Odd sound issue & USB problem

[Peerzy]

PC spec is as follows;

1 x Asrock Z77E-ITX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard
1 x MSI HD 7850 Power Edition Twin Frozr IV OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail
1 x Corsair XMS3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX16GX3M2A1600C11)
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply

Ever since I built the above PC about 3 months ago it's had 2 quite annoying issues.

1) The sound cuts out for about half a second every 10 minutes or so, at first I thought it was just in VLC player but having watched a film via Windows Media Centre and then streamed some football via SkyGo (Google Chrome) it was doing it in that as well.

Have uninstalled the sound drivers and made sure I have the latest.

2) USB ports at the back of the computer (directly attached to the motherboard) work perfectly fine, USB ports on the side of the case (correctly attached to the motherboard with a cable) recognise when something is inserted, and then it comes up searching for drivers and fails every time.

Motherboard drivers are all up to date.

 

[lurkio]

Ok , lets go

First , lets try and rule out the hardware

Get a linux (ubuntu) iso , burn it , run it as live CD (not install)
Let it load up and then try playing some videos back and see if all is well

When you have finished with the video , then check the
usb ports by inserting a mem stick or something


If these tests work ok , it is a software problem , if the dont , hardware issue with the mobo

 

[BigBoy]

Have you installed the usb3 drivers for the front panel connection?