u/Austru

Yeah so this is my first time seeking help for stuff outside a friend/I guess also the actual tech support for my current (non-functional) PC. I'm hoping there's people out there that have experienced something similar and actually solved it.

(Old PC lore?):

So, like two weeks ago, my Dell XPS 8700 that I'd been using for more than like a decade finally croaked on me. Or, croaked-ish. The motherboard started getting super-heated while idling, even on the login screen, to the point that the PC would permanently freeze. I can't really do anything in one minute pre-freeze bursts, soo.. Yeah.

The PSU had already been acting up for well over a year, causing the PC to fail BIOS checks and make a really annoying beeping/screeching noise that didn't match up with any error code for the Motherboard, but I got around that with the button the back of the PSU + the power button.

Anyhow, I bought a compatible side-grade since I figured it was just the PSU's ability to.. PS, degrading to critical levels. Installed it properly, and what-not. Only that just fixed the BIOS errors, and not the super-heating/OS freezing problem.

Which.. Fine. More than a decade old, can't support W11 due to CPU, whatever. Got a new pre-built, a SkyTech Nebula. It had a ton of good reviews and at least used to be a good deal, so I figured.. Yeah. Budget category, and I'm too nervous to build my own, so fine.

Issue is, it also started malfunctioning, within hours of plugging everything in right.

(New PC lore..)

So, the new PC's gimmick is not recognizing USB input devices. So while the speakers are fine and functional, no mouse or keyboard controls past.. Cycling the unnecessary LED lights that at this point feel like they're mocking me.

First time it happened (late last Friday night), they eventually started working again after being stuck at the login screen for an hour. I'd thought restarting the PC would help and.. Nah. That was after using the PC for.. Let's say a few hours? For sure less than three.

Anyhow, after it started allowing them to be read again (like 12 or 1 AM on Saturday, while still being unrecognized) the PC hard crashed right as I was about to log out of a game it was otherwise running great. This time, it didn't fix itself. Was stuck like that for a day or two, up until I was able to contact the tech support for the PC.

After trying stuff like the 'connect the two CMOS battery pins with a screwdriver' thing, eventually stuff started working again after swapping out the RAM stick seated in the second slot with the one that was elsewhere.

Only, like ten minutes after that, the keyboard stopped being read as an input device, while the mouse stayed active and the ethernet port (which was previously fine?) stopped working. The PC also hard froze like my old one started doing.

That brings me to the now.

I tried ordering a new, better surge protector at the tech support person's suggestion, and it'll be here overnight.

But, y'know. Either that's the solution, or, it isn't? The electrical socket may have already killed once, and now it's potentially killed again. I don't want to enable its technological bloodlust for expensive (to me) gaming PCs.

Anyone have.. Experience with this kind of frankly cursed crap?

TL;DR:

Old PC stopped working right/went fire hazard. Got new PC. New PC immediately stopped working right/is potentially escalating in its jankiness in a way eerily similar to the old one's 'death'. Blame could rest on the equally old (to old PC's) surge protector? Or maybe not. Not sure how to proceed.

Help please. :^(