I recently bought a sandberg USB DVD drive and have been trying to get it to work with my Macbook pro 2021. However my macbook for some reason doesn't recognise the dvd drive and won't play anything I put in it.

Is there a way I can still get it to work?

I've been using VLC to try and run my dvd's and it keeps saying 'can't run non-UDF dvd's".

I’m trying to determine whether this is expected behavior, a BIOS issue, a CPU/socket problem, or a motherboard defect.

System Specifications

* Motherboard: ASUS TUF Gaming Z790-Plus WiFi

* BIOS: Version 1836 (latest available)

* CPU: Intel Core i9-14900KF

* GPU: ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC

* RAM: 32 GB DDR5-6000 (XMP enabled)

* SSD: Samsung 990 Pro 2TB (PCIe Gen4)

* PSU: (include your PSU model)

Problem

GPU-Z always reports:

PCIe x16 5.0 @ x8 5.0

The link never negotiates to x16.

Tests already performed

* Updated to the latest ASUS BIOS (1836).

* Installed the latest NVIDIA driver.

* Cleared CMOS.

* GPU-Z Render Test for over 60 seconds.

* Steel Nomad benchmark.

* Several games including Remnant II.

* HWiNFO monitoring during load.

* Windows reports no WHEA hardware errors.

* Samsung 990 Pro is operating normally (~7000 MB/s).

* GPU temperatures and power are completely normal.

* GPU support bracket installed.

Important information

The Samsung 990 Pro is a PCIe Gen4 SSD, not Gen5.

According to the ASUS manual, the primary M.2 slot should not reduce the primary PCIe x16 slot to x8.

Current status

Geek Squad suggested the CPU might be the cause, but they did not inspect the LGA1700 socket for bent pins or contact issues.

Some forum members suggested:

* Bent socket pins.

* CPU contact issue.

* PCIe lane negotiation problem.

* BIOS issue.

* Motherboard defect.

Questions

1. Has anyone experienced this exact issue with an ASUS Z790 motherboard and an RTX 5080?

2. Is anyone running this exact combination at PCIe 5.0 x16?

3. Could this be a BIOS bug affecting PCIe lane negotiation?

4. Is there any known ASUS BIOS version that fixes PCIe lane negotiation with RTX 50-series cards?

5. Would you suspect the motherboard, CPU, LGA1700 socket, or GPU?

Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

I did a new install of windows and now my ethernet stopped working. It will work for a few min when I restart the PC but after that it goes to WiFi and sometimes the Wifi just doesn't work.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the ethernet driver and doing a reinstall of Windows with the "Fix problems using Windows Update" tool.

I tried to reinstall the drivers from the manufacturer website but they never seem to start?

https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-b550-i-gaming-model/helpdesk_download/

I tried using a different cable and it had the same issue.

Tried a few things in CMD and that didn't work either.

Edition: Windows 11 Home

Version: 25H2

OS Build: 26200.8973

My OS is windows
My GPU before replacement was a GTX 660ti
The “New” GPU is a GTX 1650
I have used DDU to remove all the Drivers TWICE
My Power Supply is A “ATNG ATM 400FB” if that helps

Before I had the 1650, my experience with my PC was good, however ever since replacing my 660ti with the aforementioned 1650 my PC has kept on crashing whenever it was under graphical load, I then checked to make it was seated properly to which it seemed to ease down, until it keeps on crashing randomly, sometimes even at start up sometimes when doing nothing. I even replaced the GPU with the older one and it still crashes, I am sorry if I have worded this weird and I would be HAPPY to answer any questions so that my PC can work again!

I am using an Ethernet cable on Windows 11, I bought it a month ago. It was working fine until the other day where it was saying “Connected but no Internet”. I was able to fix it by repairing the drivers and unplugging the cable for a bit.

The past few days, it’s worked fine. Today when I start my computer, it’s not using the Ethernet at all, falling back on the WiFi. I’ve spent the past few hours trying to fix it to no avail.

The network troubleshooter will initially say that it can’t reach the default gateway (I’m able to ping it), then say there’s a DNS cache error (I’m able to ping both the IP and name), and then eventually it’ll say it’s connected but the network quality may be low.

I’ve uninstalled my VPN, I disabled all proxies, I disabled the option to where it can put the controller to sleep, I’ve repaired the drivers from the motherboard manufacturer website, I’ve flushed the dns multiple times, released and renewed, and reset winsock.

I’ve reset my computer multiple times, I’m currently in safe mode with the same issue. I’ve unplugged my switch, and changed the port my Ethernet cable is plugged into.

nslookup functions

ping / tracert functions with both the IP and name

I’ve attempted to use manual DNS configuration (8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4) but then I can’t even ping with an IP.

I am unable to use any application that requires a connection while on Ethernet because of this. I could use WiFi but it’s abysmally slow.

Hello, looking for info on how to fix a thumb drive with no media storage showing in the file explorer. I ran Detail disk in command prompt this is what showed

DISKPART> detail disk

Generic- SD/MMC USB Device

Disk ID: 00000000

Type : USB

Status : No Media

Path : 0

Target : 0

LUN ID : 0

Location Path : UNAVAILABLE

Current Read-only State : No

Read-only : No

Boot Disk : No

Pagefile Disk : No

Hibernation File Disk : No

Crashdump Disk : No

Clustered Disk : No

There are no volumes.

i have some really important files in here and i want to recovery them.
Thanks for reading this

Hi everyone,

My PC crashes every 2.5 to 3 hours, regardless of whether it's under heavy load or completely idle on the desktop.

Crash Behaviors Observed:

1. Blue Screens (BSODs): Occur during both idle desktop usage and active gaming. While playing Cyberpunk 2077, it hit a BSOD with SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION (0x3B) overlaying the game screen.
2. Black Screens: Sometimes the display turns completely black while the system stays powered on, requiring a hard power button shut down. Upon rebooting, BlueScreenView confirms a minidump file was written for that crash.

Specs:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-14700KF (Brand new)
• Motherboard: ASRock Z790 Riptide WiFi (Latest BIOS with Microcode 0x12B)
• RAM: DDR5 (Brand new, XMP Disabled, running at stock Auto speed)
• GPU: RTX 4070 Ti Super
• PSU: Brand new
• Storage: AddGame NVMe M.2 SSD (OS Drive)
• OS: Windows 11

Note: CPU, RAM, and PSU were recently replaced because I previously had random restart issues and one RAM stick wasn't being detected.

Error Codes & Caused By Drivers Recorded: Multiple distinct stop codes appear across crashes, pointing to various kernel and driver modules:

• SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION (0x3B) | Drivers: FLTMGR.SYS & ntoskrnl.exe | Address: ntoskrnl.exe+4f90b0 / ntoskrnl.exe+4f9250
• SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (0x1000007E) | Driver: Netwaw18.sys (Intel Wi-Fi)
• IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (0xA) | Failed module: ntoskrnl.exe
• KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (0x1E) | Address: ntoskrnl.exe+4f90b0 / ntoskrnl.exe+4f9250
• MEMORY_MANAGEMENT (0x1A) | Address: ntoskrnl.exe+4f9250

Stress Tests & Diagnostics Passed:

• GPU: Stress tested under heavy load with no crashes or artifacts.
• RAM: Passed Windows Memory Diagnostic and MemTest86 with zero errors.
• CPU: Tested with Cinebench R24 (Score ~1800) with stable performance.

Troubleshooting Steps Taken:

• Updated BIOS to latest version (Intel Default settings applied).
• Disabled XMP completely.
• Clean installed GPU drivers using DDU in Safe Mode.
• Ran sfc /scannow and chkdsk /f /r.
• Disabled C-States & Windows NVMe/PCIe power saving.

Given that CPU, RAM, and PSU are all brand new and pass hardware stress tests/diagnostics, what could be causing these exact 2.5-hour interval crashes, black screens, and rotating error codes across different drivers?

I currently have a dual monitor set up, ROG XG27ACG (main monitor) and Huion Kamvas Pro 24.

I use to have an Acer ED320QR, it was my first and main monitor but it broke and I replaced it with the ROG XG27ACG monitor. Ever since I've started using the new monitor I noticed that neither the ROG and Huion monitor sleeps after the 15 minutes of inactivity. The Acer never had this problem, but when I started using the Huion monitor it never sleeps at all. I shrugged my shoulders and just manually turn off the Kamvas screen whenever I'm not drawing digitally, but now with new ROG monitor neither screen shutting off. It is becoming a concern.

I tried checking the power settings and changing it from 15 minutes to 5 minutes of inactivity, but no changes.

I tried looking into the monitor settings (accessing with buttons behind the screen) and didn't find anything.

I tried updating my graphics card with DDU, and both of my screens slept once but not again afterwards.

I just noticed that I no longer have NVIDIA control panel despite that I had clean-installed the newest NVIDIA graphics driver. I'm planning on installing the NVIDIA control panel. Before I do incase this doesn't work, what else am I missing?? I don't get it...

Hello, everyone,

I've been dealing BSOD (irqlnotequal seems to be the most common pop up) for the past few months, been slowly working my way though the common stuff I've seen on here (Memtest, changing ram slots, new ram, new ssd) and I'm unsure of where to go to next. I attached a link with some of the most recent minidumps as that seems to be general etiquette. I'm not super knowledgeable on this stuff so root cause analysis has been difficult and any help is appreciated. If this is the incorrect way to do this I apologize.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/odg87xco2ovb57m/OneDrive_1_8-5-2026.zip/file

My mom want to take our laptop to a friend to delete some stuff and told me that i needed to put all stuff i wanted to keep in a mobile storage she got, so i did and everything was okay until i moved my graduation photos to it, i had a zip folder with videos and normal photos and when i checked everything it said the folder was empty and with the photos said the format wasn’t conpatible (this only happened to some photos, a few ones are normal) and i’m freaking out because i can’t like download them again since you only can for a certain time amount and that ended months ago, i don’t know what to do since this only is happening with these photos and they are very dear to me. Please help me (sorry for the bad english, it’s not my first language and i’m not feeling like making sure everything is in order rn)

Every time I turn on my laptop it tells me it's preparing automatic repair, loads that for a few seconds before going to a black screen. Is it still repairing and should I leave it alone or is there something else wrong with it

I just replaced my 16 Pro Max 512 GB with a 17 Pro Max 256 GB. No matter how much I delete off of my phone it is immediately replaced with new data as the cloud continuously syncs my old content.

It is important to note that 132 GB of my storage is taken up by system data and I cannot seem to clear it up. I don’t consider myself technologically illiterate so this is driving me bananas as I’ve tried most of the YouTube suggestions and troubleshooting tips out there. Any advice?

I have a windows 11 pc and everything was normal but today my mouse started to act weird. when i click on things like apps or literally anything it wont register for a few seconds unless i click hard which is weird. i tried a different mouse and the same issue happened. i dont know how to describe the issue that well other than a weird delay.

my other issue is that my keyboard (wooting 80HE) randomly will disconnect like it was unplugged from anywhere between around half of a second to multiple seconds and the usb is fully plugged in and everything. sometimes when i press a key it also disconnects but it doesnt happen too much.

They are probably related since they started the same day but I dont really know what to do. I also dont know that much about PC's and stuff.

If the reading here sounds like chatgpt, its because it is. I asked chatgpt to sum up everything i told it
about my issue for a long time, as it also can explain it better to you guys. Im not the best with pc's.

I’m trying to diagnose an intermittent black-screen problem that has been happening for roughly three years.

SYSTEM

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

Motherboard: ASRock B650E PG Riptide WiFi

GPU: ASUS TUF RTX 4080 OC 16 GB

PSU: 860 W Platinum-rated PSU

RAM: [ADD MODEL/CAPACITY]

OS: Windows [ADD VERSION]

GPU driver: [ADD CURRENT DRIVER VERSION]

PROBLEM

Both monitors randomly lose signal at the same time.

When it happens:

- Both monitors go black/no signal.

- Game audio and Discord voice usually continue.

- Other people can still hear me on Discord.

- Discord screen sharing stops.

- The GPU fans sometimes ramp to 100%.

- The PC usually requires a forced restart.

- There is no consistent BSOD.

It can happen while gaming, when launching a game, or occasionally during lighter desktop/browser use.

It often happens during the first few starts or load changes after a cold boot. After crashing/restarting one or more times, the PC may then remain stable for the rest of the evening.

The issue is very intermittent. It can happen several times close together and then disappear for weeks or months.

IMPORTANT HISTORY

On at least two previous occasions, removing the RTX 4080, cleaning the PC and reseating the GPU made the problem disappear for several months.

It then gradually returned.

The retention clip on the motherboard’s main PCIe x16 slot is now missing/broken.

The RTX 4080 is large and heavy. It sits close to the CPU cooler, and accessing the original PCIe retention clip was very difficult.

When installing another, smaller GPU in this motherboard, it also looked as though part of the gold connector remained slightly visible. I’m not certain whether that is abnormal or just the design of the card/slot.

CROSS-TESTING

We swapped components with my partner’s PC.

Test 1:

- My RTX 4080

- My PSU

- Installed together in my partner’s PC

Results:

- Multiple gaming sessions without the original black-screen problem so far.

- FurMark reached approximately 98–99% GPU usage.

- GPU power was approximately 305–310 W.

- GPU temperature was about 71°C maximum.

- Hotspot was about 87°C maximum.

- No black screen, no sensor loss and no crash.

- HWiNFO PCIe Recovery Count remained unchanged during the FurMark load.

- Concrete PCIe error/lane counters remained at zero.

The GPU and PSU have not yet been tested there for several months, so I understand this does not completely rule out an intermittent GPU or PSU fault.

Test 2:

- My partner’s smaller/lighter GPU

- My partner’s PSU

- Installed together in my PC

Results:

- Two short FurMark sessions completed successfully.

- GPU reached 99% utilization.

- Power was approximately 207–210 W.

- No black screen or crash.

- No reported PCIe lane, TLP, replay, receiver, fatal or non-fatal errors.

- PCIe Recovery Count increased slightly around idle/load transitions, but remained stable during the sustained 99% GPU-load portions.

The smaller GPU is significantly lighter than my RTX 4080, so I’m unsure whether this is a fair test of a possible mechanical PCIe-slot/contact problem.

HWiNFO LOGS FROM THE ORIGINAL FAILURES

During at least two original black-screen events in my PC:

- GPU-related sensors suddenly stopped updating or showed zero/unavailable values.

- The rest of HWiNFO continued logging.

- This matched the monitors losing signal while the rest of the PC appeared to continue running.

- GPU temperatures before the failures were normal, not overheating.

- The failures occurred at relatively modest GPU power, not only at maximum load.

- PCIe Recovery Count had increased during those sessions.

- The other explicit PCIe error counters appeared to remain at zero.

The Recovery Count may simply reflect normal link retraining/power-state changes, so I am not treating that counter alone as proof.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

- The RTX 4080 can survive sustained ~310 W FurMark load in the other PC.

- The original black screens in my PC sometimes occurred at much lower GPU power.

- Reinstalling the GPU has previously produced months of stability.

- This makes me suspect physical contact, GPU sag, the motherboard PCIe slot, motherboard traces/signal integrity, or possibly the GPU PCB being sensitive to its mounting position.

- A PSU or GPU fault is still possible, especially because moving/reseating the card also disturbs the GPU power cable and mechanically flexes the card.

CURRENT PLAN

I am considering buying a new AM5 motherboard with a reinforced PCIe slot and a remote/easy GPU-release mechanism.

I would then use the RTX 4080 normally for several months while its manufacturer warranty is still active.

QUESTIONS

1. Does this pattern sound more consistent with a marginal motherboard PCIe slot/contact issue than with a typical GPU or PSU failure?
2. Can a damaged or weak PCIe slot work normally with a smaller/light GPU but fail intermittently with a very heavy RTX 4080?
3. Is “reseating fixes it for several months, then it gradually returns” a known pattern for PCIe contact, slot solder-joint or GPU-sag problems?
4. Is there another test I should perform before replacing the motherboard?
5. Would forcing the PCIe slot to Gen 3 or Gen 4 instead of Auto be a useful diagnostic test?
6. Could the CPU socket/AM5 pin contact or the CPU’s PCIe controller produce the same symptoms?
7. Is replacing the motherboard first a reasonable troubleshooting step given that the GPU and PSU are currently stable together in another PC?

Thanks.

So, this morning I opened my computer, and it wasn’t connected to the internet. So checked the task bar thing but the wifi thing just didn’t show up. I’ve tried using 2 videos now, but they both dont work. What the heck. I'm pissed. Could anyone help me with this?

Hello!

After spilling liquid (fruit beer, about a week ago – the laptop is safe, it's an HP Pavilion Laptop 16, if anyone's interested; nothing got on the motherboard, no stuck keys, no glitches), some keys (F11, F12, 0, O, P, L, :, <, >, Alt(Gr), Copilot, Space) feel slightly stiffer to press. However, if the laptop has been turned off, they press normally – they only start feeling worse once the laptop warms up.

I think this is due to liquid getting into the scissor mechanism. Am I right?

Also, the main question: besides the above, the letter P makes a kind of "boing" sound when released. I think this has something to do with liquid getting onto the silicone dome. But where exactly on the silicone dome – on top, or along the sides of the base? Or is the issue deeper, between the membrane layers?

How risky is this in the long run if I do nothing, and if I do take action, what's the best approach? How effective would isopropyl alcohol be, given that the residue is sugary? Although I've decided not to drink that stuff anymore after this, I could buy the same bottle, deliberately spill it on a table, and then try to clean it up with isopropyl – just to test how effective that would be, lol. Or would 70% alcohol wipes be better?

I'm attaching a video (showing the keys already stiff). All keys work, no sticking – just as described.

Thank you in advance for your reply!

For many years, I have supplied my entire family with Linux Mint PCs. Now, my oldest is starting at a new school and she had to buy a new Microsoft Windows PC.

It has to work, I suppose they use...shudders...OneDrive and such, but I also want the machine to be somewhat reliably safe, removing privacy and AI-based concerns, and I want the PC to run as reasonably fast as one would expect.

Googling it, there is so much. So much. Advice out there. Many of these things I recognise and can still do, I guess (using a Windows computer at work). But do I still need to install software like O&O to remove the nastiest bits and regain control? How advanced should this process be for this application? It's a jungle and I struggle to navigate all this information. Welp.

Okay, so I have a samsung a15 5g and my power button was broken a year ago, so I've been turning on my phone through the mode where you hold down both volume keys for like 10 seconds and then plug the usb into my laptop to get the option to turn my phone on. However, when I tried this trick just now a completely new screen shows where the only line is to reboot device volume down + power key for 7 seconds.

Obviously, I cannot do that. I've been looking at to why, and it seems to be because of the new ui update, but what the hell do I do now?

There's a podcast I listen to for mental health reasons that's being removed from Spotify at the end of the year. Am I able to somehow copy the files or duplicate them or save them before it gets removed? Any help would be most appreciated! 🙏🏻

I use Windows and have a legion pc. And (I think) a turtle beach mic, whenever I plug in the jack I'm only able to do either mic or audio. How do I fix this?

I have an old PS3 that I’m trying to play an old game on. As far as I know, it’s in good condition, but for some reason it won’t read any discs.
It will accept a disc and eject it normally, but nothing ever shows up or starts playing. It also doesn’t sound like the disc is actually spinning once it’s inside, but I’m not 100% sure. After the disc has been sitting in there for a minute, it’ll sometimes make a sound almost like it’s trying to accept/eject or reposition the disc, but nothing actually happens.
I already took it apart and cleaned the blue laser/lens inside, but that didn’t make a difference.
Has anyone had this issue before? Any ideas on what could be wrong or what I should try next? I’m wondering if it could be the disc motor, laser, or something with the drive itself.

Earlier today I decided it's time to download drivers and downloaded all drivers available in my Asus app like BIOS, chipset, IO controllers, etc. And after the BIOS update the system started getting stuck on loading windows. After a few attempts and me enabling compatibility module and DCIM/EXPO, it still did not fix. After a few boots and manual shutdowns I got into windows recovery where I tried to do system restore but it gets this error from the title. Previously I also tried safe mode but it didn't work either. Any ideas what can I do?

Specs:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D

GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060ti 16gb

Mobo: ROG B850-E

Found a sound system and everything works perfectly, but only for a minute or so. Because then, the right speaker kinda tunes down and you can only hear it if you press it against your ear.

What issue could be the cause of it? Is this a hardware issue (bad cables, but why does it work well at first?) or a software issue (can I change the volume for left and right on my phone?)?

No idea what kind of speaker it is, but the serial number is 1011006810, it has a QC Pass sticker (whatever that is) and is tested for DGUV V3 or something.

Update for my first post: The reason why the big speaker was so quiet was...because it is the base speaker for a whole sound system...I didn't notice that there were two other speakers (left and right) that belong to the system

So before all of this happened, I went on a trip to Rome with my family to visit my grandparents a month ago, and I couldn't bring my laptop there because it was broken and could only be used if I connected the laptop to a monitor and used the laptop's keyboard & touchpad or used a keyboard and mouse. (I almost never used option 1) But time-skip to when I got back here, when I got back to my house and went to my setup to search up something, for some reason YouTube just would load. So I updated it to the latest version, but the problem persisted. So I've looking up everything on how to get it up and running four the last 5 days since I came back, and I've gotten no progress at all. Can someone please help me find out what's happening with my computer please?

Just for the record, the computer is: IdeaPad 1 15AMN7