This is the only channel that breaks down component level repair so people can ACTUALLY learn. Edit: Your content is slower and clearer and easier to follow. I send a lot of people to your channel if they are interested. Over the years I gained $10,000 worth of knowledge from your free content. That's why I am proud to pay for extras!
@@victorcarrillo3710 Actually, no. When I started I was a little confused on some things, and this channel helped me figure things out. He really makes it more plain. I really bounced around to other channels and resources. I also took good laptops and removed the motherboards. Then I would short out different rails myself with wires and study how things tested with a multimeter. I did all kinds of different things in different ways.
I cant remember when i subbed to this channel but i'm glad i did , taking the time to respond to comments to share views and knowledge in a humble way , tops in my book.
I really enjoy your channel as it has given me a lot of helpful guidance in my computer builds and repairs. I have only built a few for the family but they do require repair for time to time it is really good to watch just how you go about fixing things. Hope you have a great day and get better soon.
Merry Christmas, Graham. Extend the same to Caradog for me too, please. I really have enjoyed watching the channel and Saturdays aren't the same without you two, what with the cider, pc's and the good-natured antics between you both. My very best to both of ya and your families on this blessed time of year. All the best for a prosperous, happy 2025! Cheers, man!
Have a Merry Christmas Graham, and thank you for your channel content. I have been tinkering with computers since the early 90's (Pre Win 95) and it's now a side hustle to earn me a few extra bucks using my self-taught knowledge. I have been subscribed for about a year now and thoroughly enjoy watching your new and old posts. I do like this format following-up from a previous fix, as I don't usually get too far down the list of comments before moving to the next video.
...Really appreciate your channel, so good to see no B.S. procedures and info. Lots of little details and thought-trains that help bring me up to speed rather than struggling with modern gear. Well Done!
Love this one. You can explain things in a way that others with very a limited understanding of the subject can actually follow along. I am a mechanic but find computer repair very interesting. Keep up the good work. Cheers from queensland australia
Love this as as format for new videos. Thank you for the content this year Graham and may there be plenty more in 2025. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Usually on YT I'm silas184 and use adblockers so just giving you a Xmas comment as a apeciak bonus. Watched you for years and used your videos to repair a string of laptops. So thanks for that, wouldn't dream of suggesting anything to you with your day in, day out years of experience. I just enjoy your honest banter, don't ever stop . . . BEARD LOVER HERE!
Talking about the static - I did an experiment years ago, and rubbed sticks of ram, back and forth into the carpet for about 20 seconds, to try to kill them. They kept working tho, refused to die
Very cool.. Lots of people have idea but as you said experience and time in the field 9 times out of 10 will get you the answer or at least in the area of the fault. Love your vids and watching you repair and fix computer and latops and other things..merry christmas to you and happy new year.
Nice video and Merry Christmas :) I agree on the ESD topic. When I started out working with PC parts (as a hobbyist) I had mad respect of breaking stuff by just looking at it in a wrong way. Today I know most parts are actually rather sturdy.
The thing about your channel is that you are teaching. In your teaching mode you are slower and more intentional about troubleshooting. Although I don't repair computers I have done circuit board repair in the past and is why I enjoy watching your channel.
A couple years ago I stumbled onto a setting that might save a lot of CPUs from an early grave. I had a cheap laptop that was locking up a lot, at idle it was at 90C. This was a 10th gen i5. cleaning and new paste did nothing. Had no BIOS clock settings at all. So all I did was in Windows Advanced Power Settings, change maximum processor power from 100% to 99%. Processor dropped to low 70C's at idle and never locked up again.
Nice to see you spotted this comment too. Certainly worth looking into in the future. I have a Surface Book 2 that runs hot and I intent to look into the possibility of a heat pipe failure in the coming weeks amongst other things.
I had success with sfc scannow and dism but of course not for bluescreens. It’s mostly for non working windows updates. It’s probably a good idea to run those AFTER the problem has been fixed to make sure the windows Installation is not in a corrupted state after having crashed a gazillion times.
It is always bittersweet when a smaller, more cozy TH-camr is starting to take off. Your channel is growing, you are on the road to success but with that come the irate randos that have nothing better to do than to shit their half-knowledge all over the comment section. Whenever this moment comes for a channel I like, I cannot help but feeling torn about it. I wish you all the success you deserve of course, but it will most likely destroy the positive vibe the channel has going on in its community. Edit: That is not to say valid criticism isn‘t welcome. It‘s not what you say, it‘s how you say it.
Totally agree. Graham needs to just skip over all the silly comments and not ever get disheartened. I immensely enjoy watching the videos on this channel and my knowledge had increased greatly from the knowledge he passes on.
sfc /scannow worked once for me. Samsung data migration util would not complete an image, ran sfc/scannow and it was able to complete the image. Only time it ever made a difference. Great video!!
That's lucky with it working once. I've tried it many times but hasn't worked at all. It's funny casue it's like any time you end up on the Microsoft forums/help pages, someone always replies with this command.!
ESD wise: I worked on Sun stuff. Sun were very, very nervous about ESD. I worked without a strap, but always one hand to the chassis when plugging something in. Until one day, when I used an ESD cuff. And the CPU broke a number of weeks later. Turns out the ESD strap was open circuit { > 20 megohms). Note that this was "enterprise" CPUs, not consumer grade ruggedized.
Thanks for the video. I watched the repair video aswell. Looking forward to you experimenting with that 5700G. Maybe disabling certain cores and stuff. See if anything changes anything. I find this very interesting. Also built computers since about mid 90s. Been into retro computers the last 10 years. But the last 7 or 8 months my interest for modern PC stuff has blossomed again. Built myself 3 new gaming desktop computers. Two them based on 5700x3d and one based on the i5 13400f.
I appreciate the discussion. One thing worth noting about bottlenecking: You want your GPU to be the bottleneck. If you're CPU-bound, you're going to have a worse experience. If you're GPU-bound, congratulations, you're getting the most out of the most expensive part in your computer. Using 100% of your GPU just means you're at your limit of FPS/graphics settings/resolution that your computer can handle. Being CPU-bound is a much worse scenario because the GPU will be waiting on the CPU to draw frames, causing stuttering, etc.
you always make good points looking at trouble shooting of issues, I started with Packard Bell before windows came to life and talking with customers over the phone the only why to find fault with like a no post issue was to take out parts out of the computer until get to the motherboard and relay on beep codes. I aways use let me check what I think is causing the issues and work from there
I'm more into software engineering than hardware. When I was watching #426, early on I was thinking in terms of memory and CPU usage by Windows. I'm way simplifying the following, but typically Windows uses more of both, while WinPE (the command prompt version) and most bootable thumb drives use less. So even though the memory tests early on passed, it could be memory or CPU since it was just locking up in Windows. I wish you tried a Linux GUI just for the science of it because I'm curious to see if it too would freeze up in Linux. Regarding the CPU being bad, my CPU (an Intel i9) went bad while I was running some intensive CPU-driven graphics rendering. But in my situation, the mobo wouldn't even post. The Dell tech had to make three trips (two power supply changes and one mobo change) before concluding it was CPU. Yeah, many people won't point to the CPU until it is the last thing standing.
it's like system restore, or startup repair, it most likely won't work but sometimes you just need to try it just to rule it out, cross that off the list of things to check just in case it is a rare situation that it works.
It was quite good you managed to troubleshoot that CPU . Sometimes we can be stuck with a strange problem , that goes rabbit hole . I have one of my older gaming rigs on a Asus MB that haves the NVIDIA chipset , running a early intel quadcore Q6600 before the i 3/5/7 era . Never had a problem at Windows 7 (64bits) era. upgraded to win 10 , but ASUS never released drivers for 10 , one of the missing drivers : the asus ATK ACPI . I'w running the NVidia raid with SSD drives in Raid 5 . suddenly , after a windows 10 update, the PC goes beserk : sometimes taking ages to power up (black screen), often getting stuck , rebooting will get it stuck on the BS ... needed to cut the power from the MB to manage to wake it up again (reset didn't work) . when looking to windows events , manage to see that windows didn't managed my C levels from the CPU correctly , and surprise , the ASUS ATK has been replaced by a MS "approved" . I changed the BIOS C Level configurations , memory size/emplacements, still no stable system if sleep/reboot/shutdown . Changed the power supply ... same problem... starting to think the MB was maybe getting a old cond or something , until I installed linux Mint in dual boot and ... Surprise : the PC works flawless from Linux , power down/sleep/reboot ... so even the OS can generate strange rabbit holes . Merry Xmas Graham
Static damage isn’t an issue in the UK because the humidity level is always high enough to avoid significant static buildup (unless we really try). Even in the middle of summer the relative humidity is normally 40% or higher. In other countries with hotter drier climates it may well be more of an issue.
In my experience it was the stock Wraith Prsim cooler mounted down too tight that destroyed my 2600 and 2700x. For my 5900x I removed the plate on the Wraith Prism that sits in between the heatsink and mounting clips. CPU has been fine for 2 years. Obviously this only worked for me but it is worth investigating.
You do a fantastic job and I really enjoy your videos. If you can pay the bills and put food on the table then you must be doing it right, Don't listen to the muppets.😊👍Happy Christmas🎄
I cooked a motherboard years ago when I discharged static... bumped this webcam I had hooked up, it had a steel enclosure, Bolt cam off my hand and literally blew a chip on the board. It looked like someone put out a cigar on it. Since then I make dam sure to discharge before I touch my system and have for 20 yrs now. I lucked out and board was replaced by MSI with no q's asked. It can happen. I too was like you, started Long time before you did and yes, built on the carpet. My son also did the same, he preferred to build pcs instead of lego when he was a toddler. No issues... was just Dad who fouled up. Cheers and Merry xmas to you and family mate.
An impressive beard is a sure sign of brilliance. Big Clive....beard Graham....beard Me....shaved my beard off and now I am unable to tell the difference between a PCI slot and a USB port.
I recently worked on my first broken laptop, after watching your content for months. It was actually the CPU that was dead. It was weird though. You got into bios, but as soon as you try to boot any OS it fails. Luckily, it was an old Thinkpad where the CPU was still socketed. A new one cost me 5€.
Most of the timings aren’t motherboard dependent. Like 99% of the timings are internal to the mem ic, though tightening the timings do increase the strain on all of the cpu by the fact of it being more data.
I've been building my own PCs since the late 90s , always AMD and I've only ever had 1 Hard drive fail and 1 Be Quiet PSU fail . I think electronics are so reliable nowadays !
Here's another possible (but rare) issue that I've seen on Ryzen (non-G in that case). One pcie lane is faulty. When that lane is used it doesn't work. Apparently it works if you run your gpu/m.2 in a different socket. Some motherboards have multiple x16 sockets.
I agree with your comments regarding "fragile fixes".The best thing for the customer, and probably most economic given the price of your time, is to fix it correctly and get it out of the door. A massive risk is a fragile fix, even at the request of the owner, can fail again and the customer starts telling others you fixed it but it failed again ... not worth your reputation.
Just fyi, the bit about all the usb and sata controllers being in the pch isn't correct for ryzen cpu's, those do have some of the usb ports going directly to the cpu and not touching the pch, and they're usually routed to the rear IO. Having some of the usb ports and m.2 slots connecting to the cpu directly and not sharing bandwidth over the chipset connection is one of the earliest strengths of ryzen based setups.
I'm still a firm believer that in this case it was degradation of that particular CPU in hand, It could have been a weak sample from the factory to begin with, Even the golden samples of the highest end line could eventually degrade so much that a crucial link between cores or memory could just give out...sure its unlikely but with silicon quality, Heat cycles etc you never know. :) Merry Christmas Adam :)
Have you ever had a following issue (combo is 5800X/AsRock B550) - PC came in for intermittently crashing. Changed to a new Nvme with fresh Windows,, installed all te drivers, put the said NVMe in to another slot, RAM (several combos), updated BIOS to the latest stable, changed graphic cards, etc., the computer freezes or restarts. After it became stable for short while I ran an OCCT & Cinenbench R23 & Furmark at the same time for several runs and all is fine (hours). After letting it cool it continued to freeze. Had to change the mobo. What I find strange that it'll crash/freeze/restart under idle, and under stress it works fine.
It seems like this video prompted yt to show me the previous video that you're talking about, and I left a comment after watching it but probably also after this video went live lol.
One thing (imho) worth considering is the similarity to many recent issues that I've seen. While I believe it's related to DMA channel or controller faults, it may not be the actual cause, however similar I believe it to be. Since I have no way of testing this theory, it does appear to be "thematic" of these types of faults. Not sure that this is very helpful information now. If you do decide to further investigate the fault, wonder if crystal disk or similar might trigger it? I don't have one to test currently. I would be interested in your thoughts. thanks for sharing your process. very cool :)
I’ve experienced “chinese” usb wifi receivers that have prevented systems from booting with a bluescreen error. Happened on three different systems with the same wifi dongle (actually all of them). Ended up narrowing it down to the driver, but just stopped using them.
Can't remember I ever had success with dism or sfc either... As far as testing equipment goes: never found a failed psu with the psu tester, but I did have the psu tester melt on me once 😅
In the end it was either a defective or degraded CPU. I guess out of warranty. Seems very likely, being an AIO gaming PC, that the user had probably been running it highly overclocked. When it started acting up, the default clocks were probably reset in an attempt to fix the issue. There's a chance the CPU could be stable with underclocking and light use but gaming days are done.
Graham, on the CPU degradation and Overclock/BIOS reset topics I think you missed something else that I saw no one told you on the past video either. First, I would like for you to see the video that Wendell did on the Intel degradation on 13th and 14th gen testing. The reason I point that out is because I think the culprit here is the freaking Gigabyte motherboard. I've seen a lot of Gigabyte and ASUS motherboards 'causing degradation on the field on common CPUs with normal people using them, CPUs that don't get touched EVER for overclocking. ASUS and Gigabyte give a lot of voltage out of the box with their motherboards, even on Server motherboards for CPUs that should NOT get higher Wattage and voltages than normal for 24/7 use. See the motherboard that Wendell uses on that video for a CPU that should not run at such a high wattage/voltage as the 14th gen 14900k, because he uses a W tier/spec motherboard and the not overclocking CPU goes sky high with voltage/wattage, poor thing. Most of the boards from Gigabyte and ASUS since 2020 up until now have such an aggressive curve for voltage, AMD have real good automation for PBO but, and is a big BUT, if the motherboard sends the signal for more watts/voltage, AMD automatic tuning goes out of spec, just as with the Intel CPUs and THEN the degradation starts. You were TOTALLY RIGHT that a G processor should not degrade or go that high on voltage. But Asus and Gigabyte allow that and push that. ASRock boards are now the best ones for safe voltage boosting and more reasonable power delivery and AMD/Intel safe specs out of the box. I think that trying disabling some cores would be good for your own use just for testing, but it wouldn't be a CPU for someone for everyday use, let alone a customer. Greetings from Chiapas, Mexico. What a lovely dissection video. Happy Christmas.
With spare hardware desktop pc are quite easy to diagnose as you stated. Im currently struggling with a defective 2tb m.2 ssd that freezes the file explorer (not boot drive) in windows, drops out and crashes while trying to copying off files. Smart shows it as health yet it has file integrity errors that CMD also confirms. Currently starting a RMA.
Great video. I am a novice for sure.....but....could there be a bad setting in the BIOS? Load BIOS with standard / basic / default settings? Could this be possible?
Ryzen…….earlier Ryzen’s have memory controller issues. I’ve seen quite a few Ryzen 5-3600’s with memory controller failures. Increasing SOC voltage seems to help.
I have to bring into discussion the fact that 99.9% of motherboards integrators have been overshooting voltages even from AM4 era. I've seen this so many times with multiple integrators that I manually set Vcore on all systems that go thru my hands. BTW the Intel fiasco is a consequnce of the same overshooting done by mobo integrators, like going 1.45 vcore on a 13700kf when the cpu is perfectly stable at 1.16v...
My only feedback is I would like more of these type of fix videos. Keep them coming :)
This is the only channel that breaks down component level repair so people can ACTUALLY learn.
Edit: Your content is slower and clearer and easier to follow. I send a lot of people to your channel if they are interested. Over the years I gained $10,000 worth of knowledge from your free content. That's why I am proud to pay for extras!
Did you learn how to repair from him alone ?
Mainboard medic and electronics repair school channel are my favs
@@victorcarrillo3710 Actually, no. When I started I was a little confused on some things, and this channel helped me figure things out. He really makes it more plain. I really bounced around to other channels and resources. I also took good laptops and removed the motherboards. Then I would short out different rails myself with wires and study how things tested with a multimeter. I did all kinds of different things in different ways.
@@Denise_in_progress Sorin at Electronics Repair School Inspired me
I cant remember when i subbed to this channel but i'm glad i did , taking the time to respond to comments to share views and knowledge in a humble way , tops in my book.
Have a Very Merry Christmas, Graham!!
I really enjoy your channel as it has given me a lot of helpful guidance in my computer builds and repairs. I have only built a few for the family but they do require repair for time to time it is really good to watch just how you go about fixing things. Hope you have a great day and get better soon.
The title says it all. Graham is a great guy. Merry Christmas from Mexico. Thank you for all your content during this time. Happy early new year.
Really enjoyed this, hope you post more reading/responding to comments.
I appreciate the knowledge gained. It takes time and lots of patients to learn about the 'ins' and ' outs' of computer problems.
Merry Christmas, Graham. Extend the same to Caradog for me too, please. I really have enjoyed watching the channel and Saturdays aren't the same without you two, what with the cider, pc's and the good-natured antics between you both. My very best to both of ya and your families on this blessed time of year. All the best for a prosperous, happy 2025! Cheers, man!
Merry Christmas Adam. Love your channel and thanks for sharing.
Have a Merry Christmas Graham, and thank you for your channel content. I have been tinkering with computers since the early 90's (Pre Win 95) and it's now a side hustle to earn me a few extra bucks using my self-taught knowledge. I have been subscribed for about a year now and thoroughly enjoy watching your new and old posts. I do like this format following-up from a previous fix, as I don't usually get too far down the list of comments before moving to the next video.
Enjoyed the vid...Thx Graham!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Thank you for your replies! Very informative!
Edit: Almost forgot... Merry Christmas and happy new year! :D
...Really appreciate your channel, so good to see no B.S. procedures and info. Lots of little details and thought-trains that help bring me up to speed rather than struggling with modern gear. Well Done!
Love this one. You can explain things in a way that others with very a limited understanding of the subject can actually follow along. I am a mechanic but find computer repair very interesting. Keep up the good work. Cheers from queensland australia
Enjoyed that ...merry xmas Graham!
Merry Christmas, Graham and thnx for all those nice videos this year.
"on the carpet with a wooly jumper on" 🤣
and now with The Life of Brian in Mind
Love this as as format for new videos. Thank you for the content this year Graham and may there be plenty more in 2025. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Usually on YT I'm silas184 and use adblockers so just giving you a Xmas comment as a apeciak bonus. Watched you for years and used your videos to repair a string of laptops. So thanks for that, wouldn't dream of suggesting anything to you with your day in, day out years of experience. I just enjoy your honest banter, don't ever stop . . . BEARD LOVER HERE!
Talking about the static - I did an experiment years ago, and rubbed sticks of ram, back and forth into the carpet for about 20 seconds, to try to kill them. They kept working tho, refused to die
Very cool.. Lots of people have idea but as you said experience and time in the field 9 times out of 10 will get you the answer or at least in the area of the fault. Love your vids and watching you repair and fix computer and latops and other things..merry christmas to you and happy new year.
Nice video and Merry Christmas :)
I agree on the ESD topic. When I started out working with PC parts (as a hobbyist) I had mad respect of breaking stuff by just looking at it in a wrong way. Today I know most parts are actually rather sturdy.
As a fellow techie, I had to subscribe to you and I enjoy your content.
Keep it up brother
I like this format. Have a great Christmas & New Year.
Yep, enjoyed thIs one and more like it would be welcome. Merry Christmas.
The thing about your channel is that you are teaching. In your teaching mode you are slower and more intentional about troubleshooting. Although I don't repair computers I have done circuit board repair in the past and is why I enjoy watching your channel.
Thanks for the great content over the past year, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you, I'm looking forward to seeing your videos next year
i do enjoy watching you fault find and repair the computers and laptops you do really good
Great vid Graham, would like to see this more often. And Merry Xmas! :)
Merry Merry Christmas, Adam!!
very useful mate, tnx a lot , merry christmas
I've been in this game for about as long as you, Adamant IT, and everything you have said is spot on! :)
SFC and DISM saved tonnes of systems for me, but like you said was defo hardware in this case.
Be sure to DISM before you SFC :)
A couple years ago I stumbled onto a setting that might save a lot of CPUs from an early grave. I had a cheap laptop that was locking up a lot, at idle it was at 90C. This was a 10th gen i5. cleaning and new paste did nothing. Had no BIOS clock settings at all. So all I did was in Windows Advanced Power Settings, change maximum processor power from 100% to 99%. Processor dropped to low 70C's at idle and never locked up again.
Interesting method, could be good for reducing noise as well. You likely had a bad heatpipe though, check video #423!
Nice to see you spotted this comment too. Certainly worth looking into in the future. I have a Surface Book 2 that runs hot and I intent to look into the possibility of a heat pipe failure in the coming weeks amongst other things.
I had success with sfc scannow and dism but of course not for bluescreens. It’s mostly for non working windows updates.
It’s probably a good idea to run those AFTER the problem has been fixed to make sure the windows Installation is not in a corrupted state after having crashed a gazillion times.
It is always bittersweet when a smaller, more cozy TH-camr is starting to take off. Your channel is growing, you are on the road to success but with that come the irate randos that have nothing better to do than to shit their half-knowledge all over the comment section.
Whenever this moment comes for a channel I like, I cannot help but feeling torn about it. I wish you all the success you deserve of course, but it will most likely destroy the positive vibe the channel has going on in its community.
Edit: That is not to say valid criticism isn‘t welcome. It‘s not what you say, it‘s how you say it.
Totally agree. Graham needs to just skip over all the silly comments and not ever get disheartened. I immensely enjoy watching the videos on this channel and my knowledge had increased greatly from the knowledge he passes on.
Nice to know what you are thinking!
sfc /scannow worked once for me. Samsung data migration util would not complete an image, ran sfc/scannow and it was able to complete the image. Only time it ever made a difference. Great video!!
It worked for me 2 or 3 times too.
That's lucky with it working once. I've tried it many times but hasn't worked at all. It's funny casue it's like any time you end up on the Microsoft forums/help pages, someone always replies with this command.!
never for me
ESD wise: I worked on Sun stuff. Sun were very, very nervous about ESD.
I worked without a strap, but always one hand to the chassis when plugging something in.
Until one day, when I used an ESD cuff.
And the CPU broke a number of weeks later.
Turns out the ESD strap was open circuit { > 20 megohms).
Note that this was "enterprise" CPUs, not consumer grade ruggedized.
Thank You And Have A Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to you. Good video.
+1 to beard power
Yes, this was a good video and it's preferable on this channel. Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge ...
I have in fact built computers since the 80s, and I have to say your gut feeling seems on point.
Thanks for the video. I watched the repair video aswell. Looking forward to you experimenting with that 5700G. Maybe disabling certain cores and stuff. See if anything changes anything. I find this very interesting. Also built computers since about mid 90s. Been into retro computers the last 10 years. But the last 7 or 8 months my interest for modern PC stuff has blossomed again. Built myself 3 new gaming desktop computers. Two them based on 5700x3d and one based on the i5 13400f.
Hi from Canada and I so enjoy your content Sorry if that sounds like everyone else It's just the truth. And Happy New Year!
I appreciate the discussion. One thing worth noting about bottlenecking: You want your GPU to be the bottleneck. If you're CPU-bound, you're going to have a worse experience. If you're GPU-bound, congratulations, you're getting the most out of the most expensive part in your computer. Using 100% of your GPU just means you're at your limit of FPS/graphics settings/resolution that your computer can handle. Being CPU-bound is a much worse scenario because the GPU will be waiting on the CPU to draw frames, causing stuttering, etc.
yep keep them coming.
merry christmas
Love your videos, specially the Desktop ones
REALLY like these kind of talking head videos, great for a listen at work
you always make good points looking at trouble shooting of issues, I started with Packard Bell before windows came to life and talking with customers over the phone the only why to find fault with like a no post issue was to take out parts out of the computer until get to the motherboard and relay on beep codes. I aways use let me check what I think is causing the issues and work from there
I never knew you had a podcast! You must advertise for it when you do your videos
I'm more into software engineering than hardware. When I was watching #426, early on I was thinking in terms of memory and CPU usage by Windows. I'm way simplifying the following, but typically Windows uses more of both, while WinPE (the command prompt version) and most bootable thumb drives use less. So even though the memory tests early on passed, it could be memory or CPU since it was just locking up in Windows. I wish you tried a Linux GUI just for the science of it because I'm curious to see if it too would freeze up in Linux. Regarding the CPU being bad, my CPU (an Intel i9) went bad while I was running some intensive CPU-driven graphics rendering. But in my situation, the mobo wouldn't even post. The Dell tech had to make three trips (two power supply changes and one mobo change) before concluding it was CPU. Yeah, many people won't point to the CPU until it is the last thing standing.
it's like system restore, or startup repair, it most likely won't work but sometimes you just need to try it just to rule it out, cross that off the list of things to check just in case it is a rare situation that it works.
I have had luck with DISM and SFC *once* on a damaged windows install. Significantly less than 1% success rate.
It was quite good you managed to troubleshoot that CPU . Sometimes we can be stuck with a strange problem , that goes rabbit hole . I have one of my older gaming rigs on a Asus MB that haves the NVIDIA chipset , running a early intel quadcore Q6600 before the i 3/5/7 era . Never had a problem at Windows 7 (64bits) era. upgraded to win 10 , but ASUS never released drivers for 10 , one of the missing drivers : the asus ATK ACPI . I'w running the NVidia raid with SSD drives in Raid 5 . suddenly , after a windows 10 update, the PC goes beserk : sometimes taking ages to power up (black screen), often getting stuck , rebooting will get it stuck on the BS ... needed to cut the power from the MB to manage to wake it up again (reset didn't work) . when looking to windows events , manage to see that windows didn't managed my C levels from the CPU correctly , and surprise , the ASUS ATK has been replaced by a MS "approved" . I changed the BIOS C Level configurations , memory size/emplacements, still no stable system if sleep/reboot/shutdown . Changed the power supply ... same problem... starting to think the MB was maybe getting a old cond or something , until I installed linux Mint in dual boot and ... Surprise : the PC works flawless from Linux , power down/sleep/reboot ... so even the OS can generate strange rabbit holes . Merry Xmas Graham
Static damage isn’t an issue in the UK because the humidity level is always high enough to avoid significant static buildup (unless we really try). Even in the middle of summer the relative humidity is normally 40% or higher. In other countries with hotter drier climates it may well be more of an issue.
in short: It's wet.
In my experience it was the stock Wraith Prsim cooler mounted down too tight that destroyed my 2600 and 2700x. For my 5900x I removed the plate on the Wraith Prism that sits in between the heatsink and mounting clips. CPU has been fine for 2 years. Obviously this only worked for me but it is worth investigating.
It is interesting to hear your response to the less crazy TH-cam comments. I fully support you ignoring the trolls. Don't feed the trolls.
I have a Z80 that has been running since 1981, still running fine, replaced RAM 2 times though ;) (regarding older CPU's)
Thanks for the great content over the years, Graham! Cool beard. You're not an idiol.
"It's still a broken CPU". I agree. Once we know that we can't fix it, we're done!
I very much enjoyed this.
You do a fantastic job and I really enjoy your videos. If you can pay the bills and put food on the table then you must be doing it right, Don't listen to the muppets.😊👍Happy Christmas🎄
Like this stuff, So i can learn from a honest dude like you are
Good video. Enjoy your holidays.
Format enjoyed... Merry Crimbo
Merry Christmas sir! 🤓
In the case of power supplies, they can test as “fine” with a tester, yet fail when they come off of load. Had one of those.
I cooked a motherboard years ago when I discharged static... bumped this webcam I had hooked up, it had a steel enclosure, Bolt cam off my hand and literally blew a chip on the board. It looked like someone put out a cigar on it. Since then I make dam sure to discharge before I touch my system and have for 20 yrs now. I lucked out and board was replaced by MSI with no q's asked. It can happen. I too was like you, started Long time before you did and yes, built on the carpet. My son also did the same, he preferred to build pcs instead of lego when he was a toddler. No issues... was just Dad who fouled up. Cheers and Merry xmas to you and family mate.
Part of me thinks that was MSIs' fault anyway if they're too cheap to implement esd protection on external connectors like presumably USB.
An impressive beard is a sure sign of brilliance.
Big Clive....beard
Graham....beard
Me....shaved my beard off and now I am unable to tell the difference between a PCI slot and a USB port.
This info is coming from puget systems in the states, there data shows that ryzen CPU’s have a high degradation rate.
I recently worked on my first broken laptop, after watching your content for months.
It was actually the CPU that was dead. It was weird though. You got into bios, but as soon as you try to boot any OS it fails.
Luckily, it was an old Thinkpad where the CPU was still socketed. A new one cost me 5€.
Most of the timings aren’t motherboard dependent. Like 99% of the timings are internal to the mem ic, though tightening the timings do increase the strain on all of the cpu by the fact of it being more data.
I've been building my own PCs since the late 90s , always AMD and I've only ever had 1 Hard drive fail and 1 Be Quiet PSU fail . I think electronics are so reliable nowadays !
Great informations. Thank you
Here's another possible (but rare) issue that I've seen on Ryzen (non-G in that case). One pcie lane is faulty. When that lane is used it doesn't work. Apparently it works if you run your gpu/m.2 in a different socket. Some motherboards have multiple x16 sockets.
I agree with your comments regarding "fragile fixes".The best thing for the customer, and probably most economic given the price of your time, is to fix it correctly and get it out of the door. A massive risk is a fragile fix, even at the request of the owner, can fail again and the customer starts telling others you fixed it but it failed again ... not worth your reputation.
Yeah, and hardware prices what they are - get a cheap and socket compatible CPU in.
SFC + DISM never fixed a true Windows corruption for me, and I've suffered through about 2-4 major OS breakdowns urging a reinstall.
Happy Holidays to all.
I still suggest to spray CPU with contact cleaner and place it 4 or 5 times in the MB. I tend to agree with everything you have state here.
Just fyi, the bit about all the usb and sata controllers being in the pch isn't correct for ryzen cpu's, those do have some of the usb ports going directly to the cpu and not touching the pch, and they're usually routed to the rear IO. Having some of the usb ports and m.2 slots connecting to the cpu directly and not sharing bandwidth over the chipset connection is one of the earliest strengths of ryzen based setups.
I'm still a firm believer that in this case it was degradation of that particular CPU in hand, It could have been a weak sample from the factory to begin with, Even the golden samples of the highest end line could eventually degrade so much that a crucial link between cores or memory could just give out...sure its unlikely but with silicon quality, Heat cycles etc you never know. :) Merry Christmas Adam :)
Have you ever had a following issue (combo is 5800X/AsRock B550) - PC came in for intermittently crashing. Changed to a new Nvme with fresh Windows,, installed all te drivers, put the said NVMe in to another slot, RAM (several combos), updated BIOS to the latest stable, changed graphic cards, etc., the computer freezes or restarts. After it became stable for short while I ran an OCCT & Cinenbench R23 & Furmark at the same time for several runs and all is fine (hours). After letting it cool it continued to freeze. Had to change the mobo. What I find strange that it'll crash/freeze/restart under idle, and under stress it works fine.
It seems like this video prompted yt to show me the previous video that you're talking about, and I left a comment after watching it but probably also after this video went live lol.
One thing (imho) worth considering is the similarity to many recent issues that I've seen. While I believe it's related to DMA channel or controller faults, it may not be the actual cause, however similar I believe it to be. Since I have no way of testing this theory, it does appear to be "thematic" of these types of faults.
Not sure that this is very helpful information now. If you do decide to further investigate the fault, wonder if crystal disk or similar might trigger it? I don't have one to test currently. I would be interested in your thoughts.
thanks for sharing your process. very cool :)
I’ve experienced “chinese” usb wifi receivers that have prevented systems from booting with a bluescreen error. Happened on three different systems with the same wifi dongle (actually all of them). Ended up narrowing it down to the driver, but just stopped using them.
I would be fascinated to know what system you use the most in personal use, what it is and why?
Can't remember I ever had success with dism or sfc either... As far as testing equipment goes: never found a failed psu with the psu tester, but I did have the psu tester melt on me once 😅
I enjoyed this , would like to see it again. Thank You...
In the end it was either a defective or degraded CPU. I guess out of warranty. Seems very likely, being an AIO gaming PC, that the user had probably been running it highly overclocked. When it started acting up, the default clocks were probably reset in an attempt to fix the issue. There's a chance the CPU could be stable with underclocking and light use but gaming days are done.
Graham, on the CPU degradation and Overclock/BIOS reset topics I think you missed something else that I saw no one told you on the past video either.
First, I would like for you to see the video that Wendell did on the Intel degradation on 13th and 14th gen testing.
The reason I point that out is because I think the culprit here is the freaking Gigabyte motherboard. I've seen a lot of Gigabyte and ASUS motherboards 'causing degradation on the field on common CPUs with normal people using them, CPUs that don't get touched EVER for overclocking.
ASUS and Gigabyte give a lot of voltage out of the box with their motherboards, even on Server motherboards for CPUs that should NOT get higher Wattage and voltages than normal for 24/7 use.
See the motherboard that Wendell uses on that video for a CPU that should not run at such a high wattage/voltage as the 14th gen 14900k, because he uses a W tier/spec motherboard and the not overclocking CPU goes sky high with voltage/wattage, poor thing.
Most of the boards from Gigabyte and ASUS since 2020 up until now have such an aggressive curve for voltage, AMD have real good automation for PBO but, and is a big BUT, if the motherboard sends the signal for more watts/voltage, AMD automatic tuning goes out of spec, just as with the Intel CPUs and THEN the degradation starts.
You were TOTALLY RIGHT that a G processor should not degrade or go that high on voltage. But Asus and Gigabyte allow that and push that.
ASRock boards are now the best ones for safe voltage boosting and more reasonable power delivery and AMD/Intel safe specs out of the box.
I think that trying disabling some cores would be good for your own use just for testing, but it wouldn't be a CPU for someone for everyday use, let alone a customer.
Greetings from Chiapas, Mexico. What a lovely dissection video. Happy Christmas.
Enjoyed the video. An occasional 'different' video helps keep things alive.
With spare hardware desktop pc are quite easy to diagnose as you stated. Im currently struggling with a defective 2tb m.2 ssd that freezes the file explorer (not boot drive) in windows, drops out and crashes while trying to copying off files. Smart shows it as health yet it has file integrity errors that CMD also confirms. Currently starting a RMA.
As a builder, I’ve experienced many failed SSD’s and Nvme drives. And when they fail, they go fast……really fast. Ain’t no data recovery happening.
when it comes to static electricity.. linus from ltt and electroboom.. proved that it does not kill your hardware
with ryzen the bios needs to be up to date also the mb chips . i recently went through this with my own pc just a couple days ago
Great video. I am a novice for sure.....but....could there be a bad setting in the BIOS? Load BIOS with standard / basic / default settings? Could this be possible?
Ryzen…….earlier Ryzen’s have memory controller issues. I’ve seen quite a few Ryzen 5-3600’s with memory controller failures. Increasing SOC voltage seems to help.
I have to bring into discussion the fact that 99.9% of motherboards integrators have been overshooting voltages even from AM4 era. I've seen this so many times with multiple integrators that I manually set Vcore on all systems that go thru my hands. BTW the Intel fiasco is a consequnce of the same overshooting done by mobo integrators, like going 1.45 vcore on a 13700kf when the cpu is perfectly stable at 1.16v...