Check, isolate, verify
Troubleshoot with Evidence
Start with a measured symptom, preserve failed runs, identify the boundary and prove the fix with the same workload.
Every fix article here follows the same workflow: reproduce the problem, collect measurements before touching anything, change one variable at a time, and verify the fix with the original workload rather than a quick smoke test. We keep failed runs and dead ends in the write-ups because the boundary between "works" and "does not work" is usually more useful than the fix itself.
If you are rebuilding a Mini PC after a BIOS or driver change, start with the Wake-on-LAN sleep vs shutdown fix — it exposes the difference between S3 and S5 states that most Mini PC BIOSes hide. For storage builders running Docker on Windows, the Docker reboot recovery article walks the full dependency chain from Windows login through WSL2 to the Compose stack. Media server operators hitting "QSV should work but Jellyfin says software" should read the hardware-acceleration fix before buying a GPU.
More fixes are added as we reproduce and verify them. If you hit a reproducible issue on supported hardware, open a discussion and we will run the workflow.
WOL Works from Shutdown but Fails from Sleep
Separate S5 from S3, map the active Realtek adapter and turn an intermittent 4/5 result into a repeatable diagnostic.
USB SSD Is Limited to About 40 MB/s
Isolate a USB 2.0-like bottleneck with port mapping, negotiation checks, repeated transfers and readback hashes.
Docker Containers Do Not Start after Reboot
Check Windows, login, WSL2, Docker, Compose, container health, application readiness and persistent data in order.
Jellyfin Still Uses Software Transcoding
Distinguish Direct Play, hardware decode, filters and encode; prove Intel QSV from the complete FFmpeg pipeline.
Two OEM Mini PCs Share a Machine SID
Handle duplicated factory-image identity with private evidence, a clean installation and carefully scoped publication language.
Wake-on-LAN Not Working: 12 Causes Ranked
Probability-ordered checklist across firmware, driver, power state, link speed and network path, with a 5-run test protocol.
Wake from S5: PME, RTC Alarm and Wake-on-LAN
Which wake source works in S3, S4, S5 and G3, with measured 5/5 S5 Wake-on-LAN and 42 s service recovery.
NVMe Critical Warning 0x02 Temperature
Decode the smartd temperature alert, read the two cumulative temperature counters and spot a stuck daemon state or a bad sensor.