List of PC Hardware Failures
Last Updated: February 25, 2024; Updated by: Steve Burke, GamersNexus. Reason for update: Added Toshiba & CableMod recalls.
Failures listed on this page are those which have been validated independently by the GamersNexus team. We do not list component failures not found by our team.
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The absence of a rating does not mean absence of a fault. Absence from this list does not preclude possibility for a critical fault, nor does it preclude possibility of a safety concern. This table is made to the best of the abilities and knowledge of GamersNexus as a public service and is not to serve as a substitute for official manufacturer, government, or agency recommendations of safety and product usage or repair. GamersNexus is not responsible for failures of manufacturers. GamersNexus serves as a third-, independent party doing its best to provide public awareness in good faith where it believes there is an absence of transparency. Issues only relating to performance of products, e.g. benchmarks, do not get listed here. A poor performing or bad value product would just be covered in the review.
The SEVERITY LEGEND can be found below the list.
Disclaimer
| Date | SEVERITY | Manufacturer | Component | ROOT CAUSE | Result | Resolved to GN's Standard? | Manufacturer's Resolution | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024.02.21 | Critical | Toshiba/DynaBook | Toshiba laptop AC adapters | Component selection/design. Laptop AC adapters overheat and can catch fire and/or burn users. | 1. Possible fire 2. Possible burns 3. Charger failure 4. Possible damage to laptop | TBD | Replace units, both failed and working. Recommend filing for replacement even if no sign of failure. Affects 15.5 million units. | Link |
| 2024.02.08 | Critical | CableMod | CableMod 12VHPWR ANGLED Adapters | Loose contact, potential bad batch, potential PCB design. Cause undisclosed. | 1. Potential melting of the adapter at the connection with the GPU. 2. Melting of the 12VHPWR connector on the video card, leading to disablement of the video card. | Yes (2/08/24) | Manufacturer issued a full recall of all angled adapter cables, including a refund for the part cost and shipping. Vouchers were offered for the manufacturer's store as an option. 25,300 units are estimated effected by the US CPSC. This does not affect the cables (only the adapters) and CableMod will not be making more adapters. | Link |
| 2023.05.19 | Moderate | Lian Li | Galahad AIOs (Gen 1) | Corrosion from second flux pass without radiator flush. | 1. Slow loss of performance over time 2. Gunk build-up & corrosion within the loop | Yes (5/15/23) | Galahad AIO units sold prior to March 2022 are known to be potentially affected. Lian Li is replacing all units facing this issue - visit their Support/Warranty page. Units with SN prior to 202203 may be affected. | Link |
| 2023.04.30 | Critical | AMD | Zen 4 CPUs | Heat, Voltage | 1. Silicon Explosion 2. Possible fire 3. Component death | Yes | Reduce VSOC to 1.3V Max, modify PROCHOT settings | Link |
| 2023.04.30 | Critical | Various | AM5 Motherboards | Voltage, Failed Protections | 1. Silicon overvolted 2. Degradation of CPU quality 3. OCP fails to prevent issue, leading to 4. Possible fire | Yes | Reduce VSOC to 1.3V Max | Link |
| 2022.11.16 | Moderate | Various | 12VHPWR Cables | User Error, Design Oversight | 1. Possible fire 2. Header melts in socket 3. Component death | Yes | 1. User education 2. Possible change to clip design 3. Possible change to spec to increase tolerance | Link |
| 2022.08.23 | Moderate | Arctic | Liquid Freezer II Series | Chemical reaction caused by gasket | 1. Gunk build-up 2. Possible corrosion 3. Poor cooling | Yes | Replacement kit available for free or RMAUnits after discovery should not be affected | Link |
| 2021.09.08 | Critical | Fractal | Fan Controller in Fractal Torrent | Poor PCB design causing short to ground | 1. Possible fire 2. Component death | Yes | Replacement kit available for free or RMAUnits after first round should not be affected | Link |
| 2021.08.08 | Critical | Gigabyte | GP-P750GM & GP-P850GM | Malfunctioning protection mechanisms & failsafes | 1. Possible fire 2. MOSFETs explode | Yes (Eventually) | Modified Over-Power Protection in newer units | Link |
| 2021.01.23 | Critical | NZXT | H1 Case Riser Cable | Poor PCB design causing short to ground | 1. Possible fire 2. System death | Yes (Eventually) | Originally provided insufficient plastic screws. Later provided completely reworked PCB. | Link |
| 2019.04.25 | Moderate | Enermax | Liqtech Coolers | Chemical reaction caused by poor water quality, metal quality | 1. Gunk build-up 2. Possible corrosion | No | Eventually shipped upfitted replacements that also failed | Link |
Remind Us: This list was only recently added. If we’ve forgotten one of our research pieces that should be on this list, please tweet @GamersNexus or email team (at) GamersNexus dot net.
SEVERITY RATING SYSTEM
Critical
Critical Severity means that GamersNexus believes, to the best of its ability, that the issue could result in a possible safety hazard for the end user. Note that Root Causes primarily stemming from User Error will not receive this rating unless sufficient manufacturer fault is also present — otherwise, we’d have an infinitely long list of Critical concerns as user error is theoretically infinite. Critical Severity means the component will die if this failure mode is encountered, and it may take out other components with it (or could escalate to user safety).
High
High Severity means that GamersNexus believes the issue could cause the death of a component (whether or not it is the affected component)
Moderate
Moderate Severity means that GamersNexus believes the issue could possibly damage a component (whether or not it is the affected component), but is less likely to cause that component to die (that’d be High Severity).
Moderate Severity also indicates a possible lower likelihood of the failure to occur, or at least a prolonged timeline over which it may occur
Moderate Severity will also be used in cases where User Error is determined to be a driving cause of an otherwise higher severity failure.
Low
Low Severity means the issue has no immediate risk to the component or the user and may not require being addressed, even if best practice would be to address it. An example would be an issue primarily resulting in performance impact, but not necessarily component loss or damage.
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We maintain this list because we recognize that YouTube, despite being an amazing platform, is difficult to navigate as issues age. Note that some of these topics have had several videos entered by our team, so we will begin building playlists over time for each issue. Our plan is to link those playlists to the above reports.
Failure List Update Log
February 25, 2024; Updated by: Steve Burke, GamersNexus. Reason for Update:
CableMod 12VHPWR Angled Adapter recalls added to failure list
Toshiba/DynaBook notebook AC adapter (charger) recalls added to failure list
July 20, 2023; Updated by: Steve Burke, GamersNexus. Reason for Update:
Recently re-tested the ASUS and Gigabyte BIOS updates and found that VSOC is now properly held at the new specified values from AMD directly. Previous beta versions of the BIOS were not consistent with VSOC; however, the latest version as of July 20, 2023 passed the AMD safe SOC specification in our lab.
May 20, 2023; Updated by: Steve Burke, GamersNexus. Reason for update:
Added Lian Li Galahad failures and details. Only covered in news video (so far).
Updated AMD Zen 4 ‘melting CPU’ failure entry to mark as resolved to the extent it can be (remaining problems are communication-related). We may revise this later if more fail.
Added clarity to prior GBT & NZXT entries (previously stated “Eventually” for resolution, but it was unclear if that meant ‘will be’ or ‘was’ resolved).
Considering adding new columns for date of resolution or grade of resolution.
Considering adding additional pages for further information in the event we have updates that are not video worthy, but are worthy of a quick written note.
May 12, 2023; Updated by: Steve Burke, GamersNexus. Reason for update: Updated AMD failures, added Report links
May 1, 2023; Updated by: Steve Burke, GamersNexus. Reason for update: Added AMD failures