…and put it back together. And it worked. The whole way down to removing the motherboard from the case and the processor from its socket.
I love this A+ class I’m taking. I’ll be going into business as a PC troubleshooter and builder as soon as the class finishes in April (or May, depending on further snow cancellations.)
I’m contemplating my dream computer now, and I’d like some ideas. What would you recommend as the best components? I’d like to configure it for gaming, of course. Tell me about your dream machine.
Somewhere around here is a link to what many consider the ultimate PC. I don’t know where it is at the moment but I remember it pictured a wide-screen monitor.
Well, I’m not a hardcore gamer (my three year old graphics card is holding up just fine), but what I’ve found really nice is 5.1 Dolby surround. There’s something about being able to hear the people actually come up behind you in games like UT.
Google ‘case mods’ for some tricked out gaming machine galleries. I think xtremods had a gallery.
Do they still make you know printers in the A+? Believe it or not, I ended up using that alot. Printer work is pretty straight forward, profitable, and close to the screwdriver, so employers are happy to send you out to fix printers during down time rather than having you fly the bench.
Hook up with a fixit firm before starting your own business. It’s a field where experience is invaluable, so getting yourself surrounded by some knowledgable people is priceless.
I recommend Tom’s Hardware for info on what’s the best about, for great technical reviews on a lot of stuff, and also for testing your knowledge on. Tom’s really requires you to know your FSB from your mulutiplier, to your PCI multiplier, CAS latency and back again. If you can make heads and tails out of Tom’s, you’re doing good.
No, printers are not a major component of the exam- as far as I’ve been taught. I’m still memorizing Pentium specs for bus speed, L2 and address bus sizes. I’ve been able to dignose and solve problems here at home and on my friends’ computers. Three months to go!
Ok, I’ll bite… I think I should know this, but what movie are you quoting, Atreides?
They still offer A+ courses? I hope it’s been seriously updated since I looked at the course.
I think most computer parts are like car parts. What’s “best” is usually subjective. That $8000 (or whatever) system is mostly custom built which is why it’s so pricey.
I used to do tech support but I make better money in the cellular world
My personal dream computer would simply be the most expensive videocard/mb/cpu I could find coupled with the most memory it could hold and a RAID array with SCSI drives. With enough ram you could simply make a ram-drive and load everything on that (I used to play around with that in DOS, have no idea if it’s possible in Windows XP).
We’re covering the changes made by the advances of the last few years. The book is updated yearly; we’re covering Pentium 4 chips, the new PCI Express and FireWire standards, and a little wireless networking. I think it’s been updated recently enough.
Instead of buying all the top-of-the-line products, I’m trying to get the most bang for a buck in a new computer. I have a decent system spec for under $800 set up, if I go totally cheap it’s possible to put together a working computer for around $400- not low enough to compete with mass-produced systems at that price.
My new box is a few months old, but she’s a 2.8 P4 800 Mhz FSB with a gigabyte gnxp4 mobo. The mobo is Intel 875 chipset, 800 FSB and PC3200 DDR. This was the highest rated mobo from the www.tomshardware.com shootout.
Of course I’m sure my king of the hill box is old and crusty now with it being 6 months old an all.
I actually own and operate my own PC Troubleshooting company in Pittsburgh. The link to my company’s website is in my profile. Unless you are working for a big firm, whose clients are mainly professional offices, the field is not really as lucrative as one would think it is. The residential customers still think of a computer as a home appliance, like a toaster. This means that they are not willing to pay much, and it will be frustrating.
My main type of customer is the AOL Old Lady, who just uses email to keep in touch with friends and relatives. But easily half of my calls a day are people who are trying to sell me their old computers. I point them towards a pawn shop.
But, congratulations on the progress. The first time you break the seal on a computer is always exciting, and anticlimatic. I don’t know what people think when they see me unscrew their box. They shield their eyes as if it is a bomb that will blow up, or toupeed monkeys will come flying out.
“It’s a classic case of the Toupeed Flying Monkey Virus.”
I understand what you mean about people not wanting to pay very much for computer repair. I worked as a Dish Network salesman for a while, and the problems are similar in nature (Dish systems are just little video-based computers anyway.) My experiences helping friends and family with their computers has opened my eyes to the problem: people fear what they don’t understand.
The more dangerous ones are the people who think they know all about computers because they picked up a little information while Web surfing. I swear, the Internet is the world’s most efficient grapevine with regards to misinformation.
I will be looking for work upon graduation. but my long term plans are more detailed. I have plans that include system repair but I realize that the little old ladies on AOL won’t pay my bills; I’m looking into a place to put an Internet cafe. Websurfing, LAN games, a pool table and an arcade video or pinball machine in the corner, along with snacks, will be the thing to do. I just have to get people to come in.
The great part about it is that I’ll have a place to LANParty!
Steelerphan
Grats on the first disassembly, I remember my first fondly. Building your on rig is the only way to go. You will most likely will end up spending as much if not more building your own than what appears to be a good deal at places like Dell. What you get by building your on computer is top level components and a machine that behaves how you want it to and not what the teeming masses thinks thay want.
My favorite site has lots of links and information and will also expose you to the world of overclocking. This is what us geeks do with our computers now, similar to what guys did to their cars long ago. Go check it out, there is a wealth of info here.
Now get the heck off this forum and go register somewhere you can soak up info. Tom’s and Overclockers have been mentioned, but don’t forget (or pass up)
Find one that fits you and join. You will learn more from browsing the forums on a good Tech site than from a half-dozen books. If you go into business for yourself, forums such as these can also become an invaluable resource.
Just stay away from the Ziff-Davis properties, m’kay?
Nothing to add further except that when you choose to upgrade your computer, all your “upgradability” will be linked to your choice of motherboards (max Mhz, Type and speed of memory, etc.) so you wanna be very cautious when you choose it.
Limited by a budget, I always go for a motherboard that is accepting a fair amount of Mhz, but buy not the latest CPU. When the max CPU that I can put on my MB is cheap I upgrade… I go for AMD too, why pay more for more or less the same thing? (… or why pay more for less I love AMD !)
Thus my 1997 PC is still running, being regularly upgraded and improved (the only original things are the CD and floppy-disk drives, and the case of course). The lastest games can run slow sometimes (I tried the Railroad Tycoon 3 demo : it’s impossible to play above 150 trains) but gaming is not everything and I can wait a little bit to try something new. I’m still a fan of Total Annihilation anyway and it does not require that much CPU power
**Steelerphan **, have fun with your computer and your screwdriver !
For French speaking Dopers : www.choixpc.com is an excellent guide to help you with the latest hardware www.zebulon.fr for OS tweaking and cleaning
$400 for a computer isn’t that hard ($600 CAN for me) but I wouldn’t expect very much.
I’m also your typical “call up badmana because he’ll know what to do!” kinda friend.
I agree, the motherboard is the most important call. I currently have an Magic-Pro ultra-S with an AMD XP2400 (another AMD convert here!). I normally upgrade in spurts (when games get slow) and I’ve found the 2400 XP with my rather old (but top-of-the-line when new) Ge-Force 2 GTS 256 a good, stable, match.
I have several computers in different states of repair (5 working, 2 stripped for parts) and I love the hardware aspect of working on computers. I agree the money isn’t that good though. I used to own a computer company myself and it flopped (the only true plus was getting excellent vendor pricing on hardware).
I love AMD !)