[clug-talk] Where to get computer repaired

[Shawn]

If you are lucky, it is the motor of the CD drive you are hearing.  Or 
maybe just a dusty CPU fan (or maybe power supply or video card fan...). 
  I say these are lucky because replacement is about $30 for these parts.

If you are not so lucky, it could be your hard drive going.  In which 
case, replacing the hard drive is in order, and that means loosing 
anything on that drive.  (there are still ways you can try to recover 
the data though...).  But a new drive can be had from $50 and up 
depending how much space you want.

If it is just a CD Drive, a fan, or a drive, these can all be replaced 
on your own pretty easily and at much less cost than a repair shop.  A 
repair shop costs approx $50/hour (last I heard, but I would plan for 
more), and in a worse case, there is maybe a few hours work there.  Your 
computer is well outside usual warranty periods, so I let fear of 
voiding a warranty prevent me for trying things... :)

IF you need to replace your CPU, Memory or motherboard, then you are 
pretty much looking at a new computer.  The current standards/formats 
are a little different than 5 years ago.

Regarding repair shops, I would stay away from Future Shop, Staples, 
Best Buy, etc.  I would probably recommend Memory Express, Computer 
Rack, or some other equivalent focused computer shop.  But I don't know 
of any near a CTrain station off hand.  Memory Express south isn't TOOO 
far from Chinook, but it is still a 10 or 15 minute walk...

Regarding upgrading Ubuntu.  I had similar problems when I first 
installed 9.10.  Enough frustration to make me look to other distros. 
In the end I came back to Kubuntu 9.10 as a clean install.  Though now 
it is giving me grief with my CD burner, so maybe I'll try out another 
distro here sooner rather than later...  Fedora 12 looked decent.


HTH

Shawn




Ralph Boland wrote:
> When shutting down my computer last night I forgot to close the CD door.
> The computer shutdown but left the door open.  When I tried to reboot
> it wouldn't start up.  By pushing the door I managed to get the door
> closed.
> At this point (or before when the computer shut down) there was a
> sound like a motor, likely the CD drive motor.  This sound wouldn't
> stop even though the computer was shutdown.  The computer would not
> turn on at this point so I unplugged it.  I tried several times to
> reboot after plugging in the computer but without success.  The motor
> sound restarted but the computer otherwise remained completely off.
> After several tries the motor sound stopped.
> The only thing I see now is to bring it to a repair shop.
> Can anyone suggest where I should get it repaired that I can reach by
> C-train and if necessary bus?
> My computer is over 5 years old  (2.7G celeron,  768M memory, cost
> 600$ in  2004)
> but is fast enough for me for the moment.  At what repair cost point
> does it make sense to just buy a new computer?
> 
> 
> By the way if anybody is considering upgrading (as opposed to an
> install) from  ubuntu  9.04
> to  9.10,  DON'T!  I upgraded 9 days ago.  Since then my computer
> freezes a dozen or more times a day.  Everything freezes except the
> mouse.  Even ctrl-alt F-6 is ignored.  I tried to find a pattern as to
> where it freezes but to no avail.  The only way I found to avoid
> freezing was to not log in although it seemed pretty safe when only in
> the shell.  I finally gave up and decided to do a fresh install.  But
> I ran into problems burning a backup DVD.  I have my backups from 9
> days ago though.  Then my computer died.
> 
> Thanks for any advice.  I can read emails (rpboland at gmail.com) at the
> library or I can be phoned at  403-764-3681
> 
> Ralph Boland
> 
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