I didn't have a separate, known-working platform to test the suspected broken CPU after also replacing the RAM. Also didn't wanna reinstall the chip into the original board with new memory and risk something else going wrong. After getting ahold of a second, known-working platform, sure enough, the CPU still refused to POST. So it looks like a double DNF. It makes sense when looking back at the symptoms, however. The beeps coming from the board were very specific. The first set was 100% for a defective CPU. POST process typically doesn't _check_ memory stability until after CPU has been cleared.
Personally, I think you should return the original PC as DOA and push for a refund or at least a replacement PC, and save your good working i5 6500 and DDR4 ram for better uses
@@essentialone1 Yeah, that was my take as well, or at the very least, see if they'll send out replacement memory and CPU. I'm curious to see if Greg posts a follow up after contacting the seller about the issues.
I did like the wrap to cover up the bruises it has. That was thoughtful. LOL And that run time on the 3TB HDD, isn't surprising. run for a year? They are designed to run for a few thousand hours. Sensitive data, I would hope you are making copies on multiple drives. As it should be.
tbf the pictures in most of these are misleading, BUT you can get a pc with way better specs if you want for 400, 40$ psu, 50$ case, 130$ rtx 2060, 12th gen i3 + b660 150, 30$ 16 or 32 gigs of ram
It really is like getting 200 fewer Z's. The Z440 was a high end socket 2011v3 Workstation, supporting CPU's with up to 22 cores / 44 threads, Quad-Channel RAM, 40 PCIe Lanes, tons of upgradeability, etc... And is still a viable budget build platform today. The Z240 was a garbage office client, with none of those benefits. Plus you can get a Z440 for a fraction of the price... They only run about $100 on fleaBay. Drop in that same RTX 2060, or a Radeon 5700XT for even better results. A Z440 with a 5700XT can be a $200+ budget build that still runs circles around many modern builds.
The MTG on the keyboard and mouse was My Technology Geeks, same as the brand on the SATA SSD and the RAM. Their website states that they are a company that sells refurbished PCs, and the PCs come with "genuine Microsoft software", which is probably why you got Windows 10 Pro.
The old saying "You get what you pay for" definitely applies here. That 3.5 stars rating should've been a tip off. Although, you expect it to at least boot up and work. Only good thing is Amazon has a good return policy so not TOO much of a risk ordering from them. You have at least 30 days and they'll accept almost all returns for a full refund.
i mean it would have been a hell of deal back when the cpu market was crazy just for the 2060 alone even if all else failed. though i guess back then it would have been a 1000s ripoff.
Laying new shingles on top of old shingles is pretty common actually. Full tear off and new shingles is preferable. But it isn't always necessary especially if cost is a major factor.
Cool video, I just hate when people crap on these slightly older platforms. This was not a bad PC at all specifically for the price. I wouldn't buy from that particular seller but that has nothing to do with the PC. The RTX 2060 Super still goes for $180 to $230 ( I include tax) on eBay. A good 500 GB SSD is around $30 to $35. A used 3TB HD goes for about $30, and a good used HP Z240, Z440, or anything close will cost you about $80 to $100. This PC still has the IPC to run every game at reasonable settings. You can still remove the GPU keep your drives and resale the HP and have a nice base for your next platform. The case is actually easy to mod. I painted the front and side handle panel purple on mine, you can fit a 120mm PWM fan in the bottom front if you remove the speaker. You can also fit an 80 to 90mm slim fan in front of the drive bay if you want to add some RGB Fans. The two adapters to case swap this unit only cost about $25 bucks if you want to change PSUs and put it in a case with better airflow. I don't suggest this platform for everyone but for sub $400 bucks it's not bad. $400 is not a "future-proof" realm by any standard.
I do that wrap all the time on “tiny PC’s. It is awesome material that has some sort of synergistic relationship with metal. It binds to metal beautifully ans saves you from having to sand and paint a scratched case. I have black…….a carbon fibre wrap……and a wrap that changes colour in different light.
I work with alot of HP/Dell oem desktops and this happens all the time with ram. Usually we reseat the ram and they tend to work afterwards. Keep in mind, a majority of these desktops sit in a warehouse before these resellers get them for 1+ years and corrosion builds up in the weirdest places.
I imagine a lot of people have this exact experience, dealing with half broken products from online dealers seems to be the norm now. It was good to showcase exactly what you could be in for when buying things like this.
That's why we as consumers need to demand from Amazon new and better protections from scammers and just plain bad 3rd party merchants using the site to peddle their crap.
@@TheBlueBunnyKen because they have to because the congress passed new laws that affect the way all brands promote their online stores if they open them up to 3rd parties this law states they must promote the 3rd party over their own items to avoid monopolization lawsuits or antitrust laws. so they really have no options.
Unplugging and plugging in RAM can cause issues like this. Ive had the very same issue this morning. Had to take out and wipe off the contacts and re seat to get it to re boot. I dont think the pc is over or under priced for what it is. A bit of works gone into it, a bit of effort at least.
Yes, I like the concept and the effort the Geeks have put into this. However that HP is a poor platform for the chosen GPU. £100 PC + £300 GPU. It hits the price but fails on being a balanced system.
6:30 I had this bootloop issue with my old rig, all I had to do was keep reseating the ram sticks. The MOBO was literally falling apart at that point and I had no spare budget at the time to replace it. The PCI-E slot that holds the 1080 TI also kinda broke, I had to wiggle the card around to get it to boot with the gpu. PCI-E and Ram slots were both borked.
Not only is it bad as a refurb but doesn't meet the minimum requirement for upgrade to Windows 11. Love it or hate it, Window 11 is a must now unless we get surprises with Windows 12. It doesn't seem to have a TPM so support for Windows 10 has an expiration date unless you want to pay for additional support. Not worth it especially for a business machine with jury-rigged wires and dodgy processors and ram.
I like it when Greg says MTG dunno what it stands for ... yet 5-10 min before he read My Technolgoy Geeks on Ram and SSD drive xD ! Nice Fix or Flop video I really liked it !
Thank you for helping me realize how to troubleshoot a problem with my car. Let me explain, I have a power draw that kills my battery. Said car my second car, so it sits unused from time to time. It wasn't until out of nowhere that I realized the obvious trouble shooting steps you take of "start with the bare minimum" and work your way up to figure out what the issue may be. My troubleshooting will take weeks, if not months to conduct, but I'm going to start with only having fuses hooked up that are required to get the car to start. Slowly add in one fuse at a time until my battery dies, and hopefully this will shed some light as to what is causing the issue. Of course, I need to start from the beginning and see how long it takes for my battery to be completely dead so I know how long I need to let the car sit before putting in one of the fuses. So for example, if it takes 7 days for the battery to die, then I start with the bare minimum fuses needed, wait 8 days, and replace one fuse. Try to start the car, if it starts, wait another 8 days. If it starts, replace another fuse, and wait another 8 days. Do this until the battery goes dead.......... I'm so annoyed with myself right now as both a computer tech, and an automotive enthusiast. Yes, I could take a multimeter around and probe things, but I'd probably miss something, and I don't trust myself using one of those anyway. I'm more of a tech hardware kind of person honestly, and automotive mechanic deficient. That being said, I should be able to apply the above method into figuring out what is killing my battery. Thanks, Greg!
Do it the other way around and pull one fuse or disconnect one module at a time. Start with the usual suspects, anything that "phones home", then the radio system, climate control etc
I just pulled an i5 6500 OptiPlex off the pile for my 4 year old to play the bluey game. I had trepidation using one of those sata to 8 pin adapters on an ASUS RX 560 that barely draws from it, and only uses it because ASUS increased the power limit on that model. Then to see a reseller sending it on a real GPU shows some balls, or lack of intelligence and Integrity.
dont worry about it burning out on your system. that 6/8 pin on the RX560 wont draw enough power to light fire. just make sure the actual adapter looks competent and doesnt just fall apart
@@johnt.848 sata can safely carry 54watts. molex can carry 132. so definitely use molex. but.RX560 only draws 75 watts. some of them draw a bit more because of slight overclocks. but a maximum of 70 to 75 watts get's pulled from the PCIE slot first. then from the PCI power plugs. at such draw's it's perfectly fine.. just dont go around connecting 1070/2070's to a single sata or molex plug... i've been making custom connectors for eons for personal machines.
The power cycling on and off constantly at startup for me is most times the RAM. Sometimes the RAM is faulty and sometimes it is just not fully seated.
With regards to the graphics card and GPU-Z, try clicking the `look up` button and GPUZ will try and find the same model on its lists. The 2060S is a decent find, certainly better than a standard 2600. More RAM and 2070 levels of pokeiness
Just since the pre built being upgraded is such a normal thing now, most HP or dell proprietary motherboard power connecters have adapters to a standard 24 pin and or 6 pin that you can buy from sites like eBay or amazon.
I had that EXACT same symptom from a mobo/cpu combo I bought used and the culprit was bent pins in the CPU socket...the motherboard booted with a dedicated GPU but not with integrated graphics
22:04 Proprietary parts. Automatic no go. I don't care what my budget is. All it takes is for one of those components to go bad, and you will be spending far more than it's worth, to get it working properly again. Also............... HP. I haven't touched HP in at least 15 years, and I never will again.
All the major players use proprietary parts. That why you should never buy any of them. If you buy a prebuilt, make sure it's from a company that actually puts the computers together with actual parts.
I have that exact 2060 super, I bought it from my buddy when he upgraded. I also have a z240 referb like that, which actually came with a 2060 and an i5 7500.
A better choice for a fully Windows 11 compatible desktop OEM PC would be the Lenovo P520 Think Station. Which may include an 850 Watt PSU. Can be found for less than $250 on eBay or Amazon.
MTG (My Technology Geeks) peripherals are the same as the 2.5” SSD and RAM modules ….. they obviously get an OEM to make the parts and then label them their own to sell and differentiate their products from others.
I have a feeling My Technology Geeks is the "company" that built this PC and it's just someone rebranding cheap products, that's what the MTG on the peripherals was for btw. Noticed the listing said 32gb ram and it only had 16 also.
They know that big numbers impress their particular buyers, not that this would be improved by 32GB of RAM. Faster RAM and an 8 thread CPU might have helped though. The choice of GPU is purely to impress the buyer because in that system it underperforms and they could have used a cheaper GPU.
Should've turned it on to make sure it worked before the dissection inspection. Perhaps something was slightly askew upon reinstallation. I’d reinstall what shipped and recheck. The i5-6500 has an average CPU mark of 5632 on Passmark so it’s barely gaming capable. Without the GPU, those old systems go for about $50 and a new brand name 128GB SSD is less than $20 but the cheapest BIN RTX 2060 I see is $160 ($130-$145 recent auction winning bids)
I built a complete computer with all brand new parts for the same price or less than what you did on this one a few years ago I think I spent maybe 350 or so and that's including the case psu motherboard cpu and memory and ssd and hdd and the parts were all brand new but I got them at a great price on sale and no open box specials either. I also want to mention I didn't buy a video card since the amd cpu has integrated graphics.
Remind me of a Dell 3670 put upgrade of the CPU graphics card out of the power supply and used the 12 to 8 plug and it works great to this day. I added 3x star fans and it works amazing today. Upgraded the power supply with absolutely no problem. Obviously I have better gaming computers but I use this quite frequently it works great. Upgraded SSD card no problem this machine just wasn't properly put together right can someone used aftermarket trash parts in the power supplies a piece of garbage and it can be replaced.
IMHO, for a budget build, go for a intel 12100 or amd ryzen 3600. They are around 90 dollars used. Then you can get windows 11 and have a decent upgrade path. Since windows 10 support ends late 2025. The gtx 1660 super or 1660 ti can do 1080p gaming at a budget price. For budget 1440p get a used 6600xt. Don't skimp on the PSU. Get a modern one with atx 3.0 and hgih power ratings from a known, trusted brand. Then you can use that PSU far into the future.
The reviews for this on the page should be enough for most people to know better..... Had to go look and there are some pretty bad ones including wires melting and dead systems.
At that price point the z440 that they falsefully showed a picture of is a far better buy. You can get one right now for $115 with the 1650v4 and oem 700w psu. Add a $50 kit of ecc ram. $35 for a sata ssd. That leaves you $200 buck to get a nice graphics card. Granted if you just want somthing turn key then you have to make alot of compromises.
Yeah, wouldn't go for this if there's problematic CPU/RAM and dodgy ways of getting the dedicated graphics working. Best off just going for a used custom build, rather than an OEM prebuilt that originally started as a workstation PC. Still, those Z240s (and similar) workstation PCs are still decent, though as mentioned in the video, anything prior to 8th Gen Intel had just 4 cores and 4 threads on the i5 side of things. My i5-4460 was the same.
I've got an HP Z220 and I quite like it. It's got a Xeon & Radeon Pro in it and works quite well. Seems this Z240 you got though was from a less than stellar company is all.
hi Greg, would love to know if you contacted the seller about the faulty RAM and CPU. Did you ask the seller for a refund, replace the system or just accepted it as a bad deal and not communicate anymore with the seller? Really enjoy your videos - hope you are settling in okay to your new house. Much love from the UK.
Worth noting, HP workstations are EXTREMELY finnicky with RAM choices. I formerly had an EliteDesk SFF with 2nd gen i7, it was supposed to support 32GB DDR3, but putting anything above 8GB of anything specifically HP or Kingston branded would cause it to not boot. It would boot with 1 stick of Corsair Vengeance 8GB but the moment a second stick was added, it'd throw a tantrum.
Damn if anyone is looking at prebuilts, don't look at that specific page. It's price increased to $500 and I didn't think it could get worse than what what in the video. But I saw burnt wires, dead GPUs, dead internet cards. So if anyone buys it. It'll mostly have something broken in it the only random thing is what's the broken part.
Too bad. Sometimes a "good deal" is only that for the seller 😤 Thank for walking through this one, even with having to turn it into a fix or flop situation. BTW, nice t-shirt, GO TROJANS!!!
I thought about buying a RTX 2060 Super at one time because of the 8 Gb of vram you get over the 6 GB version.but the 8 GB card was 250.00 U.S dollars.
I don't like to buy pre built in pc especially if it is 2nd hand .. I often buy parts and test each of them. and if no issue is found both software and hardware then deal. I really like to build my own even if it's second hand, at least you can buy the parts you want that are working.. this is just my opinion
These problems is why I buy off eBay because of buyers protection. But these products still get through and some ppl still fall for sellers saying no refunds
3rd party merchants on Amazon can be pretty bad. I actually wish they'd change how 3rd party merchants are scrutinized and screened out to cut back on scammers. A merchant can only maintain their business so long as they are kept honest about what it is they're selling - if they can't he held to a higher standard than what is currently acceptable on Amazon, what else can we do?
@@firexallst4rz277 well it is basically buy at your own risk and they have a great return policy so if you actually do get scammed it not that hard to get your money back at least i have had no issues. i mean that is how i look at it any transaction on the internet though even with official brands it kind funny i get worse costumer service with actual brands then i do trying to return shit with amazon lol.
I've bought many things from Amazon, if the item is broken or simply you just don't want it anymore. Once you submit a refund through Amazon then drop the item off at a UPS store, when UPS scans the return item I usually get my money back same day or at the latest 48 hours
Bonus Fix Or Flop episode! Seriously, good detective work there Greg, I am curious to see if you get anywhere contacting the seller (oh, and hooray for BIOS beep codes)
I know this channel is more about PC builds and repairs, but I'm wondering if you'd consider doing a keyboard comparision video at some point. I currently own and use a Logitiech k740 wired keyboard that I absolutely love. It's showing it's age but I recently cleaned it out in an attempt to prolong it's usage. I've looked at other keyboards on the market and none of them that I've come across check all the boxes for me. Furthermore I am a bit spoiled with how typing feels on my K740 compared to even newer keyboards on the market. I do own a Keychron full size keyboard with mint switches and it seems like most keyboards are going the route of swappable switches these days, but I've yet to find anything that feels like an upgrade compared to my K740. I W@H and use my K740 for work as well as personal computing and have never experienced any type of fatigue while using it. My preferences for a keyboard are that it be backlit (doesn't have to be RGB) and I would prefer wired since I don't need yet another device I have to remember to recharge and my keyboard never gets moved from it's dedicated spot on my desk. Since I also use it for work, I do need a full size keyboard with number pad not a TKL. If I could buy another K740 I would, but sadly and foolishly, Logitech disconnected the model.
There are adapters that allow proprietary power supplies, fans, etc to be replaced by more common components. Be sure to look closely at adapter quality; There are good ones & cheap ones, but no good, cheap ones...
Never let your hard drive short cycle power like this for an extended period of time, it will kill it. Also, the reason the PSU wasn't upgraded is because it wasn't possible to upgrade it due to the proprietary HP motherboard power connector. You can't adapt a standard ATX power supply to it because the proprietary HP board has a +12 standby rail which ATX doesn't have. You could probably rig something up with an external power brick, but it's not recommended.
Another great video Greg. You say it has only two drives in it, the 128 gig ssd & the 3tb hdd. But when you show the side open while you do that sound test, it looks like there's another hdd above the first hdd. If it's not another hdd, what is it? Looking forward to the next video Greg. Keep them coming.
that would just be an empty sled to hold another hdd. if you see at 2:39 when he first opens the case, there's those green tabs to the sides of the hdd and another set right above that doesnt have anything in the bay.
Garbage in, garbage out, you can shop smart with these HP machines but they chose bottom of the barrel stuff, i would recommend you take a look at putting an HP Z4 G4 Gaming PC together, they can be had barebones with 32gb of ram, 1000w psu with 4x 8pin PCIe, tons of extra ram slots, socket 2066 (i7-7800x 6 core 12 th 3.5gz for 35$, or i9-10980xe if you can find one). I had a 4090 in one of my HP Z4 G4's before i sold it off, they are amazing little systems.
I didn't think I could recommend anything other than am4 for people looking to upgrade any time in the next few years. You could start a 2400g and a b350 board and run that thing up to a5800x3d with minimal upgrades
MTG = My Technology Geeks. They apparently sell refurbished stuff. Is this the seller you bought from, too? No one should EVER give these people money. Just imagine the issues other people are having who don't have YT channels
I would expect them to resolve the problem like any computer dealer would. Things come loose in transit and cause similar problems. We did not see him try and reseat the existing components which had that worked would have proved the point that it probably worked when they sent it. The problem with this actual system is the PC itself is a poor platform for the rather good GPU. It lets the GPU down.
7:20 when the beeping stopped after this sequence, I had a power outage at my house, the lights went out and audio stopped playing, I thought there was Inception type 💩 going on
Well I can tell you though memory chips are quick to overheat and die, because they lack heat spreader they get too hot and stop working. I could have also been that everything else was except for the CPU memory and motherboard. Memory chips do go bad.
The lack of hyperthreading hurts that CPU. I had an i5-6402p (just slightly worse that a 6500) and it bottlenecked an RX 570 at 1080p.... surely that 6500 bottlenecks the crap out of that RTX 2060.
This is why I'm super picky about 'refurbished' equipment. I've gotten two bad mobos and a monitor with a dead pixel from amazon resellers and these were 'guaranteed tested and working'. Meanwhile, I've never gotten a busted piece of gear off of ebay. Seems like these resellers do the bare minimum testing on 'refurbished' equipment. - "Okay, it turned on, good enough." No, my dude, run an OS and at least one benchmark before you waste my time and money shipping that used garbage out. Wasn't able to do a return on the monitor because i spent so much time troubleshooting the motherboards. Thankfully, it's a tiny pixel that you can ignore, sadly almost dead center of the screen. The mobo company gave me $20 extra because they felt so bad, so good on them at least.
Well, I'd definitely have a word with the seller, as you said, it's a refurb, means it should be in a acceptable working state which it was not. I wouldn't necessarily base this failed system to the next that they might be selling, things happen and its a risk buying anything used. Now multiple mistakes and dead systems, sure. But for the price, yeah, i'd buy something with a better upgrade path.
Yeah....I don't buy refurbished computers off Amazon. The last one I had lasted two years and then died on me. It just got super slow and constantly crashing. I decided to buy my current HP GAMESTATION PC that I'm now using from Best Buy. I'm confident this NEW system will last longer than 5 years, Just avoid refurbs off Amazon. Avoid them like the plague.
First thing I see - the power supply is mounted at the TOP of the case, not exactly a recent design. Even my 5-6 year old PC has a bottom mounted power supply. Having a proprietary Case, Motherboard, and Power Supply ALWAYS make this choice a hard no for me. For a company that refurbishes computers for resale, that fact should be more clearly stated in the listing.
Those photos from the listing are clearly a Z420 or Z440 Xeon E5 system (Socket 2011, 4 channel ram), completely different from what you received. You can see there is no onboard video on a Socket 2011 workstation.
14113 hours on is not much for a drive, MTBF:s typically go into hundreds of thousands of hours and it's not uncommon to find drives that have been used for many years 24/7
refurbished oem's have a shelf life. they can die suddenly for no reason. company i worked at had a warehouse filled with these, 100% tested, put away, when tested again after 6 months, they would be dead. either ram, or cpu. like your setup. really weird stuff.
I didn't have a separate platform to test at the time and didn't wanna power the original system back on with the suspected dead CPU. It still doesn't post with a replacement, known-working board.
I would build a cheap AM4 system, with the Idea that I was going to update it to higher end AM5 parts, in 18months. I would go El'Cheapo for the CPU/APU - Motherboard and RAM-. I would try to focus the budget on the Foundation ( the Case, PSU, and CPU Cooling). The AM4 parts are to get me up and running, parts like the Case and PSU are intended for the long haul of use, and they are not parts that are likely to become obsolete. (I could see having a quality PSU for over 10 years) I would be willing to say, that an attractive 'Fractal Design' Case bought right now, would still look&work fine in 2027.
I might convert an Office PC if it was given to me, and it was desirable model. - I think at best, you would break even, building a new AM4 system, compared to having an Office PC converted. (and the AM4 system would still be a better building/gaming experience)
“My Technology Geeks” is a company based out of Kent Washington. I’ve never hear of them until now, but my best friend who lives in Spokane probably has.
The SMART values of that HDD are very concerning... That shouldn't get a "good"! The raw data is either bytes or counts, depending if it reads data related or event related. But also in any case, with these things very high numbers are almost always very bad
this starts getting annoying when you start removing components without trying to power on the device to confirm if everything works as you received it.. it is the first rule I do whenever I accept computer repair or buying devices online and planning making a parts by parts review. the first ting I do is to power it on if it really turn on and boot up in that case. after I'm sure the system is working, then I'll check the devices part by part like what you did.
And this folks is a GREAT informational video on how POST code tones work. Back in the day (late 80's and early 90's), we didn't have De-bug lights or t/s number & letter readouts. And, you couldn't Google what the tones meant. HOWEVER!! The MB manual did come with a list of the tones and what they meant. "Thanks for learning with me." Caffeinator out.
How much would it cost to buy the business machine, extra ram, and the RTX 2060? I think I could build a system from used Ryzen component for around the same amount although likely would go with a GTX 1070 for now for cost purposes.
There are so many reasons to not buy this system. Right now, for $540 you can build a gaming system with new parts. Is it going to run 4K? Of course not, but it will run 1080P and if you're judicious in your settings even 2K. The biggest thing here is that this old HP will not run Windows 11. It will fail the TPMII check. Yes, you can fake the registry into letting you load W11 but sooner or later it's going to bone you. A new system will not have that problem. I have a pair of old HPZ420 workstations that I've used for years. One is now running our TrueNAS and the other is my Linux project/burner machine that I can learn Linux and brick the system on a regular basis. These old workstations are no longer high-performance gaming systems. Their time is over.
Actualy like that keyboard style, just add led txt buttons and i would play with it. I like it low profile and quiet. Horrible to watch some gameplay videos where all you hear is the buttons.
I would still test the original cpu with the new known working memory too because incompatible memory sticks could be causing all these issues too. And that being said those sus memory sticks could be perfectly fine too, just incompatible with the board. Most high quality boards certify specific memory sticks and wont work with cheapos .. I'd at least test that original cpu on another working board combo before it becomes a poker button. either way that system sucks butts don't buy it
I didn't have a separate, known-working platform to test the suspected broken CPU after also replacing the RAM. Also didn't wanna reinstall the chip into the original board with new memory and risk something else going wrong. After getting ahold of a second, known-working platform, sure enough, the CPU still refused to POST. So it looks like a double DNF. It makes sense when looking back at the symptoms, however. The beeps coming from the board were very specific. The first set was 100% for a defective CPU. POST process typically doesn't _check_ memory stability until after CPU has been cleared.
+1 my guy
Personally, I think you should return the original PC as DOA and push for a refund or at least a replacement PC, and save your good working i5 6500 and DDR4 ram for better uses
@@essentialone1 Yeah, that was my take as well, or at the very least, see if they'll send out replacement memory and CPU. I'm curious to see if Greg posts a follow up after contacting the seller about the issues.
@@essentialone1 Return? sure. Push for a refund?? DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME. LOL
I did like the wrap to cover up the bruises it has. That was thoughtful. LOL
And that run time on the 3TB HDD, isn't surprising. run for a year? They are designed to run for a few thousand hours.
Sensitive data, I would hope you are making copies on multiple drives. As it should be.
The pictures show an HP Z440 workstation... You received an HP Z240... which is a massive step down.
You got scammed.
If it’s to good to be true it is. One of the best lessons people can learn!
tbf the pictures in most of these are misleading, BUT you can get a pc with way better specs if you want for 400, 40$ psu, 50$ case, 130$ rtx 2060, 12th gen i3 + b660 150, 30$ 16 or 32 gigs of ram
He got 200 Zs less.
Not necessarily scammed if the ad was for the Z220 and all pictures are generic photos.
It really is like getting 200 fewer Z's.
The Z440 was a high end socket 2011v3 Workstation, supporting CPU's with up to 22 cores / 44 threads, Quad-Channel RAM, 40 PCIe Lanes, tons of upgradeability, etc... And is still a viable budget build platform today.
The Z240 was a garbage office client, with none of those benefits.
Plus you can get a Z440 for a fraction of the price... They only run about $100 on fleaBay.
Drop in that same RTX 2060, or a Radeon 5700XT for even better results.
A Z440 with a 5700XT can be a $200+ budget build that still runs circles around many modern builds.
Don't buy this cheap gaming PC, but DO watch Greg Salazar tell me about it!
The MTG on the keyboard and mouse was My Technology Geeks, same as the brand on the SATA SSD and the RAM.
Their website states that they are a company that sells refurbished PCs, and the PCs come with "genuine Microsoft software", which is probably why you got Windows 10 Pro.
I also think ToastyBros often buy their PC's from amazon for videos.
Who are ToastyBoys? @@t0uchmyh0rn
And I thought it was "Magic The Gathering" 😉
@@t0uchmyh0rn remember those e-bay Optiplexes
Nah, getting Windows 10 Pro is a low bar when it's got a BIOS OEM key for it
The old saying "You get what you pay for" definitely applies here. That 3.5 stars rating should've been a tip off. Although, you expect it to at least boot up and work. Only good thing is Amazon has a good return policy so not TOO much of a risk ordering from them. You have at least 30 days and they'll accept almost all returns for a full refund.
i mean it would have been a hell of deal back when the cpu market was crazy just for the 2060 alone even if all else failed. though i guess back then it would have been a 1000s ripoff.
You can buy cheap, be smart, pay attention to what you read, research and be patient. Then when you find one with a decent path for upgrades buy it.
To be clear, I was only referring to _this_ gaming PC 👍
@@GregSalazaroh I know, I could tell but the thumbnail. That was for the comments section in general.
Not a good buy. Definitely not refurbished well for sure. Not tested for sure. Just toss parts in a box and sell it. Bad, very bad.
A hot box of random garbage binned parts that are claimed to be "refurbished" but there's no refurbishment to speak of.
The concept of refurbishing a business PC is fine but that particular platform is a waste of a decent GPU.
That's the Amazon Renewed brand in a nutshell. 'Refurbished' is just simply a lie here.
@@Lurch-Bot No, it is refurbished but it arrived broken. It could have arrived in working order.
putting two layers of thermal paste is like people thinking getting a new roof means laying new shingles on top of the old rotten ones lmao
Laying new shingles on top of old shingles is pretty common actually. Full tear off and new shingles is preferable. But it isn't always necessary especially if cost is a major factor.
@@dlsisson1970 I know it’s common but it’s not a good idea, roofs are not designed to hold that kind of weight for any sustained period.
Thanks for the unofficial Fix or Flop episode Greg! 😉
Didn’t expect this one to be this bad. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
yeah usually they at least turn on lol.
Cool video, I just hate when people crap on these slightly older platforms. This was not a bad PC at all specifically for the price. I wouldn't buy from that particular seller but that has nothing to do with the PC. The RTX 2060 Super still goes for $180 to $230 ( I include tax) on eBay. A good 500 GB SSD is around $30 to $35. A used 3TB HD goes for about $30, and a good used HP Z240, Z440, or anything close will cost you about $80 to $100. This PC still has the IPC to run every game at reasonable settings. You can still remove the GPU keep your drives and resale the HP and have a nice base for your next platform. The case is actually easy to mod. I painted the front and side handle panel purple on mine, you can fit a 120mm PWM fan in the bottom front if you remove the speaker. You can also fit an 80 to 90mm slim fan in front of the drive bay if you want to add some RGB Fans. The two adapters to case swap this unit only cost about $25 bucks if you want to change PSUs and put it in a case with better airflow. I don't suggest this platform for everyone but for sub $400 bucks it's not bad. $400 is not a "future-proof" realm by any standard.
I do that wrap all the time on “tiny PC’s. It is awesome material that has some sort of synergistic relationship with metal. It binds to metal beautifully ans saves you from having to sand and paint a scratched case. I have black…….a carbon fibre wrap……and a wrap that changes colour in different light.
Should have tried to turn on as shipped instead of touching parts first
Good point. You can't really know that the RAM was simply not seated properly. However that double thermal paste may have killed the CPU.
@@wayland7150 How. exactly, would that thermal paste application kill the CPU?
@@tim3172 Too think, insulating the CPU from the heatsink. CPU would then be at the highest possible temperature all the time on the thermal limit.
I work with alot of HP/Dell oem desktops and this happens all the time with ram. Usually we reseat the ram and they tend to work afterwards. Keep in mind, a majority of these desktops sit in a warehouse before these resellers get them for 1+ years and corrosion builds up in the weirdest places.
I imagine a lot of people have this exact experience, dealing with half broken products from online dealers seems to be the norm now. It was good to showcase exactly what you could be in for when buying things like this.
That's why we as consumers need to demand from Amazon new and better protections from scammers and just plain bad 3rd party merchants using the site to peddle their crap.
Amazon promotes scummy 3rd party sellers
@@TheBlueBunnyKen because they have to because the congress passed new laws that affect the way all brands promote their online stores if they open them up to 3rd parties this law states they must promote the 3rd party over their own items to avoid monopolization lawsuits or antitrust laws. so they really have no options.
Unplugging and plugging in RAM can cause issues like this. Ive had the very same issue this morning. Had to take out and wipe off the contacts and re seat to get it to re boot.
I dont think the pc is over or under priced for what it is. A bit of works gone into it, a bit of effort at least.
I agree, however the one thing it didn't have but absolutely should have is some actual testing.
Yes, I like the concept and the effort the Geeks have put into this. However that HP is a poor platform for the chosen GPU. £100 PC + £300 GPU. It hits the price but fails on being a balanced system.
16:04 that is a lot of hours of racing around circuit de La Sarthe. Vital car parts be condemned.
honestly it was a more interesting video having to diagnose and repair it since i really enjoy your fix or flop series😂😂
Wow, that's DIRTY...nice work as usual.
Oooo a Bonus Fix or Flop episode !! .. lol
6:30 I had this bootloop issue with my old rig, all I had to do was keep reseating the ram sticks. The MOBO was literally falling apart at that point and I had no spare budget at the time to replace it. The PCI-E slot that holds the 1080 TI also kinda broke, I had to wiggle the card around to get it to boot with the gpu. PCI-E and Ram slots were both borked.
Not only is it bad as a refurb but doesn't meet the minimum requirement for upgrade to Windows 11.
Love it or hate it, Window 11 is a must now unless we get surprises with Windows 12.
It doesn't seem to have a TPM so support for Windows 10 has an expiration date unless you want to pay for additional support.
Not worth it especially for a business machine with jury-rigged wires and dodgy processors and ram.
I like it when Greg says MTG dunno what it stands for ... yet 5-10 min before he read My Technolgoy Geeks on Ram and SSD drive xD ! Nice Fix or Flop video I really liked it !
Thank you for helping me realize how to troubleshoot a problem with my car. Let me explain, I have a power draw that kills my battery. Said car my second car, so it sits unused from time to time. It wasn't until out of nowhere that I realized the obvious trouble shooting steps you take of "start with the bare minimum" and work your way up to figure out what the issue may be. My troubleshooting will take weeks, if not months to conduct, but I'm going to start with only having fuses hooked up that are required to get the car to start. Slowly add in one fuse at a time until my battery dies, and hopefully this will shed some light as to what is causing the issue. Of course, I need to start from the beginning and see how long it takes for my battery to be completely dead so I know how long I need to let the car sit before putting in one of the fuses. So for example, if it takes 7 days for the battery to die, then I start with the bare minimum fuses needed, wait 8 days, and replace one fuse. Try to start the car, if it starts, wait another 8 days. If it starts, replace another fuse, and wait another 8 days. Do this until the battery goes dead.......... I'm so annoyed with myself right now as both a computer tech, and an automotive enthusiast. Yes, I could take a multimeter around and probe things, but I'd probably miss something, and I don't trust myself using one of those anyway. I'm more of a tech hardware kind of person honestly, and automotive mechanic deficient. That being said, I should be able to apply the above method into figuring out what is killing my battery. Thanks, Greg!
Do it the other way around and pull one fuse or disconnect one module at a time. Start with the usual suspects, anything that "phones home", then the radio system, climate control etc
I just pulled an i5 6500 OptiPlex off the pile for my 4 year old to play the bluey game. I had trepidation using one of those sata to 8 pin adapters on an ASUS RX 560 that barely draws from it, and only uses it because ASUS increased the power limit on that model. Then to see a reseller sending it on a real GPU shows some balls, or lack of intelligence and Integrity.
Some people just want to make a buck, and don't care what it takes.
dont worry about it burning out on your system. that 6/8 pin on the RX560 wont draw enough power to light fire. just make sure the actual adapter looks competent and doesnt just fall apart
Sata connectors should never be used for high amperage draws, they WILL melt of burn.
@@johnt.848 sata can safely carry 54watts. molex can carry 132. so definitely use molex.
but.RX560 only draws 75 watts. some of them draw a bit more because of slight overclocks. but a maximum of 70 to 75 watts get's pulled from the PCIE slot first. then from the PCI power plugs.
at such draw's it's perfectly fine..
just dont go around connecting 1070/2070's to a single sata or molex plug...
i've been making custom connectors for eons for personal machines.
The power cycling on and off constantly at startup for me is most times the RAM. Sometimes the RAM is faulty and sometimes it is just not fully seated.
That’s exactly what I was thinking.
Yes, a PSU would simply have done that once and shut down. until you press the power button again.
Incorrect frequency or not white listed by HP.
Ooof double trouble. Good troubleshooting!
With regards to the graphics card and GPU-Z, try clicking the `look up` button and GPUZ will try and find the same model on its lists. The 2060S is a decent find, certainly better than a standard 2600. More RAM and 2070 levels of pokeiness
Just since the pre built being upgraded is such a normal thing now, most HP or dell proprietary motherboard power connecters have adapters to a standard 24 pin and or 6 pin that you can buy from sites like eBay or amazon.
I had that EXACT same symptom from a mobo/cpu combo I bought used and the culprit was bent pins in the CPU socket...the motherboard booted with a dedicated GPU but not with integrated graphics
If it's bent pins, how did the cpu even work in the first place
22:04 Proprietary parts. Automatic no go. I don't care what my budget is. All it takes is for one of those components to go bad, and you will be spending far more than it's worth, to get it working properly again.
Also............... HP. I haven't touched HP in at least 15 years, and I never will again.
I didn't realize HP used proprietary power supplies. This is good to know. I'll never buy one.
All the major players use proprietary parts. That why you should never buy any of them. If you buy a prebuilt, make sure it's from a company that actually puts the computers together with actual parts.
@@mattevans1643 I know Dell uses proprietary motherboards. Power supplies for minitowers from Dell are probably ATX. They have been in the past.
@@mattevans1643 You do realise you can buy good solid adapters for the propietary parts right?
@@jcdenton166 yeah but no one wants to buy extra parts when it comes to these things.
@jcdenton166 So? We shouldn't be using adapters. We use standards for a reason.
I have that exact 2060 super, I bought it from my buddy when he upgraded. I also have a z240 referb like that, which actually came with a 2060 and an i5 7500.
A better choice for a fully Windows 11 compatible desktop OEM PC would be the Lenovo P520 Think Station. Which may include an 850 Watt PSU. Can be found for less than $250 on eBay or Amazon.
MTG (My Technology Geeks) peripherals are the same as the 2.5” SSD and RAM modules ….. they obviously get an OEM to make the parts and then label them their own to sell and differentiate their products from others.
I have a feeling My Technology Geeks is the "company" that built this PC and it's just someone rebranding cheap products, that's what the MTG on the peripherals was for btw. Noticed the listing said 32gb ram and it only had 16 also.
They know that big numbers impress their particular buyers, not that this would be improved by 32GB of RAM. Faster RAM and an 8 thread CPU might have helped though. The choice of GPU is purely to impress the buyer because in that system it underperforms and they could have used a cheaper GPU.
14:34 close up seems to say 16GB stick
Should've turned it on to make sure it worked before the dissection inspection.
Perhaps something was slightly askew upon reinstallation. I’d reinstall what shipped and recheck.
The i5-6500 has an average CPU mark of 5632 on Passmark so it’s barely gaming capable.
Without the GPU, those old systems go for about $50 and a new brand name 128GB SSD is less than $20 but the cheapest BIN RTX 2060 I see is $160 ($130-$145 recent auction winning bids)
I built a complete computer with all brand new parts for the same price or less than what you did on this one a few years ago I think I spent maybe 350 or so and that's including the case psu motherboard cpu and memory and ssd and hdd and the parts were all brand new but I got them at a great price on sale and no open box specials either. I also want to mention I didn't buy a video card since the amd cpu has integrated graphics.
This PC has a far superior GPU to your APU. Those AMD APUs are pretty good and do game. I play RFactor/2 racing on mine.
It's like it's trying to start the engine but the ignition system and spark plugs somehow did not work properly. 5:09
Reset the bios? Looks like motherboard or psu issue. You can also try the cpu on another motherboard, those rarely die.
Remind me of a Dell 3670 put upgrade of the CPU graphics card out of the power supply and used the 12 to 8 plug and it works great to this day. I added 3x star fans and it works amazing today. Upgraded the power supply with absolutely no problem. Obviously I have better gaming computers but I use this quite frequently it works great. Upgraded SSD card no problem this machine just wasn't properly put together right can someone used aftermarket trash parts in the power supplies a piece of garbage and it can be replaced.
IMHO, for a budget build, go for a intel 12100 or amd ryzen 3600. They are around 90 dollars used. Then you can get windows 11 and have a decent upgrade path. Since windows 10 support ends late 2025. The gtx 1660 super or 1660 ti can do 1080p gaming at a budget price. For budget 1440p get a used 6600xt. Don't skimp on the PSU. Get a modern one with atx 3.0 and hgih power ratings from a known, trusted brand. Then you can use that PSU far into the future.
The reviews for this on the page should be enough for most people to know better..... Had to go look and there are some pretty bad ones including wires melting and dead systems.
Just clean the pin contacts from cpu and ram and it would work, also for cleaning old thermal paste use wd40 and after that some isopropyl.
At that price point the z440 that they falsefully showed a picture of is a far better buy. You can get one right now for $115 with the 1650v4 and oem 700w psu. Add a $50 kit of ecc ram. $35 for a sata ssd. That leaves you $200 buck to get a nice graphics card. Granted if you just want somthing turn key then you have to make alot of compromises.
Yeah, wouldn't go for this if there's problematic CPU/RAM and dodgy ways of getting the dedicated graphics working. Best off just going for a used custom build, rather than an OEM prebuilt that originally started as a workstation PC.
Still, those Z240s (and similar) workstation PCs are still decent, though as mentioned in the video, anything prior to 8th Gen Intel had just 4 cores and 4 threads on the i5 side of things. My i5-4460 was the same.
I've got an HP Z220 and I quite like it. It's got a Xeon & Radeon Pro in it and works quite well. Seems this Z240 you got though was from a less than stellar company is all.
7:59 I had this cpu sold it I brought it from a pc enthusiast I really didn't keep the hardwares as much. Only AMD that is it.
hi Greg, would love to know if you contacted the seller about the faulty RAM and CPU. Did you ask the seller for a refund, replace the system or just accepted it as a bad deal and not communicate anymore with the seller? Really enjoy your videos - hope you are settling in okay to your new house. Much love from the UK.
Worth noting, HP workstations are EXTREMELY finnicky with RAM choices. I formerly had an EliteDesk SFF with 2nd gen i7, it was supposed to support 32GB DDR3, but putting anything above 8GB of anything specifically HP or Kingston branded would cause it to not boot.
It would boot with 1 stick of Corsair Vengeance 8GB but the moment a second stick was added, it'd throw a tantrum.
Tbh just. Buying a newer second hand hp 440. Barebones . Add ran a gpu etc etc and it would actually be good for about 500 to 600
Damn if anyone is looking at prebuilts, don't look at that specific page. It's price increased to $500 and I didn't think it could get worse than what what in the video. But I saw burnt wires, dead GPUs, dead internet cards. So if anyone buys it. It'll mostly have something broken in it the only random thing is what's the broken part.
Too bad. Sometimes a "good deal" is only that for the seller 😤 Thank for walking through this one, even with having to turn it into a fix or flop situation.
BTW, nice t-shirt, GO TROJANS!!!
Great video as always. Question when this happens do you follow up with Amazon or the reseller ?
I thought about buying a RTX 2060 Super at one time because of the 8 Gb of vram you get over the 6 GB version.but the 8 GB card was 250.00 U.S dollars.
I don't like to buy pre built in pc especially if it is 2nd hand .. I often buy parts and test each of them. and if no issue is found both software and hardware then deal. I really like to build my own even if it's second hand, at least you can buy the parts you want that are working.. this is just my opinion
These problems is why I buy off eBay because of buyers protection. But these products still get through and some ppl still fall for sellers saying no refunds
It's such a big risk buying PCs like this.
3rd party merchants on Amazon can be pretty bad. I actually wish they'd change how 3rd party merchants are scrutinized and screened out to cut back on scammers. A merchant can only maintain their business so long as they are kept honest about what it is they're selling - if they can't he held to a higher standard than what is currently acceptable on Amazon, what else can we do?
@@ResidentWeevil2077 Yea i guess Amazon don't care that or else these kind of thing's wouldn't happen.
@@firexallst4rz277 well it is basically buy at your own risk and they have a great return policy so if you actually do get scammed it not that hard to get your money back at least i have had no issues. i mean that is how i look at it any transaction on the internet though even with official brands it kind funny i get worse costumer service with actual brands then i do trying to return shit with amazon lol.
I've bought many things from Amazon, if the item is broken or simply you just don't want it anymore. Once you submit a refund through Amazon then drop the item off at a UPS store, when UPS scans the return item I usually get my money back same day or at the latest 48 hours
@@retroforce6919 O okay thats not to bad
Bonus Fix Or Flop episode! Seriously, good detective work there Greg, I am curious to see if you get anywhere contacting the seller (oh, and hooray for BIOS beep codes)
I know this channel is more about PC builds and repairs, but I'm wondering if you'd consider doing a keyboard comparision video at some point. I currently own and use a Logitiech k740 wired keyboard that I absolutely love. It's showing it's age but I recently cleaned it out in an attempt to prolong it's usage. I've looked at other keyboards on the market and none of them that I've come across check all the boxes for me. Furthermore I am a bit spoiled with how typing feels on my K740 compared to even newer keyboards on the market. I do own a Keychron full size keyboard with mint switches and it seems like most keyboards are going the route of swappable switches these days, but I've yet to find anything that feels like an upgrade compared to my K740. I W@H and use my K740 for work as well as personal computing and have never experienced any type of fatigue while using it.
My preferences for a keyboard are that it be backlit (doesn't have to be RGB) and I would prefer wired since I don't need yet another device I have to remember to recharge and my keyboard never gets moved from it's dedicated spot on my desk. Since I also use it for work, I do need a full size keyboard with number pad not a TKL. If I could buy another K740 I would, but sadly and foolishly, Logitech disconnected the model.
Great video sir, it is my firm opinion if someone is patient and looks out for deals you can find a decent PC or parts out there
yeah but you run in to the same issue if the product is used regardless of if its the whole pc or just parts that is just the risk of the used market.
There are adapters that allow proprietary power supplies, fans, etc to be replaced by more common components. Be sure to look closely at adapter quality; There are good ones & cheap ones, but no good, cheap ones...
Never let your hard drive short cycle power like this for an extended period of time, it will kill it.
Also, the reason the PSU wasn't upgraded is because it wasn't possible to upgrade it due to the proprietary HP motherboard power connector. You can't adapt a standard ATX power supply to it because the proprietary HP board has a +12 standby rail which ATX doesn't have. You could probably rig something up with an external power brick, but it's not recommended.
Another great video Greg.
You say it has only two drives in it, the 128 gig ssd & the 3tb hdd. But when you show the side open while you do that sound test, it looks like there's another hdd above the first hdd. If it's not another hdd, what is it?
Looking forward to the next video Greg. Keep them coming.
i think it was just a games for steam library and stuff
that would just be an empty sled to hold another hdd. if you see at 2:39 when he first opens the case, there's those green tabs to the sides of the hdd and another set right above that doesnt have anything in the bay.
@@RusRus72. Go to 22:00 on the timeline of the video, and you'll see another drive in there. Three in total. 2 HDD's, a 1 SSD under them.
Garbage in, garbage out, you can shop smart with these HP machines but they chose bottom of the barrel stuff, i would recommend you take a look at putting an HP Z4 G4 Gaming PC together, they can be had barebones with 32gb of ram, 1000w psu with 4x 8pin PCIe, tons of extra ram slots, socket 2066 (i7-7800x 6 core 12 th 3.5gz for 35$, or i9-10980xe if you can find one).
I had a 4090 in one of my HP Z4 G4's before i sold it off, they are amazing little systems.
I didn't think I could recommend anything other than am4 for people looking to upgrade any time in the next few years. You could start a 2400g and a b350 board and run that thing up to a5800x3d with minimal upgrades
Should try re-seating the ram one at a time, then both together again just to make sure they are dead. Same with cpu, just to double check.
MTG = My Technology Geeks. They apparently sell refurbished stuff. Is this the seller you bought from, too?
No one should EVER give these people money. Just imagine the issues other people are having who don't have YT channels
I would expect them to resolve the problem like any computer dealer would. Things come loose in transit and cause similar problems. We did not see him try and reseat the existing components which had that worked would have proved the point that it probably worked when they sent it.
The problem with this actual system is the PC itself is a poor platform for the rather good GPU. It lets the GPU down.
7:20 when the beeping stopped after this sequence, I had a power outage at my house, the lights went out and audio stopped playing, I thought there was Inception type 💩 going on
Well I can tell you though memory chips are quick to overheat and die, because they lack heat spreader they get too hot and stop working. I could have also been that everything else was except for the CPU memory and motherboard. Memory chips do go bad.
The lack of hyperthreading hurts that CPU. I had an i5-6402p (just slightly worse that a 6500) and it bottlenecked an RX 570 at 1080p.... surely that 6500 bottlenecks the crap out of that RTX 2060.
This is why I'm super picky about 'refurbished' equipment. I've gotten two bad mobos and a monitor with a dead pixel from amazon resellers and these were 'guaranteed tested and working'. Meanwhile, I've never gotten a busted piece of gear off of ebay.
Seems like these resellers do the bare minimum testing on 'refurbished' equipment. - "Okay, it turned on, good enough." No, my dude, run an OS and at least one benchmark before you waste my time and money shipping that used garbage out.
Wasn't able to do a return on the monitor because i spent so much time troubleshooting the motherboards. Thankfully, it's a tiny pixel that you can ignore, sadly almost dead center of the screen. The mobo company gave me $20 extra because they felt so bad, so good on them at least.
Well, I'd definitely have a word with the seller, as you said, it's a refurb, means it should be in a acceptable working state which it was not. I wouldn't necessarily base this failed system to the next that they might be selling, things happen and its a risk buying anything used. Now multiple mistakes and dead systems, sure. But for the price, yeah, i'd buy something with a better upgrade path.
That SATA power to PCIe power adapter violates the SATA spec, the connector is rated for ~3A. Molex would be better.
Yeah....I don't buy refurbished computers off Amazon. The last one I had lasted two years and then died on me. It just got super slow and constantly crashing. I decided to buy my current HP GAMESTATION PC that I'm now using from Best Buy. I'm confident this NEW system will last longer than 5 years,
Just avoid refurbs off Amazon. Avoid them like the plague.
First thing I see - the power supply is mounted at the TOP of the case, not exactly a recent design. Even my 5-6 year old PC has a bottom mounted power supply.
Having a proprietary Case, Motherboard, and Power Supply ALWAYS make this choice a hard no for me.
For a company that refurbishes computers for resale, that fact should be more clearly stated in the listing.
Dear Trapped, I feel you. But already subscribed.
Those photos from the listing are clearly a Z420 or Z440 Xeon E5 system (Socket 2011, 4 channel ram), completely different from what you received. You can see there is no onboard video on a Socket 2011 workstation.
Photos mean nothing, it is what is in the title and written in the listing that matters.
1:18 are those ps/2 ports? how quaint! 😊
14113 hours on is not much for a drive, MTBF:s typically go into hundreds of thousands of hours and it's not uncommon to find drives that have been used for many years 24/7
refurbished oem's have a shelf life. they can die suddenly for no reason. company i worked at had a warehouse filled with these, 100% tested, put away, when tested again after 6 months, they would be dead. either ram, or cpu. like your setup. really weird stuff.
Based on the power cycling at 5:30 i suspected the dead ram issue. But by chance did you try the original cpu with the replaced ram?
I didn't have a separate platform to test at the time and didn't wanna power the original system back on with the suspected dead CPU. It still doesn't post with a replacement, known-working board.
How does that RGB strip not short out on the case?
I would build a cheap AM4 system, with the Idea that I was going to update it to higher end AM5 parts, in 18months.
I would go El'Cheapo for the CPU/APU - Motherboard and RAM-. I would try to focus the budget on the Foundation ( the Case, PSU, and CPU Cooling). The AM4 parts are to get me up and running, parts like the Case and PSU are intended for the long haul of use, and they are not parts that are likely to become obsolete. (I could see having a quality PSU for over 10 years) I would be willing to say, that an attractive 'Fractal Design' Case bought right now, would still look&work fine in 2027.
I might convert an Office PC if it was given to me, and it was desirable model. - I think at best, you would break even, building a new AM4 system, compared to having an Office PC converted. (and the AM4 system would still be a better building/gaming experience)
MTG= Miller Time Gaming. When you’re too drunk and yell at the monitor to make it work. 😉
Man, love the Ayrton Senna mini helmet there ;)
i bought z420 and needed to clean the cpu pads because the ram was not working well on some slots
“My Technology Geeks” is a company based out of Kent Washington. I’ve never hear of them until now, but my best friend who lives in Spokane probably has.
hard drives dont have write cycles, that applies to ssds only. on hard drives anything under 10k hours is considered good for a used drive.
i got a 1tb hard drive that has like 85,000 hours on it n it still works fine! it also super old being from 2009
Nice video. Having to "replace" dead parts in this level of pc isn't to surprising - just a little irritating.
The SMART values of that HDD are very concerning... That shouldn't get a "good"! The raw data is either bytes or counts, depending if it reads data related or event related. But also in any case, with these things very high numbers are almost always very bad
this starts getting annoying when you start removing components without trying to power on the device to confirm if everything works as you received it.. it is the first rule I do whenever I accept computer repair or buying devices online and planning making a parts by parts review. the first ting I do is to power it on if it really turn on and boot up in that case. after I'm sure the system is working, then I'll check the devices part by part like what you did.
6th gen i5 intel was a letdown. The i5 didn't have any hyperthreading at all (while the 4th gen i5 did have some with hyperthreading).
And this folks is a GREAT informational video on how POST code tones work. Back in the day (late 80's and early 90's), we didn't have De-bug lights or t/s number & letter readouts. And, you couldn't Google what the tones meant. HOWEVER!! The MB manual did come with a list of the tones and what they meant. "Thanks for learning with me."
Caffeinator out.
How much would it cost to buy the business machine, extra ram, and the RTX 2060?
I think I could build a system from used Ryzen component for around the same amount although likely would go with a GTX 1070 for now for cost purposes.
There are so many reasons to not buy this system. Right now, for $540 you can build a gaming system with new parts. Is it going to run 4K? Of course not, but it will run 1080P and if you're judicious in your settings even 2K. The biggest thing here is that this old HP will not run Windows 11. It will fail the TPMII check. Yes, you can fake the registry into letting you load W11 but sooner or later it's going to bone you. A new system will not have that problem. I have a pair of old HPZ420 workstations that I've used for years. One is now running our TrueNAS and the other is my Linux project/burner machine that I can learn Linux and brick the system on a regular basis. These old workstations are no longer high-performance gaming systems. Their time is over.
Love the misspelling of "Electrosatic" on the My Technology Geeks drive. 😂
Actualy like that keyboard style, just add led txt buttons and i would play with it.
I like it low profile and quiet.
Horrible to watch some gameplay videos where all you hear is the buttons.
I would still test the original cpu with the new known working memory too because incompatible memory sticks could be causing all these issues too. And that being said those sus memory sticks could be perfectly fine too, just incompatible with the board. Most high quality boards certify specific memory sticks and wont work with cheapos .. I'd at least test that original cpu on another working board combo before it becomes a poker button. either way that system sucks butts don't buy it