Fixing a Viewer's BROKEN Gaming PC? - Fix or Flop S2:E15 

Daddy salz

Hey Greg, a friend of mine had a problem like this last month. For him, it was the sata data cable itself, the drive was perfectly fine. In your case, I'm sure it could be either the ssd or the cable that's causing the issue, just wanted to pass along the knowledge.

GREG: I came straight to your channel to say thank you! My computer has its first error today that I had to troubleshoot: no video signal + VRAM & CPU motherboard LEDs, and I was able to do it because of these videos. I reseated my RAM and cleared the CMOS and now my computer works again! These videos seriously help people, thank you!

That's a cheap SSD, but then probably a SATA cable issue since you've eliminated another issue which was a problematic SATA port when you changed the mobo.

I'm a 60 something year old woman who has been tinkering around with computers since 1998. It's so interesting to see you solve problems that I've run across many times, but also new issues that I have no experience in. This is better than watching Jeopardy!

This series has by far been the best example of real life scenarios that can happen to anyone with their pc. PC building will forever be a trial and error kind of thing and it requires alot of patience to fix. Out of all youtube pc channels this one really has taught me the most

This series is so informational for me and i learn alot, its also pretty fun to try to guess what the issue is before you can. thanks for this cool series Greg.

Seeing all the whole video until the SSD was the sole culprit with a sata cable but mentioning "2.5" Kingston SSD" on CC, and seeing the physical SSD in 10 seconds of the video, i realized, that's one of A4XX which its easily broken, because 3 years ago, there was many complaints of that exact Kingston A400 of driver failure or sata cable faulty or lack of DRAM and speed or the SSD doesn't do post. That's why i always knew of those Kingston SSDs is not reliable what happened in the past because of those A4XX. Anyway good video greg! Keep it up, its still kinda intriguing, also i thinked the same about the video card but in the end, video card was all ok.

Man, I just love that you keep running into these esoteric issues right and left. Also love that your channel's solution for different series of content is to create playlists for theme. Other RU-vidr create outright new channels (LMG has like 5, granted their stuff is actually varied). Keep it coming, Greg!

Greg, when you solved the long hang time issue. You had SUCH a big self indulgent grin and you deserve it, cos you explained the concept and It sounded possible and then you proved your hypothesis which was so wild to find in the first place so for you to think it and then prove it. Nah you deserve to be super pleased about that solution well done man.

Currently I'm 38 seconds into the video, I had this issue before and all I had to do was update my motherboard bios and it was fixed!! Let's see if this is somewhere along those lines.

I absolutely love this series, I like it better then the cleaning videos, overall I love troubleshooting videos and I think everyone else does too and that's why this series is so successful and we keep coming back.

Okay so this was a good one for me. I didn't know a drive going bad would make it hang going into BIOS. Even after troubleshooting tons of PC issues I never came across this one. Like you were talking about at the end this is why I always watch all your videos all the way through because you really make sure you find every detail of the problem instead of just getting a post and calling it good. Love this series!

Your videos will never get boring. Every video you post is very informative and educational and has information that helps people fix their computer.

Greg, as someone in the IT field, and who doesn’t specialize in hardware I appreciate this playlist. This helps me in a professional matter. I would love it if you had a playlist of the variety of “Intro to gaming pc hardware.” With all of the variety and quality of components it’s a bit daunting for new enthusiasts to want to build their own machine if they don’t know they’re not built low quality components.

Dude I absolutely love this playlist. I didn't see that coming. I have been pretty good at diagnosing some of the problems you've had before with other systems. I don't think I would have caught this one. Awesome. On an other note. Sad to say I can see other repair type services just saying hey you need a new this or that and not putting in the effort to find the real problem. Can't wait for the next one.

You can confirm this further by firing up HD Sentinel to confirm if the HDD or SDD are indeed bad.

That button on the back of the B450 was a BIOS Flash Back Button. To clear the CMOS on that board, you need to jump the JBAT1 header (bottom right near the front panel connectors). The B450 is likely fine and probably just needs an updated BIOS.

Even though i don’t have any PC issues and dont live in the Orlando area, i still want to give you a big bear 🐻 hug for doing this in the PC community. 🙌💪 i am also surprised at the different unique issues that have shown up. Kudos Greg. 😎🤘🤘👍keep it up.

Man it’s good to see your reaction when you know what the problem is and you test it to be true. I see your passion for what you do!! Keep it up man!!

I used to work in a PC repair shop when I was a teen-ager. Whenever we had issues where we couldn't get the computer to post. There would be a list of things we would always try first, it was almost always due to a single component causing the issues. RAM was the main reason for most of these problems, replacing or reseating them would fix the issue. When that didn't would disconnect all of the other components except the graphics card and Cpu, we would usually find the culprit. Great video, really took me back to those days

The more complicated the system, the more things can go wrong. Good work as always, I love troubleshooting vids

"...so many different issues." You've definitely got that right! And I learned something new today about a slow-to-post SSD. Never heard of that, but thanks for not only entertaining me, but educating me as well!

Absolutely love this series!!! I have learned so much from your videos! Keep up the great work!!! 😎

Really enjoying this series, great educational value ! I ran into this with a bad SATA CD-rom, keeping the system from posting. I got over 20 years of experience and I really appreciate that you are "teaching" the general audience some trouble shooting, while you learn yourself. And yes, during all this I also learned something, no matter how experienced you are, you are learning all the time.

Every tech RU-vidr: SSDs speed up your pc. This pc:

i was a diagnostic tech for on highway heavy duty diesel trucks for 4 years and i enjoy this series very much, reminds me of the good old days and the thrill of the hunt. Keep up the good work Greg.

i've experienced this before actually, i had the same symptoms wherein the system appears to be working fine and looks normal, fan curve has lowered but still no display out, turns out a small little capacitor had broken off behind the chipset die, soldering a new one fixed the problem ironically enough.

This is one of my favorites on RU-vid, would like to see you go on the road with the series

This series is pure YT genius. It always gets clicked immediately. Problem solving is an important skill, and you teach the first rule, don't assume anything, very entertainingly

This has been some of the most incredibly educational teaching material I've seen on the internet, and I've been online since BBSes and dialup. You're doing God's work, Greg!

Greg as a new PC builder I LOVE this series. Just watching you go through the diagnosing part is helping me learn so much. Part of the reason I wanted to build my pc was because I wanted a better understanding of how everything works together and this playlist is helping me learn a ton! Keep up a great work brother!

I think I read somewhere that having an M.2 drive would disable one of the SATA ports (if memory serves me right, it was the first (either 0 or 1) on some boards, so if the disabled SATA port was used for the SSD, that could be causing the slow boot during POST.

I work do similar IT work for an enterprise, so there's a lot more consistency between the different rigs our shop comes across. In our shop, reseating RAM is right next to reseating the CMOS battery in terms of how likely it is to be the culprit. It doesn't always work, but it's a step that's effortless and doesn't require other components to be removed to perform. Thanks for the video, Greg. Great work. :)

Hey Greg, I have a laptop I would love you to look as it's blowing my mind. It's an Acer Helios and it's got some odd issues, If you power it on while it's plugged in it will boot loop nonstop but works fine if unplugged, after the boot it charges just fine and will work just fine. Another issue is if you move it any the keyboard will act like you are mashing keys constantly. The screen will also go in and out. No water damage or anything like that. This all started after playing New world when it first came out. If you would be interested in looking at it let me know.

I like how he has so much patience and tests every peripheral and theorizes the problems along the way. Makes it very fun and educational. Most ppl prob throw their PC after so many tries.

When I watch a Greg Salazar video, I never feel tricked.

Watching these videos have made me very vigilant in what make of components to buy. When I got my PC back in late 2020, I made sure only to pick the known components from the list (yeah I got a pre-build). I noticed they really like to shove cheap brands down your throat (or saying recommended drive for this build) when chosing parts. For those who aren't into tech it can be a easy mistake to choose cheaper brands, as they don't know what to expect from them. I've been using Samsung and Seagate storage drives for years and years, and they haven't let me down yet. NEVER go cheap on SSD/M.2 drives.

So great to see that after all your experience, there's still a great smile on your face when you figured about the SSD 👍

I really appreciate your honesty while addressing feedback in the comments even when it's negative. Referring to the "taking advantage" bit. I love this series. It helps us learn how to troubleshoot in case something goes wrong with our rigs.

Not only do you help the owners, but you help your viewers too. I have learnt so much watching this series of videos and looking at your views I would say you have helped a lot of people outside of Orlando. On top of that I find these videos relaxing and entertaining! Keep up the great work and ignore the narrow minded moaning viewers.

i know Grey feels once he got the problem solved. is just emotional.. Love the channels and i learned alots.. Thanks Greg!

Gregg. If these series happened 10 years ago. Would have saved me a small fortune as i run 2 gaming pcs. Learn something new every episode. Thanks

Still here, still watching, still liking the series! 👍 But a part of the appeal is you and your personality. You come across as a humble and friendly bloke which we all like. So, keep up the great work and please keep teaching us 😊

Hey man, i'm from Brazil and really love this fix or flop vídeos. Congratulations on your work, i'm learning a lot about hardware and fixing problems. Keep going with your job! Greets!

I actually had a no post situation when upgrading to the ROG Crosshair VIII hero board. It was a combination between RAM and bios not being updated to support my CPU. So did that and still no post, reseated ram (challenging with the Dark Rock Pro 4 via Be Quiet) and works amazingly now.

I've got one for the community. Because of budget, I'm building a home cloud server with an Asus Prime B450M-A II. I have confirmed all other components work in my main machine, but I can't keep testing parts in that newish build because the case isn't easy to build in (it has pretty poor cable management options, causing accidental damage to my cables; it may have been the cause of me losing an otherwise decent semi-modular PSU). I upgraded the Ryzen 3 3100 in the first build to a 5600G (*WORTHWHILE upgrade*), popped the 3100 into the server build...power on; no image. I transferred the RAM straight out of a working machine. I had confirmed all four sticks were working, with that CPU, only moments before the transfer...power on; no image. Can't be a dead memory stick or channel because it was just working minutes prior. Checked each DIMM...power on; no image. Swapped one GT 1030 for another GT 1030...power on; no image. The fans on both GPU's came on each time, and both GPU's work in the first build. The case fans always spin up, and the board lights come on as well. I even hear the cooler pump working. Since I had a Ryzen 3, I didn't see a need for it, but I updated flashed the BIOS using the BIOS flashback feature. It completed successfully. Popped the 3100 back in; power on; no image. Ordered a Ryzen 4100 - brand spanking new. Tested it; works. Popped it in the server build...power on; no image. Broke down the build and completely rebuilt it, thrice confirming everything single connection...power on; no image. Puzzling. And I waited up to 30 minutes each time I tried to POST. No dice; never delivered an image. Exchanged the mobo and built it all over again. My thinking is the PCI-e lane was dead, or the channel to the CPU was faulty and the GPU couldn't receive instructions. After so many tries, I haven't even powered it on yet because I don't have high hopes that it will work. Since it's never posted, there's no Windows install on it to check the software side or confirm whether either the NVME or M.2 slot are dead. I can't keep dropping extra money on stuff that would let me do it without disturbing the previous build in a way that could kill another PSU. I don't want to keep messing with that case after the first experience. I'm hoping that the NVME is fine because I stored it properly, and I know that it works from testing Linux on my old laptop. I have an autoimmune diseases, so to keep it under control, I have to sterilize the exterior each time I open and close it back up. I have three ideas before I try to boot this baby up again: 1. I need to wipe that NVME before attempting POST again. 2. This model mobo may have inherent issues and I need to swap to a different model when lemon law finally covers me. 3. It's time to ask Greg for help and let him expose my build to the whole community lol (I might get spit-roasted by y'all for this budget build) Can anyone think of anything else to try before I power this thing on and have my dreams crushed? Not even a single pixel hits the display, but could this possibly be an issue with my NVME like in this video? Did I completely overlook a troubleshooting step? Are there inherent issues with this mobo? I also noticed that the board lights on it are mostly useless. I have no mini-panel or POST lights. Also, the mobo speaker was damaged upon arrival, so I can't even hear POST beeps. The replacement didn't even include the board speaker. Any idea what I'm missing? I'm racking my brain and can't think of an applicable measure that I forgot to try. I just want the next test to be successful because each failure is a ton of work for me given my situation. Thank you in advance for any advice.

Damn this is helpful! Recently I swapped my case and moved all my stuff into the new one. Since then I had similar symptoms. Turn on -> VGA light ON on mobo -> wait for 30 seconds -> resets -> then get a post. My RTX 2070Super works just fine. I think now that I need to replace an SSD or one of two HDD's. Thanks Greg for your help!

I had the same problem 1 month ago. White dash in the corner of screen and VGA light stuck, no access to the Bios. My SSD after 7 months die, I went to change everything as you teach in this channel but in the end, was just SSD. Thanks to someone on Reddit saying white dash was a booting problem probably your boot device. SSD swap working like a charm.

I have a Gaming Pro Carbon (X370 with a Ryzen 7 1700X and a GTX 1080) and the VGA light is always on after a boot. A restart/sleep fixes it. I think they fixed it in a bios update. I've seen others with the same issue but the way I use my PC, I really only see it once or twice a month since it's sleeping most of them time.

22:45 we never going to bored when it comes to PC fixing... I learned so many things from this series.

Hey brother just wanted to say that you’re amazing. The charity you exhibit during these videos is amazing. You’re one of my top 2 tech channels I watch and please keep It going. Can’t wait till you go out of state for your PC repair videos.

Geez you are patient. Waiting for every boot and coming to a final answer. I was so long until you brought up that hard drive idea. Never even thought of that. Love trying to solve the puzzle while I watch.

_Edit:_ I take it back. Originally left a snarky comment but Greg set me straight. This playlist and channel provides valuable information and does it in a way that is entertaining, compelling, and binge-able. After some thought, I regret letting my sweaty, internet guy come thru. Must have been watching too much David Does Tech and Drew Gooden to let those bad instincts come to the surface. This channel is a place for learning.

I will keep watching these videos till I die. It’s every built is unique, always one thing is changed yet the issue is always different

Hey greg keep up the fix or flop videos i could watch pc repair videos all day i allways learn alot from them

I love trying to diagnose these PC's before you get to the actual issue, so keep em coming!

I think these diagnostic videos are really informative. Keep on making them. Fed up with channels doing high end builds which most people cant afford.

I know this is an old video and you probably won't even see this comment, but I just wanted to say that I am really loving this series of yours, Greg. Even as a very seasoned PC builder - I have been building and repairing computers since the 90s - I still find myself learning something new or at least getting a valuable refresher course in almost every PC troubleshooting/repair video you put up.

I had a similar issue with a Sabrent Rocket 4.0 drive a couple of months ago. Though in my case, with the drive installed, it would hang on the post screen for extended periods of time. After installing Windows, and the drivers I needed, the drive failed as I was doing a Cinebench test. To rule out the M.2 slot on the board, I tested another, known working drive in that slot, and tested the drive in another motherboard. Same issue with the board, and the drive and heatsink got super hot within only a few moments of use. Thankfully, the replacement I got for it worked with no issues.

These are great videos for younger guys that want to get into the PC repair industry. This is what I meant when I said that your videos are more like a service for the community. You younger guys out there. Don't be afraid. You can start like I did. I started fixing laptops sitting on my bed and kitchen table with limited tools. Now I have a nice sized business and I bring in some real money. I did not know a shit ton about PCs and servers when I started. I faked it until I made it. I always tell younger people, if you can build a gaming PC, then you have the basic knowlege to diagnose and repair one.

Looks like Greg learn a few thing today, that major component like motherboard or chip might not be the main problem but as simple as the SATA SSD or cables. Thank you for each new Fix or Flop series, it help me troubleshoot my pc too

Good video. Please tell me you dusted out the cpu cooler? I thought it was going to be a cpu overheating problem due to the amount of dust inside of that cooler.

Still lovin’ this series. Even in situations where you end up with familiar culprits, the journey there is never quite the same from one PC to the next, plus some builds can offer up inspiration to users who are looking to chase a certain aesthetic (an unintended bonus).

So glad my brain went to the lower PCIE slot then you pointed that out idk if that was the fix yet but still a cool thing to recognize when troubleshooting!

I had a very similar issue with my system not long ago (Turns on, no Image, VGA LED on M.board, Ryzen 7 5800x) and in the end in turns that swapping my rams in the slots around fixed it! (after i almost went out of my way to get a new graphics card) I took a deep breath and did what u do in these series, rule out things one by one ♥ Thank u ♥

That build looked so clean in the new case!

Hey man - you don’t need to address the haters that think you are getting scammed. Get to the episode b/c your content is gold. Learned lots and please keep it up.

It is crazy how many no post issues coke up and it’s always nice to see the fixes too ☺️ love the videos Greg ❤️

That was a good episode. I never would have thought it was the SSD. Like others have said - perhaps the SATA cable is bad. Personally, I wouldn't hand over a dirty PC to be checked, but that's me.

Love your show. To help you better, when doing a troubleshooting and evade all of this. Remove the mobo from the case and do troubleshooting outside the case. Remove everything from the motherboard except CpU and slowly add components. That way you can identify the problem better. Troubleshooting the mobo outside the case will help you troubleshoot and evade and ground problem that can make the mobo not turning or not displaying. Hope this help :)

Bruh remember when you said let's learn together, I'm learning ,hence I'm staying even if it's the same problem over and over. Hope you make more like this

Greg dont worry if issues are same on most of the broken pcs please do continue these videos these are relaxing to watch and helpful 🙏🏻🙏🏻

i believe POST means ''power on self test'' not displaying a picture as you said at the start at the video. it does post, cause it gives a vga light.(indacates it does test where the issue is) it just doesnt display anything

I have the same CPU and X570 board. She's been solid for me. Typing with it right now. Running great since Zen 2 launch.

Love seeing the good intentions behind these vids🖤

@8:31 Exactly, probably destroyed traces, blown capacitors or a corrupt BIOS setting.

The basics for me (after 40 years and 300 plus P.C builds)are checking everything (card, dimms, and any other components) is properly seated and the dimms are supported by the board. Then worry about Bios update. The process you use is helpful, the fact you don't skip to fix. Whenever I troubleshoot I start with basic boot disk min ram and add components one by one which generally shows up flawed components and incompatible behaviour

Sometimes RAM re-seat can clear "random" unknown issues; you inadvertently did this during your troubleshooting so it is possible the old RAM had a thin layer of build up between some of the contacts before you removed them. It's rare, but might be why it suddenly started working.

its your thought process, that keeps this series interesting, plus keeping the mistakes in the videos. makes it entertaining :)

This is like watching a classic "who done it?" I'm on the edge of my seat here.

I got very often problems with the Kingston a400. Sometimes you install a fresh Windows and it doesn't boot after, sometimes it isn't recognize by the BIOS. Changing to another product solves all problems. The a400 is the perfect example for saved money in the wrong place.

This hits home, every time I benchmark the results badmouth my storage SSD which I think is about to die...you just reminded me.

Troubleshooting broken systems is never boring Greg, it is not always the usual sometimes hardware surprise you. nice job buddy see you in the next one :))

I watch all the series in 3 days ! Never get bored, love it. Keep going 💪

I love overclocking and swopping parts to the point where I get the same problems.There was a bad overclock on the Ram itself, or Cpu overclock with Blck/Flck that will automatically lift the ram speed and result in same outcome either way. Ram swop on my older cases will force new ram speed and slot(s) to be recognized and force a bios reset. Worst case the mobo was just fussy about the order where the Ram was seated (meaning one is also on its way to heaven at some stage). Hang times is correctly stated for the hdd/ssd failing.

I respect the grind man, keep it up

Never tired of these videos

Check the cable just to be on the safe side. I ended up with a batch of bad cables I bought cheap as overstock. Learned why they were overstocked, lol.

Man I really appreciate your work. It's very informative and in a easy language. Congrats

this is a excellent example of why a bare bones boot is a great way to troubleshoot a no/slow post

Nice diagnosis video without any hidden information. Just had the same issue with a M.2 SATA SSD that cause a lot of problem with Multiple system I worked on -- it first with a laptop that failed to entering in windows and ask for fix -- since it's bitlocker encrypted and I don't have password so have to remove it to another desktop to "format" it -- however once this SSD installed on PC, the boot process is extremely slow and open any partition tool took long long time. First thought it caused by corrupted partition or encrypted, however it fails many tries of delete partion, sometimes tool hang there, sometimes report unknown error. Until I use another tool to scan the partition then found out LOTS of "bad" sectors on this SSD! Once remove the SSD from system everything works smoothly again.... wow, just same type of lessons learnt about bad SSD could dragging the whole system to be unusable even not boot from the SSD.

Uninterrupted UPS is always a good idea when updating a bios. I’ve had the power go down in the middle of a bios update, but had a UPS.

fix or flop is the very best thing in PC tech space in youtube,.. you have no idea greg how youd provided us a very huge helping hand.. kudos to you sir

This is my absolute favorite series from any Tech Creator

the thing I have learned over the years, is that overall, no two repairs are usually the same... though some are similar, there are always those that are going to have something you don't expect...

I'VE NEVER SEEN THIS PROBLEM BEFORE!!!! Love this show!

You are really fun to watch. Keep up the good work, put food on the table for your family and this content for us.

Anyone taking their PC to you has presumably already watched your other videos in the series which means that it does make sense that there's little in the way of repeats!

22:55 I was just thinking how amazing it has been to get such an insane variety of problems and solutions.