🚀 go-pugleaf

  To: alt.comp.virus,alt.comp.a
John Slade <hhitman86@pacbell.net> wrote in
news:hYI6o.7940$1F6.1462@newsfe01.iad: 

>     Oh I've heard the terms before, it's just that most people I 
> know like electricians and electrical engineers call them 
> soldering irons, even the small ones.

Dunno what to tell you about that. Perhaps they prefer to use technical 
terminology in a non technical way? Like, say, trojan being the same as 
virus...

>> I was talking specifically about the bad leaking capacitors;
> 
>       I'm talking about the whole range of problems. I've seen 
> many different kinds of problems.

Well, I'm sure we all have at some point. Although, the problems are 
usually routine...
 
>       Provided it's a bad capacitor. But these days a lot of MB 
> capacitors are solid core and you have to test. Most of the 
> newer systems I see have both acid core and solid core capacitors.

Well, as I said, when the top is swollen and a grey powdery looking 
substance is all over it, it's a good clue. :)
 
>> Considering mainboards back when this was still a new issue were
>> atleast a bill for AT class, It was cheaper to replace the caps
>> than sell the customer a new mainboard.
> 
>        I don't feel good about repairing an old motherboard that 
> already has leaking capacitors. Chances are something else is 
> going to go wrong with it. That's why I would rather get a new 
> motherboard and reinstall drivers. But you MUST be talking about 
> ancient times when you say it's cheaper to replace capacitors.

Well, I thought the fact I mentioned AT class for a bill or two was a 
clue about old times. :) You've been in the business a long time, 
right? I'm sure you remember the trusty AT class machines.
 
>       You see I go to people's houses and repair systems in my 
> home shop. So I would not go to someone's house and start 
> soldering. You may want to waste time and that's fine but I like 
> to leave the customer with something that will be working for a 
> while rather than leave them with a MB that's already going south.

We did onsite calls to home/business and some small industries here as 
well. If it required more than some software installation or a routine 
hardware repair, the box was taken back to the shop. We didn't do 
soldering work at the customers home. As you know, solder can be rather 
stinky stuff and it's not that good to be breathing. The shop was 
better suited due to the air system we had.
 
>>
>> In some cases, an RMA was possible so the store wasn't out
>> anything, but in other cases, the store and the customer both lose
>> if you can't RMA the bad board.
>>
> 
>      How long ago was this? What kinds of computers and 
> motherboards were you repairing?

AT/ATX class desktops and towers. IBM/PC and compatibles. We've worked 
on gateway, packard smells, compaq, hp, compaq after HP, emachines (god 
awful little computers, cheaply built and poor quality power supply 
units. In many cases, you would want to check the power supply power 
good line for an overload condition if you had to replace a bad 
mainboard, as the best tec (google this too if you'd like) was bad for 
murdering the mainboards by stepping the current up from 3.3 to 5volts 
and killing a power transistor or two.  Emachines actually went so far 
as to send a little memo sheet when we signed up to do field service 
warranty work on their behalf; Always check the power good line when 
replacing mainboard, as the power supply may have been at fault for the 
untimely death of the mainboard, and if you didn't check it, it would 
most likely just kill the new board emachine sent us to put in.

Have you no experience first hand with that issue either?

>        Yea but I started talking about components because it's 
> not just capacitors that go bad. You have surface mount chips 
> that go bad and they are a real pain in the ass to replace, if 
> you can find the chip. This is the main reason I don't see many 

Oh for sure! Try replacing the main control chip on the primary board 
for an HP laserjet4000. :(

> computer repair people actually get a soldering iron and go to 
> work on a component. It's mainly needed when someone has really 
> old stuff and it's very hard to find a replacement MB or card. 
> This is very rare.

It depends on what the computer is controlling. In a few cases, the 
machines were running cnc milling machines and/or lathes. We couldn't 
just swap the computer out and reload windows. Some weren't even 
running windows. :)
 
>> A sound card isn't a mainboard.
> 
>     It's a component in a computer and that's what I repair.

Well, to be technical, and professional, replacing the component with 
another working one isn't really repairing the original component. :) 
It's like car mechanics to me when you say you repaired something, by 
replacing the bad part. Yes, the machine as a whole is repaired, but 
the part is still in the same condition.

 
> It really depends. If I can fix the
>> issue in a few minutes and not have to reinstall drivers or
>> anything else that goes along with swapping parts out, sure I
>> would. Unless I have an identical (right down to the revision and
>> eeprom) card to go in it's place; otherwise I have to get drivers
>> and deal with windows possibly being unhappy about the previous
>> cards drivers, ad nausem. 
> 
>      You have got to be kidding. Fixing a teeny tiny component 
> on a sound card is easier than getting a new one and installing 
> the drivers? Do you actually repair a lot of new sound cards 
> these days? If so, what was the last sound card you repaired?

The last soundcard I actually fixed was an AudigyFX. Creative wouldn't 
warranty the card, so I took a chance on it and replaced a bad resistor 
(It was visibly burnt). Soundcard's been fine ever since.

if you have the latest and greatest hardware and the customer doesn't 
care, sure replace away... But, if you have to keep the machine running 
with the hardware it has for some odd reason (In this case, it's a 
digital recording studio and some of the software was custom written 
for that specific card), I had no other real option. I knew the cards 
problem was the resistor. honestly, I spent more in gas driving to get 
the right one than I did on the part. :)
 
>> Most of the time the component that needs replacing is a swap out,
>> plug and play kinda deal; even the cpu is this way most of the
>> time. What isn't that way is the little wire connectors on the
>> laptops mainboard; that will require a soldering pencil, or passing
>> it off to be done by someone else.
> 
>      That's me, I pass it off to the company that made it. I let 
> them do the refurbishing work. I don't refurbish parts. I let 
> the customer weigh costs and sometimes it just cheaper to let 
> the vendor do repairs or buy a new laptop. Laptops are pretty 
> cheap now. Lots of people go with a new one.

I understand that, but in my case; we would have been one of the 
companies (if you couldn't get the original manufacturer) that you'd 
pass the hard stuff off too. :)



-- 
"I like your Christ. I don't like your Christians. They are so unlike 
your Christ."  - author unknown.

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