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The Right to Repair Is Law in Washington State

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Re: The Right to Repair Is Law in Washington State

#51

Post by lenerdenator »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #5

> a soldier struggling with a broken generator Are there generators you can't fix right now? I assumed most of them are pretty basic designs, an ICE with either an inverter or non-inverter generator. You can look up how to tear them down and repair them step by step on YouTube (including commercial units)

Idk about the commercial units, but my portable inverter generator has a bunch of schmoo (highly technical industry term) that covers the entire electronics board. If a component on that board fried, I'm not able to repair it without replacing the whole board.

The rest is fairly simple ICE like you say.

Re: The Right to Repair Is Law in Washington State

#52

Post by scottyah »

_kidlike wrote: post #37
zkmon wrote: post #23

I might need an ELI5 here. "Right to repair" as in "right to choose someone who repairs"? Don't think anyone stops you from repairing your own stuff yourself.

easiest example: most components of a macbook laptop have their serial number baked in the OS (or some hardware controller, idr). So even if you can find a legit macbook part from another laptop, and you can even replace it yourself (which is also impossible but that's another story), the laptop won't boot. In order for it to boot, you need a special device which "official apple repair" people have, which can bake-in…

Great from a security perspective, as far as mass stealing and swapping/scrapping parts for resale is concerned. I wonder how they'll prevent it now.

Re: The Right to Repair Is Law in Washington State

#54

Post by dgb23 »

_kidlike wrote: post #37
zkmon wrote: post #23

I might need an ELI5 here. "Right to repair" as in "right to choose someone who repairs"? Don't think anyone stops you from repairing your own stuff yourself.

easiest example: most components of a macbook laptop have their serial number baked in the OS (or some hardware controller, idr). So even if you can find a legit macbook part from another laptop, and you can even replace it yourself (which is also impossible but that's another story), the laptop won't boot. In order for it to boot, you need a special device which "official apple repair" people have, which can bake-in…

What's the purpose of that other than making it harder to repair? Is there any good faith argument to made made here?

Re: The Right to Repair Is Law in Washington State

#56

Post by bfdm »

balls187 wrote: post #47
zootboy wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Commercial Tier 4F diesels of the John Deere variety have latching fault codes when they relate to the aftertreatment system. It requires the manufacturer's proprietary scan tool (which they will not sell to you) to clear the code, even if the actual issue was something as simple as a connector left unplugged for too long.

Requiring proprietary dongles/software to clear fault codes are not uncommon, but I'm surprised there hasn't been enough interest for there to be a 3rd party tool. Like McDonald's Shake Machines had a 3rd party tool to help diagnose issues.

There is interest, but thanks to DMCA 1201 they put a thin veneer of encryption on it and suddenly it's a felony to make/use that third party tool.

Re: The Right to Repair Is Law in Washington State

#57

Post by rafram »

jasonthorsness wrote: post #15
walterbell wrote: post #3

https://www.ifixit.com/News/110039/double-trouble-for-repair... Come January 1, 2026, manufacturers must also stop using parts pairing to block repairs for these devices. That means no more pop-ups that say “unknown part” when you swap in a working screen. No more downgrading your camera or fingerprint sensor just because you repaired your own phone. SB 5680 goes even further for wheelchair users. It covers power whe…

Here is the bill for consumer electronics: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/?BillNumber=1483&Year=202... Text as passed (for pasting into LLM :)): https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/Pdf/Bills/Ho... I wondered what it would mean for small manufacturers and they are not exempt however o3 believes "in practice, your duty is limited to providing whatever service manuals, firmware-pairing utilities, and spa…

Pretty much all of that o3 output is wrong. You could at least check its work before posting.

Re: The Right to Repair Is Law in Washington State

#58

Post by rafram »

sokoloff wrote: post #18
jasonthorsness wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the bill for consumer electronics: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/?BillNumber=1483&Year=202... Text as passed (for pasting into LLM :)): https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/Pdf/Bills/Ho... I wondered what it would mean for small manufacturers and they are not exempt however o3 believes "in practice, your duty is limited to providing whatever service manuals, firmware-pairing utilities, and spa…

Why would anyone believe that spare parts would need to be provided at cost? I’m a proponent of right to repair, but that would be an absurd over-step (and be a strong force to ensure that no spare parts are available to anyone).

The bill actually says “at costs that are fair to both parties,” not “at cost” as in losing money. You’re arguing over what ChatGPT imagined the bill said (and GP posted without verification), not what it actually said.

Re: The Right to Repair Is Law in Washington State

#59

Post by onesociety2022 »

dgb23 wrote: post #54
_kidlike wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

easiest example: most components of a macbook laptop have their serial number baked in the OS (or some hardware controller, idr). So even if you can find a legit macbook part from another laptop, and you can even replace it yourself (which is also impossible but that's another story), the laptop won't boot. In order for it to boot, you need a special device which "official apple repair" people have, which can bake-in…

What's the purpose of that other than making it harder to repair? Is there any good faith argument to made made here?

Security measure - otherwise someone can intercept your MacBook during delivery, replace the original component with a fake one that has a backdoor and ship it to you and you start using it completely oblivious to the fact it has been hacked.

Re: The Right to Repair Is Law in Washington State

#60

Post by FuriouslyAdrift »

lenerdenator wrote: post #51
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #5

> a soldier struggling with a broken generator Are there generators you can't fix right now? I assumed most of them are pretty basic designs, an ICE with either an inverter or non-inverter generator. You can look up how to tear them down and repair them step by step on YouTube (including commercial units)

Idk about the commercial units, but my portable inverter generator has a bunch of schmoo (highly technical industry term) that covers the entire electronics board. If a component on that board fried, I'm not able to repair it without replacing the whole board. The rest is fairly simple ICE like you say.

Conformal coating? That used to be the norm way back in the day for all kinds of electronics. Kind of a dick move, now, unless there is an environmental reason.
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