help

mick29200

hi could any body tell me where to get a packard bell onetwo fixed around newry
area allready paid newry computer center 25quid for them to tell me they cannot get parts

Procrastastudy

Post in the building and upgrading forum and fix it yourself.

First mistake was buying a Packard Bell to be fair :P

mick29200

is it that easy
tell you what the things doing
turn on power button the light comes on the fan starts but stops almost strait
away and if you leave it switched on it does it over and over

Procrastastudy

Have you got a motherboard manual? If you can find out where the pins are that control the power you can try shorting them with a screw driver and seeing if the power switch is banjaxed.

When you say the fans are coming on - are they staying on until it resets? If they are stopping the machine may switch itself off to stop it from over heating. Can you link the specs/model at all?

Are the fans full of dust? Which fans are coming on? Can you take a pic of the inside of it?

mick29200

no the fan goes off before its up to speed even wiped the cover off unpluged diff parts from m/board in effort to find offending part but still did the same each time so am thinking it the m/board

Procrastastudy

Might also be the PSU - any idea of specs maybe you can salvage some of the bits and build yourself a new one.

Also €25 to have a look at it - what a bunch of bloody cowboys.

mick29200

psu is that power supply unit
am old only thing ever changed before was transformer
on old desk top
I will get the meter on tomorrow day off today let
you know how get on thanks for help
going to have a mess with it don't think much to lose at this stage
it has tv card and was able to record TV when was at work so missing
all the things had recorded
so i don't make same mistake again what should i buy

mick29200

its a onetwo model L5871

Firblog

Those all in one jobs are a feckin disaster..

Don't think there'll be a psu there, powered by a/c adaptor?

Also don't think 25 was too much to pay, for them to take the thing apart, prob replaced memory/hdd removed other cards - wireless etc put back together, all in all deffo more than an hour trouble shooting...

If you're not willing to risk paying 25 to find out if it's fixable it's obviously not worth fixing imo

does anyone think that work should be done for free?

Procrastastudy

Yes if you cant get parts you know when it comes in the door!

crazygeryy

Procrastastudy wrote: »

Might also be the PSU - any idea of specs maybe you can salvage some of the bits and build yourself a new one.

Also €25 to have a look at it - what a bunch of bloody cowboys.

i don't think 25 quid is unusual. i was quoted 35 just to look at a laptop a few months ago.

Procrastastudy

Actually I've changed my mind - totally reasonable. I need a good gravy train to keep me going though college and probably my first few years at the bar.

Captain Commie

25Stg is a very reasonable rate for having a PC looked at, however the shop mustn't want repeat business if they told client they could not fix and still charged the money.

Anyways, getting mobo manual for a PB system is not going to be easy as they tend to use custom manufactured ones to fit their systems.

Do the lights stay on even after fan has stopped? if so then could be a faulty mobo and if thats the case and depending on the age of the system you might be better getting a new machine. If you can follow simple step by step instructions then I would advise to self build, can come out cheaper and you get the parts you want.

Firblog

Procrastastudy wrote: »

Actually I've changed my mind - totally reasonable. I need a good gravy train to keep me going though college and probably my first few years at the bar.

And you'll be doing all pro bono work when you qualify I assume?

Come on in and tell me your sorry tale.. I'll listen to your story for an hour, and even though I've staff/rent/rates/insurance/power/water charges to pay I'll not charge you anything.

Make sure to post your contact details when you get out of college and you'll get plenty of that free work I'm sure...

Procrastastudy

Firblog wrote: »

And you'll be doing all pro bono work when you qualify I assume?

Come on in and tell me your sorry tale.. I'll listen to your story for an hour, and even though I've staff/rent/rates/insurance/power/water charges to pay I'll not charge you anything.

Make sure to post your contact details when you get out of college and you'll get plenty of that free work I'm sure...

Barristers are lucky to see any work. You work for two years unpaid at the start of your career and most would do some sort of volunteer work. Unfortunately you'd only be able to get legal advice from me on the direct access scheme. They are also sole traders...

Joking aside there are many many Solicitors that offer no foul no fee. You would also find yourself in front of the Law Society very quickly if you advised a client to go forward with a totally unwinable case.

As soon as they saw that it was an all in one they should have known the parts would be difficult to get. The work done for a quotation should be free - I assume they've just cornered the market up there which leads me to the same conclusion - Cowboys.

Captain Commie

Procrastastudy wrote: »

As soon as they saw that it was an all in one they should have known the parts would be difficult to get. The work done for a quotation should be free - I assume they've just cornered the market up there which leads me to the same conclusion - Cowboys.

Im shocked, we agree on something.

OP, whilst its too late now, next time you take a machine to be fixed, do not pay anything until they give you a quote and tell you that they can do the work. These guys are using shoddy business practices to say the least. As for the system being an all in one, time to get a new system as it really does sound like the mobo, or possibly the processor is toast.

Use sites like komplett or dabs for ordering parts, also, I find the best place to get RAM from is crucial, bought off them a couple of times and always been a winner.

Firblog

Believe these may be what OP needs, tho looking up online there seems to be an issue with these gateway all-in-ones too...

Sorry can't agree with you guys, if they're doing the work for nothing they'd soon have a load of people coming in with crap looking for quotes to get it fixed, with no intention of getting anything done if it's gonna cost more than €50..

If they do charge a minimum fee to look at something then they should have a notice to that effect prominently displayed in the shop, wonder was this the case? Perhaps OP can say?

Procrastastudy

Firblog wrote: »

Believe these may be what OP needs, tho looking up online there seems to be an issue with these gateway all-in-ones too...

Sorry can't agree with you guys, if they're doing the work for nothing they'd soon have a load of people coming in with crap looking for quotes to get it fixed, with no intention of getting anything done if it's gonna cost more than €50..

If they do charge a minimum fee to look at something then they should have a notice to that effect prominently displayed in the shop, wonder was this the case? Perhaps OP can say?

If they'd look at it and said - 'here by gum me lado €250 quid to fixamikate your machine" or however the speak in Newry and the OP had said

"Gosh that seems rather expensive you young Scally-wag! I do believe I shall try my luck on boards.ie"

I would have agreed with you. Instead he walked in with an all-in-one which everyone knows are a PITA to repair and hatched a devious plot to liberate €25 (£) from the OP.

Firblog

Those things use normal RAM, Wireless Cards, Hard Drives & processors all of which could have been responsible for stopping it from booting, also could have been a loose connection from the board to the screen.

You'd have been asking what kind of bloody cowboys are they that they didn't check these things if they'd just told him to turn on his heels when they saw him coming in the door with his 'pain in the arse' all in one; as you suggested they should have...

Procrastastudy wrote: »

Yes if you cant get parts you know when it comes in the door!

Procrastastudy wrote: »

Procrastastudy

Clear we're not going to agree on this - charging the customer in these circumstances is just bad practice imo. Doesn't take 10 minutes to check what you've described. €25x6 is €150 an hour which is way over the odds for a PC repair. I'm also pretty sure we're talking Sterling here too.

Hopefully what ever circuit I end up on (if ever please God) will take me near the border. No fix no fee. You'll have to keep it quiet though you're not allowed any other job as a Barrister - well apart from some very limited ones - I'm pretty sure PC repair isn't on the list.

Incidentally how old it is OP maybe you can claim under the SOG act.

Torqay

While 25 yoyos sounds an appropriate fee, to me it doesn't seem right. I never charge for diagnostics (and most certainly not if I can't fix it) but most people insist on leaving a tip anyways. Good way to make sure they'll come back and/or recommend your service, much more rewarding, even in monetary terms.

Firblog

Naw, deffo not going to agree... but if the old barristering doesn't work out for you you'll deffo make a living with IT (if you charge that is) seeing how swaping out RAM/Hard Drive/Wireless Cards & Processor one at a time & testing only takes you ten mins :rolleyes:

Captain Commie

Since when has a missing/faulty HDD or wireless card stopped a machine booting, faulty HDD will give you a message on POST saying that the HDD is missing whereas a faulty/missing wifi card will not show any issue until you get into the OS.

I have seen several machines come in like this and not once have I even looked near the HDD/ODD or wifi cards for a potential issue.

What should have happened was, they diagnose potential issue with machine free of charge (which is actually pretty standard in most, honest, pc repair stores) and then given the option of what to do. Also, to diagnose an issue like what he is having, it should take no more than 15/20 mins as booting with process of elimination takes maybe 1 min per config change.

Thankfully I dont need to go to such places to have my machines looked at, but if i did, there is no way on earth I would be paying 25 Sterling to have someone look at it and then turn round and say they cant do it as they cant get the parts. They should never have accepted the job in the first place

Firblog

You've been very lucky then, have seen machines fail to reach post with all of those components being the cause (well apart from wireless - that stopped a normal desktop) .

I don't see how there can be complaints about about anyone charging for that work if they make the customer aware about it prior to accepting the machine

Captain Commie

Firblog wrote: »

You've been very lucky then, have seen machines fail to reach post with all of those components being the cause (well apart from wireless) .

I don't see how there can be complaints about about anyone charging for that work if they make the customer aware about it prior to accepting the machine

Look at it this way, do you pay your mechanic to tell you whats wrong with your car, or do you pay him to fix the problem?

Firblog

If I bring my car to him on a trailer because it won't move, and he spends an hour looking at it an tells me that he can't get required part to fix the car, then if he says he has to charge me for the work he has done I'll pay him the €25 no problem