How to Repair a DEAD Computer

[@CareyHolzman]

Follow-up video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHyxgGNvh9SFY5o

[@leotwan]

it's by far the best Computer Diagnostic video I have ever seen, going back years! First and foremost, excellent speech audio, fully understandable, no jittery camera moves, everything explained in proper order. Thanks for sharing this!

[@Rapcom1]

I worked for IBM's refurb department for 7 yrs. and enjoyed your video. My repair approach is different and I worked on every system ever built. Including some foreign systems. Your on the mark when it comes to HP systems; also the IBM's Aptivas tended to have issues. Their reasons were because IBM's attitude was brand new parts should work with out testing. My department received 100 Aptiva's and only 25 passed our testing procedures and 25 were repaired. 50 brand-new computers were scrapped. I miss my old job; but life goes on.

[@basicbutter]

I sent my old computer (first I ever built) to 3 different repair shops because I could not get a display signal out of it. Over the course of 2 months, they got no where. Eventually I figured out that not using spacers with the screws on the motherboard was causing the graphics card to not be able to seat properly. I cringe at the stuff I did by myself when building my first rig, and am still learning. Don't give up! It's very rewarding to have something you built by hand.

[@vynce1589]

Also, I smiled when you noted the infamous little green light demonstrating power connection to the power supply. I just fixed a pristine HP c1610n Media Center PC the other day which featured that lovely little green light which dutifully illuminated each time a power cable was connected. So after looking around elsewhere and still getting no activity at all (no fans, lights, or display), I connected an old spare power supply (which had no indicator light), the system booted normally.

[@rajeevakapoor6965]

I build all my own computers for myself and family but just this one video taught me so many tips - tips that I can use if I need to diagnose a faulty computer. Thank you so much for such a clear and well presented video.

[@glennweyant8566]

I was an automatic trans repairmen for 46 years and I approached diagnostics just as Mr. Holzman does here. Start from the beginning (or from the most likely failure (from past experiences)) and go through a process of elimination. Very gratifying when you find the cause. I like this guy!

[@aberavon]

nice and clear video, Cary. I am an ex. tech. now 81years old, have never purchased a computer, always built my own. your fault finding sequence is an example to all who watch you. just completed a new build this end using windows 10. my best regards. Brian

[@tromick]

Loved your profile picture.

[@thebeerhunter7307]

I used the same step by step change one thing at a time when I was a faultman/Repairman working at the Telephone Company back in the day, we used a system called 'keep the fault ahead of you' meaning everything you have checked previously is working ok the same as in this video

[@johnmalcolm4822]

5 years later this video is saving people money and stress. Since the computer I need to repair is over 5 years old I am confident that I can set up a bench and finally decide what to do with files that represent a lot of work. I know I could just get some special cables and read the hard drives but I'd rather not spend any money. Besides it's fun to learn. Nice guy.

[@juliem9096]

I took a free course on Computer maintenance and YOU taught me more and in less time! Thanks! Truly appreciated.

[@jedigaming2969]

yip agree with you 100%

[@landscapedetective4064]

I've just spend the past 37 minutes watching someone diagnose and repair a computer - and it was fascinating, informative and entertaining. Your life lesson towards the end of the video, about helping one another is especially apt. You've inspired me to take a look at an old Novatech computer that's sitting in my cupboard and see if I can get that working again. Thanks.

[@sammusthegamer542]

Hey Carey- Just wanted to thank you for posting this. I'm an electrical contractor and everything you said was spot on about grounding and discharging. I'm not an IT or computer tech but I was tonight. I followed your instructions and was able to rescue 4 years of family photos from a dead in the water 10 year old computer. Same problem that you troubleshot in the vid. A million THANKS!

[@madsighntist14]

Carey, Thank You! I am having flashbacks from my 1968-69 Schooling in U.S.ARMY SIGNAL CORPS! Five Months of 8 Hour, 5 day a week Study on Repair of Avionics Communication Equipment (MOS 35L20). At the end,I graduated Second Highest in my Company of 100+ men & Top 5% in our Battalion (me 18 YO, fresh out of High School, #1 in our Company had a Bachelor's Degree in Electronics). my abilities in Electronics gave me one of the FEW "Double Promotions in our Battalion of 500+ men". The POINT is You use the Precise Model for REPAIR DIAGNOSTICS!!! "Thanks for the Memories" (I am getting ready to diagnose/repair both my Daughters Desk Top and Mine, hoping to get One Usesable Desk Top for CNC machining). philip, AKA "TROUBLE SHOOTER 1 5, TayNinh RVN, 1969/70

[@michaelhead875]

While watching this, I happen to be working on the same or similar HP machine (HP p6630f). I got this machine 5 years ago at a yard sale for $25. I mainly got it because the prior owner had installed a very nice (for the time) Nvidia GeoForce gaming card. I have used this computer as my main Internet computer, which it has functioned very well at that limited use. The only upgrades I have done to it is to install a better power supply and a SSD for the boot. Recently it had developed some flutters and crashes. While watching this video, I tracked the problem down to re-seating the RAM and replacing on of the 2GB RAM boards. I have only recently discovered your channel and I have picked a lot of useful tips and info. Thank you.

[@wajang1000]

I would never in a million years have watched a video like this. Not only did I watch the entire thing but I actually found it fascinating. I like the systematic approach taken and his style of delivery.

[@stardustxx278]

I never in my life thought I would be interested in IT but since having to tweak a few things myself, I am now obsessed. I know it all isn't fun but I enjoy what I have learned so far. Thanks for the videos.

[@jerriengland82]

Hello Carey I just came across your video and really enjoyed it. That was quite clear and simple to do. I am using an HP that lost some of the usb ports but still functions well. So I just use it for searching on the internet and word processing. So it seems to still do well for this old woman. I just turned 73 in Nov 28, 2018 and still enjoy learning about computers. I will be looking forward to more videos. Thank you.

[@tropfred1745]

I watched the whole video and i never though it could be the ram. I enjoyed seeing how you work this problem out. I watch a lot of gaming technicians with big expensive builds but I realize that was wasting time. From your videos I have the feeling I learned something. Thanks

[@itzenormous]

I've witnessed the RAM be a problem many times. Often it's just one stick of RAM, but that's all it takes. Think about how many computers have been thrown into the garbage because simply a stick of RAM was the issue.

[@Colaaah]

@@itzenormous so true...

[@Euronius]

I've been having the exact same problem as your customer, so I resorted to finding a fix online. I even have the exact case. All I have to say is bravo. You were very concise and funny enough to keep me entertained for the whole 40 minutes. I just hope my problem is one of the sticks of RAM as well. Thank you for your video!

[@e19_13]

did you ever fix the problem?

[@spoonixx]

@@e19_13 tbh is your psu and gpu is working, then it's very common that cleaning your ram or changing it or cleaning everything from the computer could fix it, if it doesn't then its prob the motherboard causing the issue

[@Molly8014]

Enjoyable video. I was a factory tech on the F-14 Tomcat weapon control system. It was like getting the New York Sunday crossword puzzle when a unit came in for repair.

[@mesfinzergaw2970]

Carey, thank you very much for taking time and being patient in diagnosing the problem. It shows how professional you are.

[@oscarsharkslayer]

This is one of the most entertaining detective stories ever! For decades I looked at PCs as if they were some magic boxes. Now I am tempted to open one and look inside! My 8-year-old also watched it from the begging to the end with bated breath. If you consider that he loves computer games, this is an incredible feat of attention for a borderline ADHD. Great!!!

[@MrPeterpott]

You explained everything openly, honestly. You did not use jargon. This is one of the best explanation videos I have seen. Thank you for being so open about your knowledge.

[@chrisbrown7127]

This video was very helpful to me in getting that eureka moment of solving my own computer problem of a dead psu. I really appreciate the time you took to share your computer wisdom. Many thanks, Carey.

[@naaaaaaaaathan]

I'm a PHP developer and in the last years I hear that there's no place for PHP developers in the developers world of 2022, so I decided to do something completely different: Learn how to build and fix PCs. When I was a child it never interested me but now I feel like this is talking to me more than before. I've found many tutorials on how to build PC, but almost never found how to fix one, and now I found :) I hope to learn more about it and love if you can tell me where can I find more videos of yours which are related to PC fixing. Thank you!!

[@terrysanders2244]

Your so right on not being to fast as I was trying to fix a self built desktop someone had brought to me and I restarted it over and over trying to get the screen to show something while trying different methods of startups I got nothing so I decided to read the manual and accidentally left the computer on and after about 3 to 5 minutes the screen came on and said initializing display, wow who would've thought it would take that long but its a true story.

[@brianbroker9060]

This is exactly the way I would approach a diagnosis. I was starting to think MB but in rare cases RAM can be the culprit. I enjoyed watching because of the way you diagnosed and explained the problem and it was fairly well produced. I would have taken too many hours to say exactly what you did. Good job!

[@MisterCurious]

What a great, easy to follow and well-explained repair video! You have no idea how many times I have searched for a good channel that would explain such a thing to me in a simple step by step process that even I could understand. Kudos! I have little doubt that I will be able to learn much more from your channel so I am subscribing and hitting the bell right now. Thanks for keeping things simple and direct for those of us who do like tinkering but perhaps are not educated in anything more than very basic electronics, if even that. If I was not clear enough, I really enjoyed this video!

[@TheWoodcutter34]

This has to be the best KZbin video that I have seen. I have been building computers now for about 18 years And have taken some classes. One class was on repair, I think I learned more from this video than the 6 week class that met 2 days each week. I will be looking at more of your videos. Keep up the good work.

[@DA-rf7zj]

Drama, suspense, sarcasm and a Coke commercial. This was better than an episode of Law & Order. Seriously, always nice to see someone with expert knowledge sharing with there of us. Thanks and good luck at the Emmy's. Now, about that laptop build...

[@asdcvbert]

Yesterday my PC was doing almost the exact same thing. I was about to go and repair it, but right before going I remembered about a solution (pull the CMOS battery out for at least 1 min) as I had read on the internet. Worked! Felt really good that I didn't have to pay for such an easy fix.

[@AlexKontent]

This tutorial is awesome! For those of you who say did not resolve the issue quickly, his objective was to show every possibility and I found that very helpful

[@ScarbellyScott]

Boy this brings back memories when I worked in computer tech in the early 2000s. Just like you, I had to remove components one piece at a time to find the faulty culprit. Left IT behind and only work on my own computers as a hobby. As a hobby they are fun, as a career it was sometimes very frustrating because there was always a time pressure from the boss or customer.

[@TheVikingamerican]

Man, it sounds like I was doing the video (I would have went to the RAM before the Battery, but that's just me given my experience with HPuke hardware). ;-) It is incredible what I still come across to this day. Unlike you, I stopped putting together Custom Rigs as too many people were buying Dellcrap and HPuke (it actually started with Packard Smell and Emachine and Compaq Cyrix $400 machines in 1998) and asked me why I couldn't build it at their low cost (I told them you get what you pay for). But I digress. It is difficult to express to people just how bad the consumer machines are (Power Supplies, video cards, and RAM being the usual culprits). And especially the dust clouds residing in these boxes with minimal fans/circulation (I always have a can of air and a mask over my mouth - as that dirt/dust will make you sick). I also cleaned the keyboards/mice FIRST before using them to troubleshoot on site. Now I put together custom rigs until 2002 (I was burned by the capacitor issues and had many motherboards failing on me starting in 1999 through 2002 - even high end ones... you never knew but I started looking specifically at each board's capacitors before installation once the problem was reported in the media). I was not funded well enough to take the brunt of the failures (as that affected the customer's business' too).And from what I understand, that happened through 2007. So I got out of the building PC business altogether and went to work for a company as their IT guy (and worked my way up to Director of IT). So, when Compaq was bought out by HP, I started only going with Dell (they were hungry to grow their business and their Servers got MUCH better in late 2003... and as good as the Proliants with server services software). And they were undercutting HP/Compaq by at least 20% to build up market share, but my settling on one manufacturer..... I was able to at least pick and choose what PC Model and Server Model worked best for the money...... and since I was a Compaq ASE - I was allowed to get the parts directly and install them myself. We were essentially a Dell shop from that point. So I then stocked up on components that usually failed to ensure maximum uptime (including 2 power supplies in each server with one as primary and the other as secondary as well as server hard drives given the RAID5 configuration). My servers were almost never down (from a hardware perspective). I started building my own PC again (just for myself) when I became disabled in 2012..... as it gave me something to do (and now I only work/volunteer for a select few others PC's - people who can't afford top notch technicians such as some older people on a fixed budget and I also volunteer at the VA since I am a disabled Vet regarding upkeep of a select few computers that the VA IT staff does not support - that are for homeless Vets). I also no longer work on family's PC's (as invariably, I get the blame for the problem when it is their surfing on questionable websites causing the malware and I want to be part of the family visiting everyone.... not immediately off to the side to work on PC's/Laptops when I walked in the door to visit family - not be the family IT support guy. I enjoy your videos and have learned a thing or 2 also (one always learns when observing others).... but I will tell you, I am GLAD to no longer be under constant stress of 60 to 70 hour weeks while being available 24/7 for companies... who always skimped by taking advantage of my knowledge/work ethic to keep from having to get more people so I could actually have a life (I went without vacations and usually lost that vacation time). Also, they never allowed me to increase my knowledge by going to any accredited school (to help me keep up my skill set) and just took advantage of IT folks like me as they were working scared after the IT bubble.... which hurts a person when a company is bought out and the new folks being hired have had that recent education (so they can come in critiquing everything and being tasked with building out a new environment while you are holding the bag regarding the old environment). And usually, they also did not appreciate the sacrifice. Hmmm, this almost sounds like a rant....... Anyhoo, keep on doing these videos and never work for a small to medium sized company with minimal staff. Whew.... that felt good.

[@claudearmstrong9232]

Steinsr, I fled an ag coop where my simple H.S. common sense diagnostics on semi-auto stacker cranes, office AC, battery fork lift fleet, fire protection system, and host of other plant systems kept their third Distribution Center in PA far ahead n uptime compared to the other two, but a dumb degreed joker with a maintenance paper was placed above me and ran all centers' maintenance into the dirt. They went belly up sometime after I ran off. Following commnsense gets one to success far ahead of dumb college instructors who lost their jobs due to inferior brains, so dumb colleges hire them to teach! However, the pay there was best I ever had. Out West the industries contract internal maintenance out to low-paying mechanical and automated services groups. That sets up a nasty dependence on outsiders, and ends in sloppy work that the industries have to eat. Not my cuppa tea. Too bad I had no viable employment skills outside tech maint. to land decent paying employment with a H.S. Diploma. With teens to feed, college was no option

[@creationrebel9698]

i know this is 3-and-a-bit years late but i've only just found this video. i have TWO 'dead' computers (one mine, the other my daughter's) taking up space in my small flat. i now have the confidence to have a go at fixing, or junking, them. thanks. oh, btw, i am currently using a TEN year old computer - no parts replaced - i'm lucky! when it inevitably falls over i now stand a good chance of prolonging it's life still further. more thanks :)

[@cedarwyrm2101]

This really gives me a perspective on how rough I treated my first PC when I built it. I'm surprised it never broke on me.

[@ianturner2229]

An Excellent Tutorial overall A bit too much uneccessary "woof" at the start, but worth going through to watch the totally logical process he uses, and indeed describes very well indeed. Most people who have watched and understood this video should be able to perform a similar PC diagnosis, apart from of course, having a spare video/network/power supply available. More tech videos on PC problems like this would be very welcome.

[@mokee333]

Thank you so much. No one would even try to repair my computer. So after watching you video, all I had to do was to re-seat the RAM and now it works as well as an HP can,

[@Importman2009]

And really a lot of times on these old computers the old RAM and RAM slots are often the problem areas in my experience. Re-seating the RAM might fix your problem temporarily but it might happen again after a few months. Often you will need to replace the faulty RAM or just skip faulty RAM slots on the MB.

[@Bonzi_Buddy]

I repair desktops all the time and yes, HP is the absolute worst. The PSU are underpowered so they are often dead too. But... on the way they can take out other parts. I have had bad main boards too. Sometimes it is better to simply get a new computer.

[@YouChwb]

@@Importman2009 And before taking anything out, I recommend blowing out the computer case with canned air to remove all the dust. That way when you do start removing parts, they'll be clean. I'd blow out the slots as well to make sure no dust in there.

[@Fang-nk2fb]

Bonzi Buddy I had a HP laptop that my employer issued and it was a piece of junk.

[@paultasker7788]

Most times when my 12 year old self built PC has failed on me it's been RAM related. However, my ram isn't always faulty and taking the ram out, clearing dust off it and reseating it fixes it. Once it failed due to a faulty DVD drive cable which burnt. Neither MB or DVD drive was actually broken and both still work fine. It owes me nothing, I've upgraded to SSD and better graphics cards so it still plays games and runs quick enough but every now and then (about once/twice a year) it'll fail to boot. The most recent problem was a boot loop caused by having a webcam connected. As soon as I disconnected that it booted fine! If I plug the web cam in after boot it still works and the webcam works too! Whether it thinks it's a USB boot device and won't start up I don't know but even in the bios my keyboard is very unresponsive with the webcam attached, works perfectly with it removed. The webcam worked fine until I recently put it in a USB extension cable but even when I remove that the issue remains. It hangs in the checking memory and SATA AHCI bios depending on which USB slot it's plugged into. Things like this suggest it's getting closer to the end of it's life. The PSU and MB have certainly proven themselves.

[@sonofrichardscobee538]

THANK YOU CAREY HOLZMAN!!!!!!!! I just tried your examples on tracking down a problem on a DELL N7010 Laptop that had been dropped. I went to eBay to find the parts needed to fix the laptop. I paid $45.00 for a laptop for parts to repair the one that had been dropped. It needed the screen, hinges and bottom case. When I opened the box I found the one from eBay to be in nearly perfect shape on the outside. I plugged it in, turned it on and the Laptop would boot to about the last quarter of the progress bar under the DELL LOGO then go blank on the screen. I opened it up by removing the keyboard because there was a spot on the keyboard that caused me to question its integrity. It was sticky??? Swapped it out with the laptop I am fixing. It didn't fix the problem. However, during all this, I was watching your diagnoses of a desktop and you were at the point where you found the problem on the desktop to be the memory...............BINGO!!!!! I pulled out the ram then put one back in and it booted. I still need to run some tests but without your help and video, I would be in a mess. Thank you so much for the time you take to help us who would be scratching our heads all night trying to figure things out!!!

[@mitchellhutson9014]

TO: Sayit Asltis, you're NEVER to OLD TO LEARN SOMETHING new! I'm gonna watch this gentleman for my computer issues!

[@ican4ever]

I'm not a tech person and playing around inside a PC seemed way too overwhelming, but you inspired me to see if I can get an old PC working again. I figured out that it turns on okay, but I have to order a Dvi-d cable for the monitor since I only have a VGA and my desktop won't take it. Anyway thanks for the clear and interesting explanation. You've inspired me to try it out.

[@robertclarkguitar]

I always check ram first. That's what I told my son as we watched together. Yet you are doing and knowing probably way more than I...Love the show.

[@harryohrn6051]

He may have known and checked RAM last just to show all the other troubleshooting tips.

[@johndickinson4140]

Hi Carey, I stumbled across your video by mistake and was intrigued at the simplicity of your approach which had me hooked from the beginning, I recently had to get rid of my PC because the people i asked to look at it here in London didn't have a clue. If i had seen your video last year i may have been able to fix it myself rather than buying a new laptop. Good work, very impressed, Kind Regards.

[@vidyahgame3088]

John Dick

[@greenmanislife]

After attempting to reboot unsuccessfully with a Recovery Drive (I thought Windows 10 was giving me a go again), I landed on your video. Thank you so much for taking the time to make this video. I have the same computer, wouldn't start, but the on/off button would turn on and the fans were running. Unplugged everything in the back as you said, and re-plugged only the original monitor (not the second one) and the power. oh magic, it came alive normally. Now I'm backing everything up like a mad woman. I do have an external drive that backs up daily, but it doesn't exactly look like my computer setup, another project to figure out. I've had this HP computer since 2009 and I'm writing this in August 2020, and beside changing the hard drive to 1T, I've never had any major issues with it and I work on it all day every day, but I have the feeling it will be coming sooner than later now. Thanks again for your clear explanations, you've saved me a lot of grief.

[@davidkennedy4213]

As a professional in IT diagnostic application i appreciate the need to an approach calling on tools as needed. I also operate a small landscaping company. Hardware is much more resilient to adverse approach than it used to be.

[@korgeth]

Nice man. Great vid for encouraging people to diagnose their own PC's. I was timid about even opening a PC till I started watching your vids. Now I work on them all the time. Friends, family, and neighbors now know me as the guy who can fix their PC. Thank you. I am very grateful that I found your vids, and that you take the time to record, edit, and upload them to help us. again, Thanks Man

[@danielmarrone9580]

Very well-made and professional video, I absolutely love it sir! This is something I truly want to study and work with as a career, and this video gave me good basic-level knowledge of what to look for hardware-wise. I appreciate you taking the time to demonstrate how it's done.

[@jedigaming2969]

Cheers i got more from this then other other vids,eg-Ground yourself before moving graphic cards-draining power-and interchanging power supply-you explain yourself clearly enough for me as im getting on in life and starting to build gaming pc is a must for me to know these little life tips.Thank you so much-plus you are right about HP Computers-I pay $5000 for one just to crash and burn in 2yrs

[@jedigaming2969]

I did my first interchange of PC Tower From Dell to Aerocool Blue. I took photos of the wirier connections and proceeded to pull it down fast as, and put back together added 4 system fans then hit the power and it worked, Thanks to watching 5 of your videos. Thanks for giving me the know how, and yes im still alive hahaha cheers bro

[@stylinstu]

Got a year and a half out of my HP gaming desktop from Costco using it just a few hours a week. Purchased a used HP years ago. Regretted buying them both.

[@loupronay8438]

Hi Carey, compliments on your diagnostic video. Just what I needed to see. I really learned a lot from you today. I put an old friend computer onto my maybe I could repair this shelf (I'm not a computer genius) just for when I had time to see if I could resurrect it. and WOOHOO after watching this video, what I never thought of, I replaced a faulty ram stick and it works like it used to now. So I'd like to say thank you for this diagnosis video, in my case, lesson.

[@brucemarquardt7422]

This was the first of your videos I've seen. In the past I would never think of touching a computers innerds. But recently I made a repair on my car and all I did was watch a KZbin video. Yes, I did feel a sense of accomplishment and a new confidence. So when I came across your video, I decided to watch it. I found your instructions easy to follow and at a relaxed pace. i'm hooked and am now a subscriber. Thanks a lot!

[@muratguvenel1779]

Thank you. This was a very instructive video. It constitutes a practical step by step methodology for finding the faulty component in a desktop that is not working. Thank you again.

[@scottj672]

You have a great conversational style, not dry, and explain just enough to not make the viewer feel dumb, or that you are talking down to them. As a fellow tech, I will watch more of your videos, and laugh along with you.

[@shutubereviews7830]

I like when you used the blower to clean it, I used a garden hose on my HP. Best way of cleaning them. 😄. Awesome video!

[@BWGPEI]

From a former tech who kept his anti-static kit, there is a 5 Mega-ohm resistor in the conductor that goes to earth ground. This slows the current rush you were talking about and validates what you told us.

[@pooltrader]

WOW TY SO MUCH YOU HELPED ME FIX MY PC, I REMOVED TWO MEMORY SLOTS THAT WHERE BAD AND FIXED MY PROBLEM, YOU SAID IT CAN BE MEMORY AS WELL, TY SO MUCH

[@tubemaster6357]

It was great watching someone problem solve a RAM issue. Next to the MOBO/Processor it's one of the toughest to detect IMO

[@TheBamaChad-W4CHD]

I do this so many times a week myself yet I'm watching it on KZbin and I'm deeply interested. That must say something about your videos!

[@michaelgamble296]

Great to be professionally guided on how diagnostics works. The order of testing components and the reasoning behind this order. Thanks, Carey, for a greatly helpful introduction to what is otherwise a totally confusing subject!

[@michaelgamble296]

ps. I'm watching this on a resuscitated HP 'Elitebook 8440p' but judging from your opinion of that make . . . . I was just lucky it worked! It had a history of overheating when plugged into its base unit. Was originally WIN7 but I upgraded it (free) to WIN10 about a month ago. Keep Safe! Michael G. UK (in lockdown)

[@michaelgamble296]

Sayit Asitis was 82 a year ago. I'm 85 this year - so your 'readership' is ageing rapidly . . . . Michael G UK

[@ronhib]

I enjoy watching these videos, helps me with upgrading my computer, I am 79 and love watching you solve the problems on computers!

[@MystoLIVE]

I used to watch these videos so much when I was little and this particular video gives me a lot of nostalgia lol. And I think it's what inspires me to build computers today

[@johnnyb6049]

Often this problem is caused by someone replacing or adding a new component, (upgrading), and doing something as simple as not fully seating a power or data cable. These cables are "keyed" to prevent putting them in backward but the older and less expensive connectors do not lock into place and can easily get dislodged. Mr. Holzman is absolutely right about off the shelf systems or components as the quality of some of the major components isn't there, It is money better spent to consult with some like Mr. Holzman to select the parts of a custom build to get more bang for your buck and, a hell of a lot fewer problems. That includes having the consultant build your System for you. If you prefer to do this yourself, I found that it worked better, for me, to disconnect everything but the memory sticks, (and test them one by one later if needed), remove any Video cards and use the Integrated Components, Video, etc, (if any), as a starting point as the problem could well be the result of a cascade effect where a faulty component brought down another. This will bring you to the most basic configuration required for the system to operate. A slow, methodical approach is always the right way to go here, starting with a good visual inspection to look for any physical signs of damage first. Both a Fun and a Frustrating profession to be sure.

[@ChetanKumarg]

Great job Carey! I loved your style of explaining the process of diagnosing a dead computer. Logical and nice way of presentation, not at all boring and too technical. Keep up the good job and bring more such videos... Hey Carey, I just removed one of two RAM from the motherboard and my dead computer came back to life. Now, I need to check both the RAM separately to confirm if this RAM was the culprit. If it is not working, guess it has gone bust and I will need to have to get a new one. Thanks for inspiring me to check out my PC myself.

[@WJack97224]

Thanks for this fine documentary on troubleshooting. As I have a little training in electrical engineering and introductory computer troubleshooting, I was able to follow along quite well, even though I never really wound up utilizing all that training to any great value or extent. Well done. Good on ya mate.

[@keny.2168]

Can't thank you enough; this video saved my PC. Removing all RAM and putting them all back solved my presumably dead computer.

[@jeanniefurey4905]

SO, here we are in 2023, and I would say that I found this six year old video highly relevant and helpful regardless of how quickly technology advances and renders itself obsolete. Thank you Corey. I look forward to seeing other content you have posted, and certainly hope you are currently well and able to view my appreciation for all you have empowered me to benefit from immediately.

[@Guava555]

This is by far the best computer channel I have come across on youtube. Definitely subscribing and I just wanted to say thank you for producing this useful content. Please keep the new videos coming.

[@billyproctor9714]

Hello Carey, Thank you for sharing this information with us. I'm new to your channel and will be back. I recently had a custom build, 5 years old fail on me and it ended up an unusual ram slot fail. The ram you broke was not tested in another slot and assumed to be the prob. Just a friendly pointer. Cheers, Bill in Canada

[@Sledge72au]

Yep, good call.

[@sschweit1]

Another great video, Carey. As a High School teacher of programming and A+ courses, I have used several of your videos in my classes. For some reason some students dont believe what I tell them about computer building and Hardware maintenance BUT when a "KZbin PROFESSIONAL" says the same thing, well then maybe I actually know a little something. Of course, when I bring in my home built water cooled mega-system for them to see oooh and ahhhhh about SOMEONE will usually ask if I had Carey Holzman build it for me. ::Face palm::

[@CareyHolzman]

*high five*

[@mikka..]

*High Five* To You Too

[@paul1349]

I was selling a laptop on the Internet and people kept axing me what's wrong with it it doesn't work playing the simple it doesn't work it doesn't but in this case you're the technician find out

[@paul1349]

By the way when you going to build a laptop

[@MrJunglewhite101]

omg

[@missymlp2010]

Found your tutorial excellent and I followed bit by bit as my pc was not working. I can say that it is working now and as you say it is time consuming but essential to go through each stage. Thank you.

[@paulfrost8952]

Thank you for a very informative tutorial, I really enjoyed your relaxed and humorous approach to passing on your knowledge.

[@botan1996]

I've bought a HP Computer back in 2009. Now 7 years later it still works flawless, I recently had to change the PSU and upgraded the GPU overtime.

[@CTimmerman]

Same here, except i only upgraded the GT220 to a GT1030 (passive double width, so the Wifi card had to go) to play Quake Champions. Am looking for a USB 3 card (Thunderbolt 3 is too fast for it) and maybe an SSD.

[@petenielsen6683]

The first time I heard of the leaving the computer plugged in and turning off the power switch it was my electrical engineer brother-in-law telling me what will NOT work safely. That was years before You-Tube began and now I see videos everywhere advising people to do just that! So I was relieved to hear you mention that is really is the wrong thing to do. (Edited because I left the word "my" out when referring to Gary by his title of MY brother-in-law.)

[@simonsdrift]

I also like fixing computers i will spend hours just trying to figured it out and love every minute of it.

[@kathyliin8438]

I'm not into fixing computers, I just surf, and watch videos, but I'll be honest. I found this video very interesting. Now, I can join in with the guys' conversation, and have some knowledge of what they're talking about. Thanks for the excellent video.

[@justincase3880]

Way back in the day, HP was a very high end (and expensive) product, at least for lab test equipment back in the 70s.

[@gregoryv.zimansr4031]

When I was in the army from 1966 to 1970 I did radio repair. We had a bunch of HP equipment. Scopes, sound generators etc. Stuff was really nice back then. We have been using HP printers for a while now. They seem to hold up. By the time they wear out and stop feeding paper they aren't worth spending more than an hour or so to repair them. It's better to just go and buy a new one because the new one will have so many new features. Planned obsolescence....

[@andshewas296]

@Justin Case (cant be your real name, but great handle) I too remember when hp was a great and popular brand I have an hp laptop now and it SUCKS!!

[@falfield]

HP went downhill after the founders Bill Hewlett & Dave Packard died, and the company ethos of high quality & good research was swept away by Carly Fiorina, who took the company in a downmarket dive in the hope of making more money by shifting more boxes at lower margins to less discriminating consumers. Out went the bombproof construction and in came the cheap flimsy stuff now sold under HP's name. The high quality test equipment the company was originally known for are now made in the spin-off company Agilent. How do I know this? My wife worked in HP's European research labs in the 80 & early 90s.

[@apristinemadani]

I love this video. Watched it from beginning to end at least twice over the past year... because dear Carey masterfully ties in a lot of great System troubleshooting steps in this particular video on an HP system... What's nice also is that the concepts and techniques applied to this HP system, apply to any modern desktop computer... Even if it uses high end PCIe graphics cards (with their own dedicated 6 or 8 pin PCIe power cables coming from the PSU - which in this example was not the case as these graphics cards drew their power from the PCIe bus directly) Thank you Carey. I don't have a PC building business as you do... But the ability to keep my hardware skills and knowledge up to date is always a good idea) Sincerely Yours Alexander Madani Developer of: EZ Notes Available on Google Play Store

[@DannyLobont516]

Great vid Carey! Keep the builds and tutorials coming! Love your stuff

[@johnroberts3066]

Fixed my computer by taken a memory card out. Thank you for your advice and saving my sanity. John (UK)

[@Colaaah]

About to try the same, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is my RAM as 2 x sticks of RAM in it are from my previous PC, so if it isn't the RAM then they are doing really well with their age, wear n tear... I hope it will be as easy as the RAM, please, please...

[@Vegeta22112000]

I enjoyed the way you went through all the steps and ways to diagnosis why this computer doesn't work. I really learned alot from that and to see that you didn't give up until solved it.

[@TheKhushroo]

Excellent video. I am 85 and an ex ship's Radio Operator but still deeply interested in everything electronic including Computers. Thanks once again for the video.

[@m.josephinefonzo59]

I used to do this for a living. YOU ARE SPOT ON!!

[@YamarajaDasaAlcyone]

He was far from spot on and if you use to do this for a living then it's a good thing that you stopped.

[@ironeez]

Hello Carey, thank you for giving me the confidence to troubleshoot a computer that would not turn on!

[@Trumplican]

9:20 I totally agree I always build my own I can't stand pre-built garbage.

[@poet7158]

ditto

[@dhanajon5528]

ditto

[@daveroche6522]

When I was in IT Support, we customised Gilbert O'Sullivans 'Get Down' and would occasionally burst into song during an attempted fix... "Tollllld you once before and I won't tell you no more, SHUT DOWN, SHUT DOWN, SHUT DOWN - You're a BAD DELL baby and we don't want you around. Once upon a time Network card was workin' fine etc. etc. etc......" Repeat until told to grow up by the District Manager - great fun (still got them there Dells working again though). Very happy days - my favourite job.

[@shanelamell2229]

Well today was the last day for updates for Windows 7. I have put Windows 10 on one other Laptop and just now put this on my last Laptop for free. This makes 3 Laptops for me. Thanks so much for the help and thanks for sharing. Have a nice night.

[@brucesyvertsen2147]

I just came across your channel. Very informative and interesting.

[@kimchee94112]

HP was one of the best when PCs started out in the 80's, great hardware and users manual loaded with detailed information easy to digest to learn every part of the computer. HP now is competing on price point cutting corners resulting in failure rates.

[@karamabrown8440]

Love this video....and the way you explain, it's like we were actually communicating. Thank you

[@youtubevisitor7654]

I repair desktops and laptops sometimes. I like this video very much. It helps to solidify different parts of PC testing knowledge into the testing procedures system even though I might do it a bit differently.

[@stevengrappy8664]

The same thing happened with an HP computer of mine, suddenly would not boot up and nothing on the screen, For some reason I went right to the ram and I pulled 2 of the 4 sticks of ram and just as in your video, It booted just fine. One bad stick of ram. As for the HP brand, I guess I've been lucky as I have had no problem with the few HP computers that I have had other than the ram stick going bad in the one I have. Great video.

[@brandonfillpot1624]

I’m interested in electrical engineering, and computer and software engineering, and I watch videos like these to see how much I can learn for free, without paying for college. Thanks for the lessons Professor Carey 👌

[@shahidhusain8767]

"Carry On" Michael. Same with me Dear..

[@cmj20002]

I have had great luck with HP PC's. I have owned three of them. I still have an old Sandy Bridge HP PC that I use as a backup to my main PC that I built myself.

[@1vo6m1t5]

I had 2 HP`s and they bouth was shit! all of them was laptops.. Back in the day HP got famous only because of the dot Printers they had, that was around 90's-2000's or smtn if remember correct. They were famouse, so i decided to buy one laptop, because the difference in price between HP and Sony was very big and the configuaretion seemed quite good, first 2 months it was good, and after that it started to heat up, at the beginning it was around 74-80C later it was even higher around 90C, so i could bake egs on it, it lasted for about a year and then it died of overheating. The problem was that they were built wrong so the heat temperature was too high already from the beginning, i tried to clean it did all i could but it never really helped... HP said its not theyr fault, it is what it is and blablabla, i could not get any guarantee back then because it was bought in USA by my sister as i was in Europe. Ok so i tought maybe really its my fault or i just got unlucky, so i bought another one..and geuess what, the next one had problems with hinges..there was thousands of topics in the internet about that model and HP hinges, but they refused to compensate anything again. So #### them, i will never buy or use any HP ever again, even if it would be for free.

[@jayantilalmakwana6867]

Hi there , my old pc would start, remain permanently on, nothing showing on monitor, hard drive platter not making any rotating noiseI and the cpu fan making noise. To turn off I had to pull the power cable. Threw it away only last week. Had I watched your video I could have tried what you did. Thanks for making video, nicely explained.

[@kraston]

I do this for a living and just felt kind of nostaligic for working on these larger cases. Ever since we started buying Lenovo and Dell small form factor PCs years ago. I don't get to do all this type of troubleshooting as much. :( Don't get me wrong, I still come across bad memory, dead hard drives and dead power supplies, but just not nearly as much as I used to. Also, I've found it really hard to find replacement power supplies for these small form factor PCs...I miss just ordering a reliable antec power supply. BTW, great videos, I enjoy watching or listening to them while I work on fixing PC's and laptops myself.

[@goodluckoriuwa1669]

Your words and actions are full of reality. ... Customers do the same here in Nigeria

[@cbranalli]

thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. you have demystified what i have always felt to be completely intimidating - even with degrees in ee !

[@leeravacio1627]

Sir you’re the first person who had me understand wtf I needed to understand (sorry bout the word) and you made me really understand about pc’s and how to self diagnose things

[@howiebird9410]

Great video, we share the exact feelings towards HP and I was completing some of your sentences for you in regard to them. lol The video was informative yet you assumed it to be the module and didn't go further. I would have removed the 3rd module and inserted the one in question to see it it boots. It could be the 4th socket on the board at fault too but we'll never know will we? lol Perhaps the 2 sticks together don't like each other. All in all a good video, clear voice and I've been known to do what you did with the test PSU. lol

[@edwindol3597]

yeah it could be the faulty port 4 i feel also maybe any RAM card would fail there.. But thanks Arthuro for the great video i enjoyed!

[@CM-zu3wo]

Well deserved new sub here! I found you because my new cyberpower PC just "died" I'm pretty sure it's just the power supply based on the paperclip test. I found you video and watched it straight though. I think I can do this myself rather than ship it back to the company. Thank you for the excellent content! Top rated KZbin University professor!