6xgpu mining Rig crash on driver install

hey all,
asrock h97 annaversary, intel pentium, all usb risers. 280x, 280x, 280x, 480ref, 480ref, 470nitro. win10
-boots up fine
-tried the 2 latest drivers, (regular and hotfix) in both orders, with DDU between installs.
ive has the following scenarios

- install crashes, amd settings not availible. claymore works fine, but no way to optimize (also uses more power), (no crashes over 24 hour period)

- install crashes, proceed to run claymore, crashes a couple minutes into mining, restart and mine again (will go for hours after this)

-install of non-hotfix drivers works (after a couple times installing), and i can tweak the cards, but my 480's are locked at memory 2050 (so stuck at 24 mh/s)

cant seem to get it stable AND be able to tweak clocks and memories.
any suggestions?
power maybe?, makes me think otherwise because it can mine for hours (when it feels like it)
fresh install of windows?
switch to linux?
motherboard bios update/settings?
install with 1 card then add?
smash it with a baseball bat?

also (could be unrelated), when i shut down the rig, it will boot back into windows as if i restarted.... need to cut power to rig.

any help is appreciated guys,
thanks