Boomax7299

Hi all. A few months ago, my grandmother called me telling me that her laptop (which she bought in November 2019, so fairly recently) wouldn't turn on. It would boot up just fine, the fans would spin up, all that, but the screen would be black, and flicker on and off. I was very busy with applying to college at the time and didn't have much time to look at it, and she decided she would just buy a new one since I wasn't sure what was wrong. I'm on winter break from school right now, so I figured I may as well take it out and see what was wrong with it. Low and behold, it turned on and instead of flickering, it booted into windows. I immediately called her and told her that it turned on so I would be able to recover some of her files for her (she didn't have anything particularly important so we didn't bother before). I zipped everything up, uploaded it to Google Drive, and went over to her house, laptop in tow. I transferred everything over to her new laptop, and the old one was working just fine. Very zippy compared to my 6-year old laptop that barely turns on. She didn't want the old one back so she told me I could have it. I thought, sweet, now I have a reasonably up-to-date laptop for college. Then, when I got home just now and tried to reset the PC and put my own Microsoft account on it, the same exact thing is happening again. The laptop powers on, everything lights up, but it boots to a black screen and, after a few seconds, starts the flickering thing again. I feel like there's got to be an easy solution, but it's not within my knowledge. I'm great with troubleshooting desktop PCs but not really laptops, so I need some help. The laptop itself is a HP Pavilion 14-ceXXXX (not sure the exact model, for some reason it shows this in DXDIAG. I believe it's a 14-ce2068st, not 100% sure). I do know, though, that this is the hardware: Intel i5-8265U 8 GB memory 1 TB SATA Hard Drive Intel Integrated Graphics I have no idea what caused it to start working before, but just now I tried removing the battery to see if maybe it was dead, and after removing it, the exact same thing happens. So I can pretty much rule that out. What troubleshooting steps should i try next, and what's the likelihood that I can even fix this? Assuming I can get it working again, I'd like to know that it's 100% fixed if I'm going to bring it to college, as I'll be 4 hours from home and replacing it will be incredibly difficult. Thanks!

You mentioned front panel connectors, which just reminded me - I had previously found that the front panel connector on the power button was a little bit problematic. For some reason it’s soldered to a random piece of PCB in the front of the case (prebuilt stuff I guess), and sometimes the cable for the power button needs to be jiggled a bit to get it to post. I’ve had a couple of scares with the power button before that made me think I killed my PC. So low and behold, I give it a little bit of a jiggle while repeatedly pressing the power button, and it revved right up. Thank you for your help! Much appreciated.

Howdy all, I recently decided to upgrade my power supply to accommodate for future upgrades. I picked out the EVGA B5 750 Watt power supply because it was on sale. I finally today got around to replacing it, but for some reason when I hit the power button, nothing happens. Surely I’m just forgetting something or overlooking something, so I’m not panicking just yet. Here’s what I’ve checked so far: •24-pin power cable is connected to both the mobo and psu. •8-Pin CPU cable is plugged in to both the motherboard and PSU (However, one end of it is split into a 4+4 - does it matter what direction this goes in?) •SATA power is connected to both my front panel and hard drive (hard drive is not my boot drive, my M.2 SSD is) •The PSU is in fact switched on, and I’ve also tried it with eco mode on and off •The only thing I haven’t done is use the new power cable that came with the new PSU. I’ve been using the old one. Does that make a difference? My system specs are a Ryzen 5 3400G, GTX 1650, 16 GB Vengeance LPX Memory, 500 GB M.2 SSD, 2 TB HDD. The PC Model is an ROG Strix GL10DH desktop. Like I said, odds are I’m just overlooking something but I’d like to rule out other possibilities just in case the PSU was dead on arrival or what. Thanks!

Howdy all, I was recently accepted into the Engineering program at Cornell to study mechanical or electrical engineering, and I've begun to start planning out various things I'll need to purchase, one of which is a laptop. I know for a fact that I'll be needing to do CAD and other forms of 3D modeling, both for classes and also projects of my own that I'd like to work on while I'm there. This, of course, will require a fairly beefy computer. I already have a desktop PC that's decent enough and can get the job done (16 GB RAM, 500GB SSD, 2TB HDD, Ryzen 5 3200G, and a GTX 1650 Ti, paired with a 144 Hz monitor), and I plan on taking it with me to play games on the weekends, but obviously, I can't drag that to class every day. I'll need a decent laptop, and the only one I own is going on 7 years old and barely runs anymore. I haven't even turned it on since June, and if I tried, I very well may already be done with all four years of college by the time it boots up. So, therein lies the question: What laptops would be best for engineering? Here's what I'm after/some details: I prefer Asus, Acer, and HP, but I'm not deadset on getting something manufactured by one of those three I need something that's reasonably portable, since Cornell is notorious for long walks and steep hills, but I don't mind carrying something moderately-sized; it doesn't need to be ultra-light or thin as a piece of cardboard Preferably it would have 16 GB memory and an RTX-30 series GPU My budget would probably be about $1200, maybe a little outside that if there's a deal I can't pass up I'll probably be buying it in the summer Thanks in advance for any tips/suggestions!

Howdy All, I periodically check my NVidia drivers for updates, and the other night I saw there was a new Game Ready Driver. I updated it and it went smoothly, but for some reason, ever since, I have been experiencing frequent flickering on Google Chrome. It's only Google Chrome too, no other program is having this issue. I have a GTX 1650 (not super). So far I've tried messing around with Windows color settings and that doesn't seem to have fixed it, and I also disabled smooth scrolling. Neither of these seemed to work, and disabling smooth scorlling seems to have made it even worse. This is incredibly annoying as it randomly comes and goes, and when I'm in a Zoom meeting for school it gets incredibly annoying. Does anyone have any other solutions I could try? If I can't figure it out I guess I'll just need to wait for another Chrome or NVidia Driver update to see if that fixes it, and try a different browser in the meantime.

Great, thanks for the advice you all, I appreciate the input. I knew it would probably be advisable to upgrade the power supply simply because a corsair or EVGA one will be better quality anyhow, but it's always good to get advice in case I was missing something. I'll plan on spending about $450-$475 once the RTX 3060 Ti's are back in stock, and then another $90 or so for a quality 650-700 Watt power supply. I will work that into my budget for the next year. I don't plan on upgrading any further except for maybe more storage, I plan on this PC probably carrying me through college and then once I'm financially independent and somewhat stable I'll just build a new one from scratch and get what I want.

Howdy all, hope you are staying safe and healthy. A while back, I bought a prebuilt PC. Yes, I know, I will get flak for that, but I was willing to pay for the convenience of having it ready to go out of the box, plus my parents were worried about expensive computer parts potentially being damaged in shipping, which is understandable. It wasn't terrible for a prebuilt though, had an M.2 SSD and customizable RGB, and a GPU bracket built in. I initiially paid about $800 or so with tax on sale for it on Newegg. As I have gained more money from working (I am currently 17 so I don't have tons of money to spend, but I managed to scrap together enough for the PC), I've done a few upgrades. I put a 2 TB hard drive in it for my Steam library as soon as I got it, as well as swapped out the stock 8 GB of memory for much better set of 16 GB. I also picked up a 1080p 144 Hz Curved ASUS monitor to replace the TV I was using. However, as I've begun to finally be able to play more demanding triple A titles like Cyberpunk, and especially after I upgraded to the magic of 144 Hz I've begun to realize that my GTX 1650 is severely underpowered. I knew I would probably be upgrading it eventually when I bought the PC, which was okay as I was willing to wait until I had the money. As I will hopefully start working again in a few months once my at-risk family members receive a COVID vaccination and become protected, I plan on trying to pick up an RTX 3060 Ti once they're back in stock. The big issue that I am aware of, though, is that of the power supply. I know for the 3070, 3080, and 3090, a power supply upgrade is mandatory for most people, but I'm unsure of whether or not I will need to take this step. I wouldn't mind paying the $70-$80 for a 600+ watt power supply, but if I can save myself the time and money, I would definitely like to. Here's my current parts list: PC Model: Asus ROG STRIX GL10DH Ryzen 5 3400g (standard 3.7 GHz, haven't delved into overclocking yet) with stock cooler 16 GB Corsair Vengeance memory 3200 MHz (Yes, I know I should have gotten TridentZ for better performance, but I decided I didn't care all that much for $30 more) 512 GB Intel M.2 SSD 2 TB Seagate Hard Drive GTX 1650 (it's essentially just an Asus modification of a blower style cooled card, nothing super fancy like RGB or whatnot) I looked into it and it would appear that the stock power supply (which is semi-modular, a nice touch for a prebuilt), is 500 Watts. I plugged all my parts into PCPartPicker and it says that they will draw roughly 413 Watts with a 3060 Ti installed. I've heard that the general rule of thumb is to overshoot on PSU wattage by at least 100-150 watts, but would I expect to run into any potential power issues, or even worse, damaged parts, if I don't upgrade my power supply? Thanks!

I'm unsure what the power supply wattage is, but since it's a prebuilt (and one by a reputable company, ROG) I would assume it has enough power and probably isn't the power. Using CoreTemp, My CPU stays within a degree or two of 60 Celsius while just running Minecraft and Chrome, with a maximum of 69 celsius. I planned on upgrading the cooling at some point. I went back and did a clean install of NVIDIA drivers (as opposed to just checking for updates) and checked once again for Windows updates. I did another Windows update (and apparently updated my BIOS while I was at it, which was NOT the plan but luckily nothing bricked) and there was some sort of NVIDIA display driver update as well that I did. I've had Minecraft running in the background for about 5 minutes now with no freezes YET, if it goes for an hour or so without freezing I'll declare the problem fixed.

Hi there, So in the last couple of days, for some reason my PC completely freezes randomly while playing games after about 10-20 minutes of opening the game. I've had this issue in both Madden 20 and in Minecraft Java Edition, so I don't think it's an issue specific to one game. The only way of fixing it is to, as much as I cringe to have to, force a shut down with the power button. No control alt delete, alt F4, or anything else will fix it. Completely frozen. This only happens within 20 minutes or so of when I launch a game, I can go for 6 hours just scrolling Google Chrome and not have any issues. No BSOD, "Not responding" or other error message either, just a complete hard freeze. Recent Changes: -Changed from "normal" to "ASUS Optimal" BIOS settings (since reverted back to normal) -Recently upgraded to 16 GB of memory, but I didn't seem to have any issues for the first 5 days or so of having the new memory. Things I've tried so far: -Checking for driver updates through NVIDIA (says I have the latest drivers) -Updating Windows (I updated last night) -Reverting BIOS settings back to previous settings -Noticed my boot drive only had 50 GB storage left, don't think that could've been the issue at all but I deleted some stuff PC Specs: ASUS ROG GL10DH Prebuilt (don't judge me, I know I overpaid) Ryzen 5 3400G CPU GTX 1650 (not super) GPU 16 GB Corsair Vengeance memory 500 GB Intel M.2 SSD (boot drive) 2 TB Seagate Hard Drive (where I store my games and other files) I'm assuming that it's GPU related, but Device Manager claims that my drivers are up-to-date. Should I try clean installing them?

So a couple months ago, despite wanting to build my own to save money (Unfortunately my parents just refused to understand how easy building a PC is, haha) I bought a prebuilt ASUS ROG Strix GL10DH gaming PC. It's decent enough, and just yesterday I upgraded from 8 to 16 GB memory, so it's a really decent entry-level gaming PC now. However, the one last thing I'm looking to upgrade heading forward is the cooling, as I intend on trying to take my 3400G up to ~4 GHz at some point. As is common in prebuilts, I was not blessed with one of AMD's great Wraith coolers out of the box, instead one of the older-style stock coolers (much like the ones Intel still provides), and the fans tend to rev up very loud from time to time, which is a real pain in the arse. I plan on buying the Wraith Prism RGB cooler (I initially wanted to get the CM 212, especially so I cant orient it for exhaust, but I concluded it's too tall to fit in my case), since my PC has a built-in RGB strip and support for Aura Sync. However, I cannot seem to find where the hell there's an RGB header on my motherboard. I followed the cable for the RGB case strip into the FRONT of the case, where after pulling the front panel off, I discovered some sort of extra bit of PCB in the front of the case where the strip connects to, and there's a connector that says "LED_CON" or something like that, but nothing that blatantly says "RGB_HEADER." I'm still trying to figure out how this piece connects to my motherboard. I think it may connect to a USB header, but I can't be totally sure, and I was unable to find any diagrams of the mobo online or in the owner's manual. So anyway, if I purchase an RGB CPU cooler, I want to make sure I can actually sync the RGB fan with the rest of my case, so I'm wondering if you all can help me figure that out. I know what an RGB header looks like (either 4 pins or 4 with one knocked out), but none of the headers that resemble that on my motherboard are labeled. Is it possible that I need to purchase an RGB header to install a new CPU cooler and exhaust fan? PS If people want pictures (which I'm assuming they will) I can send those tomorrow when there's better lighting. Thanks!

Nevermind, we're up and running! I don't even know what I did but it would appear that wiggling the power button cable around while spamming the power button fixed it. I'd bet that the connector is probably just not made very well and a slight jar can make it loose. I appreciate the help guys! Can always count on the LTT forum

Well, I've checked every power plug I can find and still no dice. Now what? Are we sure there's absolutely no way I shorted anything? I had an issue like this with a laptop before, and it kind of just fixed itself after a day or so. Could that be the case here?

I'm not 100% sure but I think it's semi-modular. Yup, that was one of the first things I tried. Well that's reassuring. Hopefully I can figure out what cable ( assuming it is a cable) is causing the issue.

I bought an new gaming PC a couple months ago, and I know very well that you shouldn't f*** around with it when it's still running. So what did I do? Just that. I was attempting to see where the RGB header is (since it isn't on the motherboard) and I pulled the side panels and front panel off. Windows was updating during this time after I hit "shut down and update." Despite the utter stupidity, everything was working fine the whole time. Then, right as I was putting the rear panel back on (after I put the front panel back on) the PC shut off. Initially I thought it was just the windows update finishing (SSD and all), and it seemed to "shut down" like normal, but just to be sure I tried turning it back on. Nothing. No fans spinning, no lights, nothing. I tried unplugging and replugging, resetting, trying different outlets, and holding the power button, but nothing is turning on. I'm extremely worried that I may have shorted something, and I'm a high school student with very limited funds, so replacing an $850 PC is not something I can do. Here's my specs: 500 GB M.2 Boot Drive (doesn't have a lot of important data on it) 2 TB hard drive (mostly just has my steam library and a shitton of other projects, if this got corrupted I'm massively fucked) GTX 1650 8 GB memory Ryzen 5 3400G w/ stock cooler (not Wraith) The model is an ASUS ROG Strix GL10DH. I only got it in June so I believe it's still under warranty. Please help, I'm freaking out right now cause I don't know what to tell my parents (or ASUS, if I'm even able to RMA the damn thing)

So recently I finally bit the bullet and bought an entry-level gaming PC for around $800 (US). I'm a fairly broke teen who doesn't like spending money often so I'd been putting off upgrading my potatotop for a while. It's an Asus PC, and has RGB built in (albeit not the brightest or fanciest, it's mostly just a nice touch), which is of course compatible with Aura Sync. I know I could've gotten way better value going prebuilt, but sometimes you just can't convince tech-ignorant parents that it's a super simple process haha. But regardless, I finally have a competent gaming setup. I'm working this summer and plan to upgrade as I can afford it (Swapping out the 8 GB stick of memory for a couple of sticks of Vengeance or Ripjaws, perhaps even RGB memory, down the line, and maybe some new RGB case fans that are quieter). So, anyway, I digress. What I'm writing this topic for is to ask is if there is any way possible to hook up external (like those strips that go on the wall or the equivalent) RGB lights to sync up with Aura Sync. I wouldn't even know what to search for on Amazon or Newegg, so I decided to consult the forum. I'm assuming they would need to carry some sort of Bluetooth (which my PC has) or USB and somehow be able to tie into Aura Sync. If it's not possible or downright expensive/tedious, oh well, no biggie, separate RGB lights for my setup are always an option, but I was just curious if this is at all possible. Thanks for any help you all can give!