Gaming PC cut out, doesn't turn on again - LFC

My friend's computer died and wouldn't turn back on. Fairly simple problem, here's how I go about sorting it and tidying it up while it's in bits.
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:10 - Checking the PSU
08:40 - Disassembly, PSU inspection
14:00 - Cleaning and Thermal Paste
17:15 - RTC Battery and More Cleaning
22:52 - New PSU
29:28 - Testing and checking UEFI config

[@trainmaster0217]

The best computer repair channel on the Tube. Others are always building ...not repairing. Thank you Graham.

[@chrisverhulst5476]

And always fully spect too.

[@clownbaby7985]

I agree he’s definitely up there. I couldn’t stop laughing at ten minutes when he had a Picture in Picture and his head looked way too small for his body.

[@FR4M3Sharma]

Check out NorthWestRepair.

[@Zoldier92]

@@FR4M3Sharma Meh.

[@tonnymiller123]

Greg Salazar

[@demiankeaough4616]

It's always great when you do a desktop repair!

[@pro_driver280]

Yeah the MacBook and laptops are great but desktop repairs are on a different level of entertainment.

[@crylune]

true, im tired of the laptop repairs

[@miso1995srb]

It is easy, laptop repair is not

[@dakoderii4221]

Nice little computer that came with that dust collection 😂

[@sheek1982]

I absolutely love his DESKTOP PC troubleshooting videos.

[@drupiROM]

It's been a while since you had a gaming desktop on your LFC series, great clip as usual.

[@jasondear8440]

Hi Graham, regarding cleaning like you ive always gone the extra mile, sometimes appreciated sometimes not! however depends how far and what the issue is when you have repaired hundreds of PC`s becomes second nature and assists with visual checks on componants. peace of mind that you present the customer with a healthy build, and clean! 80% of my customers did notice and appreciate! keep up the good work buddy, I had two shops and a mobile video/DVD rental ....retired now but 35 years in the business, I have learnt a few thing watching your channel and love predicting the outcome!!!! well done.

[@Kelekona_808]

Awesome way to hook up a friend. I agree when I disconnect any cables that I might as well do a clean down of the PC with air and a cloth.

[@mickywoods]

What a great job you have done with that PC! I hope your mate appreciates it - well done. It's so good watching your methodical approach giving clear explanations of what you are doing throughout. Thanks

[@unskilledlabor5229]

Haven't watched one of your videos in a bit. My loss because now I remember how good you are at your job.

[@ImranOO7]

Great to see a PC repair video after a long time. Love your content and keep up the great work.

[@IMDee]

Great video as always , my dude. I always look forward to the next one

[@geraldharkness8830]

always great to watch you work diagnose and repair.thanks

[@dilbyjones]

Really happy to see your videos again!! Best wishes!

[@sergiobarros6102]

Helping the algorithm. Nice video, Graham!

[@tweaker1968]

Very helpful video as usual... Nice work mate!

[@crex8751]

Found Graham when my pc developed a fault and was looking how to repair it. Found myself having watched every one of his videos 2 weeks later due to the sheer enjoyment I got from watching them. Great channel, great information, great presentation. Keep it up Graham! Also his live streams on the second Chanel adamant it 2' are fun to watch and partake in. Even though carradog can blow my eardrums out once the ciders kick in. 😂

[@pekitivey]

Really enjoy these type of videos. Especially when discussing the economics of running a repair shop.

[@peterharband326]

Thanks bud. Always learn something.

[@CoreComCenter]

Thank you so much to you Adamant IT😁

[@makiwa]

I enjoy your fault-finding videos - always something to to away from them - thanks! 👍

[@spudgossie]

I always learn a couple of new tricks watching your videos

[@lilchris26]

Yes I agree the best repair channel on youtube, great video Graham, thanks for this. I try to clean the dust out of mine before they get that bad but a lot do not which should keep you in a job.

[@eddiec6280]

Awesome video as always 👍

[@darrenraymond5334]

Very interesting to watch thank you

[@michaelmeux4137]

Great video full of information

[@randy206]

FTR. I thought I was subscribed but I wasn't. I am now. I love that you go to so much effort in your videos even down to flashing rom chips and sometimes replacing them.

[@Saki630]

good job showing this. My PC died at the start of Covid in 2020 when people were at home. I used a paper clip and found my mini-itx power supply had died. I was pissed because it was only 2 years old and a top brand that I had gotten off someone from Ebay. I got a reply from the manufacturer that I could still RMA it, but I decided to just buy a new one and be done with it.

[@Rfinnshw]

Graham, The 👏video quality is really amazing. In addition to your excellent repair information, the quality/clarity of the video is superb! You really have mastered your video camera techniques👍

[@gavinstirling7088]

I agree, the quality reminds me of Louis Rossmann, very good quality video and audio.

[@hansensor]

I find your videos relaxing. And if I do nod off I always watch it twice...

[@NotThatGuyJD]

Only slightly dusty... Good procedural fix there Graham.

[@uglybob7505]

I just love all of the DIY and dust on that PC interior. Too busy gamin' to give it a good clean ;-)

[@newCrysis]

Great video. Nice to see you on a desktop again.

[@interwebs7030]

0:00 Hello Adamant IT. Interwebs approves this video

[@laserhawk64]

Love your channel :) and wanted to say "thanks!" -- the other day I got to put some of the skills I've learned from you to use. I live in a set of -- well, you'd call em flats -- low-rent apartments in the middle of nowhere, east coast USA. Most folks here are of the sort of age that Smart TVs confuse the heck out of em. One of the folks who regularly visits is a shadetree mechanic. His mother is a tenant here, and he's good friends with many of the others. He occasionally brings me laptops in severely damaged condition; I can usually fix about half of em; the rest are good for parts. Brought me a whole STACK the other day. One of em was a fairly recent Dell Inspiron; I forget the model #. Looked to be in suspiciously good condition, so I dropped it on the charger... sure enough, dead as dust. No shorts across the DC Jack, but then I remembered all those Macbook videos you've done with cooked capacitors and whatnot... "Hey, sure, I'll give it a shot." Checked a capacitor at random near one of those big block ceramic inductors... yup, dead short power to ground. Traced it all over the power section of the board, near the DC Jack connector and the battery connector, and found this tiny tiny tiny chip, a QFN-12 I think it was, couldn't've been more than a quarter inch on a side (~6mm? in non-freedumm units) that was some kinda voltage regulator. Of course I can barely SEE the leads on the thing. I'm no Louis Rossman, that's a dead board in my hands, but I did track down schematics and figure out what it was. SY8037DDCC -- apparently a "high efficiency, high frequency synchronous step-down DC-DC regulator IC" of some variant, made by Silergy... whoever they are. Wish they hadn't used an Intel microcontroller part number, as well... meh. I guess it doesn't matter. But, hey, even though actual repair is beyond my capability, it was cool to use the techniques you do to track down the fault. Gave me a smile while I was doin it -- I hope it gives you a smile to hear of it!

[@temporaltomato3021]

8:53 - Off topic, but the way the two camera feeds are set up for this section just makes it look like Graham's got a tiny head on a normal-sized body, and I had a chuckle.

[@Adamant_IT]

This actually annoys me from a production stand point as well 😅 But there's no easy fix without radically changing camera positions just for one section of a video.

[@Ed31003]

you're a good mate Graham!

[@train4905]

Exellent job bud

[@johnpaulbacon8320]

Great video.

[@eekeek433]

Thought the best advice from the start is to tell the customer or friend that good all round maintenance, like keeping dust levels down and general air blasting their system from time to time would be half the battle. I enjoyed the great content though :)

[@FixTronics]

Great video 👍🏻

[@PapaMav]

Good vid !

[@sergiomarroquinjr3587]

I always seem to learn something new.

[@mickpurcell272]

Well done 👍

[@martinDynamique]

Big fan of the upside down PSU if I'm building for someone else too, I got burned on 2 separate occasions that i can remember, where the machine has been sat on the floor with a deep pile carpet and killed the PSU within the first 12 months!

[@alargebeaver]

I love the zip tie on the CPU cooler!

[@robind8526]

I've been using a makeup brush to clean my own and families' systems. It's much softer than a paint brush. And does a better job cleaning than a paint brush in my opinion. I then finish off cleaning the system with a compressed air cleaner tool. Removable filters I normally place under the shower and leave to dry off. The water really does a great job of removing the dust as well. Great video and incite to some in making sure their systems are well maintained.

[@dnakatomiuk]

There's also that argument as well which I have experienced, it worth going all out with cleaning paste etc for a friend when they may not ever dust it out again

[@wrongwaysgaming741]

At first I was totally devastated when EVGA left the graphics manufacturing industry, but have found that older cards by them, can work just as good as a new one on the market.

[@GrenPara]

Great video thanks for making it. I laughed, I cried it was very emotional.......(Just old movie saying)

[@helifynoe9930]

I just replaced 7 bulging electrolytic capacitors in my 2009 LENOVO ThinkCentre M58p computers PSU. Computer is now up and working again, meaning, no more boot loop problems. Total cost of capacitors, was $9.55.

[@techluvin7691]

Hey Graham. Been away for a while (no, not in jail). I live in Canada and I’m a plant scientist…….so we make hay in the summer. Love your channel because you fix things that people can afford to buy.

[@draconusspiritus1037]

For those concerned about dust. Dust just laying there is of little concern even if it's layered thick or in clumps. Dust that's been stirred up into a cloud is potentially explosive.

[@CraigDavison101]

You are so right about preventitive maintanace sucking up time, but just cant help myself. The customer doesent even relise all the extra work that can go into the job.

[@MrDeicide1]

Mate loving at its best

[@androidcell7093]

Other KZbinr repair devices but you teach us how to repair devices. Thank you

[@dash8brj]

Its always wise to check things like the RTC battery and thermal paste while you're in there, as it can cuase false positives after you have replaced the faulty part, especially the RTC battery.

[@PapaMav]

Great tip/info on i7-6700s.

[@jamiewerneburg555]

one thing to keep in mind when putting a jumper in the green to ground is that some power supplies will require a load on the output before turning on fully.

[@j.p.h.8126]

The ziptie holding the CPU fan looks lovely. 🙂

[@l337pwnage]

I appreciate that he explained why it was there.

[@davidhallberg]

I remember de-lidding the 6700k reduced the temp with 10-15C and that is not with direct die cooling just changing the paste between the IHS and the chip!! It became a cool chip after that even @ 4.5GHz.

[@1967KID]

I'm going to redo mycomputer room desks and clean all 5 computers in my house network. I wish I could put a picture of the computer room setup. I got addiction for computers since the 90s and network's. Respect.

[@radio-ged4626]

If it is a capacitor in the power supply, it will be the start up capacitor on the PWM I.C. in the SMPS drive circuit which is typically a 47uf 50v or 56uf 50v or 33uf or 22uf. Sometimes you get lucky with that. Other times a short circuit diode on the output of the power supply on the 12,5 or -12, -5 or 3.3v rail. It's rarely anything that simple though. Very rarely the mains smoothing capacitor can cause it to be dead. Other times the main fuse has just blown without any apparent reason and sometimes the bridge rectifier has shorted and taken the fuse with it. Also, safety devices such as VDRs can have taken the fuse out. But usually, it's an involved and lengthy repair that includes replacing most of the SMPS driver and output components or a fault with the feedback from the output stage back to the SMPS driver stage. It's rare I bother trying to fix a power supply for a home PC these days, it just isn't worth the time or effort.

[@WillFuI]

I like desktop videos a lot more than laptop but more stuff goes wrong with laptops.great video

[@maciejszajnicki4479]

Thanks for an interesting video, Graham. My territory exactly. The only thing I would do extra to this system is save a profile in the bios. That way your friend would have a profile to go to if the bios is ever reset for whatever reason. BTW it's funny how different mobo manufacturers were on fan control a few years back. Asus used to be the best, Asrock the weirdest with the percentage tabs, and Gigabyte just sucked. Now they seem to be catching up. Greetings

[@man_eating_monkey]

I encountered a PC the other day with a PSU that would not turn OFF. Green wire still at 5V, yet it would instantly power on and stay on. One of the strangest faults I’ve seen.

[@rwhunt99]

Sometimes - especially in the winter with a furnace, it will dry out the air and create a lot of static. We have humidifiers built into our furnace that helps mitigate that problem, but it doesn't eliminate it. As it's near the first of the new year - make it a habit to do a thorough cleaning of your computer at least once a year with a quick blow out every 3 months or so.

[@JessicaFEREM]

I've been doing friends and family's PCs for the price of the parts for a while, fun

[@AeiKei]

Regarding the maintenance and what you do, I usually tell the client "here's what I see, my recomendation would be...if you want I can do it, if you don't it's fine, 99% of the clients accept the recommendation

[@gavinstirling7088]

I for one appreciate the time you take to create these videos. Are you busy with local customers or would you accept mail-in repair jobs?

[@DJaquithFL]

The primary reason that I "personally" like full modular PSUs is because if it goes bad then I don't have to pull out any cables to swap out and replace the PSU. Obviously putting in custom braided cables is the big factor as well. About 10 years ago I used a semi-modular Corsair 850W and after 30 minutes it died hard. All my nice cable management .. Poof!

[@northblue8216]

Other people watch Discovery channel, and National Geography.....I watch Adamant.

[@PalladinPoker]

A PC with mobo lights but nothing on the button. I would check if the power button works before yanking the PSU, only takes 10 seconds to pull the power switch cables and jump it.

[@justmatty3777]

That TX 650-M PSU exploded into my case.

[@bulwinkle]

A couple of years ago I had a similar problem with my gaming PC in that it wouldn't turn on. The leds on the mobo were on but there was nobody home. Like you I pointed my finger at the PSU but it turned out to be the switch on the case had failed. I looked in all of the usual places but there was no direct replacement so I used the reset button as an on off button. Since then the case has been replaced. I have had this gaming rig for several years but, like Trigger's broom, everything has been replaced at least once.

[@fedtutu2122]

That dust gave me anxiety 😳

[@alexatkin]

That out of order footage at 8:40 threw me for a moment, new PSU already installed and inside cleaned. ;) As for the battery, honestly anything over a 3-4 years old its probably worth replacing anyway as you never know what the use by date might be and they can leak, though I've never seen it happen personally. Another advantage of fully modular is cable routing on more awkward cases, though I do prefer semi-modular as its one less connector to go wrong. You can also get the opposite where the most awkward spot is behind the PSU so modular connectors can be even worse then.

[@Adamant_IT]

oooooh it looped... I noticed there was something odd going on there when I was editing, but it was like, 00:15 in the morning and I was very tired.

[@kennythedragon47]

fully modular means you can also replace more of the cables if they end up being faulty or getting damaged. i had that happen just recently with the 24 pin main cable on mine ended up being a faulty +12v wire that ended up no longer connecting properly.

[@robertsneddon731]

On the downside part-modular and fully-modular PSUs have an additional cheapest-supplier plug and socket in the cable run between the PSU circuitry and the motherboard/video card/drives etc. The really exotic PC builds with a 250W TDP CPU and a 400W video card are already pulling 50 amps plus on the 12V power rails and having more than one plug-and-socket inline is adding an additional possible failure point to the build. I have in the past fixed a computer power supply with a damaged (melted) connector by chopping the connector off and replacing it with another connector and cable from a dead PSU in the junk bin. It took a bit of soldering and heat-shrink insulation to do the job but I ended up with a longer-than-standard cable which made routing the cable a bit easier (it was a full-tower case I was using as a home server).

[@MarkAHunter]

Power supply repair may well be complex however I would always check the fuse for a quick k win be it external access or inside cage.

[@gavinstirling7088]

I always look for blown fuse but I suppose there must have been a reason it blew in the first place.

[@bcsr4ever]

My PC was shutting down after gaming a while but otherwise ran fine. Dang lizard got jammed in the PSU fan. lol

[@DanielsGameVault]

If a PSU is over 600w and a reputable brand, I'd AT LEAST open it up to check if it's a relatively easy fix. Sometimes, even if it's relatively cheap, I still do it for fun :))

[@1pcfred]

Like Shaggy said, it's just not worth it to bother with PSUs. Even if you do manage to, "fix" it you still have an old PSU.

[@douglasdippold8235]

I have a 650 watt EVGA psu with no 80 plus rating at all. The specs say that it an efficiency of at least 75%. It's probably even cheaper that the psu in this video. Before I got it, I had no idea that they sold such low end units, but it hasn't given me any trouble in 2.5 years.

[@ThePopolou]

I'd have included refreshing the thermal paste on the gfx card when doing the cpu, especially for the same reasons you gave.

[@wartlme]

My power supply went bad. It worked good for years. Then one day, my computer started blue screening when I would start a game. I could get into the loader screen of the game, once I started the game, it would blue screen. Ordered a new power supply, now my gaming PC games again. Power supplies fail in many different ways, even still work most of the time.

[@thegoldenwolf274]

Personally, I don't charge for the extra work. But I do add it on my notes for the customer. (battery + thermal paste and cleaning)

[@winstonwoof732]

That was after a dust and clean!!

[@jacobscharmberg7133]

I don't know anything about how handheld PSU testers work but I would've assumed they run some sort of check on it that involves actually turning the supply on and drawing power (like a computer would). Stupid if they only check for standby power. Thanks for the new insight.

[@kevinammann5042]

keep in mind if you dont drain the capacitors in the power supply or an old crt they hold enough charge to stop your heart....no joke. i always tell people its much safer and more cost effective to just change out the power supply.

[@PapaMav]

I always use ASUS' Fan Optimizer. Good call.

[@sokoloft3]

Out of curiosity. Do you have the customer keep the PSU box with the extra cables? Or is that something you'll hold onto since they'll likely either throw it out or lose it.

[@NoodlesTBograt]

Always given to customer in my case

[@JessicaFEREM]

Me personally, if I can fit it in the hard drive bays, I slove it in there.

[@Adamant_IT]

Yea I zip tied the extra cables to the side of the HDD cage. I try to put as many spares in the case if I'm able to. If there's loads of stuff, then accessory box for the customer to keep/lose.

[@Faith.in.His.Grace.]

That looks like a fairly old case, and it even has the optical disk drive placements. Older cases had horrible cable management with ketchup and mustard wires. That's why there's no hole for CPU power cable.

[@hotboy11452]

i had this happen to two evga power supply's about a week apart same thing i replaced both of them with corsair 750 watt psu's they run fine now.

[@fu1r4]

When testing switched power supplies you should always have some kind of load to be sure it is working.

[@EdGeorge555]

Strange coincidence? I have the same power supply, and it's dead too. BUT my computer was very clean when it happened. Same symptoms though, PC shut off suddenly and would not turn back on. I was not overworking it either, a Core i5-9500F Processor, and a MSI 1070 graphics card... nothing crazy at all. it also had lots of airflow available.

[@EdGeorge555]

Your video compelled me to go have a close look at that power supply, and after a min I realized the cooling fan was seized.... so it probably just cooked itself just like your friend's did.

[@cliffordgerona6023]

Great stuff. I do have an old PSU that works just fine when I connect it to a PSU tester (all voltages checks out). But when I connect the PSU to a computer, it just drops out. One thing I noticed is that I need to really push the 24pin connector in order for the computer to turn on. Like I really need to shove it in tightly though it's pretty much firmly connected. Could this be just a loose connection on one of the pins?

[@a.j.haverkamp4023]

You could have tested the EPS cable at the PSU side.

[@PokèMyBalls]

Yeah, I've had so many people try to sell me PSUs saying they tested it with that jumper.

[@tony359]

I never liked installing the PSU with the fan facing down to the floor. Yes, it allows fresh air to be sucked in but it's such an unreachable position I'm too concerned dust buildup eventually would be a bigger problem - not to mention that fine filter you removed which would probably get packed with dust in no time. So on my system the PSU is facing up...

[@monoman567]

In a lower end PSU fans not spinning is probably a good enough sign along with the system failure to scrap it, but "zero noise" PSUs are becoming more common and they often won't spin the fan until they hit a specific load or temperature threshold. I'd still prefer checking the 12v, 5v, and 3.3v rails and then checking with just 24 pin + EPS before replacement.

[@Adamant_IT]

Yee, the 24pin+EPS check is mainly because the 12v rail is the only one that's plausibly going to catch fire if there's a dead-short. Other rails can cause a problem, but won't blow up if I connect a 1Kw test PSU to them.

[@Robin96]

I delidded and replaced the crappy IHS thermal paste with liquid metal on my i7-6700k and the temp got 20c lower with prime95 stress test. From 90 to 70 with 4.7 ghz overclock. And i use Arctic MX-4 under the cooler.

[@sookendestroy1]

Oof I have a pc quite similar, z170ftw from evga and a similar setup other than a 1070 and mine bricked so badly that the board doesnt light up at all but the psu is fine. I heard a pop sound earlier in the day before I noticed the pc was off but I couldnt find any damaged capacitors on the board or the psu. The best bet i have is that something blew in one of the integrated graphics circuits after it got too hot as the ones above the cpu seem discolored with heat compared to the ones over by the vram heat sinc. Shows why they had an optional heat sinc slot for those specifically if that's the case.