Arttu89

I wouldn't start with a certain part, the first question is "What you're going to use the computer for?", then decide on the general platform you want to work with (AMD based or Intel based), while keeping in mind any additional limitations you want/need to put on the entire system, for example: - do you want a small system and maybe you need an ITX board - how powerful the hardware needs to be - what is your budget etc. Once you answer all those questions, I would start with choosing the MB/CPU combo you want to base the system off and build around that.

That laptop isn't really meant for gaming, even if you somehow provide additional cooling the components inside aren't capable of a giving you an enjoyable gaming experience, unless you enjoy Solitaire.

In my experience, due to the specifics of how laptops are built, they tend to run into their own peculiar issues occasionally. If you can get to the BIOS battery and force a CMOS reset I'd give it a try. If you think the event pattern points to the SSD, you can also try taking it out and starting the machine without the SSD just to see if it changes anything and gets you further along (ie. even a screen saying "No boot device detected" would be a step forward in this situation and would allow further troubleshooting).

How are you certain that the BIOS update went ok, if you can't turn the PC on? Have you checked with a manual for that board that you are actually bridging the correct pins? You could also try a different PSU if you have one available.

First of all to clarify something. Is this the motherboard you are refering to in the title -> https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/970-GAMING/Specification ? If that's the case, then getting your system VR ready is not really possible as none of the CPUs available for that mobo would really be able to keep up with a modern GPU (in VR).

It's difficult to tell what that is exactly, I haven't seen any similar issues before, there's definitely no dead pixels there. It could be a minor panel defect or a scratch/imperfection on one of the layers in the LCD. You can try hitting Samsung support with some pictures and see what they say about it, but unless it gets worse over time I don't think they would treat that as a warranty issue.

I would try removing the battery if possible, if it's not easily removable you can try opening the bottom cover and physically disconnecting the battery from the motherboard, then try running the laptop on the AC adaptor only. If you don't want to go that route yet you can try letting it charge for a while and see if that makes a difference. Often if you put your laptop in sleep/hibernate before you leave it to sit or the battery just isn't in the best condition and it's left unused for a long time, it can lead to some odd errors/problems when you try to get a laptop back up and running.

Uhh, where to start: 1. Every laptop has vents on the bottom, in most cases those vents are either at the back or close to the back of the laptop and they need to stay open to provide proper air circulation to the components, sticking something to the bottom of the laptop might not work very well with the position of those vents. 2. Given how warm your laptop gets, glue on most common types of double-sided tape (assuming that's what you planned to glue it with) is gonna get soft and smear off as the whole thing heats up, and that glue is going to get on everything and everywhere and just make a giant mess of things. 3. It's just generally junkie AF and there are better cheap ways of doing this properly. I don't know where you're from, but in most countries you can easily get a perforated laptop stand somewhere in the 15-20USD price point. I would assume they did that mainly for acoustics. If the fan is capable of running 1000rpm faster without any hardware modifications, then it's unlikely it would get damaged, because of that, but it might be uncomfortable to listen to for extended periods of time.

If you turned it on before it had time to dry properly than there is a chance you damaged it further. Disconnect it from power, let it sit and dry, don't try to rush through it just to check if it started working already.

1. Throttling kicks in as the temperature goes up, if it kicked in only after reaching 100C, it would be too late to prevent the CPU overheating and shutting down the machine. 2. Technically yes, but it would require some custom BIOS/driver setup, but I would say it's not advisable on a laptop, especially one this old. This is definitely NOT safe, unless you're an experienced overclocker and you know what you're doing. 3. Given how old that CPU is (i7-740QM was released back in Q32010), if you never changed the thermal paste, it won't hurt to change it. Thermal paste on a 9-10year old laptop won't be in great condition. 4. If replacing the laptop is not an option, I'd just buy a cheap cooling stand, gluing anything to the bottom of a laptop is not a smart solution to your problem. 5. Try checking on Dell's website if they still have any utility software for your laptop. If there's any way of permanently adjusting the fan curve it's gonna be in their software.

You would need someone with the soldering experience of the guys from Louis Rossmann's shop to do a good job with that, if you got anyone like that in the area you live in, it might not be that difficult to get fixed, otherwise I'd just live with it.

Given how those mounting points on the picture look like you won't be able to salvage that easily, if you ripped the standoffs out of the board, aside of bending the metal you most likely also damaged the threads inside, so even bending it back is unlikely to work. I can't wrap my head around how you even came to the idea of ripping them out when you could have simply unscrewed every single one without damaging anything.

Well... at least the side panel had an interesting design.

The simplest thing you can do is to just disconnect the fan from the motherboard for now, so it doesn't get powered anymore. The pictures you provided are so bad it's impossible to tell anything from them, but generally fans aren't made in a way that allows for repair, so long term you're better off replacing it.

m.2 slot screw size is standardised the size is M2x3.5 (M2 is the thread size/pitch and 3.5 is thread length in mm). I would say your options are: - go to a local PC store, tell them your situation and ask if they don't have a screw to spare - try writing to MSI in your country, maybe they'll be willing to send you one - buy a box of generic laptop repair screws on amazon - what I did when I wanted to put a second m.2 in my laptop, but had no screw in the 2nd m.2 slot, now I'm set with tiny screws for life ?

You can quite easily find all the relevant documents online in pdf form. Aorus B450 Elite CoolerMaster MF120R aRGB 3-in-1 kit The aRGB in your fans is 5V. I wouldn't really trust into a 3pin = 5V, 4pin = 12V rule, while it is the case most of the time, some companies might decide on going their own way, for example the NZXT RGB strips are 4pin 5V. The rule is rather 3pin = addressable RGB, 4pin = simple RGB, but that doesn't define the voltage of the strips. It's always best to consult the manual on the voltage.

I'm surprised your new m.2 drive works, the manual for that MB doesn't mention NVMe support anywhere. Check the drives are connected to one of the ports NewMaxx mentioned, once you boot the computer and get into the system if the drives still don't show, then go to Windows Drive Management and see if the drives show up there. Edit: I double checked SATA express standards, it will support NVMe drives, but not at full speed, beacuse it's not using enough PCIe lanes.

@Kalm_Traveler1 Btw, make a picture of the build when you're done, I got so involved in this topic I kinda wanna see what turns out of it.

It would likely be the DAC. Toslink is a fibre optic interface and transfers data with light, it doesn't create an electrical connection between the devices, so it's very unlikely for it to create any kind of interference when the console is in sleep/standby, the easiest way to double check it, would be to unplug the toslink cable on one side and checking if the sound in the headset persists, that will give you a definite answer. As a workaround, just turn off/disconnect the DAC from the PC when you put the console in standby.

If you tried re-plugging and it didn't help, then the cable might be broken, not sure who you want to send it to, it doesn't really make economical sense to mail a microphone for repair, you're better off trying to find a local electronics repair shop, changing a 3.5mm jack plug is simple for anyone with a soldering iron, it might be a bit worse if the cable broke somewhere half way along the length.

That's quite odd. If it's just at boot and safe mode now, then you might be right that something's wrong with how the generic driver works, but aside of running a system repair or reinstalling Win 10 I don't see how to fix that.

What Den-Fi suggested, and if you don't want it to show as much, then put the tape on from the inside.

Is it on the system that's in your footnote? If yes, how is your monitor connected to the PC? With VGA/DVI color issues like that were often a failing cable or a loose plug, if you're connected with DVI try a different cable or try re-plugging the ends and make sure the retaining screws are not loose. It's also possible there's something wrong with the GPU, but I'd try the cable first.

I see your point, but if you look at what was available 10-15 years ago and how much of a difference it made (even in simple day to day computing) to go a tier higher on parts and compare it to what it looks like today, then if he keeps using his PC as casually as he did until now, he can easily get 10 years out of today's mid range components. If he does get caught up in gaming over the next couple years, then he'll still have the option to drop a high end Ryzen 4000 series and/or a higher end 2020/2021 GPU at a point in time where they'll probably be available at discount prices and it will still give him a really nice experience on a 2560x1440 panel. I just feel that with how you described his particular use case, there's really no need to overbuild it as much, because even the low end of today's hardware would be a ton more responsive, snappy and comfortable to use, then that old system he grew into.

If you're really set on using all of the $1200 on his computer I'd probably go with a Ryzen 5 3600 and a decent air cooler (or even staying with the stock AMD cooler, they're really enough for those chips and even look surprisingly good for a stock cooler) and put the money you save on that into something like a 27" 2560x1440 monitor. Even if you get him into gaming I don't see him using the potential of a 3800X any time soon.