AYO. Steve. Hope you get much rest. The fact that you’re still repairing and making videos just shows your winning and this fight in your court. You got this brother
CONGRATS on complete remission, Steve! You absolutely deserve it. You've done more for the world than most, simply repairing devices and keeping devices away from the landfill. You're a legend, and you're winning this fight.
1st device: the problem is a PMIC or ceramic cap that's shorted to ground. put a bench power supply in C.V. mode set to .8V (usually low enough that it wont damage any processor the line may be shorted/connected to) and set the current to the max. if there is a shorted cap/IC, it will get hot (you can detect this without a thermal camera using 99% isopropyl alcohol, drip some on, and look for the component that starts drying off instantly). that coil specifically is hard to tell if it should appear low resistance to ground, since some components (like the CPU) can appear as a very low resistance, but others (like a charging circuit) can appear as high resistance, and since its near both a charge port, a port that can output power, and the CPU, its hard to know without a schema (though you could always check continuity to the power pins of ports) 2nd device:it seems like you're looking at the charging/battery circuitry, which wouldn't have been effected by the *USB* killer, which delivers a high voltage via the USB port. you would need to look at the USB circuitry to have any hope of finding the problem 3rd device: those two little components are TVS diodes (these ones apparently arent exactly capable of withstanding and protecting against anything as mean as a USB killer). while it is possible that the one component you removed (which looked like either a voltage regulator or possibly a package with a 2 mosfet pair) is blown since the temp dropped after you removed it, its also possible power was flowing through it and being shunted through something else that was blown. also, the reason it looked like the hot-spot was in an area without any components is because the thermal camera you're using has both a visible light sensor and an IR sensor, and in the app you need to properly align the two images. at 19:20 you can see the circular screw hole (visible light), and then above it you can see a yellow ring (IR light) caused by the semi-reflective exposed copper ring surrounding the screw-hole. if the app/camera is properly set up and calibrated every time you use it on a new device, you shouldn't have these issues. (I don't recommend getting a flir or similar, I found mine to be a bit of a waste) 4th device: while it does look like the TVS diode saved the port's ass, I would be curious to see whether or not the data lines on this port are still functional, since on an earlier device, the TVS diodes on the data lines looked blown. I'm not sure what all lines the USB killer sends voltage into, but it looks like he didn't fully test the ports here my break is over, but I might leave a comment with the rest of the devices if anyone cares.
I was really surprised that he never bothered to try the alcohol method. I hate watching these videos half finished. I'd love to see him make another video revisiting these possible solutions.
Would this apply to a GPU as well? I popped something on a graphics card and now the whole card stays cool except one IC or something on it gets very hot, like hot enough to burn me if I held my finger on it long enough. Given its only a HD 7950 but I would love to get her back up and running. I have a gt 730 and a gtx 1050 ti that all do nearly the same thing. When you plug them in and use igpu the cards are detected but have the "!" in the triangle icon on them. The hd 7950 and the GT 730 had the fans connected backwards and blew up something fan controller related. The hd 7950 had one fan that would not come on while it worked correctly. After it blew both fans just run at max RPM now.
@@HardWhereHero just to clearify, for the you can boot up the system with the GPU installed, and using the igpu for display out, but the GPU shows up in device manager with an exclamation point? And one specific IC gets burning hot? At what point we're the fans connected backwards, and did the card output video after that? It could be that the fan controller died, and the card is going into some form of pre-emptive thermal shutdown. Usually the chip that controls the fan has the ability to put the card in something of a safe mode, and if the whole chip is dead, this may be what's happening. I would need to physically see the card to be able to give my best advice, but I can still try to help via comments.
@@monkeygalaxy6322He wasn’t as successful with these PCs as he doesn’t have schematics for them. It’s like going through a giant maze with a blindfold on.
The fuses will not blow if you plug in a usb killer, they protect against overcurrent, not overvoltage. In most cases USB 2.0 data (what this device attacks) is not shielded against overvoltage (especially up to several thousand volts), but wired directly into a USB chip, only some caps filtering noise from the signal. Applying 5kV will at least fry the usb circuit and then will likely jump to the VCC lines, killing a whole lot of chips connected. If you want to defend your USB ports from being attacked by USB killer circuits, your best chance would be isolating the data lines with an optocoupler, as only that would die and need to be replaced. Unfortunately these tend to get very pricy with increased speed and are therefore not viable for the high bandwith consumers would expect.
Steve, I see you're sporting the perfect amount of hair. I think it makes you look like a very wise guru. It also has the added bonus that it makes it easier to check for shorts and if you get too hot, you can always use "the perfect amount of thermal paste" and a big heatsink. But in all seriousness, huge respect to you. I sincerely admire your resilience and determination and I wish you all the best for the future as well as an expedient recovery. You are a true inspiration to all of us.
FYI, the reason you have such a hard time pinpointing the hot spots with your thermal camera is because of parallax. The thermal camera on the bottom of the phone captures the IR image, and the normal phone camera captures the visible light image, and then the software superimposes those two over each other. Since there's a pretty significant distance between the two camera lenses, there will be a ghosting effect similar to when you cross your eyes. You can reduce this by taking video from father away, but generally for precise work like circuit boards a thermal camera that has the lenses closer together will work better for you.
a short usb c extension cable would allow you to move the thermal module closer to the camera, and maybe a 3d printed mount to keep the camera in the same position in relation to each other (not sure if they make lighting extensions)
It should be easy for them Flir to offer software calibration to re-align the two image feeds. But either they don't or Steve hasn't used it. If Flir doesn't offer that feature, I'd say that they're crap and look for other thermal camera solutions.
@@mjc0961 You can adjust it, but there is a maximum (at least on my unit+specific phone). It never fully solves the issue. But as long as you know it you can compensate in your head.
Hey Steve, Love the video and the fact that Austin was willing to send them over. One thing I noticed was that if I short a data line with an power line in a usb port the pc or laptop will power off and wont turn on if I leave the short there. After removing the short in the usb port it powers on fine. Maybe there is a short between the data and powerpins on the board of device #2 that prevents it from turning on.
You are in my prayers Steve! Over the years your guidance has helped me fix so many things and I hope you continue to inspire people to restore and fix things for generations to come! Thank you so much for being a big part of my tech life and helping me learn and grow!
You are very correct when you said that crazy things happen when you unplug/plugin a battery. A lot of ASUS machines I have dealt with that had a short would not turn on unless I detached the battery, powered the machine on just the AC, and then plugged the battery back in. Smart batteries have their perks.
I hadnt seen this guy in a long while so I was quite confused why he looked notably different. Seeing the comments now it makes a lot of sense. I'm so happy that you're in complete remission and I am so grateful that you are still making vids like this! You're delightful to watch and even though I havent seen your vids in a while it feels great to see you're doing really well rn
Steve, continuing to send good vibes/prayers. At 37:56 when you were putting IPA onto the chip, just off to the 2 o'clock position, is a capacitor with a black spot. Probably blown up, maybe cracked.
Pretty sure that was just Sharpie that he used to mark where the heat is coming from or to mark that capacitor as shorted, as when he first looked in that area there was no black spot.
@@joveaaron-real after going over it with IPA most of it goes away, and once again it's not there when he first starts looking around there. It's only there later on.
31:37 the thermal camera overlay is offset from the board making the hotspot appear off the actual faulty chip. You can see by how much it's offset by looking at the edge of the board, top left for example.
I was watching a video explaining how those USB Killers work. I seem to remember the Apple machine works because the USB parts are electrically separated by some kind of opto-coupling (?) so the stick will kill the USB part but not the rest of the machine. Without this separation, the destruction is thorough.
@@maklogetrich2378 Because they are supposed to be disguised as normal usb devices. There's a lot of ways you could get someone to plug one in. One way would be online store return scam. Buy a normal usb, put usb killer in box, send back to retailer. Someone else buys it, plugs it in, and you get to kill someone else's device. You can also leave it in a well populated area, and chances are that someone picks it up and tries to plug it into their device, either curious to the contents or looking for some kind of identifying information for return to owner. You could also just plug it into any devices left unattended. It's a malicious tool, not something people go out to purchase for their own devices.
I know he can do whatever he wants with his stuff but I can’t stand people who purposely break their perfectly working devices for content. I’m glad you are able to continue your hobby while going through a tough time! I hope your treatments are going great! Please continue to take care of your health and fight!
This. I feel like this guy is dombas. I can understand if he were trying to repair what he fry eith that thing, but he just killing stuff and thats it. This is really stupid content.
hey man, huge fan. You have been in my family's thoughts and prayers for the past few months. Just saw in these comments that you're in remission and it made me cry. So, so happy for you. Good energy and vibes to you and your family, thank you for being a part of all of our lives through your videos ❤️
Keep your head up brother we love you. We need you to get through this. Because the world would be a hell of a lot less everything if Tronix fix wasn't here on it.. So Survive. That is an absolute order from we the people that love and respect you
Dude! I did not know of your fight until i saw this video. Your hair! Respect to you, dude. You are a winner and we are in your corner in this fight. You’ve got this!
So happy to see this. I immediately thought of you when Austin did that video. Glad you pointed out just how dangerous the usb killer is from a more experienced electronic repair pro
Hi, Steve! I am so delighted to see you back in action! You are a trooper, indeed! Thank you so much for bringing us all these awesome videos, that serve countless folks well! You rock! 🙏❤️🙏
Amazing video, what makes the killer device lethal is the high voltage shock that it sends mainly through the USB port (not USB C) on the data lines that in most devices have a direct connection to the PCH or CPU
Hi Steve. Just wanted to say that im incredibly impressed you're posting videos considering what you have so far and are still going through. I, too, am in remission, and it can be a quiet struggle some days. I have everything, not just fingers, for you crossed, buddy. All the best from the UK
OMG Steve I ain't know you got cancer, man! Congrats on remission! I love watching your repair vids especially since I'm a visual learner and your videos are like a free guide wit entertainment as an extra. God bless ❣
Glad to read you are in complete remission! Thats so exciting man! Wishing you all the best! Grabbed 2 t-shirts as well to add to my collection! Hopefully you bring back the Tall sizes in the future.
Not only the power manage chips. Often faults are cherries and come in 2. 1 causes another one or multiple ones. It can kill the cpu or any chip on the smbus/databuss
Hey Steve, not really the type to leave comments but just wanted to say how big of an inspiration you are to us all. I've been watching your content for the past 3-4 years and always love to see your videos in my feed. It's heartbreaking someone as kind and caring as yourself has to go through such an endeavor, but God give his strongest soldiers the toughest battles. Nothing but love going out to you brother and 'keep fighting the good fight' so to speak :)
Man its been a little bit since I watched you, hearing about whats going on I was a little shocked, I recently beat stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma myself, while getting treatments I actually watched a lot of your videos! So I wish you best of luck
Regardless of the end result, this was one of your best videos to date, IMO. All the diagnosing time was really interesting and informative. I feel like this is one of the hardest things for me to learn and this video helped a ton. Thank you! Glad to hear you are now in remission! Hope the last treatment goes well and praying for smooth sailing thereafter! 🙏🏼 ❤️
First, I hope the treatments are going well Steve. Second, wow the USB killer is evil! 😈 Third, this has to be tough without schematics to work with, but always great to see you give it that college try.
@@309electronics5 No, the usb killer is evil. It is design to ruin devices. It's not even one that has legitimate uses, like knives (i.e. cooking) or guns (legitimate self-defense). It has no beneficial uses. At least that video might act as a warning to people who might be tempted to plug in a usb device they found laying around.
Best of luck to you in your fight with the cancer. It’s awesome he sent these in. There is quite a big chance you can fix all of these if you use a little more time on them when you can find the energy. On the MacBook Air, connect the charger and use the thermal camera.
The usb killer just puts 200v on thr data lines with a quite big current. Most of the time the usb lanes are wired directly into the apu/chipset. And thats a no-go, the IC will short external power and data lanes too. If the device has an external usb-C control chip, then you are lucky and you can replace that chip and everything is fine. If they use a tvs diode or tvs diode array, it can just blow itself.
Right stress of a week. Lovely way to start my weekend with a nice long video. Writing this at the start super interested to see how well that usb kill stick has done
Nice to read your recent post about remission. My dad had a bad time with lymphoma about 30 years ago he eventually beat it and spent decades raising foster kids with my mum. Glad to see you making videos
Keep fighting the good fight Steve, you got this dude!!! But to lighten your spirits and absolutely not making a joke of your situation, but maybe all you need is the correct amount of thermal paste 😊 Your family, friends and fans have your back!👍🏻
the USB killer shunts power into the USB circuitry not the power. but so far all i've seen you checking Steve is the power circuits.. i think a re-visit (unless it happens later in the video) to inspect the USB controllers and circuits.
Just read the recent health update and I'm glad things are going well. Your videos gave me confidence to replace a tiny 8-pin IC on my original Xbox! I'm happy to say it worked and I'm so stoked to know that I was able to fix it and keep it working. It was the most challenging soldering I've done so far. Thanks for the entertainment and education!
There is something keeps me want to watch you every time you repair something. I guess I really wished to do this as a career. I wish you good health and not sure if you are sick or something but will be praying for you to win and recover.
Hey Steve good to see your still in good spirit for the video, I know it’s taking a lot to do so, you are a very strong individual, keep fighting brother… ❤ sending love from Nw FL
Steve I always watched your videos with a bright smile feeling satisfaction while watching stuff getting repaired... Nowadays i don't wanna see nothing more than seeing you fixed up and repaired my man please take care of yourself and rest more 🙏🥺
Congrats on remission! I’m so happy for you! Did you try just letting the MacBook charge for a while? Sometimes the ports disable themselves as a safety feature until they’re fully shut down and restart.
Just wanted to say, you are looking well Steve and I wish you all the best. Keep these vids coming as they are always fantastic. Make sure you have time for you tho.
Yes! I left a comment on Austin's video when it released asking him to send these over to you. Don't think I had any part to play in it happening but boy am I glad it is
Hey Steve, hope you're doing great! Just wanted to say thanks for all you do for us. You're a strong person and we're behind you all the way. We're praying for you. Much love
Hey Steve love your vids it’s really weird seeing the capacitors in person as my dad was changing pc and it was cool seeing how small they were and it was really interesting you are one of my many inspirations
Part of me thinks of austin video as the tipical sensationalistic rich youtuber breaking stuff BUT this video is very important and a great complementary piece, analyzing what is exactly being affected and the type of procedures that should be done is very useful for anyone who wants to fix a device like this
Awesome video, Steve! Appreciate your highlighting the ignorance of manufacturers not adding basic circuit protection to already grossly overpriced electronics. 2 points of surge/spike protection are always best in most homes, 1 at the panel and one at each outlet being used for power and/or charging pf delicate electronics. Hope you are doing well!
The only thing that annoyed me about this video ( not because of Steve at all ) we as repair people,are trying to keep stuff ouf of land fill ! Austin Evans please don't break stuff on purpose ! just because you can,doesn't mean you should !....glad you are on the mend Steve and wish you a speedy recovery 😊
Mostly for malicious use... There is no legit reason for it to exist outside of testing and product design. Mostly kids get a hold of it and laugh as they plug it into random stuff they don't own at businesses and schools.
I once read that it was used to test servers and other network infrastructured on how well do they stand when hit by a powerful ESD but people mod it to make it more powerful and much more destructive than its supposed purpose
I am so glad this collab happened, it felt like such a waste at the time. But more importantly, I wish you all the best in your journey to get better. You seem like such a nice guy and I always enjoy your energy and open approach to your projects, and to other people. ❤
I mean… he did it to see if Companies have But ways to block usb killers… these things can happen if you plug into random usb Chargers at airports etc etc
@@ARXInfinite that’s a good enough reason. I thought it was just senseless destruction. He can afford it, and the more people know about usb killers the better.
One tip I saw on another tech channel, Spraying IPA... Really helpful to detect shorts. It evaporates really quickly around the burnt chip/fuse etc. A cheap and quick way to find out where is your problem.
pretty sure he used a usb killer that sends the power back through the data lines and can brick the cpu directly if it isnt using an external usb controller
Is there an easy way to determine which parts are salvageable? Obviously discrete components and connections should be fine, but which chips would survive such an attack?
Just in case the comments haven't already told you, but at 31:37 the reason the hot spot looks to be so far to the left is because the visual camera and the thermal camera are out of alignment. If you look at the very left edge of the board, you can see the thermal edge doesn't match up to the visual edge.
Brother just showing you some love and I wish you all the bests for some reason I truly enjoy your videos even when I’m not even a tech guy . God bless you
I hope you’re doing well. You seem in good spirits, not sure if it’s just for the videos and appearances, but I hope you’re keeping your head up all the same. Much love.
Hi Steve, hope you’re doing okay, i’ve been watching since you had about 200k i think now and videos haven’t changed i love you’re still keeping your energy and everything even being on treatment keep it up!
Wow, I remember watching that vid on Austin's channel and couldn't believe all of the stuff he was frying (nor could I believe that such a device existed) It's crazy seeing these items again in another video, Neat!
AYO. Steve. Hope you get much rest. The fact that you’re still repairing and making videos just shows your winning and this fight in your court. You got this brother
Hey, I haven't tuned into videos recently? I hope everything is okay?! What's the update? Is it cancer? I didn't even know anything was going on.
@@bound2thefloor1 Lymphoma says his website. But an update on may 3rd says he is in complete remission! So things are hopeful at the moment!
@aciid5899 Oh that is wonderful news 🙂
@aciid5899 Oh, good! Thanks for info.
@@aciid5899that’s a relief 🎉 thankful he’s on the mend from this!
CONGRATS on complete remission, Steve! You absolutely deserve it. You've done more for the world than most, simply repairing devices and keeping devices away from the landfill. You're a legend, and you're winning this fight.
1st device: the problem is a PMIC or ceramic cap that's shorted to ground. put a bench power supply in C.V. mode set to .8V (usually low enough that it wont damage any processor the line may be shorted/connected to) and set the current to the max. if there is a shorted cap/IC, it will get hot (you can detect this without a thermal camera using 99% isopropyl alcohol, drip some on, and look for the component that starts drying off instantly). that coil specifically is hard to tell if it should appear low resistance to ground, since some components (like the CPU) can appear as a very low resistance, but others (like a charging circuit) can appear as high resistance, and since its near both a charge port, a port that can output power, and the CPU, its hard to know without a schema (though you could always check continuity to the power pins of ports)
2nd device:it seems like you're looking at the charging/battery circuitry, which wouldn't have been effected by the *USB* killer, which delivers a high voltage via the USB port. you would need to look at the USB circuitry to have any hope of finding the problem
3rd device: those two little components are TVS diodes (these ones apparently arent exactly capable of withstanding and protecting against anything as mean as a USB killer). while it is possible that the one component you removed (which looked like either a voltage regulator or possibly a package with a 2 mosfet pair) is blown since the temp dropped after you removed it, its also possible power was flowing through it and being shunted through something else that was blown. also, the reason it looked like the hot-spot was in an area without any components is because the thermal camera you're using has both a visible light sensor and an IR sensor, and in the app you need to properly align the two images. at 19:20 you can see the circular screw hole (visible light), and then above it you can see a yellow ring (IR light) caused by the semi-reflective exposed copper ring surrounding the screw-hole. if the app/camera is properly set up and calibrated every time you use it on a new device, you shouldn't have these issues. (I don't recommend getting a flir or similar, I found mine to be a bit of a waste)
4th device: while it does look like the TVS diode saved the port's ass, I would be curious to see whether or not the data lines on this port are still functional, since on an earlier device, the TVS diodes on the data lines looked blown. I'm not sure what all lines the USB killer sends voltage into, but it looks like he didn't fully test the ports here
my break is over, but I might leave a comment with the rest of the devices if anyone cares.
I was really surprised that he never bothered to try the alcohol method. I hate watching these videos half finished. I'd love to see him make another video revisiting these possible solutions.
@@bgubs07 right?? Like, as an electrical technician (studying to become an engineer, but not one yet), it's painful to see this sort of thing.
so true
Would this apply to a GPU as well? I popped something on a graphics card and now the whole card stays cool except one IC or something on it gets very hot, like hot enough to burn me if I held my finger on it long enough. Given its only a HD 7950 but I would love to get her back up and running. I have a gt 730 and a gtx 1050 ti that all do nearly the same thing. When you plug them in and use igpu the cards are detected but have the "!" in the triangle icon on them. The hd 7950 and the GT 730 had the fans connected backwards and blew up something fan controller related. The hd 7950 had one fan that would not come on while it worked correctly. After it blew both fans just run at max RPM now.
@@HardWhereHero just to clearify, for the you can boot up the system with the GPU installed, and using the igpu for display out, but the GPU shows up in device manager with an exclamation point? And one specific IC gets burning hot? At what point we're the fans connected backwards, and did the card output video after that? It could be that the fan controller died, and the card is going into some form of pre-emptive thermal shutdown. Usually the chip that controls the fan has the ability to put the card in something of a safe mode, and if the whole chip is dead, this may be what's happening. I would need to physically see the card to be able to give my best advice, but I can still try to help via comments.
It's so heartwarming to see you continuing with your channel despite the tough treatment. Wish you the very best and a fast recovery!
This is a bot
@@enoll218 he joined youtube FIFTEEN years ago, how is he a bot?
@@Qwerty10254 bots create their account like everybody else so they can be years old lol
"Let's see what happens when..." is the best approach to fix (or break) stuff. Love it !
Lol, one of my favorite approaches
@@monkeygalaxy6322 you obviously haven't watched any other one of his videos.
@@monkeygalaxy6322He wasn’t as successful with these PCs as he doesn’t have schematics for them. It’s like going through a giant maze with a blindfold on.
@@monkeygalaxy6322 Well obviously you're just here to say your opinion just because you can. 🤣
@@monkeygalaxy6322as someone else has said, you obviously haven’t watched many/any of his other videos….or you’re just a troll.
I hope you make a full recovery Steve. Keep fighting! Glad to see you’re still making videos for us!
Does Steve porter have cancer
@@RUclipsRESTRICTOR yeah he had Lymphoma but apparently in remission
The fuses will not blow if you plug in a usb killer, they protect against overcurrent, not overvoltage.
In most cases USB 2.0 data (what this device attacks) is not shielded against overvoltage (especially up to several thousand volts), but wired directly into a USB chip, only some caps filtering noise from the signal.
Applying 5kV will at least fry the usb circuit and then will likely jump to the VCC lines, killing a whole lot of chips connected.
If you want to defend your USB ports from being attacked by USB killer circuits, your best chance would be isolating the data lines with an optocoupler, as only that would die and need to be replaced. Unfortunately these tend to get very pricy with increased speed and are therefore not viable for the high bandwith consumers would expect.
bro there were TVS diodes
or how about just TVS diodes? it is also protects from stray ESD
@@5mf1nc It has some already, there's only so much they can do specially as the device sends multiple pulses.
They make optocouplers fast enough for USB C?
@@carlost856 i dont think the speed is the issue, i think its more likly that they are to expensive with 20cents to 2€ in Medium Volume.
I hope your recovery goes well and thank you for being there even if you have this type of problems in your life
I hope your eating healthy and getting lots of rest my brother.
Much love , God bless 🙏
Steve, I see you're sporting the perfect amount of hair. I think it makes you look like a very wise guru. It also has the added bonus that it makes it easier to check for shorts and if you get too hot, you can always use "the perfect amount of thermal paste" and a big heatsink.
But in all seriousness, huge respect to you. I sincerely admire your resilience and determination and I wish you all the best for the future as well as an expedient recovery. You are a true inspiration to all of us.
FYI, the reason you have such a hard time pinpointing the hot spots with your thermal camera is because of parallax. The thermal camera on the bottom of the phone captures the IR image, and the normal phone camera captures the visible light image, and then the software superimposes those two over each other. Since there's a pretty significant distance between the two camera lenses, there will be a ghosting effect similar to when you cross your eyes. You can reduce this by taking video from father away, but generally for precise work like circuit boards a thermal camera that has the lenses closer together will work better for you.
a short usb c extension cable would allow you to move the thermal module closer to the camera, and maybe a 3d printed mount to keep the camera in the same position in relation to each other
(not sure if they make lighting extensions)
It should be easy for them Flir to offer software calibration to re-align the two image feeds. But either they don't or Steve hasn't used it.
If Flir doesn't offer that feature, I'd say that they're crap and look for other thermal camera solutions.
Yeah it bugged me that he didn't get that lol
@@mjc0961 You can adjust it, but there is a maximum (at least on my unit+specific phone). It never fully solves the issue. But as long as you know it you can compensate in your head.
If you use it you know it exists. I dont get it.
Wow, what a long video! Really appreciate it, Steve!!! I hope your recovery goes super well and fast!!!!!
Hey Steve, Love the video and the fact that Austin was willing to send them over. One thing I noticed was that if I short a data line with an power line in a usb port the pc or laptop will power off and wont turn on if I leave the short there. After removing the short in the usb port it powers on fine. Maybe there is a short between the data and powerpins on the board of device #2 that prevents it from turning on.
Yeah, it was super cool of him to send them over. Thanks for the tip. I might have to make some follow up videos.
@@Tronicsfix
Yup, it would be really nice if they started working again. Unfortunately, chips are indeed difficult to get without a donor
@@Tronicsfix what happened to your hair?
@@DeadlyTechGuyYThe talked about it on his website, I think he has cancer
Love your videos Steve.. God bless you
You are in my prayers Steve! Over the years your guidance has helped me fix so many things and I hope you continue to inspire people to restore and fix things for generations to come! Thank you so much for being a big part of my tech life and helping me learn and grow!
You are very correct when you said that crazy things happen when you unplug/plugin a battery. A lot of ASUS machines I have dealt with that had a short would not turn on unless I detached the battery, powered the machine on just the AC, and then plugged the battery back in. Smart batteries have their perks.
Crazy part is that I commented on Austin’s video suggesting he send those devices in to tronics so we can at least see a tear down 😂😂 I’m so happy rn
I hadnt seen this guy in a long while so I was quite confused why he looked notably different. Seeing the comments now it makes a lot of sense.
I'm so happy that you're in complete remission and I am so grateful that you are still making vids like this! You're delightful to watch and even though I havent seen your vids in a while it feels great to see you're doing really well rn
Steve, continuing to send good vibes/prayers.
At 37:56 when you were putting IPA onto the chip, just off to the 2 o'clock position, is a capacitor with a black spot. Probably blown up, maybe cracked.
Pretty sure that was just Sharpie that he used to mark where the heat is coming from or to mark that capacitor as shorted, as when he first looked in that area there was no black spot.
@@deathbyzombiefilms it can't be sharpie because he's constantly cleaning over it with IPA and the markings don't go away
@@joveaaron-real after going over it with IPA most of it goes away, and once again it's not there when he first starts looking around there. It's only there later on.
Eagle eye
Even if you can not fix it, i love reading the comments of people giving there input to help out.
31:37 the thermal camera overlay is offset from the board making the hotspot appear off the actual faulty chip.
You can see by how much it's offset by looking at the edge of the board, top left for example.
16:20 That transition was so perfect. I rewatched it like 4 times. Perfect choice in that scene, looks like the board kinda actually flips.
I was watching a video explaining how those USB Killers work.
I seem to remember the Apple machine works because the USB parts are electrically separated by some kind of opto-coupling (?) so the stick will kill the USB part but not the rest of the machine.
Without this separation, the destruction is thorough.
Yup that’s exactly how it works, it costs more to make so Apple charges their premium for good reason 😂
@@MarksterCyour average user doesn’t need that or even use a usb killer 💀
why would you even use usb killer
@@maklogetrich2378 Because they are supposed to be disguised as normal usb devices. There's a lot of ways you could get someone to plug one in. One way would be online store return scam. Buy a normal usb, put usb killer in box, send back to retailer. Someone else buys it, plugs it in, and you get to kill someone else's device. You can also leave it in a well populated area, and chances are that someone picks it up and tries to plug it into their device, either curious to the contents or looking for some kind of identifying information for return to owner. You could also just plug it into any devices left unattended. It's a malicious tool, not something people go out to purchase for their own devices.
@@legendmaster1989a thunder storm can cause the same issue.
I know he can do whatever he wants with his stuff but I can’t stand people who purposely break their perfectly working devices for content. I’m glad you are able to continue your hobby while going through a tough time! I hope your treatments are going great! Please continue to take care of your health and fight!
Exactly. It should be punishable by the algorithm. Its horrible. Im glad u are trying to fix his sins
I feel the same about musical instruments too.
This. I feel like this guy is dombas. I can understand if he were trying to repair what he fry eith that thing, but he just killing stuff and thats it. This is really stupid content.
The fryer guy has his own video. Maybe we should tell him what we feel about him frying devices there
@@wolfman-vt2zr yeah, that sounds right to me, no jk.
My guess: the usb killer fires on the usb data lines which often are directly connected to the cpu, so it's possible it bricks the cpu itself
hey man, huge fan. You have been in my family's thoughts and prayers for the past few months. Just saw in these comments that you're in remission and it made me cry. So, so happy for you.
Good energy and vibes to you and your family, thank you for being a part of all of our lives through your videos ❤️
Keep your head up brother we love you. We need you to get through this. Because the world would be a hell of a lot less everything if Tronix fix wasn't here on it..
So Survive. That is an absolute order from we the people that love and respect you
Dude! I did not know of your fight until i saw this video. Your hair! Respect to you, dude. You are a winner and we are in your corner in this fight. You’ve got this!
I LOVE THIS, I remember this video. Great collab!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great to hear you're doing well, Steve. You've 1000% got this. Wish you continued good recovery.
So happy to see this. I immediately thought of you when Austin did that video. Glad you pointed out just how dangerous the usb killer is from a more experienced electronic repair pro
Hi, Steve! I am so delighted to see you back in action! You are a trooper, indeed! Thank you so much for bringing us all these awesome videos, that serve countless folks well! You rock! 🙏❤️🙏
Amazing video, what makes the killer device lethal is the high voltage shock that it sends mainly through the USB port (not USB C) on the data lines that in most devices have a direct connection to the PCH or CPU
Hi Steve. Just wanted to say that im incredibly impressed you're posting videos considering what you have so far and are still going through. I, too, am in remission, and it can be a quiet struggle some days. I have everything, not just fingers, for you crossed, buddy. All the best from the UK
OMG Steve I ain't know you got cancer, man! Congrats on remission! I love watching your repair vids especially since I'm a visual learner and your videos are like a free guide wit entertainment as an extra. God bless ❣
That's one thing I hate when I work on boards like this. I just replace all the chips if I have them.
Yep, it can be pretty difficult to diagnose individual chips if you aren't super familiar with them
Glad to read you are in complete remission! Thats so exciting man! Wishing you all the best! Grabbed 2 t-shirts as well to add to my collection! Hopefully you bring back the Tall sizes in the future.
The fact is what you're going through, and still, making these awesome videos is amazing to me. i pray everything goes well for you
Steve Sir ... I Hope You get better Soon mate ... God Bless You.. Also in this Scenario the Power management Chips are the ones that Blow out ..
Not only the power manage chips. Often faults are cherries and come in 2. 1 causes another one or multiple ones. It can kill the cpu or any chip on the smbus/databuss
Hey Steve, not really the type to leave comments but just wanted to say how big of an inspiration you are to us all. I've been watching your content for the past 3-4 years and always love to see your videos in my feed. It's heartbreaking someone as kind and caring as yourself has to go through such an endeavor, but God give his strongest soldiers the toughest battles. Nothing but love going out to you brother and 'keep fighting the good fight' so to speak :)
Man its been a little bit since I watched you, hearing about whats going on I was a little shocked, I recently beat stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma myself, while getting treatments I actually watched a lot of your videos! So I wish you best of luck
I don't know you but cheers mate
OMG, I saw that video and a bunch of us saw your comment! I am so pleased this video exists.
CONGRATS on complete remission, Steve keep up the fight and the great videos.
Regardless of the end result, this was one of your best videos to date, IMO. All the diagnosing time was really interesting and informative. I feel like this is one of the hardest things for me to learn and this video helped a ton. Thank you! Glad to hear you are now in remission! Hope the last treatment goes well and praying for smooth sailing thereafter! 🙏🏼 ❤️
First, I hope the treatments are going well Steve.
Second, wow the USB killer is evil! 😈
Third, this has to be tough without schematics to work with, but always great to see you give it that college try.
The usb killer is not evil but the person that is shoving it into devices just for content and the juicy youtube money
@@309electronics5 No, the usb killer is evil. It is design to ruin devices. It's not even one that has legitimate uses, like knives (i.e. cooking) or guns (legitimate self-defense). It has no beneficial uses. At least that video might act as a warning to people who might be tempted to plug in a usb device they found laying around.
Hey sir hope your doing well im also going thru chemo and half way thru treatment you sound and look great hope all the best for you !!!
Sorry to hear you're going through it too. It's not easy. Hope your treatments are successful.
@@Tronicsfix I'm half way thru and everything has been going well and I hope your doing well too !!
Multimeters sure swear a lot...
😂
Best of luck to you in your fight with the cancer. It’s awesome he sent these in. There is quite a big chance you can fix all of these if you use a little more time on them when you can find the energy. On the MacBook Air, connect the charger and use the thermal camera.
Looking good buddy, beating cancer is a lot like electronics some good luck and the right tools!
The usb killer just puts 200v on thr data lines with a quite big current.
Most of the time the usb lanes are wired directly into the apu/chipset.
And thats a no-go, the IC will short external power and data lanes too. If the device has an external usb-C control chip, then you are lucky and you can replace that chip and everything is fine.
If they use a tvs diode or tvs diode array, it can just blow itself.
Like Apple has on their boards, TVS diodes
beat the illness im a big fan and would be heart broken if something happened to you, you are my inspiration for my device repair hobby
Right stress of a week. Lovely way to start my weekend with a nice long video. Writing this at the start super interested to see how well that usb kill stick has done
Nice to read your recent post about remission. My dad had a bad time with lymphoma about 30 years ago he eventually beat it and spent decades raising foster kids with my mum. Glad to see you making videos
42 minutes of Tronix Fix on a Friday afternoon? Yes please and thank you
Keep fighting the good fight Steve, you got this dude!!! But to lighten your spirits and absolutely not making a joke of your situation, but maybe all you need is the correct amount of thermal paste 😊 Your family, friends and fans have your back!👍🏻
Hey man hope you're feeling better and I hope that the cancer is in remission I really like your videos man all the way from south Africa 1:38
Number 1 on RUclips, i follow you since 2020 when we are on pandemic and I watch all your videos, be strong brother
the USB killer shunts power into the USB circuitry not the power. but so far all i've seen you checking Steve is the power circuits.. i think a re-visit (unless it happens later in the video) to inspect the USB controllers and circuits.
Much love and blessings steve, grateful to see you pushing through 🙏🏼
Just read the recent health update and I'm glad things are going well. Your videos gave me confidence to replace a tiny 8-pin IC on my original Xbox! I'm happy to say it worked and I'm so stoked to know that I was able to fix it and keep it working. It was the most challenging soldering I've done so far. Thanks for the entertainment and education!
There is something keeps me want to watch you every time you repair something. I guess I really wished to do this as a career. I wish you good health and not sure if you are sick or something but will be praying for you to win and recover.
I hope you make a full recovery Steve!
Hey Steve good to see your still in good spirit for the video, I know it’s taking a lot to do so, you are a very strong individual, keep fighting brother… ❤ sending love from Nw FL
The crossover I didn’t know I needed!!
Steve I always watched your videos with a bright smile feeling satisfaction while watching stuff getting repaired... Nowadays i don't wanna see nothing more than seeing you fixed up and repaired my man please take care of yourself and rest more 🙏🥺
Congrats on remission! I’m so happy for you! Did you try just letting the MacBook charge for a while? Sometimes the ports disable themselves as a safety feature until they’re fully shut down and restart.
Just wanted to say, you are looking well Steve and I wish you all the best. Keep these vids coming as they are always fantastic. Make sure you have time for you tho.
the difference between austin and you, is that you have my respect. Hate when people kill those devices like that
Thanks!
Thank you for the super thanks!
Yes! I left a comment on Austin's video when it released asking him to send these over to you. Don't think I had any part to play in it happening but boy am I glad it is
God bless you man I pray you have a speedy recovery, you definitely are a technical guru.
Very nice video! Thanks to your videos, I got my own toolkit and started fixing my own stuff ! Wishing you well from Romania!
Love it!
DUDE... The fact that you would willingly post a link to another RUclipsrs video... MAD RESPECT TO YOU!
Hey Steve, hope you're doing great! Just wanted to say thanks for all you do for us. You're a strong person and we're behind you all the way. We're praying for you. Much love
Hey Steve love your vids it’s really weird seeing the capacitors in person as my dad was changing pc and it was cool seeing how small they were and it was really interesting you are one of my many inspirations
Hey there, fixit steve, you're one of the coolest guy god ever made, i hope to see you fully recovered soon, god bless ya
Part of me thinks of austin video as the tipical sensationalistic rich youtuber breaking stuff BUT this video is very important and a great complementary piece, analyzing what is exactly being affected and the type of procedures that should be done is very useful for anyone who wants to fix a device like this
Awesome video, Steve! Appreciate your highlighting the ignorance of manufacturers not adding basic circuit protection to already grossly overpriced electronics. 2 points of surge/spike protection are always best in most homes, 1 at the panel and one at each outlet being used for power and/or charging pf delicate electronics.
Hope you are doing well!
Hey Steve! Hope you’re good.
The only thing that annoyed me about this video ( not because of Steve at all ) we as repair people,are trying to keep stuff ouf of land fill ! Austin Evans please don't break stuff on purpose ! just because you can,doesn't mean you should !....glad you are on the mend Steve and wish you a speedy recovery 😊
Congrats for your health improvement, hope you will be fully recovered soon.
Thank you!
Congrats Steve on your remission! Huge tech fan from Singapore. You've inspired many all through the years! Remember that! ❤
Sweet! A nice long episode
Yeah, this one ended up being really long. It'll be interesting to see how many views it gets.
I hope you recover soon Steve. My prayers and best wishes with you... you are an inspiration for technicians like me :)
Why do they make these things for ? It is to wipe a device clean because clearly it does more than wipe it more likely kills it 😔
Mostly for malicious use... There is no legit reason for it to exist outside of testing and product design.
Mostly kids get a hold of it and laugh as they plug it into random stuff they don't own at businesses and schools.
I'm not sure what they make them for. There doesn't seem to be much of a legit use for them.
Nothing but malicious use.
I once read that it was used to test servers and other network infrastructured on how well do they stand when hit by a powerful ESD but people mod it to make it more powerful and much more destructive than its supposed purpose
I am so glad this collab happened, it felt like such a waste at the time. But more importantly, I wish you all the best in your journey to get better. You seem like such a nice guy and I always enjoy your energy and open approach to your projects, and to other people. ❤
That’s why I stopped watching Austin’s videos. „Yeah, let’s senselessly destroy tech worth thousands of bucks! Everything for the clicks, amirite?“ 🙄
I mean… he did it to see if Companies have But ways to block usb killers… these things can happen if you plug into random usb Chargers at airports etc etc
@@ARXInfinite that’s a good enough reason. I thought it was just senseless destruction. He can afford it, and the more people know about usb killers the better.
It's his stuff. Not yours. He can do as he pleases
😞
Love Austin Evan’s but the pretenders trying to scam u why I stopped watching
One tip I saw on another tech channel, Spraying IPA... Really helpful to detect shorts. It evaporates really quickly around the burnt chip/fuse etc.
A cheap and quick way to find out where is your problem.
pretty sure he used a usb killer that sends the power back through the data lines and can brick the cpu directly if it isnt using an external usb controller
not a cool device.
they would probably make decent parts boards at least
Is there an easy way to determine which parts are salvageable? Obviously discrete components and connections should be fine, but which chips would survive such an attack?
Try using a thermal camera and inject voltage to see what components get hot. Love the videos! Thanks for continuing to make them!
Watching people intentionally break stuff infuriates me to no end..
Austin Evans donated the value of each device to charity so at least he is partly making up for it.
Just in case the comments haven't already told you, but at 31:37 the reason the hot spot looks to be so far to the left is because the visual camera and the thermal camera are out of alignment. If you look at the very left edge of the board, you can see the thermal edge doesn't match up to the visual edge.
10:20 I'm no laptop technician, the mosfet above the H2R2 coil looks pretty discoloured or burnt in the bottom left corner.
Brother just showing you some love and I wish you all the bests for some reason I truly enjoy your videos even when I’m not even a tech guy . God bless you
I hope you’re doing well. You seem in good spirits, not sure if it’s just for the videos and appearances, but I hope you’re keeping your head up all the same. Much love.
Glad to see you still dropping videos. Stay up. Love from South Africa
Congrats on Complete Remission my friend! God bless!
Hi Steve, hope you’re doing okay, i’ve been watching since you had about 200k i think now and videos haven’t changed i love you’re still keeping your energy and everything even being on treatment keep it up!
Bros the definition of" what doesn't unalive you makes you stronger "
Inspiration ❤❤
Wow, I remember watching that vid on Austin's channel and couldn't believe all of the stuff he was frying (nor could I believe that such a device existed) It's crazy seeing these items again in another video, Neat!
Love your channel!!! I hope you win your fight so we can enjoy your videos for years to come!