Computer Repair Blog

March 09, 2008 by Jeremy Brock

With energy prices moving higher it is important to conserve energy both to help the environment and save money. By following these steps you can save electricity and have fast access to your computer. Most computers support suspend/hibernation however it is often not enabled or miss configured.

Background:
Computer systems normally consume around 100 to 200 watts of energy. The cost of leaving a computer on 24/7 is around $456/yr (@ $0.26kw/hr). Simply enabling suspend or hibernation mode can dramatically cut your energy usage while giving you almost immediate availability.

February 21, 2008 by Jeremy Brock

I'll occasionally see a Dell Inspiron 8600 come in because it won’t power on. One common cause is a loose power flex cable connector. Reattaching the connector and inserting a shim will usually fix the problem.

February 18, 2008 By Jeremy Brock

Recently I had an interesting Dell Inspiron M170 Gen2 XPS in the shop with the following problems.

• The laptop would say an incorrect AC Adapter was installed.
• The laptop would charge the battery but not boot from AC.
• The laptop would only boot from battery not AC.

Replacing the board was cost prohibitive so I repaired the motherboard.

January 27, 2008 By Jeremy Brock


Hakko is known for making quality soldering products that stand the test of time. The Hakko FX951 is designed to replace the FP10x Series and the first noticeable difference is the digital display and size. Digital displays are great because you know the exact temperature of the tip which is very useful when dealing with IC’s and other components that are heat sensitive. The iron is 70W and has a temperature range of 400-840F, the station ships preset at 750F which works well for my soldering needs (DC Jacks, Surface Mounts, Capacitor Replacement, etc).

January 17, 2008 By Jeremy Brock

Desktop LCD monitors fail for a variety of reasons, the most common being bad electrolytic capacitors. If you are willing to invest the time you can fix your LCD for a few dollars in parts. For this demonstration I’m using an IBM ThinkVision 6636-AB1 however the same techniques apply to most desktop LCD Monitors.

By Jeremy Brock

Your hard drive holds data such as documents, pictures and music. Replacing your hard drive before it completely fails can save you thousands of dollars in data recovery costs.