Fixing a Viewer's BROKEN Gaming PC? - Fix or Flop S2:E20

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#FixOrFlop

[GregSalazar]

I noticed a few comments mentioning the order of testing, and you're 100% correct. The eBay motherboard + CPU _should_ have been tested separately... independent of the viewer's rig. Hindsight is 20/20 and it was a clear blunder on my part. Even had to go back and watch that part myself to really grasp what happened chronologically (this was filmed several weeks ago). Also, bear in mind that not everything is filmed, let alone included in the final cuts of these videos. Many have mentioned things like coolers, drives, etc. All that said, I _highly_ doubt the CPUs from the viewer's rig shorted the eBay motherboard. Even if they were fried by the original motherboard, the odds that they, in turn, were capable of frying another mainboard are *extremely* small. Either way, the result would have been the same, I'm afraid. Even if the eBay platform worked at the onset, both would have eventually met their demise in the viewer's rig because I had every intention of slotting in his 4930K as it was the superior chip.

[xkannibale]

I figured it out, if you go to 17:45 you can see there's a motherboard standoff in the 1st and 3rd PCI-E slot. There should only be 1. The 3rd is used for m-atx boards. This shorted the first board, and since you immediately threw in the new board without testing out of case the same standoff shorted the second board.

[PCBuilderChannel]

My goodness you are a saint! About half way through this I would have just given up and pulled out a $68 i3 10100F, $70 B560 motherboard, and a $45 kit of 2x8GB DDR4 3200 CL16 and called it a day! Great video and series as always, and you go above and beyond the call of duty.

[batsgamer]

You know greg is pissed when he stops calling his gpu "our trusty gt 710" and starts calling it a "cheaper gpu"

[jeffreypaul]

The series is much more genuine if there's the possibility of a Flop. If everything were a fix, it wouldn't be as interesting to watch! So wouldn't feel bad, you fix damn near all of them and a Flop just makes the series real.

[nismogurl]

Even though you think you "failed", the video shows how much you care about the series and how far you go to ensure you do everything you can to give the viewer a working PC in return. Thanks for the content and teaching me a few things I would've not learned anywhere else! Thank you for an awesome season of FoF! ❤❤

[lancemcque]

Failure shows that this series is for REAL!!!

Really good content. I've personally learned so much from this series. Can't wait for season 3!

[BiClapper]

Man that PC looks like a nightmare. Mad respect for you trying as hard as you did man. My opinion dude should just upgrade his platform. Excited to see what you do in S3 and beyond

[TheGamingWomper]

Don't stop this series, these have been some of my favorite videos by you. I just love this idea.

[carbon_no]

Imagine being the owner of the computer and being made aware of just how dirty the computer is and just how Greg feels about it as it was shared on video. 🥴

[novalynn]

He’s honestly just better off building a new rig around the 2070 if it’s still good. This one seems beyond fixing.

[Odysseus]

I hope we find out one day what was really the culprit for this guy’s system. You might feel like you failed us, but it’s an interesting episode, so thank you for sharing.

[wesmorris]

I love that you aren't scared to straight up let the person know they are bad at computer maintainance.

[bushwacker]

Dude... Massive respect for your persistence, I would have bailed about 4 hours in. Regardless of the result, I thoroughly enjoyed this one as per usual!

[Oblivion]

The series that relaxes me and educates me at the same time. Huge fan Greg! Cheers from Europe, Bulgaria!

[bdhale]

That PSU intermittently failing on two rails should have made you toss it directly into the e-waste.

Edit: A bad PSU can fry parts left and right that's the first part you should have swapped. Test the PSU first in future, and if it fails at anything don't try to save it do not use it on replacement parts cause it could damage the new parts as well.

[eyekona]

Some of these older boards do the same thing with the 5 beeps when no keyboard was connected at ps2 and would outright refuse to start or show a picture. Would be funny if that was the problem all along.

Did you test the ebay rig beforehand? Maybe the dead cpu - or the fan - had a short and killed the board? Had this happen to me. It's rare but happens.

[davidstoyanov]

Just a thought, can we maybe get the customer's reaction to their new and improved rigs? If they're comfortable with being on camera as well as if you're comfortable with them entering your home to see their PC powered on that would be sick! keep up the great work you're doing!

[georgeindestructible]

Solid free advice pieces from years almost 2 decades of experience on this, feel free to correct or add something.
When multiple issues seem to be happening, you first swap the PSU asap just in case the current one hasn't or won't fry any of the new components you might be adding when you are diagnosing.
Sus connections on pins? Any pins?
Spray some WD-40 Specialist or something very much analogous on all mobo other component's contacts to make sure there isn't some liquid-based short/high humidity remnant left from some event you aren't aware of that it happened and might be causing the issue, or even do that just in case regardless if you know.
Next you start with the basics, adding one component after the other and diagnose from there.
Don't want to mess things up with disks which have OSes with certain chipset drivers from completely different manufacturers like Intel and AMD or whatever?
Clone the original boot drive and/or whatever other drive you have for that particular system which might need to be connect later in the chain of your diagnose processes as you add things to some other spare drives.
Make sure you check with multiple methods and tools that the cloning process is verified 100%, is the same bit by bit, i've seen the best tools, either with software or hardware solutions to fail for either known or unknown reasons, you don't want to start with confidence that might later become a disaster, take precaution measures.
Then connect the cloned drive/s instead and compare if they are the cause of the issue.
Keeps the original intact and your mind without anxiety as you continue your diagnosing procedure.

[johno]

Greg you did all you could on an old system that should be upgraded. And we all need situations like this in life. I always say that we rarely remember the times that everything went right but never forget when everything went wrong. That is called experience. As a tech before I retired, I never forgot the service calls where it all went wrong but it made me a better tech when I was able to work though it and arrive at the correct diagnosis and repair. Hang in there and keep these wonderful episodes coming!