Comments for Repair or Replace

Comment from Zion on 2008-06-03

2008-06-03T17:13:46Z

Interesting article. I do offer a "loaner" desktop, fully loaded with typical customer needed software, but very few of my customers take me up on my free offer. My business has also shown hard drive files and conflicts create most problems, and failed power supplies to be the main hardware failure item.

]]>

A comment on: Repair or Replace

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Neville on 2007-04-22

2007-04-22T23:40:07Z

Just went through the reformat and total rebuild on a PC that my son had been using for about 4 years. You can imagine the rubbish that had been downloaded. Did a full copy of the PC to an external hard disk and, most importantly, downloaded and ran a free piece of software called Belarc Advisor before I started. It lists out all the installed software and serial numbers. Lots of useful information to help you remember what you had installed as well as configuration information. I was able to come up with an inventory of what I wanted to reinstall which was about half of what was installed when I started. It should be a must for every rebuild.

Thanks again Leo for the most useful piece of email I receive every week.

]]>

A comment on: Repair or Replace

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from dunstergirl on 2007-04-21

2007-04-22T07:30:30Z

unfortunately, "obsolete" covers pretty much any computer more than a year old or so, if that...

Lelani

]]>

A comment on: Repair or Replace

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from john william on 2007-04-21

2007-04-21T14:22:37Z

Where are 95% of PC problems..?

The Case..........no
Video card........no
Monitor...........no
Main board........no
Ram...............no
Sound card........no
DVD/CD drives.....no
Hard Drive contents.....yes

Yep, most PC problems reside within the hard drive.

The drives themselves are remarkably reliable but the content causes possibly 90% plus of all PC problems {my experience anyway}

That is where the solution effort should be directed.
Various solutions can be considered.

eg.Two hard drives, one with only essential programs installed and generally not used until a crash or serious faults with first hard drive.
Hard drives are cheap these days.

A change over facility for hard drives at your local PC shop.{like a change over BBQ gas bottle..}

A facility to plug faulty hard drives on line for expert analysis once the change over has been made to working hard drive B.

Hard drives need to be manufactured specifically to be removed very easily, perhaps similar to USB hard drives.

There are other possibilities and I will think of some later I guess.

Junking the PC seems extreme unless it is obsolete anyway.

]]>

A comment on: Repair or Replace

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from dunstergirl on 2007-04-20

2007-04-21T06:21:46Z

I finally replaced mine last month, not because of any "failure" to speak of, but because I had the misfortune to purchase a Windows Me computer in that brief window where it was the "bundled" operating system, and now the vast majority of software I use (and need to upgrade regularly) no longer supports Windows Me. This was becoming a real problem.

The cost of upgrading to XP on the old computer (with it's less-than-adequate RAM, drive space, etc. to handle XP) made the cost of a new computer seem reasonable, and the increasingly frequent reboots (several times a day) as I tried to handle larger and larger files on a system not up for it, made the issue more pressing.

The final straw was the arrival of Vista and new computers bundled with it - not wanting that OS just yet (my rule is to wait at least 6 months to a year before taking on a new Windows OS because of all the initial bugs), I had to take the plunge and buy a new machine with lots more RAM and drive space and fast processor (but still with XP) before I couldn't anymore.

I'm pretty happy with the change, although it still bugs me that I seem to HAVE to get a new machine every 5 or 6 years due to hardware and/or software issues, but that seems to be the way it goes.

I'm all for repairing old computers (my old machine will now go to the store I am part owner of for basic spreadsheet, hardware catalogue, kid's games, and possibly remote desktop software so I can do the books on my home machine while at the store), but before you spend money on repairs/problem resolution, upgrading the OS, or what have you - compare the cost of an all-new machine (with it's faster processing, greater memory, etc.) and decide which is more cost-effective (sort of like deciding when to finally dump - or park - the old rust bucket vehicle, another painful decision, except computers are a LOT less expensive than cars). I hate to advocate buying a new machine over keeping the old, but in some cases economics and practicality just totally win out...

Cheers,
Lelani

]]>

A comment on: Repair or Replace

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from adam on 2007-04-19

2007-04-20T05:42:42Z

I am actually IN this situation. I purchased my Dell Inspiron 8000 back in 2001. Over the past 6 years, 'big baby' has served me well - it's survived many spills, viruses, reinstallations of bootleg software, god knows how much spyware, and what for? The ever glorious pursuit of internet 'art work'. Anyway, sensing it was on its way out, i went and made a new purchase - a toshiba portege. i love it... it's great. however, 'big baby' died the other week. since then, i've reinstalled windows, reformatted, reinstalled windows, and reinstalled windows. no dice. to be honest, i'm not sure exactly whats wrong with it. (something about kernel debuggers)
Bottom line, i'm gonna give it another whirl next week sometime - but even the process of reinstalling windows is quite time consuming. so, im thinking about opening the baby up and taking a look inside. wish me luck!

]]>

A comment on: Repair or Replace

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Ken on 2007-04-16

2007-04-16T18:06:31Z

Actually, my wife's consulting company offers loaner laptops while computers are in for repair/upgrade/cleanup/whatever. AFAIK, she is the only one to do so. (And, from a strictly business standpoint, I hope it stays that way, since it gives her an edge.)

]]>

A comment on: Repair or Replace

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Greg on 2007-04-14

2007-04-15T06:18:05Z

There's also the element of people not wanting to go without their computers. It's not like you can borrow a "loaner". If an older computer starts acting hinky, your options are to buy something new and spend 4-5 hours getting it up to speed, or take the old machine into the shop and wait however long it takes to fix, during which time you are without a computer.

I know some people who could put a machine or two in the shop and still have a spare. But other people have one machine, and when it starts going south, part of the calculation in whether to replace or repair is which option gets them back in the working groove fastest.

]]>

A comment on: Repair or Replace

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.