sdh@joevax.UUCP (The Doctor) (09/05/86)
This is in response to the article from the man who had his Amiga die and was looking at expensive repairs and possible motherboard replacement. Well, back when I was but a young hacker, I was closely associated with a fledgling computer store and their repair department. In the beginning, they would do full repairs of machines (ie locate offending chips and replace them for the cost of the chip + labor). This, they soon discovered was great as a customer service policy, and the word spread about their no-nonsense repairs. The problem was that this kind of repair does not make them any money at all (or hardly any), amd because of their reputation, they were swamped with repair work that would take a great deal of time, and not pay off very well. Time for a new policy. They now will only do a few simple tests on a machine for repair, RAM, ROM, I/O and disk drives. If its any of these simple problems, they replace them, otherwise they will say they have to replace the entire motherboard (or drive or whatever). In truth, they could probably fix it, but they get a good deal of cash selling you a new motherboard, and they can sell the old one back to the company that manufactured it, plus they also get labor. This makes them much more money, saves them a lot of time, and gets you a working computer. Picture this, I was visiting this store and was talking to the repairman. I witness this policy in action. A man brings in an Apple III with that isn't working right. One RAM test later, a bad chip was found. Oh-oh, the chips are hard-wired. Anyone with any kind of competency with a solering iron could remove the offending chip, put in a socket and a new chip. He tells the customer, "I have to replace the entire RAM board". Sells hims a 256K RAM board for $300 plus a $35 overhead for all repairs. He then boxes the bad RAM board to be sold back to Apple. Staggering, isn't it? The point is, that you will be very lucky if you can find a place that does honest repair work. Its not that these people are dishonest, it just doesn't pay. Also newer machines with more complicated hardware are even harder to repair at the chip level than some of the older micros. Hope this helps you understand what goes on a little better. Steve Hawley joevax!sdh