Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing Forum

two wocester bosch employees, in the uk, won an award for
designing a swipe card, that fault finds combination boilers,
a plastic card with lcd`s ( a pcb readout basically )

a desktop pc with a psu,cpu fan,hd,graphics,memory,

all fail and are controlled ( or seen by the bios )

imagine a pc with led lights on it that tells the user the

fault condition, can that be done or am i mork calling orson.

a POST Card? Some computers have Post lights on the back that let you know if something is getting an error.

no a credit card sized card,

with led lights on it, that tell the user, the
fault that has occured on which componet conected
to the "pcb" ( printed circuit board, boiler motherboard basically)
like gas valve,overheat thermostat,air pressure switch,

never seen a pc with led fault lights on the back

on the front facia would have been better,

someone should invent one

Products like that were available back in the '80s, and many servers today feature front panel diagnostic displays and LEDs, like these found on an HP Server:



Such features have long been deemed to expensive for standard desktop PCs, especially at the consumer level. Scott.

So it sounds like he's looking for a desktop PC equivalent of auto industry's On-board diagnostics (OBD). Then to take full advantage of this he'd also like to have a OBD2 Diagnostic Tool built directly into the computer case. I'm going to assume that this also needs to be able to send email notifications, SMS Text messages, and utilize Wake-on-LAN.

Scott, I'm suprised you haven't built something like this for yourself. It sounds right up your alley.<g>

-Evan

You mean On-Board Diagnostics (OBD). <g> I seem to remember there was at least one company selling something like that back in the '80s. I'd re-invent one today, except back in the '80s when PCs cost as much as a car, spending hundreds of dollars on such a device might have been a consideration. Today, not so much. <g> Scott.

My bad. I switched the letters so they are correct but I left the Wikipedia link since so many people are going to go there anyways.

-Evan

thanks for reply and picture scott, as you say,

pc`s have become a disposable commodity,

and front led`s would add extra cost,

and put you guys out of work,
and we would not want that.

I am sure this is apparent to all of us, but it makes me wonder if PC repair in time will become obsolete? This is something I have been pondering here lately because I do residential tech support on the side, and I find in a lot of cases where people rather just buy a new PC than have me work on them. I have even recommended that some people buy a new PC vs. me working on it. I know the corporate world will be needing IT services in the future(could be wrong), but I feel like as far as the residential side goes could it be a dieing breed? I am very curious to hear what you guys have to say, and I am even tempted to make another thread.

Thanks
Shane

last year the uk goverment, wasted billions,
in computer ideas/enterprises,

here is a newspaper "quote"
A further £486m has been wasted on the computer project,
for the Child Support Agency and,
£140m on a system designed to streamline payment of benefits,
which was shelved because it never worked.
£77m on an IT system, meant to clear the backlog of immigration casework,
which was shelved, because it missed deadlines.
consider the waste, in respect of a system that was being introduced
to manage the applications of adults, applying for independent learning grants,
which was scrapped after millions was lost in fraudulent applications,
the cost of this was another £97m of taxpayer’s money

Yea that's really bad financial decision making. I more concerned with the residential side of PC repair. I know the corporate side has a good foot hold, but I wonder what the fate is of all the mom and pop computer shops we all have in our city.

We will always have PC problems, but as far as hardware goes its easier just to replace things than repair with solder ect now days, but when it comes to software issues and spyware/virus there will be a steady flow of pc's to work on.

I don't think the "Mom and Pop" pc repair shops will be in business much longer. Pc hardware repair is becoming akin to VCR repair.....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_8t-M-wGzA


Think about it.

That video is exactly what I am talking about. I have went through that same scenario just with a laptop with a client.

You know there is always a niche market out there...

I'd be willing to bet that extreme overclockers (like this guy) could use a "Scott Mueller Signature Series PC: OBD Edition" or whatever you want to call it. <g> I bet some of the high performance boutique computer manufacturers out there would be game to the idea.

-Evan

pc prices,2010, mom and pop shops,uk,
Desktop, Diagnose and Repair Hardware faults,£50
Notebook, Diagnose and Repair Hardware faults,£70
Reinstall Windows and Drivers,£50
Custom Build System,Install Operating System and Drivers,
£50 + 20% mark up on parts,
Virus/ Malware Removal,£50
Setup Peripheral,£15
Software Installation per program,£12
Data Backup or transfer,£18
Wireless ADSL Modem Router, Setup, and Secure Wireless Network,£16
Data Recovery from, £32

I wish I could charge that much, but I would not get any business in my area.

I charge by hour £20 first hour new customers, £40 thereafter £90 for hardware/software rebuild AND reinstall

I don't tell people but am only really happy when I get to rebuild and reinstall.

A local shop charges £200 and I seen some of his "work"

I once saw a chip with lots of pins bent in his CPU a local branch of a national computer shop chain told him he needed a new Motherboard and CPU I needed a credit card.... ( to bend the pins back! Oh and some new TIM!

Nice sales pitch for me too!