Setting up as a PC repair technician

IntoTheVoid

IntoTheVoid

IntoTheVoid

Associate
Joined
31 Dec 2002
Posts
458
Hi,

I want to set up as a PC repair technician, and would like advice on the best diagnostic hardware and software to assist me in fault finding. Obviously reasonably affordable( i.e. up to £1,000).
 
another pc with the internet. stuff like memtest, antivirus, spybot etc etc

thats all you need really

what above said applies too really :/
 
ERD Commander - Winternals. :)

You will also need lot of other pieces of kit too.

But the others are right, surely you must have to know before you want to go further!!
 
As people have mentioned, you really ought to know this yourself if you want to be a PC repair technician. Off the top of my head, if i was to go into this line of bussiness, i'd want a laptop, with possibly xp and 95 dualbooting. I'd also get a large external harddrive to back clients data up on. As for software you'd need a good virus scanner, spyware scanner and memtest.
 
Hi, it's not that I don't know that I need a Laptop and the usual tools such as memtest and boot cd's etc, I am referring more to the specialised hardware tools that will speed up diagnostics. I had been considering the Micro2000 PC Diagnostic kit with the PC Probe pci diagnostic card and such like.

I have been faultfinding and fixing peoples pc's for at least the last 5 years and have a good knowledge of most problems, just looking to step things up, and if I am going to make a fulltime living doing it then I need to utilise my time to the maximum.
 
as said above if you dont know you shouldnt be doing it :p and imo you wouldnt really have to spend 1k to get some decent software you can find most diagnostic tools for free ;)
 
I would say don't bother with the specialised stuff to start with. Take on a few clients at a time and see how you get on with the things mentioned above. Then after a bit of time, if you still feel like you'd benefit with specialised diagnostic stuff, then go for it.
 
Eisenhorn said:
Hi, it's not that I don't know that I need a Laptop and the usual tools such as memtest and boot cd's etc, I am referring more to the specialised hardware tools that will speed up diagnostics. I had been considering the Micro2000 PC Diagnostic kit with the PC Probe pci diagnostic card and such like.

I have been faultfinding and fixing peoples pc's for at least the last 5 years and have a good knowledge of most problems, just looking to step things up, and if I am going to make a fulltime living doing it then I need to utilise my time to the maximum.
Click to expand...
When I had my own PC repair business I found Post Probe by Micro 2000 to be a big wast of money as a lot of the results were by and large innacurate. Moreover if your starting off in business its a big investment for a piece of kit when a lot of software and experience can tell you the same thing at a fraction of the cost
 
Eisenhorn said:
Thanks for the comments and advice, although most of them were not very encouraging!!!! I guess I will give the Post Probe a miss then.
Click to expand...
99% of the time you'll know whats wrong by how the PC reacts, ie PSU, optical, motherboard etc, you'll get a feeling for how each item reponds and what kinda problems you get from each.
also having spairs to replace any and each item help
 
A live flavour of a Linux distro - very useful if you can make your own with all the diagnostic tools you need, just make sure it can read NTFS ;)...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
Expensive iagnostic kit is pretty pointless if you're just going to be dealing with joe public and know what you're doing. I've done your kind of job previously and even with access to the proper kit (used to have MicroScope from Micro2000 in one place I worked) I very rarely found it of any additional value to good old run of the mill fault finding skills.

I'm not saying it isn't a handy tool to have in certain situations, but those situations arise very rarely and I'd say the money would be better spent elsewhere.

Andy
 
Windows 2k/XP password reset and memtest x86 are the only tools ya need :)
(I reckon anyway)
EDIT: and various HDD diagnostic utils like Max Blast (or whatever the maxtor one is)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom