**The Great Laptop Escape: A Step-by-Step Guide to Bringing a Bricked PC Back to Life**

When about to show you right now is that we are going to get either a boot loop or a solid keyboard that's lit with a black screen and nothing coming up okay so I think we did it because when this PC boots and it first turns on the fans kind of do a full power cycle like a full ramp up and then come down this didn't do it we just lit up and got nothing so here we go we've now officially bricked it.

Now, anyone who knows anything about computers would never suggest that there's a magic fix for bricking a laptop or desktop. There is no single solution that can magically bring back to life a PC that has been bricked by a faulty BIOS or RAM issue. However, I'm here to guide you through the process of recovering your PC from a similar situation.

**The CMOS Battery: A Often-Overlooked Component**

There's one key component in our laptops and desktops that can easily be overlooked when dealing with bricking issues: the CMOS battery. The CMOS battery, or Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) battery, is responsible for storing the settings of your computer's BIOS. It acts as a backup power source to keep the system running in case the main power supply fails.

However, when your PC gets bricked, the CMOS battery can become stuck in an incorrect state, preventing the system from booting properly. In our case, we need to clear this CMOS setting to get our laptop up and running again. To do so, we'll remove the CMOS battery and hold the power button for a few seconds to discharge any remaining power in the battery.

**Removing the CMOS Battery: A Gentle Touch**

I've got my fancy handy dandy iFixit kit with me, and I'm ready to carefully remove the CMOS battery from our laptop. There are two screws holding this battery in place, so we'll need to undo these screws gently. As you can see, our Evo 16s has a small CMOS battery that's wrapped in a ribbon cable. This type of battery is also used in many other laptops and desktops.

Once I've removed the screws, I'll carefully unplug the CMOS battery from its harness. Now, let's put the battery back in but hold the power button for a few seconds to discharge any remaining power in the battery. We're essentially unplugging our PC from the wall and draining the capacitors by holding the power button.

**The Clearing Process: A 10-Second Hold**

Now that we've removed the CMOS battery, let's try clearing the system settings. To do so, we'll hold the power button for about 10 seconds to discharge any remaining power in the system. This will reset the system and potentially fix the bricking issue.

While holding the power button, I'll remove the CMOS battery from its harness. It's essential to note that this step may seem daunting, but it's a crucial part of recovering our PC from a bricked state. If you're not comfortable with this process, you can try searching for alternative solutions or consulting the user manual.

**Rebooting Our Laptop: A Second Chance**

Now that we've cleared the CMOS setting, let's put everything back together and reboot our laptop. I'll replace the CMOS battery in its harness and plug it back in. Next, I'll insert our battery into its slot and press the power button to turn on our laptop.

To my surprise, our laptop boots up successfully! The first boot or NVRAM reset condition has been detected, indicating that the system is working correctly again. We've brought our laptop back from the dead, and it's all thanks to a simple CMOS battery removal process.

**Tips and Variations: A Note for Desktop Users**

While we've focused on laptops in this article, there's an alternative approach that works for desktops as well. Most modern desktops have a clear CMOS button on the motherboard that allows you to bypass the CMOS battery altogether. If your PC has this feature, you can try pressing the clear CMOS button instead of removing the CMOS battery.

However, if you don't see a clear CMOS button on your motherboard, it's likely because your desktop doesn't have an external CMOS power source. In this case, you'll need to unplug the power cord from the wall and hold the power button for about 10 seconds to discharge any remaining power in the system.

**Conclusion: Bringing Your Bricked PC Back to Life**

Recovering a bricked laptop or desktop requires patience, persistence, and a bit of technical know-how. By removing the CMOS battery and clearing the system settings, we've brought our laptop back from the dead. If you're facing similar issues with your own PC, I encourage you to try this method before resorting to more drastic measures.

Remember to always handle electronic components with care, as static electricity can damage sensitive components. With caution and the right tools, you'll be able to recover your bricked PC and get back to using it in no time.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso I talked recently about a video I was gonna make about how to fix a broken laptop but what broke was my health because I got one of those than me now apparently it feels like I'm sick I'm trying to say I'm sick we're gonna we're gonna brick this laptop then we're gonna fix it hopefully you can fix yours unless I break it and doesn't come back then whatever with its unique radiator mounted pump premium sleeve tubing infinity mirror RGB block and cam software control the Kraken m22 all-in-one liquid cooler from NZXT is the perfect choice for small form-factor liquid cooling to learn more click the link in the description below alright so I'm about to use intel extreme tuning utility to push this computer too far to where it won't post so what happens is especially on laptops there's no clear CMOS button anywhere on this some lap I've seen laptops in the past that kind of had one hidden door like a little reset button but laptops tend to not even be overclocking friendly but the thing with XTU is that it will often let you push things much farther than you're allowed to do so which can then break it so typically you don't need to worry about resetting a laptop because clearly are usually the BIOS is not even tunable to where you would be able to post anyway he'd post and then if something wrong with your OS it wouldn't load or whatever but that's that's obviously software level not posting so if you can't get the computer to even try and load the OS then what do you do so that's kind of I'm gonna show you here right now so there's a couple things you're gonna need to know before we move forward one I showed XTU in a video and I got quite a few messages people going help I went too far how do I undo so that's the purpose of this video the other thing is you're going to want to make sure that you have a serviceable laptop so if we go ahead and take a look at this Origin PC unit here that did a review on recently you can see we have perimeter screws that are accessible unfortunately none of these screws have a little label that says void if you know removed and it has it take over a screw hole and yet to poke it that's a whole different discussion on whether or not they can legally void your warranty based on that we're not talk about that today but that's on you if you do void that warranty Jay's not here showing you how to board your warranty you don't come at me what they decide to no longer cover your unit the other thing is not all laptops are serviceable so there are some MSI laptops I've used in the past that do not have perimeter screws well if they're there but then there's weird snaps and stuff and the way it goes together and comes apart is not very user friendly whereas this unit will easily come apart by undoing the screws so that's something I want you to keep in mind moving forward is you may or may not have to research how to take your case or your chassis apart that's a hundred percent on you it's too many different laptops out there to try and say this is gonna work for all of you now another thing to note with XTU is that when I showed this on the desktop it was able to apply a lot of the changes in real time it would just apply and then you could play with the overclocking while you were doing your thing on this laptop and what prompt me to want to make this video as well was that when I made a change like for instance this is a 8750 so what we've got six cores 12 threads two at thirty nine multiplier thirty-nine two at forty and two at forty one and what I basically did was like well I want to I want to overclock this baby so let's just sync them all to like I don't know 45 what seemed very doable and without playing with the BIOS or anything when I hit apply it warns me that applying this change requires a reboot would you like to proceed so that's kind of a problem number one was is that this is now going to go into the BIOS which by the way if I went into the BIOS that boot would not give me any of these options I couldn't play it multiplayer or any of that sort of stuff so we are having intel x2 you basically go in and kind of override the BIOS with these settings which is what leads to potentially breaking your laptop where it won't boot and in this case not even a splash screen nothing so we're gonna go ahead and apply these changes say yes and it's gonna reboot right now so if I did my job right when about to show you right now is that we are going to get either a boot loop or a solid keyboard that's lit with a black screen and nothing coming up okay so I think we did it because when this PC boots and it first turns on the fans kind of do a full power cycle like a full ramp up and then come down this didn't do it we just lit up and got nothing so here we go we've now officially bricked it now what you'll find online is people will say well here's what you do you just unplug your power and you leave it running till it's dead and then you're good to go but anyone who knows anything about computers would never suggest that because it doesn't matter whether it's a laptop or a desktop there is a BIOS battery the BIOS battery will retain all of those settings unless a CMOS is cleared there is no external CMOS on this so you can't clear that so that's what we're gonna do next I got my fancy handy dandy iFixit kit they've never sponsored a video of mine of all the people they've sponsored I'm the buying customer I'm the paying customer Oh what because for me shut up Phil no one likes you feel the part where you have to be very gentle there we go here is obviously our Evo 16s so there's two screws here on this particular battery so we're gonna undo this one gently unplug it fortunately this one's in that ribbon cable it's a regular type cable here's our battery kind of small given the size of the computer and it's hardware or it is a 20 70 max cube flipper over and then hold the power button this is kind of like the equivalent of unplugging your computer from the wall and then draining the caps by holding the power button we're gonna try that let's just put the battery back in but ya see the harder than you're thinking the orange light's not on no fan spinning up no splash screen no nothing this is the part a lot of people tend to forget about this whole video really was just because of this so to take your battery out but you also have to remove your CMOS battery which is right here a lot of people don't see it this could be tucked under something it could be underneath it could be somewhere that's not visible plus because it's wrapped in black it's not that easy to see but these are like the exact same batteries that they use on like mini ITX Chasse ease crutch exact same thing so here's the CMOS battery in fact it's the same exact harness and plug in everything as you see right here in this laptop so what you gotta do now is just simply unplug this guy and then do the same thing with the battery out push and hold power for 10 seconds or so this is clearing your CMOS so you saw that we basically went from a laptop that would not boot it wasn't even trying to spin up the fans or anything just it was so far gone there was no way to get it back there's no clear CMOS button xeni we're here where now if we go ahead and just plug this guy back in put in our battery then we will be back up and running here we go yay so that's what we got in this one a first boot or NVRAM reset condition has been detected if you continue to see this message consult the user guide go to yada yada one thing I didn't try was also removing one ram stick and then moving on with to the other slot or something so it forces a hardware change to see if that worked but I just prefer to do a full CMOS reset because if you then tried to boot it again it might have reverted those settings that didn't work back to the ones that didn't work so as you can see that's how I brought back this laptop from the dead when I use XT you to push it beyond barriers that are there for a reason so anyway if you found yourself in that same situation whether it be your desktop or your laptop it's the same thing your desktop just happens to have a button there for clearing the CMOS which will bypass the battery itself so you wouldn't have to necessarily remove the battery or anything because there's no battery in a desktop it's a PSU but usually you have to unplug it from the wall and all that sort of stuff so anyway back together she goes with all the screws and then our laptop is up and running so if you guys found this video useful once you go in and give it a like and if you know someone that's got a piece of hardware like a laptop or something that's not working because it won't boot and just sits there frozen let's give this a shot so anyway guys thanks for watching and as always we'll see you in the next oneso I talked recently about a video I was gonna make about how to fix a broken laptop but what broke was my health because I got one of those than me now apparently it feels like I'm sick I'm trying to say I'm sick we're gonna we're gonna brick this laptop then we're gonna fix it hopefully you can fix yours unless I break it and doesn't come back then whatever with its unique radiator mounted pump premium sleeve tubing infinity mirror RGB block and cam software control the Kraken m22 all-in-one liquid cooler from NZXT is the perfect choice for small form-factor liquid cooling to learn more click the link in the description below alright so I'm about to use intel extreme tuning utility to push this computer too far to where it won't post so what happens is especially on laptops there's no clear CMOS button anywhere on this some lap I've seen laptops in the past that kind of had one hidden door like a little reset button but laptops tend to not even be overclocking friendly but the thing with XTU is that it will often let you push things much farther than you're allowed to do so which can then break it so typically you don't need to worry about resetting a laptop because clearly are usually the BIOS is not even tunable to where you would be able to post anyway he'd post and then if something wrong with your OS it wouldn't load or whatever but that's that's obviously software level not posting so if you can't get the computer to even try and load the OS then what do you do so that's kind of I'm gonna show you here right now so there's a couple things you're gonna need to know before we move forward one I showed XTU in a video and I got quite a few messages people going help I went too far how do I undo so that's the purpose of this video the other thing is you're going to want to make sure that you have a serviceable laptop so if we go ahead and take a look at this Origin PC unit here that did a review on recently you can see we have perimeter screws that are accessible unfortunately none of these screws have a little label that says void if you know removed and it has it take over a screw hole and yet to poke it that's a whole different discussion on whether or not they can legally void your warranty based on that we're not talk about that today but that's on you if you do void that warranty Jay's not here showing you how to board your warranty you don't come at me what they decide to no longer cover your unit the other thing is not all laptops are serviceable so there are some MSI laptops I've used in the past that do not have perimeter screws well if they're there but then there's weird snaps and stuff and the way it goes together and comes apart is not very user friendly whereas this unit will easily come apart by undoing the screws so that's something I want you to keep in mind moving forward is you may or may not have to research how to take your case or your chassis apart that's a hundred percent on you it's too many different laptops out there to try and say this is gonna work for all of you now another thing to note with XTU is that when I showed this on the desktop it was able to apply a lot of the changes in real time it would just apply and then you could play with the overclocking while you were doing your thing on this laptop and what prompt me to want to make this video as well was that when I made a change like for instance this is a 8750 so what we've got six cores 12 threads two at thirty nine multiplier thirty-nine two at forty and two at forty one and what I basically did was like well I want to I want to overclock this baby so let's just sync them all to like I don't know 45 what seemed very doable and without playing with the BIOS or anything when I hit apply it warns me that applying this change requires a reboot would you like to proceed so that's kind of a problem number one was is that this is now going to go into the BIOS which by the way if I went into the BIOS that boot would not give me any of these options I couldn't play it multiplayer or any of that sort of stuff so we are having intel x2 you basically go in and kind of override the BIOS with these settings which is what leads to potentially breaking your laptop where it won't boot and in this case not even a splash screen nothing so we're gonna go ahead and apply these changes say yes and it's gonna reboot right now so if I did my job right when about to show you right now is that we are going to get either a boot loop or a solid keyboard that's lit with a black screen and nothing coming up okay so I think we did it because when this PC boots and it first turns on the fans kind of do a full power cycle like a full ramp up and then come down this didn't do it we just lit up and got nothing so here we go we've now officially bricked it now what you'll find online is people will say well here's what you do you just unplug your power and you leave it running till it's dead and then you're good to go but anyone who knows anything about computers would never suggest that because it doesn't matter whether it's a laptop or a desktop there is a BIOS battery the BIOS battery will retain all of those settings unless a CMOS is cleared there is no external CMOS on this so you can't clear that so that's what we're gonna do next I got my fancy handy dandy iFixit kit they've never sponsored a video of mine of all the people they've sponsored I'm the buying customer I'm the paying customer Oh what because for me shut up Phil no one likes you feel the part where you have to be very gentle there we go here is obviously our Evo 16s so there's two screws here on this particular battery so we're gonna undo this one gently unplug it fortunately this one's in that ribbon cable it's a regular type cable here's our battery kind of small given the size of the computer and it's hardware or it is a 20 70 max cube flipper over and then hold the power button this is kind of like the equivalent of unplugging your computer from the wall and then draining the caps by holding the power button we're gonna try that let's just put the battery back in but ya see the harder than you're thinking the orange light's not on no fan spinning up no splash screen no nothing this is the part a lot of people tend to forget about this whole video really was just because of this so to take your battery out but you also have to remove your CMOS battery which is right here a lot of people don't see it this could be tucked under something it could be underneath it could be somewhere that's not visible plus because it's wrapped in black it's not that easy to see but these are like the exact same batteries that they use on like mini ITX Chasse ease crutch exact same thing so here's the CMOS battery in fact it's the same exact harness and plug in everything as you see right here in this laptop so what you gotta do now is just simply unplug this guy and then do the same thing with the battery out push and hold power for 10 seconds or so this is clearing your CMOS so you saw that we basically went from a laptop that would not boot it wasn't even trying to spin up the fans or anything just it was so far gone there was no way to get it back there's no clear CMOS button xeni we're here where now if we go ahead and just plug this guy back in put in our battery then we will be back up and running here we go yay so that's what we got in this one a first boot or NVRAM reset condition has been detected if you continue to see this message consult the user guide go to yada yada one thing I didn't try was also removing one ram stick and then moving on with to the other slot or something so it forces a hardware change to see if that worked but I just prefer to do a full CMOS reset because if you then tried to boot it again it might have reverted those settings that didn't work back to the ones that didn't work so as you can see that's how I brought back this laptop from the dead when I use XT you to push it beyond barriers that are there for a reason so anyway if you found yourself in that same situation whether it be your desktop or your laptop it's the same thing your desktop just happens to have a button there for clearing the CMOS which will bypass the battery itself so you wouldn't have to necessarily remove the battery or anything because there's no battery in a desktop it's a PSU but usually you have to unplug it from the wall and all that sort of stuff so anyway back together she goes with all the screws and then our laptop is up and running so if you guys found this video useful once you go in and give it a like and if you know someone that's got a piece of hardware like a laptop or something that's not working because it won't boot and just sits there frozen let's give this a shot so anyway guys thanks for watching and as always we'll see you in the next one\n"