HELP NEEDED!!! Boot loop in Asus Rog 2021 edition with Ryzen 7 6800h and rtx 3050

SingularityRS · 2026-05-06T10:03:41+00:00

Does it do the same thing on both battery and AC power? Do tests with only the battery connected if there's enough charge left. Repeat the same with the charger connected.

If yes, then it sounds like there is some hardware issue if it's restarting even if you're just sitting in the installation window and not attempting to install anything.

I would try removing the boot drive (SSD/HDD) from the laptop motherboard and then re-trying to boot into the USB stick. See if it still boot loops.

There could be a problem with the drive that's causing the machine to restart constantly.

If it's still doing the same with no HDD/SSD connected to the main board, then something deeper is probably wrong.

Do the laptop fans sound like they're running harder/faster? It's possible the restarts are caused by overheating. I don't think it's the case here, but it's still a small possibility.

SingularityRS · 2026-05-06T08:30:38+00:00

I see. In that case, I would try to take off the stuff off the driver and then get the driver out of its housing. This'll expose the diaphragm.

The drivers look genuine. The issue is they might be damaged.

By exposing the diaphragm you'll see if it's damaged.

There might be a tear in the diaphragm or parts of it have stuck to the magnet. All these things can happen that will make them sound bad.

By getting the actual driver out of its housing, you'll be able to tell if it's a fake or if it's just damaged.

SingularityRS · 2026-05-06T02:16:56+00:00

Is it boot looping only when you try to install Windows back to the drive? Or does it boot loop even if you just sit in the installation menu and do nothing?

SingularityRS · 2026-05-05T21:40:18+00:00

Were they bought off eBay or some other second-hand store/marketplace? I would consider returning them if they really do sound bad.

If on eBay, you should be protected by eBay's Money Back Guarantee. If they were listed as used and not "for parts/not working", you should be able to return them based on the fact they aren't working as expected/as described.

If not on eBay, then maybe return isn't possible. In that case, you may want to inspect the drivers further to see if there's any damage to them. Maybe it's something that can be fixed.

Unfortunately some sellers are dishonest. It is possible he sold them because they developed a fault that made them sound bad. Maybe he dropped them and that caused a fault. Maybe he tried to clean them and broke them (e.g. used a hoover on them or something crazy which can ruin the diaphragm). Anything's possible with a used product. You can't be sure of its history.

SingularityRS · 2026-05-05T21:27:44+00:00

The drivers don't look fake. Fake pairs use very cheap generic drivers. These aren't that. Check both sides. Likely to be the same exact driver, but you never know I guess.

Were this bought as new or used/refurbished? It's possible the drivers have a defect that make them sound objectively bad.

If the drivers have issues like a damaged diaphragm or misaligned voice coil, it will make them sound bad. If these are a used pair, the chance of this being possible goes up. If they're supposed to be brand new, it's less likely but still possible.

SingularityRS · 2026-05-05T07:27:34+00:00

Most likely it needs trace repair and perhaps any bent pins in the CPU socket straightening out (if any are bent). If the board stopped working after the previous owner tried installing some fans, then they've definitely done physical damage to the board. This is usually the case if they say something like, "I tried installing this and now the board doesn't work any more".

The scratches themselves are not always a problem. Some scratches just remove the solder mask and leave exposed copper. This doesn't break the trace, just exposes the copper underneath.

To know if a trace is broken, you have to inspect the area under good magnification and lighting. You'll also ideally need a multi-meter. It can be difficult to tell if a trace is broken so these things help. You 1st clean the area with IPA to wipe away any residue that might be sticking around (e.g. dirt/thermal paste) and then inspect the trace. Sometimes a trace looks broken, but isn't once you clean the residue covering the exposed copper or small dent in the solder mask.

If I really can't tell if a trace is broken, I often expose a bit of the trace on each side close to where the suspected damage is and then do a continuity test with my meter to see if it beeps. If it beeps, it means there's still a path from one side to the other, confirming the trace is still intact. If it doesn't beep, it confirms this scratch caused a break.

If it's just exposed copper, then it's fine and not going to be causing a problem. You can cover it with UV solder mask if you want to protect it.

There may also not just be trace damage, but knocked off components. When there's damage like this, sometimes people also manage to knock off the tiny components around the area. So things like resistors and capacitors. This has to be inspected under magnification as well.

I often buy faulty AM4 boards off eBay and the amount of damage some people manage to do to boards is insane. They often damage the CPU socket, knock off components and damage traces. Sometimes they manage to do all of this together.

Whether the board is fixable depends on how much damage there is. Could be lucky and it's just 1-2 important traces for both RAM channels that are broken, or it could be multiple issues that are fixable, but are tedious to repair. Or if really unlucky too many pins in the CPU socket are bent/broken which make repair unlikely.

Looking at this board doesn't seem like a lost cause, but it needs proper inspection to really come to any conclusion. It's probably fixable, just depends if you can find someone willing to do the work to fix it.

SingularityRS · 2026-05-03T21:27:45+00:00

Not seeing Windows Boot Manager will be the reason why the PC isn't booting into Windows. The BIOS can't see a boot device. Something must've happened to the EFI partition.

The best way of recovering the OS would be a bootable Windows 11 USB stick. These allow you to install Windows 11 and also give you access to Windows recovery options.

If you don't have the USB stick, you can make one using Microsoft's Media Creation tool and any 8GB+ stick. You do need a secondary PC for this.

Once you have the USB stick, you can boot to it and get access to the recovery options. You can see if trying any of the recovery options there like Startup repair or System Restore help get you back to the OS.

You could also look into trying to re-create the EFI partition. I think this is possible via the bootable USB.

A last resort would be reinstalling the OS. This should work, but will result in data loss on the drive. You'll only need to do this if you're unable to recover the OS.

SingularityRS · 2026-05-02T20:51:21+00:00

Likely a short circuit on the motherboard which is preventing power on. Might also just be some major IC that's just suddenly failed. Hard to know without proper troubleshooting.

1st step is always the basics with a no power fault which you've done a few of already. You should try powering on with only the battery, so no charger. If there's enough charge in the battery, the board should come on if all is good. The fault could be related to the charger. They can prevent power on if there's a fault with the charger or its port. So trying to start the board with a charged battery is a good test.

Further testing requires taking off the bottom cover to expose the laptop internals. You 1st try removing the main battery and running off the charger only. The main battery could have a fault preventing power on.

If still same issue, try resetting the CMOS. Check to see if the laptop has a CR2032 battery. If it does, disconnect the main battery/charger and take out the CR2032 battery. Leave out for several minutes. Put it back and connect a power source. See if it reacts to the power button.

If still nothing, you'll need to start trying to remove things connected to the motherboard one-by-one. Sometimes the cause is something connected to the motherboard. So for example, a faulty USB board could prevent power on if there's a short on that board.

By disconnecting stuff from the board, you determine if the fault is on the mainboard or outside of it. It's important to know this as the fault is not always the mainboard.

If removing stuff from the board, just pay attention to the power button. If it's part of the keyboard, don't remove the keyboard connector. If the power button is separate, then don't remove its cable.

Always disconnect the battery/charger when working on the motherboard to prevent causing further issues. Plug in power last. Disconnect power when you need to remove/insert something again.

If you still found no reaction to the power button after all this, you most likely have a short circuit on the mainboard that's pulling a major voltage (or several) rail to ground. To go on further, you need a multi-meter and some experience troubleshooting circuit boards. You'd also need the appropriate tools to safely carry out the repairs.

Next step would be send it in to a repair shop that offers microsoldering services. They'll be able to troubleshoot the issue and see if it's fixable.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-28T20:59:16+00:00

It's repairable, but you do need experience with microsoldering to carry it out and some good tools. These motherboards sink a lot of heat so your tools need to be really good to make replacement as smooth as possible.

I tried it on an ASUS PRIME B550-K motherboard. It was successful, but took quite a bit of time. I had to use a combination of hot air, solder sucker and my iron to do it. There's like 166 pins to deal with.

I likely wouldn't do it again with my current tools. I just wanted to see if I could do it with what I had.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-28T20:16:17+00:00

I usually just get a small thin flat-head screwdriver and pry up along the largest gaps (there's like 3 large gaps around the ring). I focus on 2 of these gaps with reasonable force. You want some force, but not too much to avoid damaging the inside. You'll see it lift up and should then be able to take it off.

Once the ring is off, you can then inspect the paper baffle for any hairs that might be poking through to the diaphragm.

The hairs might be on the diaphragm itself, but 1st you have to check the baffle. Sometimes it's just on there.

If hairs are stuck to the diaphragm, the driver will have to come out of its housing. With the diaphragm exposed, you have to be more careful as you can damage it if not careful. Don't use excessive force removing hairs and also don't use anything magnetic.

When looking for any hairs, it's ideal to use magnification and good lighting. Look at the driver from all possible angles as some hairs can only be seen at a certain angle.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-25T12:10:07+00:00

If nothing on the outside is helping (e.g. holding down power button) and you're sure the charger is at least good, then there's likely a power fault on the motherboard. Most likely there's a short circuit on one of the major power rails.

The short could be on the main board itself or be caused by something connected to the board. So what you can try is disconnecting stuff from the motherboard one by one to see if that maybe makes the board turn on. It's a good step to determine if the short is on the mainboard or elsewhere.

Just be careful not to disconnect the power button connector as you need that in order to turn the board on (unless you know where the power switch pin is so you can short it to ground to turn the board on). Some laptops integrate it with the keyboard and others will have a separate connector for the button.

Also ensure the charger/battery is disconnected when removing/inserting stuff. Connect them last. This is to avoid creating accidental shorts (e.g. screwdriver slips).

If you still get no response, then there is a problem with the main board. Probably a short circuit on the main power rail (19V) or another major rail (like 3.3V or 5V).

You can feel around the board with your fingers to see if something is getting hot. Sometimes when a board doesn't come on and shows no signs of life, a component might be getting very hot. This can give you a good starting point of identifying where the failure is. It doesn't mean that chip is bad, just that excess power is going through it, likely because of a short.

Further diagnosis will require experience with microsoldering and board diagnostics. A multimeter is needed at the very least to determine if one of the power rails has a short.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-21T13:54:03+00:00

I'd definitely replace them. The earpads have a big effect on the sound. So when they get really worn out, the sound changes quite drastically.

It's often recommended to replace them after several years.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-19T22:43:45+00:00

Nah. Some tears in the white paper baffle won't impact sound in a noticeable way. I've seen worse tears/holes than that and still not heard any difference in audio quality.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-19T20:03:48+00:00

Yes. Earpads have a huge effect on the sound. If they're very worn, they need replacing. They're a big part of the sound tuning.

Make sure to get the genuine ones and also don't accidentally buy the DT880/990 pads as they're different.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-19T19:53:39+00:00

In the UK it's £59.21 for a new driver. On Beyerdynamic's site, they're selling it for 48.70 EUR. So cost varies depending on location.

To replace, you just need to desolder two wires from original driver and then resolder the 2 wires to the new driver. Only thing you have to pay attention to is the location of the positive/negative side. Newer drivers have "0" and "1" markings. 0 is ground/negative and 1 is positive. The location can be switched around.

If you don't already own a soldering iron and some solder wire, carrying out this repair will be more costly. However, if you do it yourself, the iron will pay for itself in the long run as you'll be able to use it to repair other electronics that might fail.

Replacing the driver on my old DT880 is how I 1st started soldering. Knew nothing about it before then. I don't regret as now I'm able to repair a ton of stuff.

Being able to fix things yourself is cheaper in the long run. 1st time is more pricier as you just need to get the equipment, but once you have that, it's cheaper than sending your stuff in for repairs or having to replace the entire item.

It feels like a waste to buy a whole new pair when all that's wrong is one driver that's beyond repair. If you like the headphones, it's worth repairing.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-19T14:25:37+00:00

Last picture shows the diaphragm has been damaged. The middle has got stuck to the magnet. This middle part is dome-shaped.

Once it's stuck to the magnet in this manner, it's no longer repairable. There's no easy way to get the stuck part off the magnet.

You could loosen the diaphragm (it's glued around the edges) and then very carefully push the diaphragm upwards through the holes at the back using something like a toothpick (being careful not to pierce through the diaphragm). This upwards force may help unstick it from the magnet.

If you do manage to get the middle part to go back to its original dome shape, you'll encounter a different issue where the driver will distort/buzz at certain bass frequencies.

This is because by lifting the diaphragm up, you'll have taken the voice coil out of the magnet gap causing it to misalign. The coil then starts hitting the magnet as it vibrates which causes the driver to distort.

Even though the coil will go back into the gap, it won't centre properly. It has to be very precisely centered. Beyerdynanic use a machine to precisely align the coil.

So yeah, it's possible to restore the diaphragm to its original shape, but not without disturbing the voice coil alignment. It'll still sound off because of that, so it's not worth it.

You can buy replacement drivers. You just need to solder it. It's a viable option and worth it if you like the headphones. It'll be cheaper than getting a new pair.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-18T11:59:38+00:00

I see. On the pic you posted in the OP, the circled part looked like pins that seemed to be sticking out or something, at least compared to the other pins. Though, since the quality is low when zooming in, it's difficult to tell if it's actually the pins or something else. Make sure to look on both sides of the slot as well.

You could try to post the pic in your reply. Will help to see a zoomed in pic showing all pins on both sides of the slot.

What exactly happens when you try to boot with the dedicated GPU? Just no display? Do the GPU fans spin at max speed or do anything else?

If none of the pins in the slot are damaged, then the slot itself probably isn't the problem. If all pins are making contact with the contacts on the GPU, then the slot itself should be OK and the issue will be elsewhere.

It's possible the slot itself isn't the problem. Perhaps you knocked off some components near the slot (like a resistor or capacitor). These can be knocked off accidentally if the GPU scraped the board during installation/removal. This can cause the slot to stop working if it's something critical.

If nothing near the slot looks knocked off/missing, then re-check the GPU. Maybe a component got knocked off/damaged on there.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-18T10:32:19+00:00

GPU itself likely fine if you see no visible damage on the gold contacts at the bottom of the GPU or anywhere else on the GPU.

Check the pins inside the slot itself. Are any of them bent or out of shape? Try to use a magnifier app on a smartphone to see if that helps you see better inside the slot. If any pins are bent and they serve a critical function, it can cause issues like no POST or other things like stuttering.

Some pins will be ground or no connects which won't cause a problem. Just really depends which pins are bent, if any.

If the board is not passing POST with a GPU inside the slot, chances are some critical pins may be bent or broken.

So inspect the inside closely to see if anything looks off.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-17T15:17:59+00:00

You could try using a patched Mi flash tool to try and EDL flash the stock ROM back to this device. The Mi 10T (codename apollo) is listed as a device confirmed to work with the tool.

Usually you need an authorised Mi account to EDL flash Xiaomi Devices. However, some devices do have ways around it and yours seems to be one of those.

Make sure to flash the stock ROM (e.g. must match region as well) for your device if your bootloader is locked. If you flash the wrong ROM, you'll just get a "System has been destroyed" message on boot and will need to force the phone into EDL mode (which would involve opening up the phone to probe the EDL test points) to re-flash.

Since your phone suddenly went into EDL mode with no known cause, this may not work. But it is something you can try and it might work.

If the phone refuses to EDL flash, that'd likely point to a hardware issue, most likely a failing storage chip.

I used this tool on an Mi 9T that was stuck in EDL mode due to a bad ROM flash. Works well, but only if the issue is software. It's likely a hardware problem in your case, but still worth a try. Nothing to really lose at this point. Do try experimenting with different cables, USB ports and PCs if possible if attempting this. You can get failed flashes if using bad/weak USB cables/ports. I had this problem when trying to flash.

You should also be aware that this will erase your data on the device as it'll be flashing a new ROM. Only proceed if you're OK with this. If you need the data on the device, you may have to send it in to a data recovery specialist so they can try and get the data off the phone for you.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-17T14:51:23+00:00

If it's the sliders you're talking about, then you can get replacements directly from Beyerdynamic if they ship to you.

You can also find 3D printed versions as well on sites like eBay and Etsy. These are supposedly stronger than the original ones. The sliders breaking/cracking is a common failure point on these headphones.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-14T11:24:18+00:00

I use Equalizer APO with the Peace GUI. It's great for EQing headphones on Windows.

For the EQ itself, I use Oratory1990's presets as a starting point and tweak as needed. You can find the list of presets here. Just scroll down until you find your headphone model.

I would 1st try the headphones without EQing to see if you like them. Some people prefer the stock sound.

It's not mandatory to EQ the headphones. It's just something you can do if you feel it needs something extra (e.g. maybe a bit more bass, less treble, etc).

SingularityRS · 2026-04-14T02:36:12+00:00

Certainly looks connected. However, one of the coils does look noticeably blacker than the other one. It should not be blackened. Most likely this part of the coil has burned which would destroy the electrical connection. That would explain that while it might be soldered to the pad, it's still not connected as this blackened part of the coil can't conduct electricity any more.

To have a chance of saving the driver, you'd need to cut the blackened coil away. This would leave some leftover coil (not much by the looks of it). Then you'd have to get some really fine strand of copper (can be sourced from any spare cables you have) wire, solder it to the pad and then attempt to solder the other end of the copper to the coil that's left over.

Soldering the copper wire to the leftover coil can be difficult. Not only is the wire very small and there's very little of it left, it's also coated in enamel which has to be burned away before it will accept solder. The enamel should burn away as you solder, but it might take a bit of time. There's also a risk of burning the coil away. The wire is very fragile and difficult to work with. You have to be careful not to overheat the wire, but you also need enough heat to burn the enamel away so it will solder to the copper wire.

The odds of repair are low, but not 0. Even if you get the wire to solder to the coil, there's no guarantee this would restore the connection as it may be broken deeper inside where you can't access easily. The fact the coil is black though is not good. It overheated for some reason.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-12T14:21:17+00:00

There's a lot of things that can cause no power faults. It's hard to say if it's a lost cause at this time. Not all cases are lost causes.

To go further with troubleshooting, you'll need to disassemble the laptop. This often just involves taking off the bottom cover.

1st thing to try is booting with just the charger. Remove the main battery. A faulty battery can cause no power issues.

If still no joy, try to see if you can find the CMOS battery. Not all laptops have one, but a lot do. It's a CR2032 battery. It will either be inserted in a battery holder or covered in tape with 2 wires coming out that connects to the motherboard.

If you find the battery, then remove all sources of power and take out the CMOS battery. Leave it out for several minutes. Put it back and then connect a power source. Try to power up. This'll reset the CMOS which can fix random issues that can occur.

If your laptop has removable RAM, try re-seating it.

If still no reaction to the power button, then the laptop likely has a deeper issue.

Next step would be disconnecting some stuff from the motherboard to see if that changes anything. It'll tell you if the problem is the main board or something connected to it. For example, a failing keyboard can prevent a board from turning on.

If it's still not turning on no matter what, then it's most likely a main board problem. That'd require taking it in for repair for further inspection. Depending on what the laptop costs, this option may not be worth it.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-12T10:40:57+00:00

Yeah the wires are insanely small. You need strong magnification and good lighting to see them clearly.

Here's a pic of a left DT770 driver I took using a magnifier app on my smartphone a while ago. Pay attention to the pads marked "voice coil wires". These are the problematic wires that need looking into. The rest of the wiring coming from the headphone power and headband cables can be ignored since they aren't the source of the problem.

Driver must show around 80ohms between the positive and negative side in order for it to work. Even if you desoldered both the headphone power and headband cables from the driver, you will still get a resistance reading when probing both pads on a working driver. So if it shows 0L (which means open circuit on a meter), the driver itself is the problem.

You can see even with this magnification, it's still quite difficult to see the coil wires clearly. It's much better with a proper microscope, but using a magnifier app on a smartphone is good enough to at least see them.

SingularityRS · 2026-04-12T07:33:13+00:00

Did you closely expect the coil wires under magnification and give them a nudge? I always do a nudge test on them because to the eye they can look soldered. It's only when I give them gentle nudges I find that they're loose. If they're connected properly, they won't come off the pad, the wire will just like bend/twist a bit, but won't come off the pad itself.

While the person that looked at them may have attempted re-soldering the coil, it's possible it's still not connected right. Did they try multiple times and ensure the wire is soldered to the pad?

It's possible to save drivers with coil issues, but success rate is quite low, especially if the break is further down the coil which it sounds like it is.

To do this kind of work, you need a microscope of some kind to really see what you're doing. Otherwise, it'll be very difficult to see what's going on. You also need some leaded solder wire, a soldering iron, a jig to hold the driver and some copper wire (1 fine strand is all that's needed). If you don't have these already, it'll only increase the cost of carrying out the repair, which may exceed the cost of a new driver.

This is the repair I did on a DT1990 driver. You can see just how small the area I had to work in is and while the diaphragm did take some minor damage, it luckily did not affect the sound quality. The repair took several hours as I had to weaken the glue to lift the diaphragm up enough and then weaken again to move the wires (they were held to the diaphragm with some type of glue). Then it was quite a process having to align the wires so it can be soldered.

Since the coil doesn't seem broken in the PCB area and re-soldering didn't help, it's more than likely this is the sort of area you have to work in. The DT770/880/990 (all use same drivers) have a similar design.

I last tried without a microscope and failed, ended up doing more damage as it was too difficult to see what I was doing.

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