt
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA770TA-UD3
chip: AMD Phenom II x 4 965 3.4ghz
memory: Corair XMS3 Dominator DDR3 8g 1600mhz (currently clocked at 1333 due to amd's clock restriction)
Graphics: Nvidia Geforce GTX 460

Running: Win 7 64 bit Home Premium

I've had this pc for about a year and a half - barely used it during that time - however, it exhibited flaky behavior none the less and when I couldn't find anything with a ton of different scans I reformatted 2 months ago. I only put basic stuff back on it and a couple of games. Still, it doesn't seem to be behaving properly - slow page loads, slow start up (compared to new) USB issues, (I have had a couple USB warning loops that wouldn't stop "usb device can perform faster if connecter to a faster port, blah blah blah beeping over and over - locks up mouse) - I have at least 2 failed USB ports now and I can't use my USB 3.0 ports at all as the system reports there's no driver for them. When I click on that 'fix' link it takes me to an unidentified file - not even a manufacturer name and no certification. I wouldn't download it without at least a manufacturer name on it. The controller for those is marvell.

Recently I upgraded the memory from 4g of 1333 to 8g of 1600 -- that's about the same time my 5 a day crashes started. I figured the memory was operating at the wrong speed but when I checked the bios it was set to 1333. About a third of the time I'll get a BSOD, another third, a program will crash with a memory exception and the last third the program will just end itself and many times refuse to start back up until after a pc restart.

I went to get memtest but it says it's only the x86 version. Not sure what help that's going to be or if it'll even be accurate on a 64 bit opsys.

I was about to throw the windows disk back in to attempt to repair my USB looping issue but it quit after I moved the cable to another USB port. I'm out of ports at this point. If another one goes bad, I'm going to have to install a header. I'm beginning to think I ended up with a bad mobo. I've had half a dozen tickets to gigabyte about it over the last year and a half but they keep gaffing me off. The first week I had the pc I got a core dump error and the system had to recover from the back up bios. That's just not a good sign.

I know there's so much going on here that it's hard to pinpoint anything - kind of my problem so any suggestions - especially based on personal experience - are greatly appreciated.

FWIW, I am betting that your new memory is the problem. As for memTest86+, you will want to download the .iso file for it and burn it to a CD using Imgburn or you can right-click on the downloaded .iso file and use Windows 7's built in CD/DVD burning utility to burn the file to a CD. Then, you will want to set your computer to boot from the optical drive first and let memTest run for at least two to three passes on each stick individually to isolate the defective stick. Also, make sure you test each individual stick in the same DIMM slot on the motherboard. I hope this helps.

Do you have the latest BIOS? Are all your drivers up to date? You said you reinstalled about 2 months ago, and did basic, did you use the generic windows drivers or install all the latest drivers? Here is the link to your USB 3.0 Driver, just select your operating system and it will be at the very bottom of the page.

I also tend to agree with PCstudent, as you stated you had issues ever since a RAM upgrade, could be a bad stick, or it could be a BIOS issue (I would make sure that you have the latest bios), if that doesn't take care of the issue, then run Memtest86+, you can run it from CD or USB thumb drive.

I havne't gotten around to that test yet. Yes, of course I updated all my drivers. Now, you kind of have to think that someone capable of reformatting knows enough to keep their drivers up to date. :p

There were a number of things that occurred all at the same time besides that memory upgrade that made changes to the system - I also installed software for a g930 wireless logitech headset. I've had nothing but trouble with it since day 1 - (wouldn't charge up, can't turn it off - stupid stuff). Logitech, whom I generally respect, didn't even take much of a whack at troubleshooting the issue but instead readily replaced the headset twice in less than a week. Tells me they had a bad batch but don't want to say. The last time, I got a link from an escalation tech for new software for the thing. The reason I say all this --- since I updated that software I haven't had a single crash. I don't know if that's by chance or if it was the silly ass software. I also had that USB plug go bad and moved the plug about the same time I updated the software so it's hard to pinpoint. Lastly, I got an update notice from win7 and installed that last night so there's three changes to the system - any one of which may've fixed the issue -- or I may still have it and it just hasn't triggered again. I've got my fingers crossed.

It's unlikely that the issue still exists as I was experiencing half a dozen crashes per day - at least. I haven't had one in two days now. 2 days being the timeframe for the USB socket change and the software update. The system update just went last night so I doubt it was windows - but that possibility does remain.

P.S. - Thanks ns for that driver link. I swear I had that page open and didn't see the link for it the first time. Nearly close the page again when I noticed the little "select download" box this time. :p

I'll let you all know in a week or so if I don't have anymore crashes. Thanks for the tips.

I've been meaning to post back to this for some time now. The problem was none of the usual suspects but instead ended up being a C1E "power management" issue that just happens to be unique to that exact cpu. At the time that I discovered a post online detailing six months of trouble shooting and finally turning off the power management feature to resolve the issue, I also discovered a beta cpu driver fix for this. I don't much care for anything beta so I instead chose to simply disable the power management feature in the bios. This was designed to throttle the chip down when not under a load. Apparently the crash issue occurs at the exact moment of down or up throttling. Disabling the "feature" resolved all my issues.