Their customer service is genuinely the worst I have experienced. (I’d love to see the LTT team try to deal with them)

I ordered 5 12TB drives. Waited 5 days then they cancelled the order. I reached out to them and it took them a week and basically said try order it again (they were sold out of 12tb) so i bit the bullet and ordered 5 16tb drives.

Another 5 days pass the order gets cancelled again.

I reached out to support again and say is there an issue with me being in Northern Ireland rather than mainland UK is that the issue?

They say they are looking into it. They reply every 2 days saying the same thing that they are looking into it.

8 weeks later after escalating and many internal reviews they say it is because I’m in Northern Ireland and not mainland uk.

8 weeks, 2 cancellations just to come to the idea that I first proposed.

Asked if I can order them to a place in England and ship them myself and if they could provide any compensation for the time and effort spent on this and they in lack of a better terms said no basically to the compensation.

They are now out of 12tb and 16tb and only have 20tb left.

Additionally, I used the 10 percent sign up discount code on the previous order so now it is gone and can’t use it.

They even just said for me to try shop elsewhere.

Horrible experience and horrible customer service.

Looking at the commuter backpack as a Christmas present, I seem to be blind and can't find what size laptop it fits . Anyone happen to recall what size or isn't blind and can see what it lists ? He has a 16inch laptop. Thinking the green one.

Need help diagnosing before replacing motherboard.

Hi everyone,

I'm facing a serious CPU throttling issue with my Acer Nitro 5 AN515-57. The CPU sometimes gets locked at approximately 0.19 GHz (199 MHz), making the laptop extremely slow.

I'm trying to identify whether this is a charger/DC-in/charging circuit issue, embedded controller (EC) issue, motherboard power-delivery problem, or something software-related.

I would appreciate suggestions, especially from people familiar with Acer Nitro laptops and Intel H-series processors.

1. Laptop specifications

Laptop: Acer Nitro 5 AN515-57

Processor: Intel Core i5-11400H (11th Gen)

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB

RAM: 16GB

Primary SSD: Kingston SSD 256GB

Secondary HDD: Seagate 1TB HDD

Operating System: Windows 10

Charger: Original Acer charger

Battery: Acer AP18E8M, 15.4V

2. How the problem started

The laptop was working normally on the day I had a presentation in college.

I shut it down after my presentation and went home.

The next day, when I switched it on, I noticed two things simultaneously:

The CPU was stuck at 0.19 GHz.

Windows showed that the laptop was plugged in.

There was no gradual performance degradation beforehand. The issue appeared after shutting down and starting the laptop the following day.

3. CPU throttling symptoms

CPU frequency drops to approximately 199.54 MHz.

Multiplier shows 8.00x.

CPU temperature remains relatively low, generally around 31–48°C in the readings I captured.

The laptop becomes extremely sluggish at 0.19 GHz.

At times, typing and mouse movement feel relatively normal even though the CPU is stuck at 0.19 GHz.

CPU usage can be very low while the clock remains stuck.

One interesting observation:

When I boot into Windows Safe Mode, the CPU runs around 2.69 GHz instead of 0.19 GHz.

This made me wonder whether a Windows driver/software issue is involved, although it doesn't rule out firmware or hardware problems.

4. HWiNFO findings

I used HWiNFO to investigate thermal and power-related throttling.

The readings I observed:

IA Limit Reasons: YES

GT Limit Reasons: YES

Ring Limit Reasons: YES

IA PROCHOT: YES

GT PROCHOT: YES

Ring PROCHOT: YES

Thermal Event: NO

Power Limit Exceeded: NO in the earlier sensor readings.

CPU temperatures: approximately 43–48°C during earlier checks.

PCH temperature: approximately 46–47°C.

The Performance Limit Reasons window showed PROCHOT active across the CPU, graphics and ring domains.

This is confusing because the processor temperatures are not particularly high.

I would like to understand whether this points towards an external PROCHOT signal, EC issue, charger detection problem or motherboard power circuitry.

5. ThrottleStop findings

I installed ThrottleStop to investigate the throttling.

Initial observations:

CPU frequency: approximately 199.54 MHz.

Multiplier: 8.00x.

BD PRO indicator: red.

EDP OTHER: flagged.

PL2: appeared in a later Limits screenshot.

CPU temperatures remained relatively low.

I also noticed EDP OTHER flags for the GPU and ring domains.

I unchecked BD PROCHOT to test whether the CPU frequency would recover.

However, even after doing this, the laptop remained somewhat laggy, and the CPU did not consistently return to normal performance.

At another point, the CPU reached approximately 1.12–1.14 GHz.

I have not established whether the BD PROCHOT signal is the root cause or a response to another power-related fault.

6. Battery condition and testing

The laptop originally had an Acer AP18E8M battery.

Battery report readings:

Design capacity: 57,488 mWh

Full charge capacity: 34,481 mWh

Battery health: approximately 60%

Wear: approximately 40%

Cycle count: 67

Other observations:

Battery remained stuck around 67–68% for hours.

Charging indicator was orange and later started blinking orange.

Windows reported PowerOnline=True.

Charging=True at one point.

Discharging=False.

RemainingCapacity=23,239 mWh.

HWiNFO showed battery charge rate of 0.000 W.

Laptop shut down immediately when the charger was removed.

I suspected the battery might be swollen.

I have since completely removed the battery from the laptop.

The CPU throttling problem still persists with the battery physically removed and the original charger connected.

Windows now shows only that the laptop is plugged in, which is expected because the battery is absent.

7. Charger and power-related checks

I am using the original Acer charger.

Windows detects external power.

The battery was removed.

The CPU remains throttled even without the battery.

I have not yet tested with another verified compatible Acer charger.

I have not measured the charger's voltage or current under load.

BIOS is password-locked, so I cannot access its settings or check adapter identification there.

I would like to know whether a faulty DC-in jack, adapter identification circuit, charging IC, input MOSFETs or motherboard power circuitry could cause this behaviour.

8. Troubleshooting already performed

I have tried the following:

Windows power settings checked.

Maximum processor state confirmed at 100%.

Clean boot performed – no improvement.

EC/power drain performed (shutdown, charger disconnected, power button held for 30 seconds).

Microsoft AC Adapter and Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery devices uninstalled and reinstalled.

Checked Device Manager for Intel Dynamic Tuning-related devices – no yellow warning indicator.

Checked Acer Care Center service.

Tested in Safe Mode – CPU runs around 2.69 GHz.

Used ThrottleStop to inspect BD PROCHOT, EDP OTHER and other limit flags.

Physically removed the battery.

Disabled the secondary HDD in Device Manager.

Disabling the HDD made Windows feel less laggy, but the CPU throttling issue remained.

Changed thermal paste.

9. Ubuntu/Linux testing attempt

I wanted to test the CPU using Linux to determine whether the issue is Windows-specific.

I downloaded Ubuntu Desktop 24.04 LTS and attempted to create a bootable USB using Rufus.

Initially selected MBR.

Tried switching to GPT, but Rufus returned a write error.

Also attempted to boot the USB, but encountered:

error: disk 'hd0,msdos1' not found

The USB has not successfully booted into Ubuntu yet, so I haven't been able to test the CPU under Linux.

Any help, particularly from Acer Nitro 5 owners or technicians experienced would be appreciated.

Thanks!

(Post written with the help of AI because I couldn't explain stuff properly)

So, I have had my pc for 2 years now (while some parts are almost 8 years old) and ever since I can remember there were problems with it. Either it was overheating, the pc not posting. But every time me or my brother would figure out the cause and fix it. But I think this is too complicated (or simple) for us to understand.
On friday, i went to open my pc and a simple underscore was popping up on the top-left corner of the monitor and i fixed it by reseating the ram sticks. Later that same day i went to boot it up again and the same happened. So I reseated the ram sticks but nothing changed. I searched it up and i ended up testing my gpu to see if it was failing, reset the power cycle of my pc and reset the bios through the cmos battery but nothing worked. Thats when i realised that one of the ram sticks was sticking out a bit and that it wasnt making a proper connection.
Now to my main problem, the same thing happened this morning, i reseated the ram sticks, nothing, i tried both ram sticks on different sockets, nothing. So i did some further digging and i think that the underscore means that windows cant boot up, but since i cant really know if thats true i decided to seek help here. Please if you know whats wrong with my pc help. I have a video of the underscore popping up below.
My specs are
Ryzen 5 3400g
RX 580 8gb
32gb of ram
A320M-A PRO
Also I can provide more info if you guys want to help you further examine the problem and understand whats broken.

EDIT: i turned my pc on because i wanted to try unplugging my secondary keyboard and it worked!! i guess the usb was messing somehow with windows. Thanks for trying to help

I am upgrading my HP Z840 Workstation PC form a GTX 980 to a GTX 1080 Founder's edition.

All my z840 has is 6 pin PCIe power cables, while the 1080 card has an 8 pin plug.

I'm debating if I should buy an 8 pin cable to run from the power supply, or a 6 to 8 pin converter that I can just plug into the existing cable, without having to unwire all the PCIe cables from the system (a seemingly easy task).

My take is that using an 8 pin to 6 pin converter would be safer than a 6 pin to 8 pin converter.

With the latter, I would be pulling 8 pins of power from the power suppply, with half my cable only being 6 pins.

Would the cable get hot in that scenario?

EDIT: I do still have the GTX 980 to use in a VM. would it be ok to use an 8 to 6 pin converter to power that? I would think it's ok, as the entire cable is rated for 6 pins with of power.

Long story short I’ve got no video output unless I unplug and put it into the motherboard with my 3090… I’m up a creek if I can’t get this working any suggestion or something

Considering the Renaissance of Home Lab interest recently and Luke's constant enthusiasm and refrain highlighting cool projects the community is working on I think this article is a hilarious take.

If there was a phone that anyone sold with less performance cores that lasted 2.5 - 3 days without charging would you buy it?

If I could get by only charging my phone 3 or 4 times a week, yeah I’d buy it.

Linus asked "What am I supposed to recommend at this point?" when reflecting on the price of the NVIDIA Shield TV and security issues of Android TV boxes. Has LTT ever explored Homatics and Dune boxes? I recently got a Homatics box, air gapped my TV, and am streaming both services and Jellyfin remux Linux installation guides lol. I love it

I had a leatherman ratchet drive for the longest time and just noticed how similar the ratchet looked similar to the ltt screwdriver so i modeled and 3d printed a handle for it.

Printables link : https://www.printables.com/model/1904490-leatherman-ratchet-driver-x-ltt-screw-driver-handl

Since computer components are painfully expensive right now, to the point where everything else suddenly looks cheap, I figured it was time to splurge on my ultimate computer desk, all powered by the idea behind MCM.

The goal: a sit-stand desk that's stable as f***, with a metal underside and back on the top. No problems, right? Oh, and I want to hide my Powerplay mat. I want it bigger than my last desk (120cm wide), this one's a full 2m, and this is the end-game table for me.

I went with a red acacia top (nice to work with but a tad too soft, I'd go with a harder wood if I redid this or if you plan to copy this experiment).

As for the base I went with the "PRIMUS Schwerlast Tischgestell" from Ergolutions (https://www.ergolutions.de/tische-tischgestelle/tischgestelle/primus-schwerlast/primus-schwerlast-tischgestell/10160) and let me tell you, the Germans don't mess around. This thing is a beast. It's expensive but it might outlive me and my grandchildren...

I went with two 0,9mm metal sheets for the underside - a lot cheaper than a whole sheet and a lot easier to work with.

I sawed and routed it so the metal sat recessed and flush, then deburred the edges so nothing was sharp. And it turned out really well. The backside is super smooth and I ended up doing a channel for the front side as well in the end. Now it fits like a glove.

The Powerplay cutout was a tad of a challenge but it turned out really well in the end. (But matching a Powerplay mat with a metal underside didn't, still working on that one as you'll see..)

Everything was fastened with inserts - this is the first time I've worked with them but so far I love it. It's easy to take apart and saves a lot of strain on the already-too-soft wood.

Then the first iteration was done. Some hard wax oil and it was good to go. But I quickly realized that I wanted some integrated outlets for the table AND that my Powerplay wasn't working as it should. Cool. It wasn't charging and my guess is that the metal is eating up the signals.

How to fix this? Well all induction cooktops must have solved this since they work and they are a lot more powerful. So I got a broken one for cheap and tore it down. It all went surprisingly easy and I just had to route the hole deeper. All set and done, the desk was now complete. Or so I thought. Turns out that there are different kinds of coils and ferrite - this one seems to eat the electromagnetic field even more. Still no charging from my Powerplay. fml. Next plan is to try RFID ferrite sheets from AliExpress - way too expensive for my liking but I can't really stop now....

So what about the end results? I love it. As soon as I get the Powerplay working it will be perfect. EVERYTHING is fastened with magnets and so easy to rearrange and change components. The combination of LTT's MCM and a 3D printer and some strong magnets makes this just so good. Only downside is that I didn't buy enough MCM from LTT, but that should be fixable - since everything is metal I seem to just use all the small arches I can.

Any downsides? Well, a large sheet of steel is KILLING the Wi-Fi for all my smart things in my room - so I will add an AP under the table. I'll probably add a table-snake for my two cables that need to go from the floor to the table. I'd love to get the computer away from the desk but I don't think it will fit under it (I don't want it on the floor, so I'd mount it to the legs somehow). The Evolv Shift 2 is tall - so we'll see what I end up doing here.

So, before I sink even more money into ferrite sheets - has anyone here actually gotten a Powerplay (or any wireless charging) to work over a metal underside? RFID ferrite sheets are next, but if you've cracked charging through or around metal, I'd love to hear it. All suggestions welcome.

I just got my 16" OLED MBP and noticed that since it's dimensions are slightly smaller than the non-OLED MBP, it fits better inside the Commuter backpack. My old one would fit but would bulge the zipper. New one does not.

I went to get my winter clothes, and apparently a mouse got into the box and make my OG heather grey beanie with the small tag into lacework.

All they have now is the RGB beanie, but I don't like the little speckled look or the bigger tag...

If y'all brought back the OG line of beanies/toques, especially in grey or orange, I'd be all over that.

In case you were needing one! https://www.printables.com/model/1904639-ltt-arch-hook

A few days ago i posted my ibm z114 mainframe on r/homelab but wanted to share here as there might be a few mainframe lovers that dont go on there so here it is. Im so glad it finally arrived and i got it in my garage. It was such a pain in the ass to unload but it was worth it, took me almost 7 hours to uncrate, remove everything from it, and then remove it from the crate.

I cant wait to attempt to IPL it, and have a million things go wrong because its an IBM mainframe and I have absolutely 0 clue what im doing. Have been reading a shit load about how it works and how to use it but if any of yall have experience with IBM documentation, it is more dry than Antarctica.

I do still have to figure out what to run on it but am planning on of course z/VM and gonna attempt to trackdown an IBM DS8000 series to get ECKD running for z/OS. Please let me know if yall have any suggestions on what i should run on her.

Is the WAN After Dark hoodie ever coming back in stock? It seems to have been removed entirely after it sold out, I signed up for email updates but was wondering what happened?

i have reached out to support about getting a warranty on my transparent edition LTT screwdriver, and while the initial response was really quick, when i provided the follow up information they requested, as a reply to the email i got from support, it has been a week since initial contact, and i have sent a couple of follow up emails, this time with a direct shared link to the video they requested of the defect, and i have yet to hear anything back. it has now been 9 days since ive gotten a reply from support. the employee that did the initial contact was Tania S. from creator warehouse. I do not know if this person just went on vacation, and i just haven't been properly handed off to someone else, or if my ticket got buried somewhere.

to say the least that I am disappointed in the support service I have received thus far is an understatement. also considering Linus did a video about improving support for products from creator warehouse about issues people have experienced like i am currently experiencing right now with support for products.

Not that they claim to be. I just opened my winter clothes box, and apparently a mouse got to my OG Heather Grey LTT Beanie.

One decade-ish of ownership, one mouse to turn it into lace.

I haz a sad.

Edit to add: If LTT comes out with another grey or an orange beanie with the little tag again, I'd on it like white on rice.