Captin wrote:
> "thumper" wrote:
> > I wonder if there is a decent computer technician in many
> > computer
> > stores anymore. You see more and more students building
> > systems
> > and as long as things go to plan that's OK, it's when theres
> > a problem
> > they don't have the experience to fix things in a hurry. So
> > you do
> > without your computer for 2 weeks
>
> To use an old adage "The Penny dropped with me years ago"
> I was in dire straits with a hard drive and when the Geek arrives
> and confirms nothing that I already did not realise.
> I asked questions about the drive.......
> Things like.
> Can you repair the printed circuit of the controller board?
> Can I buy a new circuit board on it's own?
> Can I swap the boards if I have two drives the same ?
> Do you have a special tool to do without the Controller board?
>
> He installed a new drive into the system and moreless ignored the
> questions I asked and simply pushed he me to data recovery with the
> drive.
> Not going with that a few days later he called back to pickup the
> drive because he now had some yes and no answers for me.
> Too late, I opted to do it myself, whats the point if he talks like
> a million dollars but has no experience?
> I fixed that drive and plenty since.
> I used the same principal for internal problems
> I find many techs/Geeks hand out vague advice about which software to
> use to recover data because they have not physically done it
>
> later

what do you expect, An electronic engineer? You don't get an
electronics background like you have, in a computer school, or reading
computer books.

electronics is a more geeky subject than computers. It's the holy
grail, since computesr are based on it. But a comptuer geek using a
multimeter on a power supply is really at the forefront of being a
computer technician, he is the best he can be given the subject! What
is basic to somebody that has studied electronics, is well beyond any
computer tech book or school. And computer techs shouldn't be expected
to know what they can't read in any computerbook, or haven't
experienced.

You can flick through Scott Mueller's whole "Upgrading and repairing
PCs" book - over 1000 pages. And the msot electronic it gets is giving
voltages so you can test them with a multimeter.

Troubleshooting is monkey work. And you know what. The stuff you're
talking about is monkey work too but for people with an electronics
background. Just replace the faulty board. don't look for a dead
capacitor, just change the board! Electricians call changing the
board, 'monkey work'. and it's what they have to do nowadays, hey don't
seaserch out for dead capacitors anymore.

I wish it was more of a science. I wish fixing computers wasn't such a
brainless activity. But even doing an excellent job of fixing computers
is not rocket science and involves no electronics work.

Most people don't have the philosophical and communication skills to
explain to you that that is not what their job entails. If you were to
ask me those qusetions, I would have told you straight out, that IT
Techs change the drive, and don't touch electronics, it's well outside
the scope of the subject and thus the job. Furthermore, the subject/job
turned out like this because drives nowadays are relatively cheap.

I wouldn't say you were telling me how to do my job. If you had the
ability to change the faulty board and you wanted to do that. I'd tell
you I can't help you with that, I'd tell you what I can do - put in an
ew drive for you. And you decide what you want to do. It's your money.
The Comp Tech tells you the alternatives, if the alternatives come at a
different cost. they do of course suggest what is best. And changing
HDDs does work when you have a broken HDD!

Regarding data recovery, a computer tech should be able to rattle off
at least one name of a piece of software that'd do it. R-Studio comes
to mind. then company names that might make the software, ilke Norton
and OnTrack.
There is a problem though of catching a tech off guard. Tell them in
advance and they can check google or some reference.