Euchre

Kernel Panic is something I've never seen a Windows system show, and can't find a screenshot or pic of one. Do you have Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) installed?

It wouldn't be a power spike, but a power loss (brownout) you're having, if you're adding a load to the circuit. Sounds as if your circuit supplying those wall sockets is approaching the max draw it can sustain, and your computer being a pretty power hungry beast, it fails first when the available watt/amp load isn't there for it to draw. I'm a bit surprised you haven't tripped a breaker/blown a fuse.

Glad I could help.

Does it show up when you use Alt + Tab? What active programs are listed in Task Manager?

I think you've got that backwards, it should be 1gbps down, 40mbps up. How about the motherboard, which could tell us what network adapter(s) you have. Based on how you put your answer, I'm going to guess you're on wifi, not wired.

What sort of networking are you running, hardware and service-wise?

If it really is unlocked (carrier unlocked), but is still limited to the bands Sprint and Verizon use, the only reason it 'do not work in USA' is if the IMEI is banned from the network for nonpayment of the account it was associated with, or is reported lost or stolen. This is why second hand devices from online sources can be dubious.

No mention of the audio outputs you have on the TV, its brand or model, so hard to know what options you have. Can you get that info and post it?

If a cable has no slack, the cable is too tight. It is as simple as that. The way a SATA connector is designed, it is a much lighter, less physically robust connector, and shouldn't be put under any tension. The answer is really to get cable extensions, or extra cables, so you have comfortable slack on them.

In what way is it breaking, over and over again?

To be brutally honest, what I'm seeing is a system with very little cable management, but also just about as importantly, lots of case fan locations with no fans, and no real plan for where the one case fan is. I don't see any provision for a filter, and I wonder if you just run with that side panel off all of the time, based on the decorative paint. If you want the best cooling, you need a good, clean path for air to flow. You also need your case to act like a wind tunnel or venturi. That one case fan with the open fan location and expansion slots are just creating a void for air to just stumble and recirculate. You also appear to have some kind of squirrel cage cooler for the chipsets/VRMs on there, and it is competing with the one case fan you have. If I were addressing this myself, I'd rework the cable management to open a cleaner path from bottom front of the case, put the one case fan there, put the expansion slot placeholders back in, and use tape to block off the rear case fan grates. If the power supply is set up properly, it should have a fan feeding from the bottom up, venting out the back, or vents in the bottom and a fan exhausting out the back. That can be your case's exhaust, with the front case fan being your intake. Run with the side panel on. If you can rig up a filter at the bottom front, with that strong air flow, it should solve most of the dusting issue within the case. It is hard for some people to wrap their heads around actually closing off air paths in a computer case, but if there isn't a fan actively creating positive flow, it isn't going to help a whole lot.

The plugs in the pic do appear to be shifted one set to the right, as you have a bare set of pins sticking out to the left of the left connector.

Gross profit is effectively revenue, and you're posing the question of net profit.

OK, so interesting discussion here, especially mentioning Radio Shack, and how Fry's are so big. The two are very much connected. Radio Shack (then known by the corporate parent name, Tandy) started a 'big box' venture to compete with the likes of Best Buy and Circuit City, among others. It was called Incredible Universe. It was quite elaborate and impressive, and a clever kind of idea, but honestly a bit too late. They were only around 5 years, '92-'97. This was the heyday of 'computer shows' that largely consisted of wholesale approach to end consumer sales of computer components and technology. Anyway, it failed. The store locations that were anything like profitable were bought by another computer biased consumer electronics retailer - named Fry's. It represented a major expansion for Fry's. As for Radio Shack's fall, a number of factors contributed to it, most especially an 'addiction' to cellular sales, even after it became too competitive and less lucrative than when it got into the business. Regardless, in 2015 they filed their first bankruptcy, and in 2017 their second, which effectively imploded and closed the corporate owned Radio Shack stores. What you see today are just the old franchise locations (listed as 'authorized dealers') and special partnerships with other retailers. No true, corporate stand alone Radio Shack stores really exist. Let's say I have some direct knowledge about this. I loved the few times I was able to shop at Fry's. I kind of despise commoditized PCs, which dominate the market now. The day when you could as cheaply, or more cheaply go to a computer show or Fry's or local electronics retailer, and build a system, are sorely missed.

'Bootstrap' drivers are usually enough to get a basic, functional system up and running, particularly in the display and networking components. Once you have the ability to access a network, you can access better drivers online. That's why they do the bootstrap driver thing for those key components.

This doesn't sound good from step one. First off, I'm sure you don't mean CD, because what it takes to really install Windows 10 won't fit on a CD. It would take a DVD at minimum, and I'm not even sure that would work. Windows 10 can be installed from a flash drive, which is the normal way for most situations. Microsoft suggests an 8gb flash drive. A standard DVD is only 4.7gb. The disc would have to be a double layer DVD. Your best fix is to just download the installer from Microsoft, and use their Media Creation Tool to create a flash drive for installation. It costs nothing to download the installation from Microsoft, and would only cost for activation if you can't deal with the limitations of an unactivated copy. Activation keys can be purchased legally from a variety of sources, for a not unreasonable amount of money. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Now this is a suggestion definitely coming from a generation of kids deluding themselves into thinking they can safely text and browse while driving. If only you could stick the content on the road, you could divide your attention better, with better results? Nope. If this technology were used in a windshield, sure, it could get road damage - but we'd take a page from cell phones, and there would be a protective layer of expendable, cheaper glass ahead of the expensive screen. Funny thing about the mention of drive-ins is that the pandemic has led to a resurgence in drive-in theaters.

More metal mass in contact is more to absorb heat, and the extra surface area is more heat dissipation.

Build aside, I hope his dad goes after mom for what is just being a thief. That behavior sounds suspect. As for the build, $100-150 isn't really enough to build anything.

You say you disassembled it, and I'm going to guess you unplugged the fans, including the CPU fan, in the process. Blackscreening quickly could be the CPU heat spiking. Be sure your fans are plugged in properly. As for the booting on plugin, that sounds like swapped or incorrectly connected power and reset buttons, as others have noted. Shocking you is as others have noted as well, likely a grounding issue - but what part of the computer are you touching that is conductive?

You mean the same guy who was making fun of AT&T by dismissing a whole swath of rural states, as if humans not in urban coverage are 'trash' from "dust bowl states". Yeah, don't care much for his perspective. https://www.theverge.com/2013/1/9/3853890/t-mobile-ceo-calls-att-network-crap-mocks-verizon I was originally replying to someone talking about how the US needs to commit to broadband ubiquity, as infrastructure. You and others seem to think that basic infrastructure is defined by how well you can game and stream multiple HD videos at once. Arguments like that are what get a lot of proposals for improved infrastructure dismissed as 'a bunch of whiny gamers' who want free access to 'winning' quality internet access. That dismissal is wrong in that we don't even have close to that level of access, nor is what is being asked for nearly so ambitious, but it is fair to say that it sounds that way - and this forum definitely is dominated by gamers. Gaming is fine, but it doesn't define the core needs that ubiquitous broadband represents.

As to the debate of old caps vs low quality caps - old caps tend to dry out, not usually burst and leak. That leakage is pretty significant, so I'm more inclined to think the electrolytes weren't top quality, but were still plentiful in those caps.

It is only flawed if you consider gaming or streaming the 'necessary' part of broadband internet access. Consider what it takes to log in to your bank, your school, your government agencies for taxes or other services and requirements. Doing that on dial up has become basically impossible. That's the reason we see broadband as vital infrastructure, not lag time in games or the ability to start watching a video stream in HD. You quite literally have to use the internet to get a job, file for unemployment, and pay many of your bills anymore. 100+ years ago it was having an address. ~85 years or more ago, it was plumbing and electricity. ~60 years ago it was telephone service. Now, it is internet access. If you want a good reminder about prioritizing what is required for life, go without power for 3 days, let alone internet. You'll find out when you start feeling grossly dirty, hungry, thirsty, and maybe alone, how to prioritize needs vs wants.

I can definitely see that this is a gamer biased forum (as expected, really), in that 25mbps down is 'not acceptable', let alone 3-5mbps upload. Most of us in truly rural areas are lucky to have 3-5mbps down, let alone up. To have 25mbps would be phenomenal. I don't want it just so I can game, I would just like being able to look at weather radar without waiting a couple of minutes at least for buffering. Stability would honestly matter more than outright speed, as my 6mbps DSL works passably for my critical needs, but is not reliable or stable enough to really call it solid. The problem of getting internet to the rural world is the same as it was for power and telephone - the providers don't see it as profitable enough, and thus won't deploy infrastructure unless compelled to. Partially subsidizing, and partially mandating that it be done, is how it was done, and needs to be done.

What kind of drive is the main one on your system now?