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Question

Payed PC diagnostics

Jun 27, 2016 9:52AM PDT

I recently checked my pc into diagnostics at microcenter because I was having the issue of crash and reboot when trying to boot into windows. However before taking it in I checked some things myself. I removed ssd and hdd and tried to boot the windows 10 disk. And same issue occured. When loading into the disk right as it seemed to finish loading it just reboots. Now I get a call from microcenter and they tell me hardware diagnostics are completely clean and my only issue is corrupt windows installation. How can this be possible if I got the same issue without the drives installed that the intallation is on?

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
I'd like to comment
Jun 27, 2016 11:25AM PDT

But I can't tell what PC this is. For example I see a lot of AMD systems that have random crashes that you never see entirely cleared up

For example and this is only one, I took a second look and google'd about it to find the stock BIOS settings are not just right. Yes it worked but had an occasional BSOD. So I changed it and left a note taped to the inside cover for posterity.

You may have to document how to make it fail so the tech can crash on demand. If not, they may have tested it and it worked fine there.

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The build.
Jun 27, 2016 11:46AM PDT

If it helps anything the pc is a custom build I put together consisting of asus maximus VIII hero mb, 16g corsair vengence lpx ram, corsair 850i psu, i7 6700k, samsung 950 pro 512 m.2 ssd, WD black 2 tb hdd.

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That helped.
Jun 27, 2016 11:53AM PDT
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Cannot.
Jun 27, 2016 1:02PM PDT

Find any priors with same issue. Flashed bios and it was completely stable for over a month and the ram I have is supported. I'm at a loss here, I don't have tons of extra parts for everything or I would just swap everything one by one until I find the culprit. And paying for diagnostics is getting me nowhere. Only option I guess would be to agree to them to fix the corrupt install and that would force them to realize thats not the only issue. But should I really have to go that far and pay all that extra money just for them to tell me what I already know? I just feel like I'm getting ripped off, I payed for diagnostics on it and still don't know whats wrong with it or how to fix it.

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I supplied priors.
Jun 27, 2016 1:21PM PDT

There are folk that look for "exactly" the same crash and as such they are lost.

As to the rip off, this is not so much a rip off but par for the course when you have cranky PCs that the client brings it in without the HDD or exact setup that it crashes on.

Also, you will get clients that want the OS fixed rather than a good clean install. That takes hours and here at 150 bucks a hour can cost more than a new PC. You hear them scream at that point.

So here we are with finding this motherboard does seem to report a lot of crashes. Not much I can add except my methods. That is, current BIOS, redo the heatsinks, load BIOS defaults and try to replicate the crash.

But if I get a PC that they can't show me the crash, it's not time to take it to the test bench.

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I...
Jun 27, 2016 2:20PM PDT

Gave them the pc with all the drives in and its not a matter of trying to recreate the crash, it crashes every sing time with or without the drives. The link you posted about priors just takes me to blank google page (probably ps4 browsers fault) and when I do the same search just a bunch of random people with completely different crash scenarios like bsod etc. Oh, and also told them up front I wanted diag only. I can fix it myself once I know exactly whats causing it. Therefore I have already tried the answer they want me to pay them to try to attempt. But yet they won't listen when I tell them thats not the root cause.

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PS4.
Jun 27, 2016 2:29PM PDT

Sorry I only have a PS3 so I can't duplicate that search result.

"Root cause." I know this area well as we did that on military gear long ago. It's painstaking, expensive and a lot of time. That is, not only must you fix it but you must show "Do this to break it" in your root cause report.

If you disagree with the shop, it's time to tell them you want it back.

Even I can't tell you the cause over half the time on machines today. I do have a routine to get most machines working but for clients that want root cause, that's so expensive most of the time they won't pay for it.

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(NT) I did...
Jun 27, 2016 2:40PM PDT
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I did...
Jun 27, 2016 2:44PM PDT

Find one post with what seemed to be the same issue, waiting on a reply now from him. As for the whole root cause thing by that I just mean is it the mb, cpu, psu, ram, etc. Not looking for much more than that.

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And did you know?
Jun 27, 2016 3:16PM PDT

That the makers have awful poor diagnostics? It's so bad that you only know what part it was by changing it. So here we are with quite a few posts and we are about to swim out to the middle of the English Channel. It's deep, treacherous areas here.

I get the feeling you think techs and shops "know" what's wrong or have tools and software to test this. Sorry but the industry didn't evolve on this area. The makers still rely on your prior experience and swapping parts.

Remember I understand your position.

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Answer
where did you get win10
Jun 27, 2016 10:09AM PDT

is it a retail disk or one you created? Have you used it before?

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(NT) Its retail disk I purchased when I built the pc
Jun 27, 2016 10:12AM PDT
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Answer
unusual for a tech center not to sell
Jun 27, 2016 10:39AM PDT

unusual for a tech center not to try to sell unneeded hardware Happy so I am willing to think they could be right. With the info you gave there is no way to know what the problem was. It could be software and the disk rebooting may not have anything to do with the original crash. did you try the disk with the harddrive installed?

If you have your computer back and you are still having problems, you can try downloading a linux distro and boot to it. If it boots properly, then they were right, most likely a corrupted installation.

I would suggest using puppy linux. you can actually run it from a disk or usb drive without installing.
http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%20and%20Getting%20Started.htm

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Yes, I tried.._
Jun 27, 2016 10:57AM PDT

The disk with and without the drives. With the problem being the exact same for both I don't see how that could be issue. Sure I could have a corrupt windows installation, However that shouldn't have anything to do withe disk. I should simply be able to load up the disk and perform a clean install right? I but yet somehow I have the same issue either way. That immediately points towards something else, most likely hardware related.

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are you able to boot to safemode?
Jun 27, 2016 11:09AM PDT

try booting to safemode and see if you can do a system restore to a restore point prior to the problem.

At exactly what point is the computer rebooting? what exactly is on the screen? still try booting to a linux disk because if it boots, then it would almost have to be corruption.

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No...
Jun 27, 2016 11:41AM PDT

Not able to get into safe mode. Just turns off and reboots when trying to boot into anything at all

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Crashes
Jun 28, 2016 4:34PM PDT

If it won't load the w10 install disc then I would not suspect a corrupt disk.
Btw. there's a difference between disc and disk.

Since it must have loaded this disc at some point for you to get w10 installed something has changed.

Work with the w10 disc.
Enter the bios and reset everything to defaults.
Try this with one stick of ram.
Start making the machine smaller.
No disk.
If using a gpu remove it and plug the monitor into the mobo.

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Also...
Jun 27, 2016 10:59AM PDT

Yes they did try to get me to pay over 100 dollars to fix the corrupt install for me.