u/Justin1Jumpy

So I have had problems with my PC when ever i move it long distances while driving, and i do the classic steps of reseating the ram,gpu, psu cables then as a finally move clearing the cmos and taking the battery out, and that usually works and my PC boots again.

this time it gave me more trouble. I have a b500mk motherboard so the post codes are through beeps. Usually the beep code is 1 long beep followed by 3 short beeps meaning it’s a RAM issue, so i reseat the ram, it still doesn’t boot and now the beep code is 1 long beep followed by 2 short beeps meaning it’s a GPU. I reseat the GPU and it goes back to the beep code for the RAM. that has never happened before, so i just redo those steps again but with RAM i know works and even my old GPU, and still nothing so i take the cmos out and clear it, still nothing

I decide to go to micro center for the free consult and diagnostic. the free consult, the technician just tells me they look at it and give advice, so i tell them what i did, and what the beep codes mean and i say i think the motherboard finally gave out. He says that he doesn’t know what the beep codes mean off the top of his head, and i would have to pay the $80 for their “comprehensive diagnostics test”.

I get a message from them yesterday that they got it to boot, but the “repair” was doing exactly what i did, reseating the RAM, the GPU, checking the PSU cables then clearing the Cmos, and they are charging me $60. here is my question and gripe, on their FAQ about the “comprehensive diagnostics” it says that they do a series of tests as well as another visually inspections, then are suppose to message me about what the issue is and tell me the cost estimate for the “repair”. $140 in total for that PC is crazy, it’s a 5600x B550mk 16Gb of RAM 3060 ti and the PSU cables are non removable, and for what the “repair” was. When i go to pick it up today, do i just white knuckle it and pay because a technician did do labor or do i literally be a karen and talk to the manager and say it’s crazy you are charging me an extra $60 for that repair before i “authorized” what the cost estimate for the repair.

edit: spelling

Hello i wanted yalls opinion, I set up an appointment with the free consultation with micro center because ive had issues with my PC not booting when moving it while driving long distances. I always do the classic reseat the RAM, use a pair of RAM sticks that I know work, reseat the GPU, check all the connectors to see if they are in, and if nothing works i take the cmos out as well a clearing it, these steps have always worked and my computer boots up again. this time it didn’t work (same audio post code pattern), so I re-did the process again to make sure still nothing, then i decided to go to micro center.

The technician said the free consultation is just looking at the computer and giving advice, and i told him the things i did and said i think the motherboard finally gave out. He said visually everything looks good and said we would have to do the diagnostics test and it would be $80. From my understanding and what is on the FAQ about the diagnostics test they run 400 tests as well as do another visual inspection then are suppose to message me about the estimated cost and the estimated time for the repair. Well today i get a message from them saying they did exactly what i did, reseating the ram,GPU and PSU cables and it booting and they have already charged me $60.

I feel like this is insane, i thought the $80 i paid was to tell me the issue and give me an estimate for “repair cost” and time as well as their 400 software based test. $140 in total is crazy for that PC, 5600x b500mk 3060ti 16GB of ram and a psu with non removable cables. I understand a technician did labor, but the exact same motherboard being sold by micro center is $90 and that would have forced me to do that exact same thing again for cheaper. IDK if i should just swallow my pride and pay it or be an actual karen and talk to the manager and show them their FAQ and my gripe with the situation.