The Broken TechAs part of the process of doing a bunch of upgrades and such to my Dell 3880, I decided to attempt to demo some of the more popular games people have asked about. That led to some shenanigans that reminded me why I quit PC gaming in the first place, so I thought I'd document it here.
00:00 Introduction 08:08 GTA V Installation Fails 24:45 More Why I Don't PC Game
Why I Dont PC Game...The Broken Tech2021-07-24 | As part of the process of doing a bunch of upgrades and such to my Dell 3880, I decided to attempt to demo some of the more popular games people have asked about. That led to some shenanigans that reminded me why I quit PC gaming in the first place, so I thought I'd document it here.
00:00 Introduction 08:08 GTA V Installation Fails 24:45 More Why I Don't PC Game
Want to contact me? Info@TheBrokenLife.netPC Optical Drives Are No Longer Being MadeThe Broken Tech2025-08-28 | We have officially entered the end of the lifecycle of optical media. No new CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Blu-ray, etc drives are likely to ever be built again for PC applications.
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Life 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514Hard Drive Storage Cases... for Internal Drives!The Broken Tech2024-04-18 | Yo Dog... Let's store some storage! 😂 In this video, we will be looking at internal hard drive storage cases for when you may not have your internal drives internally installed.
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514Playing 4K UHD Blu-Ray Movies on a PC without Intel SGX (and ripping them) 😎The Broken Tech2023-12-18 | In this video I'll be covering how to play 4K UHD Bluray discs on a PC that is not equipped with Intel SGX. I also cover my presently preferred way to rip discs to archive them.
00:00 6 Second Answer 00:06 Intro 00:49 Disclaimer 03:19 Is PC Playback For You? 05:12 Input Switching for PC Monitors 06:14 Welcome to The Matrix... 06:57 Disc Software Encryption 10:40 HDMI Hardware Encryption 12:59 Intel SGX Hardware Encryption 15:28 Encryption? Never met her... 17:35 Do More Than Playback 18:56 Blu-rays Are Really Fragile 23:49 You Should Rip Your Discs 25:35 Software for Playback 29:33 Watching Discs 32:19 Ripping Discs 36:35 Subtitles are Broken With 4Ks in VLC 37:26 Summary and Conclusion
Stuff Links (Affiliated; I earn a small commission on these links): HDMI Switch ► amzn.to/3veaowc Current model of my set-top 4K player ► Player amzn.to/3Ttc6nA CD/DVD Polishing Machine ► amzn.to/3RNw2An
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514My Seagate Warranty Experience (and the warranty process)The Broken Tech2023-10-13 | It will come as no surprise to regular viewers of the channel that one of my recently purchased Seagate Firecuda drives, which I mechanically damaged, began reallocating sectors. 🤦♂️ Since I had to send it in for service, I thought I would document the process.
Time Stamps: 00:00 Intro 01:44 Entering the Warranty Claim 03:34 Admiring the Carnage 07:49 Return Packaging 08:34 Unboxing 11:40 Examination/Benchmarking 14:25 Overall Summary
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Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514Choose Your Fate: Sponsored Content PollThe Broken Tech2023-09-15 | I was approached to do a review of what would be a sponsored product. Would you like to see me do such things? Yes or no. Vote on the Community Tab!
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Life 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514Upgrade Your Blu-Ray Drive to 4K UHD FOR FREE!The Broken Tech2023-08-21 | Today, we're going to be looking at flashing the firmware on LG WH14NS40 and Asus BW-16D1HT Blu-Ray drives to become 4K UHD capable. It's so easy, even we optical media using cavemen can do it...
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Life 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514Cheap External USB Hard Drives (48TB!)The Broken Tech2023-06-04 | USB hard drives have gotten insanely expensive over the last few years, so I thought I would share a somewhat novel way to save a few dollars if you have large external storage needs.
00:00 Introduction 08:35 Disk Initialization in Windows 10 10:38 Disk Initialization in Windows 11 11:27 Drive Parameters in CrystalDiskInfo 12:00 Performance Testing
A note about the links below: Amazon's affiliate program forbids exactly the type of price history illustration that I discuss in this video. As such, I am unable to offer direct links to the hard drives via Amazon (and Newegg's affiliate program is so bad it's not worth bothering with). Instead, I have linked the drive's price tracking directly to PC Part Picker. If you would like to purchase a drive via Amazon and would like to support my work, you can click on _any_ affiliated link below and then manually search out the drive you wish to purchase. If you click the link via PC Part Picker, they earn any affiliate commissions.
Stuff Links (Affiliated; I earn a small commission on these links): Sabrent USB HDD Dock w/USB-C and subtle lights ► amzn.to/3IUKzpa Sabrent USB HDD Dock w/USB-A and obvious lights ► amzn.to/3oMDlN8
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514How To Remove Windows 11 Search Bar Picture!The Broken Tech2023-05-21 | In this video, I cover the how to get rid of the windows search bar picture that Microsoft infected Windows 11.
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514HP Envy Optical Drive InstallationThe Broken Tech2023-04-07 | Oh boy... HP made it a pretty large hassle to install an optical drive in my TE01-2250xt, which was the cheapest model I could order at the time of purchase. It requires specialty parts, which are difficult to find and expensive to purchase, and the final result is only so-so. Please don't follow in my foot steps. 🤣
Stuff Links (Affiliated; I earn a small commission on these links): Optical Drive Compatible Front Bezel ► ebay.us/KyEQB7 Optical Drive Mounting Clip (or buy one from me) ► ebay.us/6ShaPz Optical Drive (The "good" link... when Amazon themselves have it in-stock) ► amzn.to/40FgkJH SATA "Left" 90-Degree Data Cable ► amzn.to/3nUaXYD SATA Full-size Power to Slimline Power Adapter ► amzn.to/3zDlLwP
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514Video Making Gear after 4 Years On YouTube!The Broken Tech2023-01-29 | A review of all of the equipment I've been using to make videos on YouTube for the last 4 years!
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514Dell Precision 7670 Overview and Look Inside!The Broken Tech2022-12-24 | An opportunity came up to take a clandestine look inside a brand new Dell Precision 7670 laptop that I do not own... so I took it! 😁
Stuff Links (Affiliated; I earn a small commission on these links): Wanna buy one? ► amzn.to/3YoLvYS
Want to contact me? Info@TheBrokenLife.net
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514Full-Size 5.25 USB 3.0 External Blu-ray Burner! (assemble and test)The Broken Tech2022-12-10 | _In a world gone mad, optical discs are becoming obsolete and hardware is becoming rare. Only one man can save us from this dystopian reality._ 😱😨
Or... Ya know, dweebie old man puts Blu-ray drive in external USB enclosure. 😆
Stuff Links (Affiliated; I earn a small commission on these links): 5.25" enclosure from the video ► amzn.to/3uBvxNB "Other" 5.25" enclosure ► amzn.to/3Hq4ZXk 5.25" drive in the video ► amzn.to/3FIif8s 5.25" 4K UHD Blu-ray branded drive ► amzn.to/3UMQbFd The drive I used in the video ► amzn.to/3mfyHG8 9.5mm "slim" USB DVD drive in the video ► amzn.to/3UPC2H4 and for fun... 9.5mm "slim" USB 4K Blu-ray drive (more expensive than I imagined) ► amzn.to/3FkEuj8
Want to contact me? Info@TheBrokenLife.net
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514AVerMedia Game Capture Card... doesnt actually capture games 🤦♂️The Broken Tech2022-12-03 | As it turns out, the first time I attempted to actually stream any games with my AVerMedia LiveGamer 4K capture card, it doesn't actually capture games! Imagine my surprise...
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514Dell 3 Flash Code: CMOS Battery Replacement Guide!The Broken Tech2022-11-25 | My Dell Inspiron 3880 decided to get fresh with me and start having a fit of winking. As it turned out, it wasn't trying to get frisky. It was trying to tell me it was time for a new CMOS battery.
The generic Dell "Blink" codes are as follows (and should apply to most modern desktop models 3880, 3891, 3888, etc):
1,2 Unrecoverable SPI Flash Failure 2,1 CPU failure 2,2 System board failure, corrupt BIOS, ROM error 2,3 No memory/RAM detected 2,4 Memory/RAM failure 2,5 Invalid Memory installed 2,6 System board error 3,1 CMOS battery failure 3,2 PCIe or video card/chip failure 3,3 BIOS recovery image not found 3,4 BIOS recovery image found but invalid 3,5 Power Rail Failure 3,6 Paid SPI volume error 3,7 Intel ME (Management Engine) error 4,2 CPU power cable connection issue
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514HP Envy Desktop Initial Performance Benchmarking 🏁The Broken Tech2022-11-20 | The initial performance benchmark testing of my HP Envy TE01-2250XT include:
00:37 Boot Up Time 01:26 Nvidia Pendulum Demo 02:23 UserBenchmark 03:44 PCMark 10 06:31 GTA V 09:57 Video Rendering
Stuff Links (Affiliated; I earn a small commission on these links): Usually HP direct has the best deals, but, you can always spin the wheel on Amazon ► amzn.to/3Ejj8SO
Want to contact me? Info@TheBrokenLife.net
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514AVerMedia Live Gamer 4K Video Capture Card InstallationThe Broken Tech2022-11-06 | Since I needed to install a better video capture device for making videos on this very channel, I thought it some folks might enjoy following along.
Stuff Links (Amazon links are affiliated): Capture Card ► amzn.to/3TbX2Hj
Want to contact me? Info@TheBrokenLife.net
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514Software and Browser Customization That I Like.The Broken Tech2022-10-23 | As of the date of publication of this video, this is a rough encapsulation of the utilities, software, and Firefox customizations that I generally prefer on my PCs.
Want to contact me? ► Info@TheBrokenLife.net
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514Downloading and Installing Windows 11 on a new PC! 💻The Broken Tech2022-10-01 | In this video I demonstrate the process of obtaining Windows 11 installation media and installing it on a fresh PC build. I also get up to some shenanigans trying to do that with Windows XP. It doesn't go well... 🤣
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514Creality CR-10 Max Micro Swiss Hot End Upgrade!The Broken Tech2022-06-11 | What should have been, and in reality is, a pretty easy installation of a Micro Swiss all metal hot end for my Creality CR-10 Max ended up being a bit of a comedy of errors. Join me in the dumpster fire that was doing pretty much every step of it wrong. 😂
Want to contact me? info@TheBrokenLife.netHow To Remove Windows 10 Search Bar Picture!The Broken Tech2022-05-26 | In this video, I cover the how to get rid of the windows search bar picture that Microsoft infected Windows 10.
Send me everything... except to jail: The Broken Tech 4000 E. Bristol St. Suite 3 #253 Elkhart, IN. 46514HP Envy Desktop: First Boot and First Look at Windows 11!The Broken Tech2022-05-01 | It was way past time to boot up my new HP Envy TE01-2250xt, which for 2022, was the cheapest new HP PC I could buy. In this video I boot it up, back it up in factory condition (I also end up illustrating the restoration process), and configure the pre-loaded apps and settings to resemble Windows 11 and my tastes a bit more closely. I also spend a bit of time just cruising around Windows 11 just to get a first look at things.
Stuff Links (Affiliated; I earn a small commission on these links): Seagate USB Drive ► amzn.to/3F1A4gG Usually HP direct has the best deals, but, you can always spin the wheel on Amazon ► amzn.to/3Ejj8SO
Want to contact me? info@TheBrokenLife.netUnboxing The Cheapest New HP for 2022 and Upgrade Plans!The Broken Tech2021-12-24 | This HP Envy TE01-2250xt is the cheapest full size HP Desktop PC in their model line up for 2022 (as of December 2021). In this video I take mine out of the box, fresh from HP, and immediately take it apart to see what HP put inside. I never even turned it on. 😂
Join me in the future where I'll be upgrading all of the following on this HP Envy: -CPU -RAM -SSD/HDD -Video Card -Optical Drive and much, much more!
Stay tuned!
00:00 Intro 01:31 Wired Keyboard and Mouse Overview 02:46 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Overview 05:45 A Box Full of Envy! 06:15 External Overview 08:25 Internal Overview 16:25 Case Airflow 17:29 Optane? Your Mom is an Optane! 17:48 Initial Conclusions
Stuff links (Affiliated; I earn a small commission on these links): Link PC Tools Kit ► amzn.to/3mvHbG6 Usually HP direct has the best deals, but, you can always spin the wheel on Amazon ► amzn.to/3Ejj8SO
Want to contact me? info@TheBrokenLife.netYouTube Breaks YouTube: Goodbye Neutral ResponseThe Broken Tech2021-12-13 | On the eve of YouTube breaking one of the greatest collaborations in human history, I decided to document it for what may be the final time. RIP Neutral Response: I had strong feelings one way or the other.
Want to contact me? Info@TheBrokenLife.netOrdering The Cheapest HP Envy Desktop for 2022!The Broken Tech2021-12-10 | This year I decided to broaden the content a bit and take you guys along through the ordering process of my new HP Envy, complete with my thought process as it happened!
Stuff Links (Affiliated; I earn a small commission on these links): Usually HP direct has the best deals, but, you can always spin the wheel on Amazon ► amzn.to/3Ejj8SO
Want to contact me? Info@TheBrokenLife.netBlack Friday 2021 PC Buyers GuideThe Broken Tech2021-11-23 | The time has finally come to order a new PC for our new upgrade series for 2022, and buying time is almost always Black Friday, so it's time to go shopping!
The contenders were: Acer Asus Lenovo HP ...and a revisit of Dell
Want to contact me? Info@TheBrokenLife.netCreality CR-10 Max Y Axis Rebuild, Belt Tension Adjustment, and Pulley Alignment Tuning.The Broken Tech2021-08-13 | ...Creality CR10 Max X & Partial Z Axis Rebuild + X Axis Belt Tensioner Install!The Broken Tech2021-08-13 | My Creality CR-10 Max 3D Printer never printed correctly out of the box and this video documents a list of steps I went through to continue the process of correcting it. The X gantry and the Z axis were all screwed up.
-------Creality CR-10 Max Unboxing and Initial Setup (...goes poorly)The Broken Tech2021-08-13 | In today's video we're going to unbox and assemble the most expensive tool I've ever bought: A Creality CR-10 Max 3D printer! The long and short of things is that this printer has some trouble, because of course it does... 🤣
But... We're going to soldier on and get the thing fixed up, because that's what we do. Join me in the adventure!
Want to contact me? info@TheBrokenLife.netDell Latitude E6410 Cooling Fan Replacement and New Thermal Paste!The Broken Tech2021-06-26 | In this episode, I replace the cooling fan in my Dell Latitude E6410 as well as replace the thermal paste for the processor, chipset, and nVidia GPU.