this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2026
46 points (97.9% liked)

techsupport

3093 readers
2 users here now

The Lemmy community will help you with your tech problems and questions about anything here. Do not be shy, we will try to help you.

If something works or if you find a solution to your problem let us know it will be greatly apreciated.

Rules: instance rules + stay on topic

Partnered communities:

You Should Know

Reddit

Software gore

Recommendations

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I reset the BIOS. I reset the CMOS. I replaced the CMOS. No IDE option in my bios. Thing gets stuck on automatic repair - ill leave it on for hours and nothing.

I removed all additional HDDs and SSDs. I pulled the C drive and backed up the important data. Pulled the GPU and checked it real good. All of the ram as well.

I had gotten a BSOD with the "PNP Driver Watchdog" error. Google is unhelpful as anyone with this BSOD never received nor confirmed a working remedy or solution.

Now, after days of trying I am very rarely able to get to the Windows Install window from my USB. But none of my mice or keyboards work. They'll work briefly for a few seconds and then stop. Nothing works to get them going again forcing me to shut down yet again.

Only thing I can think of is an unplanned and unannounced power shut off while I was out. Less than a week later my PC is pulling this shit. Refusing to boot.

Im ready to take it to a stupid pc repair shop... which im very hesitant on doing as I built this thing. Not to mention I dont like the thought of transporting this huge and heavy thing.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] dotCody@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Thank you for the assistance!

OK, now it looks like 1 out of the 4 ram sticks is no good. But now the thing is still refusing to boot. Doesn't matter if its 1 stick or 2.

I honestly think my mobo is fucked. The trouble codes on the mobo are erratic as well. I've gotten multiple for bad ram and now a bad GPU driver.

And it doesn't matter if Booting off of usb, trying to boot normally off of the c drive or trying to get into windows recovery. Everything is simply hanging on the loading screen!

I think I might have to bite the bullet and buy a replacement mobo... ๐Ÿฅฒ id still like to see if a second opinion from a pc repair shop is worth it to confirm my suspicion before shelling out $400 on a used mobo from China express.

[โ€“] Otherbarry@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Curious what you ended up doing - I sort of suspect it might be an issue with your GPU and would attempt replacing that before writing off the entire motherboard. GPU errors keep coming up with your build (the Windows crash earlier seemed to refer to GPU, and now as you say the motherboard trouble code also mentions GPU) so there's a wild chance you had both bad RAM and a bad GPU. But I can't think of a good way to rule out GPU without actually plugging in a working one in there, not sure if other people would have better ideas.

[โ€“] dotCody@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Hey thanks for checking in!!

I took the rig to a local pc repair shop. He did a load test on the psu and it failed, twice. So he recommended, especially after I told him about my power shutoff, that I first replace the PSU then the motherboard if its still giving issue.

So now.. I have:

A RAM stick on its way to Dumpland for RMA A new PSU in transit A used motherboard in transit Instructions from Seasonic to destroy and document evidence of said destruction of the PSU for their RMA

What a headache. And to think this may have all been caused because some jackass in my household whom didn't pay the fucking electricity bill. And this jackass let the electricity bill accrue insane interest and fees.

Guess its a good idea to fresh install windows if i ever get the hardware working again?

[โ€“] Otherbarry@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Seems like a good diagnosis, they probably have the setup and equipment to do a better PSU test vs anything you had on hand. Testing for load is a bit tricky, you'd normally see instability during runtime once you're in Windows or whatever, it's not that obvious if you can't even get into Windows.

The current Windows install is pretty beat up so you should prepare for a re-install - but once the hardware is stable you'll be able to properly test if Windows is able to fix itself and boot up correctly, could be by some miracle it all comes back up in the end.

[โ€“] Speculater@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Before you write off the mobo make sure you're using the correct slots for your RAM configuration. It'll be in the manual online. There are specific slots to use in 1, 2, and 3 stick configurations. If you went left to right, it's probably wrong.

[โ€“] dotCody@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Yup, I remember that from the first build weekend lol but ty