Ive always wondered...

[Gforce6@]

Just exactly what the heck do the people do when you send your computer in to a shop to get fixed when they say they will run diagnostics on it

[chryssi2001]

From my experience just about nothing... Checking all the wires if in the proper place.. use some fan to clean it... and give it back to u lol

[Sinister-wolf]

get a pc tech book, it should teach you how to diagnose your own PC, so you dont need to spend anything from 15/hr to 60/hr. they usually charge for a 2 hr job and in the end, its only 15 mins to find problem.

[Snurfen]

and some of them have a little tinker and then fix it. They aren't ALL cowboys. Although charging an hourly rate when a tool is off doing a surface scan is a bit of a rip-off.

It takes about 10 mins to run through prelim checks, then you have to decide what diag app to run, depending on the prognosis. It could then take 10 to 15 mins to fiddle about to get the app to run. Fire and forget, look at the results in an hour or two - perhaps another 10 mins.

Ask them up front how much they will charge to run a diagnostic pass on your pc. Explain you would like to be called with the findings, then you can negotiate what happens next and for how much.
Ask for a breakdown of the charges - compare the charges (particularly if they are replacing or adding parts) - don't just pull the cheapest price off the net, be sensible and pick a reasonable mid-price. these are guys running a shop, not just a mail order box-shifting warehouse, after all!

Most of all, don't be afraid to ask, and don't be too proud to tell them "I don't understand what you mean, please explain without the jargon". Don't enter into a techy-macho contest with these guys, they are the ones making up your bill, don't forget.

Or get a book, as suggested, and learn yourself. One caveat on that, most people fry quite a few bobs worth of kit on the path to hardware enlightenment ;)

[Porthos]

At my shop we do many things.
If the computer does not boot.We start with the PSU. Look for bulging or leeking capicators, Check the cmos battery. reset the ram sticks. Try to get it to boot to at least the BIOS.
On a booting computer we do the the above plus we memtest the memory and test the hard drive with its specal utility.
A quick HiJackThis scan will show the crap loaded on the computer.

We do this for a flat $55. If you get the work done to fix it or if the PC is toast and you buy an new or used one from us we dont charge the fee and all you pay is the repairs or the replacement PC

[Snurfen]

Nice on porthos - all up front and no surprises. How was my bit about "don't take the cheapest internet price...." do you think that would be a fair statement?

[nowshining]

Snurfen I agree on that, however I like interpet the statement on frying a few bobs meaning that everyone starts from the beginning and many will make mistakes but learn from them, as everybody learns from mistakes and the more mistakes you make the more you learn, when burning up computer parts you learn from that and gain knowledge on how comptuer work and how to fix them.

AM i close?

[Snurfen]

Yep, thats what I was driving at.
Plus "a few bobs worth" would equate to "a few bucks worth" for you guys.

[black mirror]

After my last encounter with a techie no thanks
My old pc started making an siren noise and wouldnt boot up.. i called evesham vale and he told me the processor had gone.. i contacted my local shop dropped it off and 3 weeks later he phoned back to tell me after fitting a new processor new fan new motherboard new power supply.. it was dead... i refused to pay and to this day it is still in his shop......

[Gforce6@]

dang this really opened my eyes.They really do a lot more than i always figured when you give your pcto a shop. In a meeeega odd way in glad im get spyware and that hard to get rid of junk because this in turn just expands my knowledge of other programs and steps i could go thru to eleminate problems whenever i come to places like this

[nowshining]

with a new motherboard put in, it should of started up, I thinkie the tech lied to u Black Mirror, like I stated with all the new stuff put in, it should of came on esp. again with the Motherboard, glad u didn't get cheated. :cool: