If you are like me, you have probably owned quite a few
personal computers. You are sure to have had the occasional problem, and rushed
the machine off to the repair shop. At the time, the cost of repairs may have
seemed a bit high in proportion to the original cost of the machine, and you
might not have been quite sure what was actually done.
You can
learn to do your own diagnosis and repair work. It is worth while knowing what
is going on inside the box, even if you do not do the work yourself. With a
good understanding of the likely causes of the hardware problems, you can be a
lot more confident that the repairs carried out were reasonable and necessary.
To begin
with, a good source of technical information is necessary. You can always ask
at your local electronics shop, but if you really don’t know what you are
talking about, the embarrassment can be a big turn off. There is an excellent
book available called ‘Upgrading and Repairing PCs’ written by Scott Mueller.
This is the most complete and most readable ‘how-to’ book I have found, and if
you only buy one book on the subject, Scott’s is the one to get you hands on.
The next step is to choose a few projects to
get familiar with the hardware. The best way to begin building up your skills
is to pull a computer completely apart, and then put it back together. If it
still works after that, then you have made a pretty good start. At this stage, you may be thinking ‘hang on a
minute, I paid a lot of money for my system - No way am I going to risk messing
with that baby’.
No, as a beginner, you definitely should not. You
can get hold of some old computers to tear apart and rebuild. Old computers are
seen as worthless, and you will find Pentium 1 and 2 machines being discarded as
rubbish, even though they are still in good working order. Even a Pentium 3 can
be bought very cheaply, and most of these are pretty good performers. A word of
warning – be careful how widely you spread the news of you new interest in old
computers. You will be surprised how many 486s and older are sitting in cartons
in garages and basements; your friends and family will really be delighted to
give you an amazing collection of electronic junk.
Get
familiar with the various parts, and how they fit together. Learn to identify
the different styles of processor chip, RAM, disk drives and other components.
As always,
safety is paramount. The computer components themselves operate at low
voltages, but you still have the mains strength voltage coming into the back of
the computer. Always power off and unplug when you are working on the computer,
and be suspicious of any signs of overheating or of burning smells. Enjoy your
tinkering.
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