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Ask a Repair Shop

philip.yurchuk.com

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Re: Ask a Repair Shop

#61

Post by thinkfurther »

earfarm wrote: post #42
cyphar wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's intentional. They do not provide schematics to anyone outside of Apple and FOXCONN. They only provide diagnostics tools to "authorised repair shops" (which actually don't repair devices). They provide no information to repair shops on where they might be able to buy replacement chips (aside from searching the chip name on AliExpress). It's not as though they don't know how to repair devices, there is mountains o…

As far as I know, no manufacturer supplies laptop circuit diagrams to outside parties, except Panasonic for the Toughbook series. All the other schematics out there are leaks. Automotive manufacturers only supply wiring diagrams of the body wiring harnesses. The only electronic assemblies in cars you can get a circuit diagram for are radios; ECU internals are jealously guarded. Even in the consumer electronics indust…

Everybody has excuses.

http://classiccomputers.info/down/Commodore/Amiga/Amiga_A500...

Re: Ask a Repair Shop

#62

Post by danpalmer »

Nexxxeh wrote: post #54
bensummers wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're not having luck with UK ISPs, try https://www.aaisp.net.uk/ They have technical people running support who talk to customers as peers. Also you can use IRC if you don't like the phone.

Yeah, they're not the cheapest by a long stretch, but if your connection is something you NEED rather than something you just LIKE... Andrews and Arnold are worth the premium. If you will be losing productivity if there's any outage, you'll probably save the price difference the first time you use their support. I've had good experiences with Zen too, on their FTTP product. (I'd have used AA, but they didn't offer th…

+1 for Zen - they really know what they are doing. Unfortunately FTTC still requires intervention from Openreach who are still terrible.

I find Zen is a good middle ground between a reliable ISP with good features (like static addresses, IPv6, etc) and good support, and a provider like Andrews * Arnold who are excellent but will cost 2-3x the price. A&A are just not really suited to home use, and price a lot on bandwidth, which in the age of Netflix isn't great.

Re: Ask a Repair Shop

#63

Post by maxerickson »

Nition wrote: post #33
kd5bjo wrote: post #11

This is mostly the result of our checkbox-grid comparison shopping culture. "Features" like extra coats of paint and thicker metal cost the manufacturer more than they increase the market value. On the other hand, throwing in a dozen cheap bits of plastic with every vacuum cleaner pays for itself because it can now ostensibly do a dozen more things.

I wish there was like a rating system for how well-built appliances are. I guess the poor man's version of that is looking at how long the manufacturer's warranty is.

Even better would be to get ahold of the price list of a 3rd party warranty company.

The manufacturer warranty is just as likely to be a financial product as it is to reflect product quality.

Re: Ask a Repair Shop

#64

Post by Not31337 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #58
timcederman wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's interesting to me is that for all my appliances in my house (different brands), I've been able to repair each of them (microwave, air conditioner, washer, dryer, dishwasher, and wine fridge) on my own, using some basic instructions on the internet and a part that at most has cost $50. I believe we're in a golden age for self-repair (particularly with YouTube videos), but I keep hearing about how everything is…

Couple of recent attempted fixes: Food mixer - resin washer instead of metal, without tools to machine a purpose fit washer is irrepairable. TV - 4 years old, needed new main board, nothing at less than 50% cost of a brand new (better) TV. No parts from named manufacturer (re-badged). Kettle - plastic in switch, clearly a weak point, suspect it was designed in, double thickness and the kettle would probably go foreve…

I have had sever successful hack repairs. A weak kettle switch strengthened by construction glue and hanger wire drilled through the plastic.

A washable force air filter frame reinforced by a glued on plastic sheet.

The $80 car antenna that broke off in an unfortunately time garage door close also fixed with glue and museum putty(just for stability till the glue dried).

I am a maker, breaker and a fixer. Keep it out of the trash.

Re: Ask a Repair Shop

#65

Post by maxerickson »

pitaa wrote: post #13
liquidcool wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend asked me the same, so here's my info. It is dated, and you're best calling a repair shop before buying, but likely still some nuggets of truth here. Big trend is consolidation in the industry. Whirlpool, Maytag, and Kitchenaid are all the same company now. For dishwashers (and I got this info recently), repairman said they all have the same motor and core components, which is the most important. They differ…

I've been told the same thing about dishwashers; all the pumps are the same and you're just paying for more buttons. They did add that sometimes the top-of-the-line model will still actually clean better due to some added sensors that will extend the cycle if the water through the pump is still getting dirty, but it sounded like the improvement was negligible. Unfortunately everything is getting more complex. Even my…

That's somewhat driven by regulation. The hot water is a big chunk of the energy use of a clothes washer.

Re: Ask a Repair Shop

#67

Post by drewg123 »

richdougherty wrote: post #32

I did this when I was choosing a laptop. I called up a few laptop repair shops. It as so helpful! They could tell me what was junk and what was OK. I also do something like this this when choosing a new ISP. I call the support line instead of the sales line. Somehow ISPs can answer sales enquiries instantly while support calls take 45 minutes to answer. This strategy has led me to use some of the smaller (slightly mo…

It must be nice to have a choice of ISPs. I have exactly one to "choose" from.

Re: Ask a Repair Shop

#68

Post by drewg123 »

tormeh wrote: post #8
bgrainger wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was an interesting read on why many appliances are no longer built to last: https://recraigslist.com/2015/10/they-used-to-last-50-years/ Previously discussed on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13909365

Honestly the answer to the appliance problem is to just buy Miele. I'm not really a huge fan, because you do pay a lot for the brand and they're not always as technologically advanced as, for example, Siemens, but you do get a long warranty and high quality.

We have a fancy Miele dishswasher in our current house, which was installed by the previous owners. This is the most unreliable dishwasher I've ever seen. It fails at least once per year, with a new thing every time. There is only one repair shop in our area that will service Miele, and they are backed up weeks sometimes.

Our old house had a cheap, builder-grade GE dishwasher. We lived there for 10 years, and it never failed.

Re: Ask a Repair Shop

#69

Post by shimon »

arethuza wrote: post #50
dexterdog wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also got two weeks? You guys are both lucky.

I knew a CEO once who honestly believed that any feature he could conceive of could be implemented in two weeks. He was quite successful.... Any before anyone asks what the logic was behind this - there wasn't any - he just chose to believe it and ignore any evidence to the contrary.

Optimism beyond the reasonable may be a critical trait for a successful CEO. Not necessarily what you want in your own manager, of course, but company leaders need to chase risk in order to do well and that's hard to do if you're ready to believe all the (reasonable) opposition that new ideas face.

Re: Ask a Repair Shop

#70

Post by The_DaveG »

inthewoods wrote: post #45

My experience is the opposite. Spoke with two system integrators regarding an implementation of a marketing automation tool. In both cases, the proposed lead on the project made statements that I knew were incorrect regarding the software. We also had a challenging requirement that was not part of any out-of-the-box solution and was told by both that it wasn't possible with one of the vendors we were considering. Sim…

A lot of SI's are married to a particular software platform, and it's been that way for a long time. We all know the big player who owns 70-80% of the market, and most people will implement via them (or that's at least what they make most of their money off of).

Some of us (I work for an SI) actually find the correct solution for the problem. We use all 4 major players, build our own stuff when appropriate, and would look at other solutions if the opportunity arrises, we love what we do.

Let me know if you're still looking for a solution and I'd be happy to give you another opinion.

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