I work as a technician for the largest electronics repair franchise in North America and have been fixing people's tech for over 20 years. I've SEEN some things, some CRAZY things. We advertise we fix "anything with an On switch", and that's not far from the truth.
Ask me anything and share your crazy repair stories.
Picture is from not long ago. Customer dropped their iPad in a lake. Can't make this stuff up.
I don't know how to really articulate this but disconnected hard drives lose their data after time so what's the longest disconnected HDD you managed to recover some or all data from?
Also is it just me or do women destroy their screens much more commonly than men do?
What's the most fucked up porn you've found in a customer computer?
What do you think of Rossmann?
Oldest HDD I've recovered data from was a 1999 unit, and that was about a year ago. It wouldn't spin up so I used the (very) old trick of wrapping it in cling wrap and putting it in the freezer a few hours. Sure enough it spun up one last time and I was able to get back their wedding photos.
As for breaking screens I guess I do see more women with broken phones than men, but not by any huge margin.
Black gangbang porn on a DVD in their drive. And the customer was an 80yr old white woman.
Rossmann is a great guy and does some fantastic work. Stuff like that we actually have a dedicated Advance Team we can send stuff to for the same kind of repairs.
Post pictures of cockroach computers or heavy smokers
t. also worked in repairs now for 4 years and have seen things that I straight up say no to when I see them
Managed to do something similar with a 1997 drive. Feels pretty good ngl.
And in my experience there are probably 1.25-1.5 women for every man with a broken screen but that is just personal experience.
What company?
What's the most niche thing you've fixed?
How much do you get paid?
How much do you pay wholesale for parts?
From last week: iPhone dropped in the toilet, they brought it directly to us. Mmmm, still moist!
Had to put a pick over the flashlight LED because it was stuck on and blinding me. Ended up being fixed by a dunk in the ultrasonic cleaner and a new battery!
Haha yeah roaches and heavy smokers are common. By franchise policy if it has insects inside we seal it in a plastic bag and refuse to work on it. Pic related.
We have over 500 stores, not a common name but quite popular :-D
Most niche thing in recent memory was a 1943 short-wave radio. Vacuum tubes. I replaced all the old dried out capacitors and cleaned the variable tuning cap. Also the power cord for safety. Customer couldn't believe it, think he brought it in as a joke.
I get paid well. Not crazy money, but a comfortable living. And after working with the company for a while I can open my own store at a very discounted rate.
As for parts prices depends a lot. We have our own distribution that partners with various manufacturers for OEM parts but also use 3rd party suppliers like MobileSentrix.
Ooops, forgot cockroach computer pic.
And yes, this is a disturbingly common occurrence. Its warm inside electronics and bugs like warm. We frequently see laptops, desktops and (most commonly) gaming consoles full of cockroach larvae.
>full of cockroach larvae.
Any live ones yet? I once had a computer that had about 20-30 adults and a couple of them with very large larvae sacs on the back. Absolutely nasty things.
>Black gangbang porn on a DVD in their drive. And the customer was an 80yr old white woman.
White women deserve the same gas chamber as the jews. There are more than enough asian females to make up for them
>We have over 500 stores
OfficeDepot. Got it.
PS4s have a huge design flaw in the PSU, cockroaches crawl in and short it
Do you report illegal material to the FBI?
how much cp have you reported?
What has been the most expensive repair ever carried out and did the customer scream and shout?
Yes. And I literally took it outside and tied it up into two garbage bags. That's a huge NOPE.
NO. I do NOT work for OfficeDepot. My company is focused only on repairs, NOT sales. My only job is to fix things, and fix things well. And mine (and nearly every other location) has the tools needed to do up to microsoldering if needed.
Only once in my career have I had to report something to the police, and yes for CP.
For starters its a matter of policy to not look at anything on a customer device unless strictly necessary, and then only with permission. Morseso I really don't CARE about what's on a device.
But once there was a computer that had stuff quite visible and impossible to ignore. This was years back at a different job. My manager at the time called the cops, they established a chain of custody (verified by our cameras) and took the machine into a private room. In the end no charges were filed because there was not enough evidence.
In recent memory $980 for a Macbook Pro that had a soda spilled in it. Needed a new keyboard, trackpad, fan, battery, Magsafe board, and painstaking cleaning of the motherboard, SSD, and wifi card.
The customer was actually thrilled, Apple told them they needed to replace the $3k laptop and their data could never be recovered.
All right. My niece has a Mi pad 4, and there's some yellow/orange spots forming at the bottom corners. I've checked and noticed that most of their other phones and tablets (Xiaomi) have the same issue. Have you encountered this and what would you suggest to do with it? They bought it online and they don't want to send it back to China and have it repaired.
>Apple told them they needed to replace the $3k laptop and their data could never be recovered.
Yup, typical Apple.
Two questions for this
Do you give warranty for water damage at all? We don't leading in to my next question
How often do water damaged devices that you fix eventually return for whatever reason?
Yep, I've encountered this. Pretty common on Xiaomi stuff, poor manufacturing and heat control around where the backlight LEDs are located.
Just not practical to repair (at least not in my shop). You'd pay almost as much as the thing is worth, and the only way to get parts is from China with a month lead time.
It really, really is. I like to say there are two kinds of Macbook customers. Ones who say its too expensive or are surprised its so cheap. The difference is whether they went to Apple first.
We don't give a warranty for liquid damage, because its just so unpredictable.
That said at least for me if I fix something with water damage it's generally not coming back. And my policy is that if it's not working 100% properly at pickup I'm not going to charge the customer. Obviously there are exceptions sometimes but only if they agree.
PS4 brought in for repair not long ago. Customer said it turned off randomly while playing games.
Hmm, I wonder why?
Fixed for $79.99 to completely disassemble, clean, and redo the heatsink paste while I was at it.
Goddamn I fucking hate this stupid design
>lets attach the heatsink to this structural plate and require dissembling the entire unit to access for cleaning!
What was the most pleasant machine you ever worked on? As in easiest to repair and one you genuinely enjoyed opening up and looking at.
AGREED. Plus security Torx bits to even open the case.
But then again that's why I get paid, heh.
Not OP but Dell Latitudes/HP EliteBooks with the single door design are a godsend to work on, one lever switch and bam you have access to CPU, heatsink, RAM, HDD, m.2/mSATA slots, WiFi cards.
Oh man, that's a tough one actually. There are a lot of things I get that are just a breeze and the customer is really happy so its tough to pick out one.
I guess I'll go general. Almost daily I have someone come in asking for a quote on a new charge port on their phone. They have to wiggle the cable or hold it at an angle/etc to get it to charge.
I have a very narrow and sharp plastic pick tool and I'll show them just how much lint/crud/etc was stuck in that port. Hit it with a blast of compressed air to finish and tell them to have a nice day. No charge for that service as policy.
I've even had people mention me by name in online reviews for doing this, after other stores told them they needed expensive repairs.
Feels good man.
Stop buying chinese crap. All of their manufacturers cheap out on components.
I have a fat PS3 that either needs a new GPU or just a reball. I got a new GPU but not the balls to do it myself. What kind of charge am I looking at?
uBreakiFix??
Apart from the bugs, did you find anything else inside the machines? snakes, tarantulas, rats etc
Almost everything is made in China, some good and some bad.
What would you recommend to someone opening a laptop for the first time? Asking for me, I have done a lot of PC repairs but never ever I have opened up a laptop
/vr/ crossposter here. Where or how does one find these mythical unicorns that can fix CRT monitors these days? How much would one charge me to risk their life messing with one?
It is a shame to throw it out rather than repair, as 1920x1200 CRT monitors weren't common and I really enjoyed the experience of using it as I still did until a few months ago. It is also illegal for me to dispose of it too.
Not OP, but keep track of your god damned screws like a Jew counts his shekels. You WILL lose one if you don't.
I've got a couple old hard drives I spilled a bunch of bourbon on years ago, they don't seem to spin up or make clicking sounds when I plug them in. I've tried putting them in the freezer and that didn't work either, what would you do to fix them?
do you use gloves on toilet phones? Do you disinfect them before touching them? I imagine some could have touched a dookie in the bowl.
To replace a GPU you need a BGA rework station, proper dies, new solder balls, etc etc long story short its NOT worth it. If you came into the store I would tell you its cheaper to buy a working used one than for me to repair yours.
Hmmm . . . .
So yeah, yes. I once had someone bring in a laser printer complaining of red steaks on the prints. Sure enough I found a very cooked and very flattened mouse in the fuser assembly. It was NOT pretty. My coworker got sick and had to leave early.
Call up a disassembly guide. iFixit has most major brands, and if not Youtube. Use a magnetic pad or piece of paper to arrange the screws, often they are different lengths.
At my store I would happily fix a CRT, and back in the day I did so almost daily. Your best bet is to look for a shop that does arcade game repairs, they're guaranteed to have a tech and the tools to do CRTs on site.
Send them to a forensic data recovery company like Drivesavers. Its expensive as hell, but the only way.
what was your most challenging repair?
what do you think about the HP omen 15?
hats your favorite laptop to own?
What color is your dragon dildo?
Did you get on the job training or did you need certification before hand?
based
this is actually my biggest fear, putting it back together and realize i lost something. Thanks for the heads up, I will be extra careful with the screws
Unfortunately it's really difficult to use the kind of precision tools needed while wearing gloves, at least for me. I just take the phone apart then drop whatever tools I used into the ultrasonic cleaner with it and wash my hands afterwards, as well as spray and wipe my station.
>Sure enough I found a very cooked and very flattened mouse in the fuser assembly.
fucking disgusting, how the fuck can people be so careless of their valuable stuff
thank you, for once great thread
Something else to keep in mind is you usually don't need to much force to open laptops, if you find yourself prying two bits apart you've probably missed a screw. They can be hidden under rubber feet as well. You should also be careful with ribbon cables that connect devices like power buttons, keyboards and mouse pads. The first laptop I opened up which was my own I ended up destroying the ribbon cable connecting the mouse pad and had to use a mouse for the next 3 years due to lack of replacement parts.
Motherfucker, I know you work at a ubreakifix. Thats the shitty slogan the owners get from the corporate kool aid events. Fuck you.
>I have a very narrow and sharp plastic pick tool and I'll show them just how much lint/crud/etc was stuck in that port.
Are you me? This is insane how common it is. At least it's easy to fix.
Most challenging repair I would say was a 60" 4k HDTV with bad LED backlight about a month ago. Just out of its one year manufacturer warranty.
Painstakingly disassembled the frame, and then had two other techs help me to carefully lift the panel out (while wearing gloves so as not to leave fingerprints). Used a heat gun to remove the backlight strips, tested to find which LED was bad, and then soldered a new one on. Reassembled the TV and it worked.
Took about 2 hours and the customer paid $470. There was a lot of clenching going on while lifting that 60" across panel that's only about 1.5mm thick.
I got training only for specific company procedures. While I went to college for Computer and Electronics Engineering I'm almost entirely self taught. That said the company trains people with the right mindset even if they know nothing.
It was in an office building, stuff happens.
Thanks!
I actually really love my job, heh. Have fun (almost) every day.
Typical sight when breaking open a PS4 that has "overheating problems".
Taken about 2 months ago.
I admit, it is fun but the most challenging part of the job is dealing with the clientele that comes with it. Most people are alright and just want their shit fixed and Ill be happy to help but its the people who go out of their way to shit on my fucking day and metaphorically sodomize my greasy asshole with a waffle iron that make it suck sometimes. That and I always would like more money but I'm getting promoted soon and I solder. Rarity in my area.
This is a great thread OP.
I should also mention that at least at my location its not a lie, it's the truth. The only thing I'm judged by and graded on is how well I fix things and how happy people are with the repair. It's a breath of fresh air in an otherwise ugly industry. We have a 4.8/5 rating on Google with over 200 reviews, and that's downright unheard of for a repair shop.
Granted the owner of my store is fantastic, and a geek himself. That helps a lot.
Every now and then we do get a crazy customer, someone that expects the impossible. I find that just being honest and upfront does a lot. If I can't fix it at a good price I'll say so.
>Every now and then we do get a crazy customer
How do you deal with customers that want it fixed now? Especially difficult jobs or jobs that require part replacement that may not be in stock.
Only a couple of questions:
How useful is an ultrasonic cleaner?
Do you repair Hard Drives and what tools do you use for that?
I just explain it calmly in layman's terms, that's all I can do. I don't control the mail in terms of how long a part takes to arrive, and I can't keep every part ever made in the store at all times. The best way is usually to invite them to try calling other shops . . . I know that if I can't do it today probably nobody else can. Usually they'll get quotes far above ours on prices and longer times and end up having me do the repair.
Ultrasonic cleaner is SUPER USEFUL. I've put boards in there that were corroded so badly they were half green and gotten them out spotless and working. That machine works miracles.
For hard drives the best we can do is run SMART checks and other basic diagnostics. If it's in a semi-failure state I have a Linux machine I use to get everything possible off. If it doesn't spin up or read at all (for modern drives) the best I can do is refer the customer to a data forensics company like DriveSavers.
Ever had a customer threaten you?
At my current store no but a few times in the past yeah.
The worst was about 4 years back when I worked for a different company. A guy came in with a grocery bag of phones and GPS units, right after a snowstorm. He demanded that I buy them (and he had clearly stolen them from cars).
I said no, I can't buy anything (you have to be a pawn shop to buy stuff). He went nuts and punched the monitor on my front desk and pulled a knife out of his jacket.
Then the guys from the shop next door heard the commotion and started running over. He reconsidered and ran off. The cops never found him.
Fun repair from a bit ago. Old school Bass amp, really neat to work on.
Fuck of UbreakIfix cuck
Off*
what's ur store number
Wait they have store numbers, do you work there too??
Not sure if op did, but I managed a few locations for the same company until I got fed up and left. My shit employees that didn't care would half ass repairs and I would get threatened by retards at least a few times a month
Op post more pictures of jacked up devices, this is fucking awesome.
Yeah, I worked at a store in florida, shit was cash for the most part
Do you say "soldering" or "sahddering"?
What is your favourite brand of vacuum cleaner and why is it HP?
Given that I'm not going to give you that, heh.
Sorry to hear that. The owner of my location is fantastic and only hires the best, and I really enjoy working for him. Best boss a tech could want.
Give me a sec, I'll find some good ones.
Let's give an iPad to a toddler. That will work out just GREAT.
I bought an old laptop on eBay and it has a line running down the screen, pic related. I took the damn thing apart and disconnected the display cable on the motherboard and on the panel itself, still has the line. What do you think the problem is? Screen, or cable? Another thing to note is the laptop gets VERY hot, maybe it fucked up the cable.
the fuck did they do to that
Giving little kids electronics is a terrible idea in general.
Ever. Get bums coming into your store? How is security, do you have cameras and such?
had that before, had to get LCD replaced. Fairly simple, should only take a couple days at max.
I bet you don't know the answer to this.
Can you upgrade Lenovo Ideapad Z585 with A10-5750M?
Tell me about macbook repairs, which retina models give you the most and least trouble?
Which model breaks the least?
You've got a faulty screen
Only way to repair it is to replace the LCD. On that model should run you about $20 on eBay but if I were to do it in my store around $120.
I have no idea, but they paid $129.99 to fix it. Which is cheap considering I have to take almost an hour to remove the old digitizer, remove all traces of the old adhesive, then use a G-Tool to straiten out the corners and seat in a new digitizer and I can't charge anything unless its perfect.
It is technically possible according to the specifications of the board. It would fit. Whether the power management and cooling system can handle the upgraded processor, not sure. If you asked me to do that for you in my store I wouldn't recommend it but would do it without a warranty.
how long do they usually last? I have a stack going back to 2006 to 2012
Fuck, I bought this laptop just for the hell of it because it would be cool to have a machine that has XP and 98 on it, but it's been more of a pain in the ass than I would've wanted. I had to buy a hard drive for it which is no big deal, then it got here and I realized I needed to buy an adapter because Dell had a proprietary connector, and now I'll have to buy a new screen if I want to get rid of that line. I knew it had the line when I bought it by the way, but I thought it would go away if I just reseated the connector :/
It's ancient, you should be able to pick up a second hand screen for next to nothing. Otherwise just deal with the line.
Retina Macbooks are very well built machines. Most of what I see are liquid or physical damage.
We have cameras everywhere. I actually like this because there is always documentation. Had a few bums and called the shopping center security and it was taken care of quickly.
Depends on the rotational velocidensity of the drive itself. A WD Raptor 150GB would probably last a good 15-20 years.
I don't know if it's worth it honestly
What do you charge for smartphone battery replacement?
Just another day at work.
thanks, what do you recomend for accesing 5 or 6 loose old hard drives?
Really? rossman makes them look like complete jokes.
You have got to be shitting me, what about the keyboardS? the breaking screen cables? the breaking touch pad cables? the overheating?
What the fuck kind of repair tech thinks retinas are good
I have a similar issue with my Dell monitor, but it only appears from time to time. Had it in the trunk of my car and it smashed when I was driving like a retard taking corners too fast. I can usually fix it by pressing or hitting the base of the line.
Also I wouldn't call it "ancient", it's only from 2002 or somewhere around that
Pretty easy to think everything is shit when the only ones you see are broken.
I just go by what I see come through my door. Don't get many of those machines, maybe Apple is taking care of those problems? I like mine, has been quite solid.
macbooks are the most problematic laptops in existence lel they are literally built to fail
name ONE retina macbook model that doesnt have fatal design flaws, i will wait
what year and size?
Apple has ~3 models active at any given time and sells more of them than any other laptop vendor so of course they're 'in the news'. Do you really think eg. a Dell Inspiron has fewer fatal design flaws?
Another picture of a fun failure. Jack broken off from logic board. Good times.
Ever had a girl offer favors for a repair?
Why do you use an 888 instead of any station with T12 tips?
where do you guys get replacement parts for laptops? Is it worth it to buy laptop screens on aliexpress?