P8Z68V-Pro driver problem  

I've been running this board for several years now with a very slight OC. Somehow along the way, I've messed up my drivers and can no longer see my external esata drive. In addition, the PC (win7x64) won't run except in safe mode... it keeps BSODing saying something about kprocesshacker.

I'm still on an older BIOS version, 1011, and the system was stable for a long time, but not now. I have an 80GB Intel SSD that Win7x64 is installed on and a couple of internal spinners for data and an external spinner (esata) for backup.

I went to overclockers.net and snagged the latest JMB386 drivers for this board based on their info, but it didn't resolve anything. I also backed down the chipset driver to 1017. I had a later version than that installed that I got somewhere.

Ah, the lure of getting the latest drivers. Sigh.

How should I proceed to troubleshoot my rig? I believe it is a driver issue since I can run in safe mode without issue. But it is taking a long time to boot though the BIOS, which used to be a very quick thing, especially with the SSD. It's like something has to time out before it will boot through the BIOS.

I backed down to the latest chipset that was specified by overclockers.net. They seem to stay pretty current. I've used a service, SlimDrivers, to snag updates and may have received a later one from them.

I have no problem updating the BIOS... except in this case extra care has to be taken (as I learned the hard way). I believe it takes a double update to update past 1101 on this board. I had to buy a new BIOS chip for a failed update on another P8Z68V (not pro) board.

I may end up replacing the 80GB SSD (it's simply too small, even used as an OS drive) and if I do, I'll probably install Win 8.1x64. I've been very pleased with the Win8.1 installs I've done thus far. It may be simpler than trying to chase down an errant driver.

But the thought of reconfiguring all my tweaked apps is... daunting. Much like having to do a factory data reset on my Android phone.

I'm pondering my next move while I continue operations in safe mode. And yes, I've run my anti-malware programs looking for any obvious culprits. I suspect I am my own worst enemy in the ever continuing quest to keep everything updated. But that is a risk you take.

I may run Combofix and see if that helps any before I choose the nuclear option.