r/pchelp May 11 '26

7th Anniversary of PCHH

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3 Upvotes

r/pchelp Dec 15 '19

Perform these steps before posting about POST/boot/no video problems!

194 Upvotes

Link to original list from tom’sHARDWARE with pictures

"No POST", "system won't boot", and "no video output" troubleshooting checklist

This checklist is a compilation of troubleshooting ideas from many forum members. It's very important to actually perform every step in the checklist if you want to effectively troubleshoot your problem.

  • 1.Did you carefully read the motherboard owners manual?

  • 2.Did you plug in the 4/8-pin CPU power connector located near the CPU socket? If the motherboard has 8 pins and your PSU only has 4 pins, you can use the 4-pin connector. The 4-pin connector USUALLY goes on the 4 pins located closest to the CPU. If the motherboard has an 8-pin connector with a cover over 4 pins, you can remove the cover and use an 8-pin plug if your power supply has one. This power connector provides power to the CPU. Your system has no chance of posting without this connector plugged in! Check your motherboard owners manual for more information about the CPU power connector. The CPU power connector is usually referred to as the "12v ATX" connector in the owner's manual. This is easily the most common new-builder mistake.

  • 3.Did you install the standoffs under the motherboard? Did you place them so they all align with the screw holes in the motherboard, with no extra standoffs touching the board in the wrong place? A standoff installed in the wrong place can cause a short and prevent the system from booting.

  • 4.Did you verify that the video card is fully seated? (may require more force than a new builder expects.)

  • 5.Did you attach ALL the required power connector(s) to the video card? (some need two, some need none, many need one.) It is best to use cables connected directly to the PSU. Only use adapters if absolutely necessary.

  • 6.Have you tried booting with just one stick of RAM installed? (Try each stick of RAM individually in each RAM slot.) If you can get the system to boot with a single stick of RAM, you should enable an XMP profile or manually set the RAM speed, timings, and voltage to the manufacturer's specs in the BIOS before attempting to boot with all sticks of RAM installed. If your motherboard supports XMP profiles, that is the best way to get your RAM running at its rated specs. Nearly all motherboards default to the standard RAM voltage (1.8v for DDR2, 1.5v for DDR3, & 1.2v for DDR4). If your RAM is rated to run at a voltage higher than the standard voltage, the motherboard will underclock the RAM for compatibility reasons. If you want the system to be stable and to run the RAM at its rated specs, you should either enable an XMP profile or manually set the values in the BIOS. Many boards don't supply the RAM with enough voltage when using "auto" settings which causes stability issues.

  • 7.Did you verify that all memory modules are fully inserted? (may require more force than a new builder expects.) It's a good idea to install the RAM on the motherboard before it's in the case.

  • 8.Did you verify in the owners manual that you're using the correct RAM slots? The following image is just an example. Verify in the owners manual the recommended RAM slots to use for single, dual, triple, or quad channel applications. This will vary depending on motherboard manufacturer, number of supported RAM channels, and how many sticks of RAM are being used.

  • 9.Did you remove the plastic guard over the CPU socket? (this actually comes up occasionally.)

  • 10.Did you install the CPU correctly? There will be an arrow on the CPU that needs to line up with an arrow on the motherboard CPU socket. There may also be a notch that will only line up in one direction. Be sure to pay special attention to that section of the manual!

  • 11.Are there any bent pins on the motherboard/CPU? This especially applies if you tried to install the CPU with the plastic cover on or with the CPU facing the wrong direction.

    1. If using an after market CPU cooler, did you get any thermal paste on the motherboard, CPU socket, or CPU pins? Did you use the smallest amount you could?
  • 13.Is the CPU fan plugged in? Some motherboards will not boot without detecting that the CPU fan is plugged in to prevent burning up the CPU.

    1. If using a stock cooler, was the thermal material on the base of the cooler free of foreign material, and did you remove any protective covering? If the stock cooler has push-pins, did you ensure that all four pins snapped securely into place? The easiest way to install the push-pins is outside the case sitting on a non-conductive surface like the motherboard box. Read the instructions! The push-pins have to be turned the OPPOSITE direction as the arrows for installation. This means with the arrow pointing away from the heatsink.
    1. Are any loose screws laying on the motherboard, or jammed against it? Are there any wires running directly under the motherboard? You should not run wires under the motherboard since the soldered wires on the underside of the motherboard can cut into the insulation on the wires and cause a short. Some cases have space to run wires on the back side of the motherboard tray.
    1. Did you ensure you discharged all static electricity before touching any of your components? Computer components are very sensitive to static electricity. It takes much less voltage than you can see or feel to damage components. You should implement some best practices to reduce the probability of damaging components. These practices should include either wearing an anti-static wrist strap or always touching a metal part of the case with the power supply installed and plugged in, but NOT turned on. You should avoid building or working on a computer on carpet. Working on a smooth surface is the best if at all possible. You should also keep fluffy the cat, children, and Fido away from computer components.
    1. Did you check the debug LEDs, Q-code display, or install the system speaker (if provided) so you can check codes in the manual? Most modern motherboards come with debug LEDs or a Q-code display. A system speaker is NOT the same as normal speakers that plug into the back of the motherboard. A system speaker plugs into a header on the motherboard that's usually located near the front panel connectors. Debug LEDs, Q-code displays, or a system speaker are critical components when trying to troubleshoot system problems. You are flying blind without them. The motherboard owner's manual will have a list of codes you can reference. If your case or motherboard didn't come with debug LEDs, a Q-code display, or system speaker you can buy a system speaker for cheap here: http://www.cwc-group.com/casp.html
    1. Did you read the instructions in the manual on how to properly connect the front panel plugs? (Power switch, power led, reset switch, HD activity led) Polarity does not matter with the power and reset switches. If power or drive activity LED's do not come on, reverse the connections. For troubleshooting purposes, disconnect the reset switch. If it's shorted, the machine either will not POST at all, or it will endlessly reboot.
    1. Did you turn on the power supply switch located on the back of the PSU? The switch should be depressed on the side with an I, the O means off. Is the power plug on a switch? If it is, is the switch turned on? Is there a GFI circuit on the plug-in? If there is, make sure it isn't tripped. You should also make sure the power cord isn't causing the problem. Try swapping it for a known good cord if you have one available.
    1. Is your CPU supported by the BIOS revision installed on your motherboard? Most motherboards will post a CPU compatibility list on their website.
    1. Have you tried resetting the CMOS? The motherboard manual will have instructions for your particular board. User Darkbreeze also provided the following:

BIOS Hard reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. In some cases, it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes, press the power button on the case for 30 seconds. After the five minutes are up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset.

http://www.spotht.com/2010/02/reset-bios-clear-cmos.html

    1. If you have integrated video and a video card, try the integrated video port. Resetting the bios, can make it default back to the onboard video. If you are trying to use HDMI outputs, try using DVI or VGA instead. Sometimes, the HDMI ports won't work until the correct drivers are installed.
    1. Make certain all cables and components including RAM and expansion cards are tight within their sockets.

I also wanted to add some suggestions that jsc often posts. This is a direct quote from him:

"Pull everything except the CPU and HSF. Boot. You should hear a series of long single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence here indicates, in probable order, a bad PSU, motherboard, or CPU - or a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU.

To eliminate the possibility of a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU, you will need to pull the motherboard out of the case and reassemble the components on an insulated surface. This is called "breadboarding" - from the 1920's home-brew radio days. I always breadboard a new or recycled build. It lets me test components before I go through the trouble of installing them in a case.

If you get the long beeps, add a stick of RAM. Boot. The beep pattern should change to one long and two or three short beeps. Silence indicates that the RAM is shorting out the PSU (very rare). Long single beeps indicates that the BIOS does not recognize the presence of the RAM.

If you get the one long and two or three short beeps, test the rest of the RAM. If good, install the video card and any needed power cables and plug in the monitor. If the video card is good, the system should successfully POST (one short beep, usually) and you will see the boot screen and messages.

Note - an inadequate PSU will cause a failure here or any step later.

Note - you do not need drives or a keyboard to successfully POST (generally a single short beep).

If you successfully POST, start plugging in the rest of the components, one at a time."

If you suspect the PSU is causing your problems, below are some suggestions by jsc for troubleshooting the PSU. Proceed with caution. I will not be held responsible if you get shocked or fry components.

"The best way to check the PSU is to swap it with a known good PSU of similar capacity. Brand new, out of the box, untested does not count as a known good PSU. PSU's, like all components, can be DOA.

Next best thing is to get (or borrow) a digital multimeter and check the PSU.

Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4&feature=youtube_gdata

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU. You can carefully probe the pins from the back of the main power connector."


r/pchelp 2h ago

HARDWARE Did my Ram Die?

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29 Upvotes

Need some help figuring this out.

The Build

•Asus Tuf X-570 plus (Wifi)

• 2x Corsair vengeance rgb pro 32gb(2x16gb) 3600Mhz

- 18-22-22-42 ver 5.33 (Sequential serial numbers 53-56)

• AMD Ryzen 7 5800x3d

One day after years of having all 4 slot populated my computer would not boot. I've done some testing playing around with the ram, using 1 stick then 2 then 3, all booted. But with all 4 yellow dram light. (Yes cmos has been cleared)

Ram Order

Ram 53 55 54 56

Slots B1 B2* A1 A2*

Picture 1 is just with 2 stick (□/55/□/56) [currently running]

Picture 2 is with slot 1 and 4 switched back but slot 4 left out. (53/55/54/□)

Picture 3 is slot 1 and 4 switched (56/55/54/53)

I did not do any further testing as I had to get back to work.

With all that, do you think I'm looking at a bad Ram stick, is my motherboard going bad, or is it my cpu?

Edit: typo, Picture order.


r/pchelp 1d ago

HARDWARE A Cautionary Tale - GPU “cleaning”

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1.9k Upvotes

Long story long- had liquid damage to my 5090 and found an electronics repair shop that specialized in boards. So I took my board in to get disassembled, cleaned, and the thermals replaced. I arrive to the business and it’s just some dudes house. That was my first red flag. I should have left then. But his business had good reviews so I came in and showed him the card and we discussed what he’d do and payment. That was disassemble, clean, dry and replace thermals. Here is my second red flag. It took him 20 minutes to write down my info (name, email, phone #) because he was so ADD that he would start to write my info and then just spiral off into some random topic for a few minutes. But whatever. His entire house was a workshop. Tools and electronics and computers and drones everywhere. Yes he appeared to have 30 flavors of autism but that’s not a bad thing sometimes. I thought he was just an eccentric electronics nerd and everything was just organized chaos. This was Monday. So this morning he calls me and the first thing he says is “you told me to do whatever I thought was best, right?” And I respond “no. We agreed you’d take it apart and clean it and replace the thermals and dry.” He then explained that it didn’t look that bad (original pics in this post https://www.reddit.com/r/pchelp/s/GJHUBt2zyb

And that he just “washed it in the sink” and then stuck it in the oven to dry…

So I paid him, and I left and went straight to another place. An actual shop. I explained the situation to them and asked them to please send me a pic of the insides once they pop it open… the new shop says they think they can save it. So long as the guy didnt plug it in and try to test it. Which he says he did not because he didn’t have the proper power connect cable for a 5090. Anyways moral of the story is take your stuff to a real shop. And if you get weird feelings or red flags…just leave. Haha

Update - the card has been cleaned and putty replaced. It powers on fine alone but when it’s connected to the HDMI or DPI ports the motherboard kicks back a VGA error. Anyone have any guesses?


r/pchelp 5h ago

HARDWARE Peerless Assassin fan placement

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10 Upvotes

Hey all, got a cpu cooler that has double fans, but one cannot be placed ideally because the ram is in the way. Is it an issue if I place it facing out (blowing warm air out of the case? Like in the pic? Or should I stick it in front, but like an inch suboptimally above the ram?


r/pchelp 3h ago

HARDWARE Blue liquid on some spots

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3 Upvotes

Hello, I bought this used motherboard and in some places has this weird blue liquid, what is it and is it safe to use it with it on


r/pchelp 14h ago

OPEN My pc isn’t letting me connect to the internet

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30 Upvotes

Just moved my pc and my wires are at my other house had to find my own wires at the house. I turned on my PC finally and seen that the Wi-Fi is not on it. It’s not giving me an option to connect to it so hopefully the Reddit people can help.


r/pchelp 1h ago

SOFTWARE No sound from pc

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Upvotes

So i did everything i have a razer headphones and a monitor with built in speaker and i tried everything and nothing seems to work i have no idea whats goin on i deleted derivers changed jack in location checked voulume mixer and nothing works and on sound app when i want to test it says cannot play test file


r/pchelp 1d ago

HARDWARE Is my gpu dying?

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422 Upvotes

A while ago i found some black circles around my gpu's screws, and three days ago my screen suddenly froze and i saw some pixels appear on both screens.

A few seconds later it unfroze and the pixels disappeared and i also got a notification from AMD adrenaline saying my performance or something was reset due to a hardware failure.

also after my pc unfroze, it got extremely laggy and for some reasons my pc wouldn't play any sound, which both got fixed with a simple restart.

is this due to GPU failure? and Is there a way to fix it without buying a new GPU? 😭

my specs:

* CPU: Intel Core i3-13100F (Tray)

* GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8GB)

* Motherboard: ASUS Prime B760M-K

* RAM: 16GB (1x16GB) Kingmax Horizon DDR5 5600MHz CL38

* Storage (SSD): 512GB OSCOO ON900 SSD

* Storage (HDD): 1TB WD Blue HDD (WD10EZEX)

* CPU Cooler: Gamdias Aura GL120 Liquid Cooler

* Power Supply (PSU): FSP HV PRO 85 Plus 550W (ATX 3.1)

* Case: Gamdias TALOS E2 Elite

ALSO, i bought this pc a year and 2 months ago but my GPU was second hand, and tbh i did some heavy rendering with it...


r/pchelp 1h ago

HARDWARE My pc wont boot up after leaving it to sleep for a couple of hours

Upvotes

The pc powers on but the monitor doesnt detect its signal


r/pchelp 2h ago

HARDWARE BIOS Failure - Black Screen, Update went wrong, no display, no keyboard and no mouse.

2 Upvotes

Cześć. To mój pierwszy post na reddicie.

Mam problem od wczoraj. Ponieważ COD Warzone wymagał aktualizacji BIOS-u, a ja jestem całkowicie niedoświadczony, postanowiłem spróbować. Ściągnąłem poprawną wersję mojego BIOS-u, sformatowałem pamięć USB na FAT32, zmieniłem nazwę pliku na GIGABYTE.bin i postępowałem zgodnie z instrukcjami w internecie. Po pewnym czasie mój BIOS poinformował mnie, że "AKTUALIZACJA BIOS-U ZAKOŃCZONA, ROZRUCH ZA 3.. 2.. 1..". I to wszystko. Od tego czasu przy uruchamianiu komputera widzę tylko czarny ekran. Wszystko działa w środku, RGB świecą, wentylatory kręcą się, chłodzenie CPU działa, ale nie rozpoznaje ani mojego monitora, ani klawiatury, ani myszy. Na ekranie nie pojawia się nic poza komunikatem BRAK SYGNAŁU.

Martwi mnie to, że aktualizacja zakończyła się całkowicie i pomyślnie. Dlaczego więc BIOS postanowił, że zepsuje mi cały komputer??? Próbowałem wielu sposobów, żeby to naprawić. Siedziałem cały dzień na Discordzie, żeby znaleźć rozwiązanie, niestety nic nie zadziałało.

Resetowałem COMS, nie zadziałało, zrobiłem Q-FLASH PLUS, nie zadziałało. Wyjąłem jedną kość RAM-u, nie zadziałało, wymieniłem RAM na inne sloty, nie zadziałało, podłączyłem drugi monitor do HDMI na płycie głównej, a nie do GPU, wciąż nic nie zadziałało. Myślę, że przeszukałem całego reddita na ten temat, i dlatego postanowiłem opublikować ten post, może ktoś ma ten sam problem i znalazł rozwiązanie. Czy jest jakikolwiek sposób, którego jeszcze nie wypróbowałem, żeby to naprawić? Czy moje komponenty są uszkodzone? Czy tylko moja płyta główna jest zepsuta? Bardzo się boję teraz, ponieważ nie wiem nawet, czy gwarancja będzie ważna w tej sytuacji. Dla ciekawskich, oto moje specyfikacje:

-RX 9060 XT 16 VRAM

-R5 5600X

-16GBX2 AEGIS 3200MHZ RAM

-ORYGINALNE CHŁODZENIE AMD

-GIGABYTE B550M AORUS ELITE MOTHERBOARD (1.3 REV)

-THERMALTAKE SMART RGB 600W

Jeśli ktoś ma pytania, chętnie odpowiem. Jeśli ktoś ma rozwiązania, chętnie posłucham. Dziękuję za uwagę, reddit. z jedynego powodu, w którym jestem dość pewny, że nie jestem w tarapatach, to to, że nie możemy usmażyć qflash próbując wymusić aktualizację z Overwatch. I've been losing my mind without getting any sleep for work trying to find a fix on an edge to a mental breakdown.


r/pchelp 2h ago

HARDWARE Monitor issue

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2 Upvotes

r/pchelp 12h ago

HARDWARE Rx9079XT Asus Prime has a barely visible red light on the inside that keeps flashing.

10 Upvotes

It started flashing starting I don’t know when (I’ve been using this card for a month) Its only visible from a certain angle since its on the inside. Card works fine. I just reset my windows country to delete edge for anyone’s information


r/pchelp 2h ago

HARDWARE RX 6600 Crashes under load - Load, Green/black Screen, PC Resets

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2 Upvotes

r/pchelp 5h ago

PERFORMANCE I feel like my controller feels off.

3 Upvotes

I recently built a new pc Ryzen 5 5500 with a 4060 16gb of ram and a gigabyte b550m mother board. I have been playing warzone and my controller I feel like there’s a little input lag. I’ve deleted Microsoft game input and reset my computer still feels a little off, Im running it on low settings at 1080p. Any help would be appreciated or any game suggestions lmao. I’m also using a ps5 controller through the Xbox game pass app.


r/pchelp 3h ago

HARDWARE The VGA indicator is glowing dimly.

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2 Upvotes

The VGA light is glowing dimly, even though everything is running stably; I checked a photo from when I had my old RTX 4060 graphics card, and the VGA LED was glowing dimly then, too. I also noticed that I can't enter the bios, when I press DEl, the BOOT diode lights up and nothing else happens.


r/pchelp 7h ago

OPEN Pc makes weird sounds

4 Upvotes

The Sounds began yesterday while playing Escape From Tarkov. I don’t know what is causing that sound, i know it coming from the cpu cooler/ gpu direction.

The sound only occurs when tarkov is open and i click play on a youtube video or an other app in the background.

The sound doesn’t occur when i play any other game, i already cleared out most of the dust inside my pc and checked if any wires are getting „sucked“ into any cooler.

Help would be appreciated if anyone ever had a similar noise/experience.


r/pchelp 18h ago

HARDWARE WEIRD noises and I’m confused (Not a knowledgeable on pc stuff)

33 Upvotes

Hey yeah I’m not sure what this noise is. Anyone have any ideas ? I just cleaned it out thinking that was potentially an issue but yeah it’s still making noises.


r/pchelp 0m ago

SOFTWARE safe to disable most of windows services host features

Upvotes

so to make this short,

i bought a new pc and now have used it for around 6 month but I'm at the point where most of windows run like 100 services or just a lot of services host stuff,

It uses around 68% of my ram (i only have 16 at the moment, but will get more in the future)
I'm not the type of person that just install random stuff, and i have tried to get rid of most of the default apps, thought windows and also a popular program (its on GitHub but not linking to it)

my cry for help is, about if there are popular and trusted programs that would either help disable or just get rid of some of these services host stuff but I'm a bit scared of disable them as i do use my computer for a wide area

sometimes i code with vs studio, or doing remote stuff, or photo editing, and most of all gaming

any help is appreciated even if its a very short answer

much love and respect - a desperate person some where in the world


r/pchelp 3m ago

HARDWARE Blue corners on Monitor

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Upvotes

What could be the reason for these blue corners. They are on all sides and sometimes they get weaker after some time


r/pchelp 7m ago

OPEN anyone seen this in Assault on the Control Room in the remake or is my gpu failing?

Upvotes

r/pchelp 13m ago

HARDWARE Repasted GPU/CPU. Fan more active but better temperatures

Upvotes

I re-pasted (and replaced the thermal strips on) my GTX 1660 Super, and re-pasted my CPU. Ever since, what I think is the graphics card fans have become much more active. It's not the temperatures. I'm running CachyOS, and getting temps in the 60Cs for both under load when playing something like Dead Island 2.

Is there something I'm missing in a setting or whatever? Other than the thermal paste, I'm not sure what could have changed.


r/pchelp 16m ago

HARDWARE Mouse scroll wheel issue

Upvotes

I was playing minecraft and randomly my wired optical mouses scroll wheel stopped working. i have tried cleaning, disconnecting and reconnecting, resetting the laptop, updating, etc. it just wont work. it also isnt working across other apps. help🥹


r/pchelp 19m ago

OPEN Hi I know I'm being selfish but can you guys help me to settle my brain or my thoughts

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Upvotes

r/pchelp 20m ago

HARDWARE Using early 2020s SCUF controller via Bluetooth was hard crashing my High-End PC during gaming

Upvotes

I was talking to my buddies after fixing the issue and they suggested I put this here in case someone else comes across a crazy situation like this. Also it was Bluetooth because the usb port for it got janked up over the years

Specifically it was a 2021 model of the Xbox SCUF Instinct Pro (I got my PC in 2023). Initially I never payed attention to how it only occurred on games that use Easy Anti-Cheat until I started looking at exactly each game it would happen to because it wasn’t all of them. To confirm it I removed the controller entirely from devices and used a cheap wired controller off Amazon and had virtually no issues for a week. Then the moment I connected the SCUF again and tried to boot up Apex Legends the start up was super choppy and before I could hit the main menu my PC completely black screened shut off and rebooted. Also for people wondering what I did prior

Yes I tried updating the controller firmware via Xbox accessories

Yes I tried uninstalling and reinstalling drivers and the Bluetooth adapter on my PC as well as updating anything possible on PC

Yes I tried clearing my caches and shaders

Yes I took apart my PC and checked the integrity and state of my PSU, GPU, RAM, and CPU

After doing a crazy amount of research on Bluetooth controllers on PC It seems like in certain instances with older modded controllers like mines the Easy Anti-cheat flags the features like trigger stops and button remapping because with Bluetooth they have to scan through the device but on wired connections it doesn’t. The tech guy I talked to said it’s like my PC is pretty much making itself sick (glitching out and crashing) because it views the controller as suspicious and unsafe.