After removing all screws visible from underneath (including those hidden under rubber feet and warranty-void stickers, does the keyboard come loose? if so look for other screws under there to allow the case to part (sometimes you need a spudger to persuade them)
I would suggest having a look at TMHs pricing scheme (everyone else seems to pinch it, so I am sure he won't mind another! ;-). It front end loads a little to allow for the difficulties of dealing with small jobs.
Depends on what the actual problem is I suppose - and also if there are parts to be replaced. A shagged motherboard can be a trivial fix, but will cost a good deal more all in...
Its often better to set out how you will charge up front certainly. Sometimes having a cutoff price is handy - say you will spend up to £50 of their money attempting a fix, and if its going to cost more you will tell them as soon as it becomes apparent and give them the option to give up at that point or change tactics.
The front part of the case separated into two, the rear part didn't
I was in no mood to force it, given that for my current purposes, it works
tim
Laptop disassembly can be a bit of an art form. However there are a bunch of tricks that can apply to many. Screws hidden under rubber feet and stick on labels are a favourite (the latter often to make attempts to open it obvious). Screws under batteries, under the lip of DVD drives etc are also common. On some the keyboard can be sprung free to reveal more screws under that.
Once all the screws are out, its not uncommon for the thing to be snapped together with various lugs and clips built into the plastics. Some "spudgers" are handy here (i.e. non marring tools for prising things apart). Getting a gap and then working along opening successive clips, ans spotting when the amount of resistance is incompatible with a clip and more likely to be a missed screw (these will also snap apart if enough force is used - but that makes tidy reassembly less easy!)
Screens these days (and this applies to desktop LCDs) often seem the bezel unclipping and pulling off. Not unusual to have double sided sticky tape holding them against the front of the screen either.
If you want to extend to anything made by Apple, then you can add non standard screws, magnetic fixings and various other techniques designed to encourage you to bin it and buy a new one!
Always worth having a web and youtube search for tear down videos on these things - quite a number of very handy ones out there.
A bit unfair on Apple, methinks, from my limited experience.
MacBook - easy as anything to replace the hard drive. The art was choosing a drive that would be happy to work properly. Got lucky on second choice.
iMac - easy to open up (once committed to using the sucker) and actually very easy to replace the hard drive. The art was choosing a drive that would be happy to work properly. And, that having proved impossible to
100% achieve, accepting the need to use a piece of software to avoid the fan being as loud as Concorde. And adding memory was as easy as you could ever hope for.So my gripe is more with obtaining drives that you know will work with Apple's firmware/software rather than any hardware issues as such.
Difference is that computer repairs are usually software rather than hardware: people can't really see what you are doing. Take a pile of flat sheets and turn it in to a wardrobe and people will be grateful; spend hours backing up, fixing, and restoring a PC and all that people see is something that is back to normal.
Quote a minimum price to look at the problem, and as you are doing a paid job rather than helping friends and family. Don't be afraid to say it is beyond economical repair rather than spending hours on a job. Especially if someone wails that they have lost all the work they failed to backup, ask how much it is worth not to have to do it again rather than spend hours recovering data that they could retype in half an hour.
Don't forget that some of the above (e.g. removing a keyboard that is clipped in) might invalidate an existing manufacturers warranty
Oh indeed. Not only that tell em you just solved a nasty race hazard problem with a nifty scheduling algorithm you designed and they will glaze over. Point at a few bits of timber you nailed together and they will say "oh you are clever!"
Yup... although oddly some businesses in particular will pay to fix something that is messed up, but not buy new even when the latter is cheaper.
Sometimes a genuine data loss is the only way they will finally understand the point about backups etc.
Drives are less of an issue on most laptops since they are one of the few bits they expect you to change.
I was thinking more of the smaller iStuff that needs rubber suckers to pull the screen off, or special screwdriver bits to get the case apart. (Apple are not alone in this - so perhaps it unfair singling them out and not Nintendo, or Sony etc)
with a
Aye. One has to be competative but you also need to make a profit after taking into account all your overheads. Don't under estimate how much it costs to run a vehicle for example, reckon on 40p/mile to include depreciation and something put aside to replace it.
Of that order, look at TMH's website he charges a minimum fee that includes the first n hours and a hourly rate after that.
IIRC from the notice above the service desk in PC World their minimum is over =A360.
It's not the fiddling with computers that is the problem it's tripping over the cat and crash landing on and wrecking some bit antique bit of furniture or what have you...
I don't think ordinary Public Liability would cover such an incident.
You can't but you can park a vehicle outside with "PC Installs & Maintenance from =A340 Tel...." on the side. You might get a few bites before the manager of PC World complains and gets the Landlord of the store/car park to ask you to leave thier private property. If you can find a legal spot on the public highway nearby however...
Often a problem with local authorities too. 50 years ago we bought a hoover floor polisher in parts to polish a laboratory bench, as it would otherwise be a capital item requiring councillor's approval. Last year I bought swimming pool lane ropes in parts, as a "repair" as to us (the user) it was cheaper than new. To the council, it was more expensive, /and/ it took me several hours of my own time to assemble each one. To the supplier it was a bonus. So much for beaurocracy and outsourcing!
I worked on contract for one firm where they agreed an hourly rate for hours supplied, but then put a "limit of liability" on the contract. A maximum spend figure designed to flag up to the more senior bits of the purchasing department when spend on a particular order was going to exceed pre agreed limits. Seemed simple enough. Apart from when you actually reached the limit due to doing far more hours than they anticipated, all they did was issue a new contract with a new limit since it was easier than the bureaucratic palaver of doing what the system actually expected them to do.
Its also easy to slip a business card to someone muttering to their partner about the advertised fees being a bit steep! ;-)
I don't think I've ever broken anything in someone else's house whilst visting or tripped over anyone's cat in the 43 years I've been alive...
In TMH's case, he's purposely interfering with the fabric of the house, so it is plausible that something bad might happen, eg drill through pipe, water on expensive persian rug...
I just don't believe in the fad for insurance for the sake of it, when 20 years ago common sense would suffice...
Cheers,
Tim
I reckon you could in Tunbridge Wells, if you happened to be popping into B&Q + Toys'R'Us for a couple of hours. The another hour in Currys and Comet. It's all one big shared carpark, so I suspect PC World could do bugger all about it.
But how do you get away with hanging about at the service desk in store surepticioulsy handing out bussiness cards. You only get you marketing info to one person and they might not take you up. Marketing is getting you name/reputation known to as many people as possible for as little effort/outlay as possible when balanced against the return you get from the business it drums up.
In my line it's almost entirely word of mouth that gets me work. Sending CV's, letters, phoneing doesn't get much response above "we have your details on file". These days I am thinking about a Faceache account for my business side just to raise my profile.
I was not suggesting this is a good general marketing strategy, more illustrating that being prepared (i.e. having cards on you), and paying attention on the odd time you find yourself in these situations can pay dividends. After all, you are not going to be making money while stood around in PC world, so its not something I expect any self respecting technician is likely to be spending much time doing.
Marketing needs to be focussed on the customers also likely to generate most income for your business model. That's unlikely to be individual end users anyway.
Indeed, I can't think of a domestic customer that we have not acquired through this route.
I don't.
Any company that installs non user-replaceable rechargeable batteries in a high cost item is saying "we like to **** the customer" IMHO.
tim
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