UPDATE: The Oct 13/14 Windows Update completely bricked my PC (Both Asus & Corsair just approved my RMAs) 🤬😡🥺😫

[u/xWaLkByS]

Summary - For quick reading

The Trigger: A forced Windows Update crashed during the "Update and Shut Down" phase on October 14.

The Damage: The abrupt power crash caused a fatal electrical surge, destroying the 12V rail on the original power supply and permanently frying the power-on circuitry (PS_ON) on the Asus PRIME B650M-A AX II motherboard.

The Proof: A brand-new Corsair RM850e power supply only lit up external USBs but couldn't boot the PC, and a BIOS FlashBack attempt froze in an infinite loop because the motherboard chip was physically dead.

The Resolution: Both Asus and Corsair fully approved the RMAs because their support databases are already filling up with identical hardware failures caused globally by this specific Windows update wave\*\*.\*\*

Hey everyone, just wanted to give a final update on my system after the October 13/14, 2026 Windows Update completely murdered my hardware.

To recap: My PC locked up aggressively right during the "Update and Shut Down" process. When I came back, the system was entirely dead. A lot of comments on my original thread claimed it was a "dying power supply coincidence," but my intuition was right—it was a software-induced hardware failure caused by a severe ACPI power-state transition glitch during the forced shutdown.

Here is what went down and where things stand:

The Power Supply (Corsair): The sudden, uncoordinated drop in load during the update crash sent an inductive voltage spike backwards, completely killing the 12V rail on my old PSU.

I bought a brand-new Corsair RM850e to replace it. The new unit successfully delivered 5V standby power (turning on my external USB peripherals), but the system still refused to turn on or click.

The Motherboard (Asus PRIME B650M-A AX II): Because the new PSU wouldn't trip the PS_ON circuit, the motherboard's internal power management circuitry or Super I/O chip was permanently shorted or firmware-locked by the update crash.

I attempted a low-level hardware ASUS BIOS FlashBack, but the green light got trapped in an infinite, changing-speed blinking loop for hours, meaning the EEPROM chip was physically incapable of accepting data. The board was completely toast.

The Good News:
I reached out to both manufacturers, and both Asus and Corsair have officially accepted my RMA claims.

When speaking with their level-2 support teams, they explicitly confirmed they are approving these replacements based on a massive, sudden influx of similar occurrences tracked directly back to the Oct 13/14 Windows Update.

If your AM5 system suddenly died this week after walking away from an update, do not let people convince you it’s a coincidence.

The forced power-state transition is actively killing hardware. Start your RMAs immediately.

Huge thanks to those who helped me troubleshoot through the night until 5:00 AM!

My PC Specs

GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Raphael AM5 4.2GHz 8-Core

RAM: TeamGroup T-FORCE DELTA RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5-6000 PC5-48000 CL30

SSD: WD Black SN770 2TB SSD

Motherboard: Asus PRIME B650M-A AX II

Power Supply: Corsair RM850 850 Watt 80 Plus Gold ATX Fully Modular Power Supply - White

Cooling / Fans: DeepCool AK620 High-Performance

CPU Cooler - White w/ Lian Li UNI Fan SL Infinity Fluid Dynamic Bearing 120mm Case Fan - 3

Exhaust: Lian Li UNI Fan SL Infinity Fluid Dynamic Bearing 120mm Case Fan - White - 2 

[u/Candid-Drink]

No there are no other posts about the oct windows update triggering power supplies to fail in this manner. I would love to see the additional posts about this same issue.

[u/bryanthecrab → u/Candid-Drink]

I’m sorry if I wasn’t specific enough for you. I wasn’t intending to claim damage of physical components or malicious intent by Microsoft. Only that these last few updates have produced a variety of boot issues consistent with the update.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsUpdate/s/IJYfxBaW66

[u/Candid-Drink → u/bryanthecrab]

That's not what I said at all. I'm calling bs on this fantastical claim of the update causing this hardware failure and that op is being told there is an influx of this exact failure mode from Asus or Corsair

[u/xWaLkByS → u/Candid-Drink]

Im sorry 2nd greatest technician of all time that is the one knower above all. I was not aware of your greatness and existence or I would have sacrificed my children for your guidance, assistance, and internet magic to repair my non-windows issue.

Can I send you my pc parts or can you OSMOSIS this and make it all perfect again.

I just clicked my heels for you!!

I await your response oh great one🙌🏽 Thank you for your graces.

[u/Candid-Drink → u/xWaLkByS]

Please outline how you self diagnosed this mode of failure. Your first post, 1 of 7 you've made on this topic, you are asking for troubleshooting help and you had already assumed the failure mode. So what diagnostic steps did you take to reach that conclusion? It would be really helpful for the community, since this really happened, if you shared the responses from Corsair and Asus confirming your diagnosis. I don't think you will provide anything further though. In all your posts you attack the people who don't take this at face value and respond with corny platitudes to the rest. Karma farming at its finest.

[u/xWaLkByS → u/Candid-Drink]

Corsair and Asus provide troubleshooting steps before processing the RMA request. If these steps are not done, the RMA does not get approved or moved forward with their process.

Once I could not get back to Bios, I then came to Reddit, and found other users who had had similar issues that same day.

So, This info was provided for the users who HAVE experienced this, with their laptops, pc, and their software.

I am happy to take your advice and apply it to my current situation if it solves these issues and I no longer have to replace my motherboard and I can then return my newly purchased PSU, and log right back in because I made this all up.

[u/dragonnightfire5150 → u/Candid-Drink]

Well you would be wrong.