ZDNET’s key takeaways
- My broken gaming PC needed both hardware and software repairs.
- ChatGPT helped me avoid risky fixes and needless extra work.
- It helped with hardware replacement and software reconstruction.
No fun for you! That was the message my gaming machine was quietly screaming at me. It started with games crashing in ways they never had before.
Then Windows Update failed. On reruns, it failed again and again. Then, one day, I rebooted the machine. When it restarted, it displayed a message that something was wrong with my RAM. Ruh-ro.
I originally built this machine in 2023 to run Starfield. Starfield ultimately proved to be disappointing, but the machine has been a champ ever since for other games. I also use it once in a while for run-of-the-mill work tasks. It’s a tower PC, so it doesn’t get moved much. Even so, my first thought (and hope) was that all I would need to do would be to reseat the two 16GB RAM sticks.
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I lugged it into the workshop, set it up with one of my little portable displays, and opened it up. The RAM was in the machine securely. I tried running Windows Memory Diagnostic, which is part of Windows 11. It rebooted into the diagnostic but never left any results in the Event Viewer. So I switched to the free version of MemTest86, which I ran off of a USB stick.
MemTest86 reported memory errors immediately on both sticks. But could both sticks have failed together? Could it be a BIOS setting of some sort? Could there be a motherboard issue?
ChatGPT Voice for the win
I have a couple of laptops in the workshop dedicated to my large CNC and my soft-metal milling CNC. But I didn’t want to keep looking at a laptop screen while working inside the guts of my gaming tower. So I launched ChatGPT on my phone and then tapped the voice icon.
From that point on, I was able to talk to the AI to get help with working my way through the next steps.
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In order to run me through the diagnostic steps for my specific motherboard, the AI needed to know the motherboard make and model. I looked that up and told it. From that point forward, it was able to guide me.
Investigating system hardware
Its first suggestion was to reset the BIOS, which might eliminate any configuration problems or corrupted BIOS data. Because I have an Asus motherboard that’s a favorite of overclockers, the AI walked me through the AI Tweaker settings to make sure overclocking was turned off. We confirmed that I had the machine running memory at a conservative speed (2,133 MHz) for DDR4 RAM. Overclocking pushes the limits of hardware. Making sure overclocking was off eliminated it as a factor.
It walked me through loading the initial configuration defaults. But doing so changes some moderately critical systems. For example, the CSM (Compatibility Support Module) supports some old-school boot methods. Tweaking it could have caused some boot-up issues. Another example is the TPM (Trusted Platform Module). Triggering that could have caused recovery key issues. We also didn’t want to turn off Bluetooth because that’s how I control my mouse and keyboard.
We actually did two different types of BIOS resets. First, we loaded the optimized defaults, which you can do from the BIOS. Next, we electronically cleared the CMOS using the motherboard’s CLRTC (Clear Real-Time Clock) pins. Doing so clears CMOS memory and problematic power-on self-test conditions.
I ran MemTest86 after each of those tests, with no more joy.
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I actually thought about reflashing the BIOS. The version on my machine is a bit out of date, and I thought that if I updated it, it might fix the issues. ChatGPT was very emphatic that doing so would be a baaaad idea indeed. Its reasoning, which I can’t disagree with, is that if the system’s RAM is bad and the OS is already corrupted, what gets flashed into the BIOS ROM might also add corruption to an otherwise protected part of memory.
Since it’s very difficult to undo a bad BIOS flash, especially on a sick system, it’s entirely possible that ChatGPT talked me out of a process that might well have killed my machine.
I had some difficulty changing the boot priority for MemTest86, so I had the AI walk me through making those changes. At one point, I fed it a photo of the BIOS screen, which helped it understand the configuration of the machine.
Then we went back to the memory slots themselves. This time, I took photos of the memory error dump for each stick and fed those to the AI.
The sticks both instantly produced incorrect data in all the slots. Some errors showed individual bit errors. Both sticks failed at the same data transfer rate but at different memory addresses. This implied memory errors but still wasn’t conclusive.
Next, we tried to narrow down whether there were CPU core issues. We ran the tests using all the CPU cores, a test using core 0, and a test using core 4. All three variations failed. This implied the problem wasn’t with the CPU, but it still left open the possibility of the CPU’s memory controller being faulty.
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Next, the AI guided me through testing motherboard voltages. We checked the reported voltage values for DRAM, the CPU system-on-a-chip, the 12-volt rail, the 5-volt rail, and the 3.3-volt rail. All were within expected ranges. So at least the motherboard was delivering the right amount of power to the right places.
Ordering RAM
I found this to be a very collaborative process. I’ve worked my way through many failed PCs over the years, so I had a pretty good feel for the right operations. However, I didn’t know the details of this motherboard’s configuration or its BIOS UI. The AI was able to help me find the right settings.
It was also better able to look at the memory dumps and proved to be a good sounding board for diagnostic conclusions. It was, essentially, the second opinion.
This hurt my wallet and my soul.
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When I bought my G.SKILL RipjawsV DDR4 32GB RAM kit almost exactly three years ago in September 2023, it cost $75. Now, that exact same package was on Amazon for $265. That just hurt way too much. I looked around Amazon and found the Timetec 32GB kit for $190 and ordered it.
Paying $190 for something I bought for $75 three years ago made me throw up a little in my mouth. Still, it was $75 less than the G.SKILL kit that had just potentially failed in my machine.
The next day, my replacement RAM arrived. I popped it into the machine. I ran MemTest86. It passed. But that wasn’t the whole story.
The rest of the story
Even though I started a completely new session in ChatGPT, the AI knew I had been having problems with my machine. So I brought it up to speed on the RAM replacement and the MemTest86 success.
I’m not going to bore you with the specific details of the Windows Update error. But it basically meant that Windows was damaged and it wouldn’t properly accept the update. It seemed that the defective RAM had caused some damage in the system that was there even after the hardware was fixed.
I asked ChatGPT to walk me through some PowerShell commands to fix the corruption. This kind of in-the-weeds repair is not something I’m super familiar with on Windows 11. Instead of spending hours digging around online, ChatGPT dictated the command lines I needed to run.
First, I tried running Microsoft’s Deployment Image Servicing and Management utility (DISM). It scans and repairs Windows components. It’s a bit lower-level than just checking system files. Unfortunately, it kept blowing up at 28.1% into the scan.
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The AI noticed a very interesting clue: Both Windows Update and DISM were reporting the same error type and were both complaining about a component identity error.
So then we tried the System File Checker (SFC). As the label on the tin says, it checks system files. It also checks whether they’re good and attempts to make repairs of corrupted files.
It claimed it completed successfully, with the message, “Windows Rem.” But not really. As soon as I restarted and ran DISM again, the machine again failed at 28.1%
ChatGPT told me, “SFC can successfully repair protected system files without necessarily resolving problems in the Windows servicing infrastructure.”
Special.
I really, really didn’t want to reinstall Windows. My machine had years of configuration tweaks and customization that I didn’t want to lose. Plus, the mere process of Windows installation is an epic pain.
When I whined about this to ChatGPT, it recommended a compromise approach. It recommended we use the Windows recovery process called “Fix problems using Windows Update → Reinstall now.”
This feature claims (and actually does, much to my relief) to reinstall Windows 11 while maintaining everything installed, including apps, files, and settings. It goes in and rebuilds system files and components but notably is not a factory reset.
It was a long run, taking about 90 minutes, but it worked. It also updated Windows to the latest Windows build number, moving from 26200.8457 to 26200.9457.
I tried running DISM, the tool that scans and repairs Windows components, one more time. This run passed the 28.1% point, made it to 63.3%, and stalled. After 20 minutes, I got impatient and worried, but the AI told me to just wait and let it run. It’s funny. That’s the advice I would have given a friend if I were providing tech support. But when doing it myself, I was too impatient.
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However, the wait was worth it. DISM reported, “The operation completed successfully.” At ChatGPT’s suggestion, I also ran SFC again, and it reported, “Windows Re
Between DISM’s positive result and SFC’s positive result, I was pretty sure that the Windows system file and component store problems were fixed. The AI concurred.
The final result
I ran Windows Update one more time. This time, it reported, “You’re up to date.” I closed up the machine, put it back where it normally lives, and fired up Cities: Skylines 2. I’ve been playing it, and a few other games, on and off for the last day or so. I’ve had no problems.
Without the AI’s help, I had pretty much come to the conclusion I might need to replace the RAM. But ChatGPT saved me from a possible machine-killing BIOS update. Sure, the worst-worst-worst case would have been a motherboard replacement for a few hundred bucks. Still, that’s a lot of work and expense I didn’t want to go through.
It also suggested using the Windows recovery process, which I didn’t really trust. Instead of doing a Windows reinstall, which I didn’t want to do but was leaning hard into expecting to do, it helped me save my current install and still fix all the component issues.
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Net-net, the AI may have saved me a few hundred bucks and many hours of extra work. It definitely helped to have a sounding board. I am convinced that ChatGPT saved me a lot of time researching and agonizing over the right command-line sequences I would have otherwise had to figure out on my own.
I have no doubt I would have ended up with a working system on my own, without the AI’s help. But it would have been messier, costlier, stressier, and more timeier than it was with the AI’s help.
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I still think these AIs might kill us in our sleep. But, at least during waking hours, ChatGPT helped me fix my PC.
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