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Right to repair law
- Thread starter Joxeon
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Hobby
I also think it could raise the price of items because of the overheads the companies will have in terms of having to be able to supply parts.
Still, my dad will probably be overjoyed as it's long been a bugbear of his that things can't be repaired or have replacement components. One time his bin lid went missing and he was annoyed you couldn't just get a replacement lid, lol.
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Perfectly understandable. Why would you need to get a whole bin rather than just a bloody bin lid. This is what's wrong with the world.
"Right to repair law" implies that there's anything stopping you from repairing a device. For example, Apple implementing software which detects if a none genuine part is used and bricking your device. There's absolutely nothing stopping you from repairing a faulty graphics card other than ignorance. There are a few people who can do it but it's a lot more specialised than the guy on the high street who changes microphones and charging ports.
I have an Electronics Degree and used to fix mobile phones for a living but I couldn't guarantee you that I could diagnose and repair a faulty graphics card. Short of reflowing the GPU & memory, buzzing out the power lines, I'd really struggle.
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But could you fix it if you had the schematics to fix it. You have an electronics degree you should be able to fault find at least.
yes but...
This is the root issue isn't it?
Schematics are proprietary and I doubt that any law could be passed to force companies to make these public. Being able to source parts definitely helps but with the exception of the GPU itself, very little on a graphics card PCB is proprietary. You'd still need to find somebody with enough knowledge and experience to accurately diagnose the issue....unless of course it's obvious, like a hot spotted memory chip, blown track, popped cap or fried VRM.
There's a massive difference between a servicing guide for a washing machine and a board level schematic for a graphics card.
Essentially, the difference here is that a washing machine manufacturer might be forced to provide you with the ability to buy a spare control board and documentation that shows you where the wires connect, but they are unlikely to have to provide a schematic for the board itself for component level repair.
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Probably couldn't force a company to release schematics. They maybe could release repair guides though...
But a repair guide for a device which is almost entirely IC & SMD IS a schematic. Being able to follow pin to pin connections is essential to find dry joints, damaged tracks etc.
This law is intended to stop companies like Apple from taking the ****. GPUs have never had anywhere near the same level of issues. The only thing stopping a GPU repair, as I said earlier, is ignorance. I'm sure I skipped past a news story in the last few days about a modder who increased the amount of memory on his 3080(?). Nvidia aren't employing underhanded techniques to stop people from doing things like this, Apple are, and those w****** are ripping people off.
If your graphics card dies in the third year of a warranty, you're not going to have MSI telling you that the humidity detectors were triggered so we have to charge you change the whole PCB when the problem is a loose connector.
This is the thing. They may be forced to stock and sell parts but I doubt the law will require them to make the parts cheap enough to make it worth buying and repairing.
Quite often if my printer goes dead I'd just buy another one as they are cheap. Hell even the ink is more expensive than a new printer.
You wouldn't need one, but it might be inefficient for the distributor to have to hold stock of and supply bin lids independently of bins. The vast majority of instances it will be desired to supply bins together with bin lids. A bit like shoes, typically distributed and sold in pairs, not independently.
You can of course find suppliers to do such things but invariably they will be expensive because they are catering to a small market.
I totally Agree with scot. Without schematics it's more of a luck to repair gpu.
Schematics are key to the repair but its companys intellectual Property. Really Tricky situation.
My argument Would Be if company Stops manufacturing such item, then is should provide Schematics As it's no longer needed.
Schematics are key to the repair but its companys intellectual Property. Really Tricky situation.
My argument Would Be if company Stops manufacturing such item, then is should provide Schematics As it's no longer needed.
Soldato
Can't imagine we're about to see a revival of socketed GPU memory but you never know.
Might have more of an impact on laptops - it'd be good to see a wider selection of laptops with discrete components.
Might have more of an impact on laptops - it'd be good to see a wider selection of laptops with discrete components.
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indeed
Soldato
Con Man Musk the maker of badly built and poor fitted cars won't be happy that's for sure!
Caporegime
Sometimes the Thermal interface compound dries up, that can happen after a couple of years, you might change it on your CPU once a year but taking the cooler off your GPU breaks the warranty seal.
I think we should be allowed to take the cooler off for that purpose, or to change a broken fan, you can get OEM fan replacements if you look, these things should be part of user servicing and maintenance, take those bloody stickers off the the screws
that's pretty much the same for anything though...the right to repair law covers out of warranty repairs. What you are referring to could fall under user serviceable parts, a la car oil changes etc, but even then those, for many manufacturers, are supposed to be carried out by a certified mechanic or it could void your warranty.Sometimes the Thermal interface compound dries up, that can happen after a couple of years, you might change it on your CPU once a year but taking the cooler off your GPU breaks the warranty seal.
I think we should be allowed to take the cooler off for that purpose, or to change a broken fan, you can get OEM fan replacements if you look, these things should be part of user servicing and maintenance, take those bloody stickers off the the screws
Man of Honour
I wonder what Apple will make of this new law.
And of course the next thing would be that companies will take legal action for someone hosting 3D files which infringe on ... something.
These kind of laws need real teeth to work, but if a global pandemic with economies suffering worldwide cannot even lead a proper discussion of whether patent and copyright laws should be change even a little (like forcing everything to be licensable with fees set by arbitration), then I don't know what would.
If only there was some kind of international organisation a country could join to give them more clout on the international stage...
Caporegime
sure, but its also about keeping the card in optimal condition, they usually have a 3 year warranty on them, sometime 5.
My GPU runs at about 70c, but if after a couple of years it starts running at about 80 / 85c because the compound is dry it may well shorten the life span of the GPU, the memory IC's already run at about 85c and if the pads dry out they may run in the mid to high 90's and that is not healthy for them, again that may end up being the cause of the GPU dying a year later. just outside its warranty window.
Right to repair is about reducing E-Waste, when i'm done with it and sell it on, maybe after 2 years of use i would like to service it anyway so that the new user who may want to keep it for another 2 or 3 years can do so.
There is always someone who will want this card, no matter how old it is, by servicing it I and subsequent owners can give it a longer life, thus keeping it out of landfill for that much longer.