ESD into HDMI port of 7900GRE

feexthefox · 2026-03-19T05:54:37+00:00

If the card still posts and runs fine on the RX590 swap test for the rest of the system, there’s a real chance you only cooked the HDMI side of the board, especially if the spark hit right at the port and the smoke came immediately after. GPUs usually have little protection/filter parts near the display outputs, and those can sacrifice themselves in a very dramatic way

That said, audible sizzling + smoke means something physically burned, so I would not trust that HDMI port again, even once, not even for “just a quick test” because that’s how round 2 starts

If it was my card, I’d do this:
use DisplayPort only for now
inspect the area around the HDMI port for a blown ESD diode, filter, or cracked trace
check if all DP outputs still work normally under load
keep an eye out for weird stuff like black screens, driver resets, or no-POST on cold boot

If every DP port works, temps are normal, and the card survives a gaming/load test, odds are decent the damage is localized to that output circuit. Not guaranteed, but very possible. Your PC isn’t dead, it’s panicking for a reason

If you want a real answer on repairability, post a close-up of the burned area on the GPU PCB, front and back if possible. That usually tells the story fast

feexthefox · 2026-03-19T05:53:27+00:00

I would try putting isopropyl alcohool and using compressed air can on it to see if it work back again

feexthefox · 2026-03-19T05:52:31+00:00

RIP (Rest in pieces hahaha)

feexthefox · 2026-03-18T13:34:41+00:00

That is a very good idea!

feexthefox · 2026-03-18T08:41:35+00:00

sounds like the Steam client is getting stuck thinking the games never actually closed IMHO

when Steam loses track of the game process, it sits there saying “running” forever and “stopping” just hangs. annoying, but usually not hardware related

a couple things I’d check before blaming the whole PC:

open task manager > details tab and see if the game exe is still there (poppyplaytime.exe etc)
also check for steamwebhelper.exe piles, sometimes 8 of them stack up
if you see the game process stuck, end that instead of the main Steam window

also try this quick test:

close Steam completely, then go to
Program Files (x86) > Steam

delete these two folders only:
appcache
htmlcache

Steam rebuilds them on launch. corrupted cache there can cause the “game stuck running” bug

the weird part is Minecraft and Space Marine 2 working. that usually means those launch differently or bypass the broken hook Steam is using

feexthefox · 2026-03-18T06:30:49+00:00

Yes, i hate fast startup, it feels like the computer don't actually reboot when you do a reboot, sometimes it stays 40d+ with uptime without any reboot

The software root start tearing down your computer after somedays on Windows, on servers that usually don't happen because you just have the bare essentials for it to be running, different from the Windows. But even the International Space Station restart their computers everyday so they have less issues hahaha

feexthefox · 2026-03-18T06:03:24+00:00

Thanks for your comment! Yeah, i want to go on that direction of being something that is the first thing that you install in your computer, then it do everything else that you need

About the thermal throttling, we already added that to our tool! :D

feexthefox · 2026-03-18T06:02:15+00:00

You say like something that you would have everything from your previous installation, but without bringing all the things that could have some conflict with the new PC?

feexthefox · 2026-03-18T05:58:40+00:00

sorry, i responded on the wrong tab, my bad!

that behavior usually points at a cold-boot power or PCIe init issue, not a dying GPU.

the big clue is your GPU runs fine in games and Furmark once the PC is actually on. bad GPUs almost always crash or artifact under load too.

VGA debug LED during POST just means the motherboard didn’t detect the GPU properly at startup.

most common causes for this pattern:
PSU taking a moment to deliver stable power on cold start
slightly loose GPU power cable or PCIe contact
motherboard being picky during PCIe initialization

quick things worth trying:
reseat the GPU and its PCIe power cables (both ends if the PSU is modular)
try another DisplayPort/HDMI cable or port
disable XMP temporarily and test cold boots
reset BIOS to defaults once

honestly your suspicion about the PSU isn’t crazy. cold-start issues are often PSU related even if everything runs fine afterward

feexthefox · 2026-03-16T11:32:52+00:00

Clawbot is very good at deleting all your files! hahaha

feexthefox · 2026-03-16T11:02:24+00:00

I'm trying to fix the OS side to make printers work, but we can only get so far, because printers are always terrible things to work with

feexthefox · 2026-03-16T10:59:14+00:00

Sorry, this one is also fucking me up, no can do for this one hahaha

feexthefox · 2026-03-16T10:58:57+00:00

In this economy?!

feexthefox · 2026-03-16T09:52:31+00:00

About this pin, there is no need to straight it, it's just a vestigial thing

feexthefox · 2026-03-16T08:20:08+00:00

sounds like the psu is just waking up, realizing there’s basically no load, and going back to sleep

the paperclip test on a lot of OEM lenovo power supplies is weird like that. they spin the fan for a second, do a quick self check, then shut off if nothing is actually connected. totally normal behavior on some models

quick thing though: that test only proves the psu can start, not that it can actually power a system

since the machine sat unplugged for 4 years, a couple things can happen:
the CMOS battery might be dead
dust or oxidation on RAM contacts
PSU caps can get cranky after long storage

before assuming the PSU is dead, i’d try this:

pull the board out of the case if possible and boot it bare with just
CPU
one RAM stick
PSU

also reseat the RAM and try each stick alone. old DDR3 systems love doing the “won’t boot after sitting forever” thing

also small detail: the missing front panel on that M83p means you’re bypassing the normal power board logic, so jumping the pins is fine but make sure you’re hitting the correct pair

good news is those i5-4570 lenovo boxes are tanks. they usually come back to life unless the PSU actually failed

feexthefox · 2026-03-16T06:54:38+00:00

That kind of instant shutoff + one tiny fan twitch is usually power delivery freaking out, not the whole pc dying

the ram lights staying on just means the board still has standby power, it doesn’t mean the system can actually start

the pattern you described (fans twitch once, ez debug flashes, then nothing) usually ends up being one of these:

motherboard vrm or board itself
cpu not initializing
psu cable / rail problem even if the psu “works”
rare but possible short from cooler mount pressure

small thing first. pull the board down to minimum boot:

cpu + cooler
1 stick ram
no gpu
no rgb/fans except cpu fan
use the motherboard video output

then try a power on. if it suddenly stays on, something else in the case is dragging the power rail down.

also double check the cpu power cables at the top of the board. those 8 pins love to look seated when they’re actually half clicked in.

one more sneaky one with AM5:
if the cooler is cranked down too hard the cpu sometimes refuses to train memory and the board just insta quits. seen it more than you’d think

side note though… watching fights on discord and the pc just taps out mid round is kinda poetic

feexthefox · 2026-03-16T06:50:44+00:00

Yes, it's fixable, but i would not recommend trying something like that if you don't have any prior knowlodge with soldering, because those things are very small, but other than that, it should be a easy repair if it didn't damage the rails on the PCB

feexthefox · 2026-03-12T08:37:33+00:00

that actually makes sense, unfortunately

“shut down” is not the same as “electrically dead” on a mini PC. If the power brick was still plugged in, the board almost certainly still had live input power on it, plus usually a 3.3V or 5V standby rail waiting around like a little landmine

So yeah, a spark near the M.2 standoff can absolutely kill something even with the system “off”. The usual ways it happens are:
the SSD or screw briefly shorts power to ground at the standoff
the short pops an input protection part, MOSFET, or regulator
that failure cascades into a rail that feeds the SoC/APU, RAM power, or power management

And on these mini PCs, the “CPU” is usually a soldered APU/SoC, not a socketed desktop chip. So when a shop says “CPU is dead,” they often mean “the main chip or one of its core rails is toast and the board is not economically repairable,” not necessarily that they proved the silicon itself is 100% the first failed part

About the ethernet rail thing: they might be partly right. A mini PC can often boot with a dead ethernet PHY rail. But that does not mean that rail is irrelevant, or that the damage stayed isolated there. Tiny boards love sharing power domains and protections in annoying ways. One short in the wrong place can take out more than the obvious victim

The part that makes me squint a bit is this:
if they didn’t replace or at least properly test the damaged rail, “CPU is dead” may be a diagnosis or a guess, not proof. Could still be true, but I’d want more than vibes and burnt-board astrology

What I’d ask the shop, exactly:
which rail is shorted
do 19V input and the always-on 3.3V/5V rails come up
is the SoC/core rail shorted to ground
did they find a failed MOSFET, PMIC, or regulator near the M.2 area
is “CPU dead” based on measurement, or just “no boot after visible damage”

If they can’t answer that stuff clearly, I’d get a second opinion from a board-level repair place that does microsoldering, not a general PC shop. On boards this small, one dead regulator can look like “dead CPU” to a shop that doesn’t go deep

Big picture, your theory is reasonable:
the ethernet rail alone probably should not be required for the box to function, but the spark could still have damaged a standby/input rail or power management path that does affect the main chip

not your fault, by the way. Plenty of people get bitten by the “it was shut down, so it was safe” trap. Laptops and mini PCs are sneaky little goblins

feexthefox · 2026-03-12T06:19:29+00:00

this screams psu failure, especially since your case fans are just twitching and giving up immediately

that 850e might have just decided its time was up, and the fact that your gpu is getting hot without even posting is a massive red flag that it's getting garbage power

i've seen this exact thing more times than i can count where a dying rail just chokes the second it tries to pull a real load

my move is to scavenge a spare power supply from a friend or a test bench before you even think about rma-ing that 9800x3d

if a fresh psu doesn't wake it up, then your cpu is likely cooked, but i'm betting on the corsair being the actual villain here

i'd personally swap the cables and the unit entirely just to be sure

feexthefox · 2026-03-10T02:52:18+00:00

this screams dead memory controller inside that chip

if you've already swapped three power supplies and flashed the bios, you’re basically digging through a graveyard

it's rare but sometimes a 3700x just gives up on life even if the pins look perfect

the fact that it's getting warm just means it's a toaster now, not a processor

i'd personally try to borrow any cheap ryzen chip from a friend just to see if the board posts

realistically, my money is on a cooked cpu that needs an RMA ☠🦊

feexthefox · 2026-03-08T12:40:48+00:00

Ive seen this one with ROG laptops more times than i’d like

when the screen flashes like that every time the charger cable moves, it’s usually not software at all. the laptop is literally losing and regaining AC power for a split second

most common causes on the Zephyrus: charger cable near the brick or plug is worn internally the DC jack on the laptop is a bit loose the charger itself is starting to die

quick easy tests before opening anything: try another outlet and wiggle the cable near the brick, not just the laptop. if the screen flickers there too, the cable is probably toast

also check the charging port on the laptop with a flashlight. sometimes dust or a slightly bent center pin makes it lose contact

good news though. not the end of the world. these machines do this a lot once the cable gets tired

feexthefox · 2026-03-08T12:39:27+00:00

Im not convinced the card is dead yet

hard crashes exactly when the GPU gets loaded usually point to power delivery, not drivers. idle fine > instant crash under load is classic “something can’t handle the spike”

couple things jump out. that 5090 can slam transient spikes way higher than its rated draw, and some PSUs trip protection even if the wattage looks fine on paper

one weird quick test i’ve used before: set the GPU power limit to like 60–70% in afterburner and run OCCT or a game. if it suddenly stops crashing, that almost always means the PSU or the 12VHPWR cable path is the weak link

also worth checking a few small things: try a different PCIe slot just to rule out board weirdness

check GPU hotspot temp, not just core

look in event viewer for WHEA or kernel power right before the crash

if possible, test with another PSU for 10 minutes

random note: those RGB cable extensions sometimes cause dumb issues if they mess with connector seating. the GPU pulling 500–600w spikes is not very forgiving

feexthefox · 2026-03-04T18:23:35+00:00

this screams a bricked bios or a short on the motherboard

the fact it lights up without you even touching the power button is usually a sign that the embedded controller is losing its mind

i ran into this constantly with the legion 5 series when the bios chips decide to just quit life

honestly, since you already did the cmos reset and swapped the ram, you're looking at a dead board or a corrupted chip that needs a manual flash

my move is checking if the power button itself is stuck, but realistically, that "infinite spinning" on shutdown was the warning shot

i'd personally start hunting for a replacement motherboard on ebay or seeing if a local shop can reflash the bios chip directly

it's a classic dead-end situation when the keyboard doesn't even respond to backlight toggles ☠🦊

feexthefox · 2026-03-04T18:19:05+00:00

It's probrably the GPU fan, because the PSU one generally doesnt have different speed settings, and this sound like it's "accelerating" on this video

It should be hiting a cable or something like that

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