Fixing a Viewer's BROKEN Gaming PC? - Fix or Flop S5:E4 

The USB port probably took down the 5V rail I would suspect. When you bent the pins back and resolved the short you probably saved your own PSU.

I'm willing to bet the busted USB port shorted the 5v rail on the PSU. Even removing the short, that motherboard was trashed and shouldn't have been trusted. Full replacement was the right call.

Currently my favorite series in the tech/pc space.

Huge props to you for keeping your errors in the video. Many people would have edited it and not switched the motherboard. This is why I love this series. Never change.

LMAO that HDMI fan trick is neat 🤣😆🤣😆 I been working on PC's since 1995 and have fixed 1000's, and I never saw that. EVER.. LOL

Ladies and gentlemen, The only man in history to fix a broken pc then break it and fix it again in the span of 10 minutes.

That look of defeat on your face when the new platform didn't post was heart breaking, but thankfully it was a simple oversight. Love your work, man.

Even though you found the bent pins on the CPU socket, it was probably a good call replacing the motherboard, as that USB socket, the bent pins on the CPU socket and those power anomalies, the board might not work for long

As a 20 year IT veteran, I always say you can never say you have seen everything. Some new problem will come and you have to solve it. Great job on this one and showing all the missteps along the way, because that is how you learn. 😊

it was enjoyable hearing "ow" every few seconds while sticking your hand inside the case lol thank you for that

1050ti with that power supply feeling like that couch meme.

Just to add on your opening "why bother" remarks, there's also a huge argument to be made for preventing these perfectly usable machines from achieving e-waste status any earlier than they need to. Great video Greg!

Definite props for keeping the entire process on video. Could have edited everything to just fix the pins and call it a day. But the fact that you showed all the mistakes shows your integrity.

Ngl as an older sibling I would 1000% end up swapping the higher capacity PSU into the main build and use that psu in this one lol the younger siblings always get the hand me downs 😂

Watching a RU-vidr's not broken, actually awesome channel Season 5 Episode 4.

Lesson learned check everything before moving forward with a repair. You never know what may be wrong. As always good video.

The PSU upgrade costs more than the whole system😂

Been an electronics tech for 30 plus years built my first PC in the early 90s with and original 386. I have touched most everything in the x86 platform over the years and built numerous computers. I love your channel I really enjoy seeing your process and willingness to do what needs to be done to help people out. Keep up the great work and the channel.

16:31 that sigh... I felt it, I have this similar disappointment trying to build PCs for relatives and friends. But kudos to fixing it again this time. Anyways would having a checklist of checks be efficient in going through all the errors? A check list of fixes to go through from past fix or flop episodes

This was a rollercoaster to watch.

OMG! Greg my heart sank when you turned on the rig with all the new gear and no post. I am so happy it was just a cable. Really enjoy your videos. Keep it up.

Never thought that this was cased by bend pins. Even as you rebend them, I thought that the USB port killed the board by shoring something. Really unexpected repair of the board. And again a great video. I like it very much that you never give up until you found the root cause and not just going the easy way by simply replacing anything that could potentially faulty. Thanks for that series and you being such a good teacher to us out here. Even with many years of experience in repairing PCs on my own, I can learn something from you. Very inspirering for me to watch.

I am a Mac and console guy. There is no reason why I should be so interested in this channel and series, but Greg makes it so interesting. This series has to be invaluable to PC people for troubleshooting their own rigs.

Logged in and see a new Greg upload? Gonna be a good day. Appreciate everything you do for these PC owners.

Hard to tell without getting closer to the USB port issue. However, it looks like it’s an issue with the IO shield. When the motherboard was put in the IO shield prongs were bent out and interfering with the port itself. some one may have tried to plug in a USB device or cable and bent the prong into the port. Removing the motherboard and bending the prongs back would fix that.

Don't think you should feel too bad about upgrading the mainboard ... with that mangled USB socket I wouldn't have felt comfortable retunring it to the customer, even with the bent pins fixed and a new PSU. Job done well, IMHO. 👍🏻

I was deathly afraid he was gonna replace the case. He did not! I love this case! What is it again?

well i accidentally saw one of your videos few days ago and never stopped watching since , thanks for the content and integrity

That 5v rail failing saved the rest of the parts from that short. You did your job power supply, rest in peace 🫡

The bit towards the end where it didn't work, I can SO relate. Finding what has to be the reason for a problem, fixing it, and then the thing still doesn't work is such a let down... and like you I've often found that yes, I did fix the problem, but then overlooked some stupid thing like a connector. Great episode!

Great video Greg I have been watching for years, and just want to let you know that you sparked my interest in computer science and I have learned A LOT from your videos! so thank you! keep up the good work.

Its great that you fix these PCs for people that are not able to do it or would likely get ripped off by another place. Good Job.

Watching this series helped me troubleshoot my own pc when i was first building it and ive been obsessed every since. Nice job figuring this headache out Greg.

OMG Greg!, you are like the honest friend everyone deserves. You didn't need to replace the motherboard, however, you still did because you said you would on camera. EVEN THOUGH you could have easily edited the video and this still would have been a great episode. Greg, I commend your honesty!

I recently helped a friend do a platform upgrade and definitely know your pain about self inflicted issues dragging out what seems like a simple process. Thanks for all you do for your local community and keeping it genuine with the repair process in these videos.

Having built and supported computers for almost 40 years I recognize your problems. I've seen, made or both just about every stupid thing you can do to a computer. The number of times a customer complained over a MB not working and discovering bent or broken pins in the CPU socket was way to common to be comfortable. And close to everyone claimed they had done nothing to the socket. *It was intersting that during this time I built far more than one thousand machines, and sure there were a few dead motherboards but I can't remember ever unpackaging a motherboard with the kind of damage our customers seemed to get. My standard diagnosis in a situation like this would be minimizing the equipment in the machine. That is disconnect all storage and all expansion cards including the GPU. If it still won't POST try another PSU with just the motherboard attached. It used to be that every motherboard had a onboard speaker or at least piezoelectric beeper. That can be critical when diagnosing a motherboard. Sure post code display digits are better, but we know how common those are. Un fortunately the beeping has been seen as "nasty" and people have either not attached the onboard speaker or the MB manufacturer didn't include one. So rip one of the speakers out of a old machine, solder some long leads and use it when the computer you're looking at doesn't have a speaker. do the same with a reset or power switch. It's way easier to attach a temporary power switch to the computer than juggling a screw driver. Make sure you have a very simple graphics card, one that doesn't need a power connector is enough. Use this to swap out any graphics card in the machine. If it works you know that the users GPU might be the problem. Swapping in a real simple GPU takes seconds, it's worth it. Try to keep a known good GPU at hand. Swapping the MB power can be a very quick way to eliminate the PSU as a problem. I used to have a Zippy EMACS 460W PSU to test with. This might sound too small, but I booted a 8 CPU server on it once. This server had four 1KW redundant PSU modules, so it was rated at about 3 KW standard, but my test PSU got me to the POST screen at least. This was an industrial grade PSU with just about no OCP protection. I blew components from some motherboards with it, but interestingly enough it seemed they tended to work after. This was most probably capacitators that capsized and shorted out. Blow enough amps at them and they would explode. This is not a repair or even a quick fix, but it demonstrates just what the problems are. If the machine still won't POST remove the motherboard from the computer and test it on the benchtop. This has depressingly often worked. Reasons has been loose screws under the MB, extra motherboard distances where there are no hole for the screws. A IT technician complained about the quality of our computers and required that we repaid them for all of them. Got him to send one in and found that he had removed the motherboard, removed the distances, screwed the motherboard directly to the case and now complained over the quality as the graphics card couldn't reach the socket reliably. This man had made sure the school bought all their computer equipment through his uncle. But these computers were bought when he was on vacation. He left the job short after this. Now one of the most embarrassing MB errors ever was actually when a multinational company was designing a new control computer for a power damm. They bought a very advanced motherboard that was only manufactured to order by the manufacturer. They had a 19" server chassis specially designed and manufactured one, just one of them. The first motherboard behaved strangely so we got the manufacturer to send a second. This did the same, and at the same time their old motherboard tested 100% in all tests I could think of. So we cot a third motherboard, jumped into a car and drove for six or seven hours until we could look at the machine in their shop. That server was strange. Swapped PSU, no difference. Unplugged all but one DRAM and it worked! tried to find the bad RAM but it behaved strangely. The tech swapped out the MB for our new one and it did the same things. Set up their old MB on the desk, installed the memory, CPU's and everything and it worked fine. Swapped that MB back into the server case and, no, it acted up again. Now I knew something was really strange with the chassis, so I unmounted the motherboard, put the screws on the table counted the screws, counted the screw holes and they were the same 13 screws for the motherboard. Large server boards are a bit special here. So I counted the motherrboard distances in the case, 14. This isn't right! Double checked every distance and found out that there was one extra, just under the memory slots on the motherboard. Turned out that when you installed the memory the memory bus on the motherboard could short out the against the distance. If you pulled on the memory modules it could work for a moment. Removing a module also tended to lighten the load allowing the machine to work. The distances were not screwed into the chassis but riveted in place. I borrowed a drill and drilled down that distance to the plate and it solved their problem. We looked at each other and decided that this was not what their boss needed to hear. So we invented some reason that sounded a little more advanced, but still made it look good without throwing their technician under the bus. Well they were a multinational company building hydroelectric power dams all over the world, and the motherboard were pretty expensive at over two thousand dollar each to us. Some percent more to the customer.

Huge props for leaving your screw ups in the video! Alot of people would have cut to the fixing of pins and leaving the upgrades out... If that alone does not encourage a like and sub, I do not know what would?

TBH Greg...all of us system builders/rapairers have been through our glitches and garbage and that's how we learn. I have been building and repairing PC's since 2002 and over the years have learned a great deal. It's always a learning curve man with how PC tech is moving along. I Love IT!!

Greg, it is so refreshing to have someone with upstanding ethics like yourself. Also when a mistake is made you own it, for that I want to commend you. You my friend are a rare breed. Thank you for the great work you do, keep up the phenomenal work.

That face expression is priceless at 16:47 , Sheeeeeshh

That "now what" look at 16:22 LOL

16:35 I related so much to that "oh no". That heart sinking feeling when something doesn't post when it should, sadly I am all too familiar with it.

Client "I don't know what happened, have taken good care of this PC" Me: "Gee I wonder what's wrong, maybe the busted USB port?!?!?!?!"

YOU really are a nice guy. Giving away all these hardware to people and making alot of gamer kids happy , you doing god's work sir.

Greg's character is fantastic. You're a role model and a repair man.

Good on you Greg, for sticking with the replacement. That MB and PSU were living on borrowed time as it is.

The best part of the video was the nuke. lol Ok it was pretty funny. Man sitting through these videos brings back many memories. I love watching these though to keep my own mind sharp and to live vicariously (and sometimes laugh at) Greg and his antics.

Absolutely awesome 👌 I laughed so hard when he went to boot for the (last time) so funny, Greg! 😂 Great video, my friend! Keep going strong! Love the channel & playlist!

Amazed that a few bent pins caused all the issues here. And you were actually able to fix it. Good job. Fixing computers is always a trial-and-error event. Sometimes it goes really smoothly and sometimes, not so much. But in the end you have given this user a decent upgrade that they can upgrade some more later down the line. I'm sure the customers little brother will be very happy with this PC now.

16:46 that’s a Charles Leclerc face right there Great video as always, I originally thought this was just a dead CMOS battery, but that USB port and bent CPU pins really did a number

I've been building my own custom gaming configurations for over 40 years & I love this Channel. You can always learn more :)

Good call Greg, honestly I wouldn't trust that motherboard anymore and I love the fact that you always own up when you make a mistake. Great video, you just made his younger brother very happy.

Hello Greg, I’m a avid viewer of the fix or flip series and I just want to say thank you for the content cause it helped me build my first pc and it runs awesome from the things I’ve learned from you helping viewers like me. Keep up the great work and Thank You again.

For going ahead with the replacement after figuring out the issue I gave you a like!! Southern people are so nice.

Another great video. When, after putting your fingers inside the machine while powered on, then showed the giant explosion, that had me rolling! Glad it all worked out. Keep up the fascinating work. Love your channel!

It's an honor you making these videos, and probably even helping your viewers with solutions to their own problems :)

With that USB issue on the motherboard and knowing it could short out and cause more issues, it was the best decision to just change out the board. Quite possibly they might forget and stick another thumb drive in it and short it out again. Excellent video as always!

I love this series and seeing all the mistakes. Watching them helped me troubleshoot my last few builds and I've been able to teach my brother to build his own PC, so your knowledge has been really beneficial for my family ❤️ thanks so much for posting these!

I'm so glad I got my mother's PC (hardware mostly from 2011) running and working last 2022 after sitting in a cabinet for I don't know how many years already. Just took a new PSU, an SSD, and some fans. I'm amazed by these tech lasting the test of time. Great work as always Greg and happy for the viewer's new hardware. 🎉

My favorite part of these is when Greg is towering over the portable screen looking upside down 😂

Love your vids man, been watching since the start of this series and have applied some of the techniques you've used to mine and my families builds to fix issues I would have never even thought of. Keep up the great work man.

I love this series!!! Given me the confidence to help friends diagnose problems with their rigs and have been successful in doing so. Thanks Greg. 😄

I am the world’s worst for seeing one problem and missing others! Very good learning experience for all us PC builders and repair techs! Always appreciate you Greg!

I like the older hardware troubleshooting. This was from the generation I got into PC stuff. 1050Ti sounded so great when I had a 750Ti. The fixing skills that apply to this PC still apply to current stuff.

Great video Greg! I always learn a lot from these videos.

Always good to see someone make mistakes and own up to them -- that's how we learn. Thanks for the great content Greg.

*your CONFUSION is undertandable* The guy said the PC was working fine. I'm not sure how that could be the case with bent pins. As an ex-technician in the Canadian Navy I never listened to much of what a user said to me. Case in point, I found out a problem was spilled POP in the CnC console's keyboard (that could fire missiles). Good God!

Greg, troubleshooting is always random, & the slightest thing can shoot you off in weird dead-ends. You kept your word & that is very commendable. The guy's USB slot was trash, & those bent pins may not survive the journey back home.

You are awesome Greg!!! Thanks for the good and entertaining video and for being so generous and just a lovely person!

I have felt your pain with the fan clipping your hand. Love your channel. it's helped me with my own issues and other people's pc's

Just keep being you. This video is a great example of why I am many others enjoy these so much.

The only youtube channel about PCs that is worthy these days! Thx Greg

That mobo was on its way out anyways. That needle fix will only work for so long since the pins are weakened. Love all your videos. Keep on killin it!

Love this series and love how earnest you are when it comes to these replacement parts and fixing the issue. I think a full MB replacement was the call here either way :). Hope to see you grow to 1 million this year man! Cheers from Amsterdam

I have learned so much with your funny and very useful videos, thank you for all the amazing content ☺

That build is full of nostalgia. Reminds me of my first build around 2015

Been watching since season 1 when i built my first PC. Seeing all of the issues that can happen inside of said PCs helped me build mine with no issues. Thank you Greg!

Love it when you have 'real life' problems because of the useful information it reveals. Very grateful you share the ups and downs. Keep it up!

Well, seeing that fan stop spinning when the HDMI is plugged in, we can safely rule out the owner just angling for an upgrade. LOL

as I have seen nobody comment on this yet: the damage to the 5V rail on the power supply could be from the USB Port as this is also 5V, so a shortened USB Port might have killed this part of the supply, although the supply should have protections against that

Been binge watching this entire playlist the past week. Very educational and fun to learn all the different methods of troubleshooting and understanding what exact component causes certain issues. Even helped me with issues I had with my new board and CPU (simple CMOS clear did the trick 😅)

This was a fun one. Keep it up man!

engaging episode as usual, thanks for making these!

Love these videos Greg, would love to do something similar here in South Australia.

Love this series!!! Keep up the good work man!

wow he took the brightline to Orlando gees so many youtubers in Dade, Broward, and Palm beach that could have fixed this he must really love this channel

This series should never end!😊

Excellent video! I learned something new today. ALWAYS poke around with your fingers inside of a fully functional and powered on system! 😅

Learned so much from watching this series. Thankfully I've never had to diagnose my rig, yet.

Nice fix, and some really good upgrades :) Looking forward to the next video :D

Good episode. And really an excellent lesson in troubleshooting. A very worthy video Greg. And we need more Raymond comments lol.

Love this series. Glad to see it work!

Hello! Love your videos, greetings from Portugal! Keep up the good work

Good job! You need a troubleshooting checklist. Do enjoy the Fix or Flop. Keep it coming.

Love these videos u do great work for the masses. Keep on keeping on

This video will help out a lot of people who would not normally check the pins on the CPU socket. I wonder how many MOBO's have been thrown out as faulty without having the CPU socket pins checked first.

Greg your a great person doing what you do to help these people out. Keep up the great work.

This is definitely my favorite series on RU-vid right now, no matter what I do, whenever I see that FoF thumbnail I immediately stop and watch it. Great episode once again Greg!

Great video as always. I’ve started looking for people with broken pc’s to see if I can figure out what’s wrong with it.

It's all good, Greg! Now, the user has a new platform, a usable USB port, and a new PSU! Its a win win. Cheers!