pc home repair techs What do you bring with you to jobs?

I am courious what is in your tool bag/trunk when you go to a job? What software/utilities do you bring? what hardware do you have for troubleshooting? I started advertising home pc repair and have been really busy but at times I feel like I don't have the right utility or piece of hardware to fix the issue.

Thanks in advance.

 

The tools i would definitely have in my tool box are Boot Drivers for Windows 9x on a floppy drive or on a flash drive. Torxs set screwdriver, flat head and phillips head screwdrivers, needle-nose pliers, wire stripper/cutter, static wrist strap, compresed air in a can , multi-meter ( although this is optional i hardly use it ) small 8cm mag-light torch, good for inspection. These are the main tools i would use, other members might add more. Hope this helps.

 

Some good software for technicians, I know I use it, is WinPE. Another is BartPE these are great diagnostics tools. HijackThis, Spybot S&D, Ad-aware SE, and Registry Mechanic are a good Idea to have. I carry the install files on a flash drive in my tool kit. Another good thing to have is a Power supply tester, and some anti-static bags.

 

I too use BartPE for a bootable CD. Plus an updated CD and DVD with as many applications as i can put on them. Different types of cables, ethernet, printer, usb, etc. I keep different items in the vehicle, new keyboard, new mouse, etc. I feel it's important to have plenty of lighting, you never know where you're going to be working so I have a mini Mag flashlight and a headband mounted light for hands free working.

And two things I couldn't live without:
1. My PDA with data and instructions on how to troubleshoot and fix things. Everytime I come across something new, I always type it up and load it on my PDA.....Now finding everything on the PDA, that's another story. rolleyes confused :cry
2. And my cell phone, sometime I need that extra help from another friend and/or tech.

Heres a tip: Make sure that most of the electricity in the PC or laptop that you're going to be working on has been expelled before working on it. Once the PC is unplugged hold the power button down for a couple of seconds. With laptops unplug it and remove the battery, then hold the power button down for a couple of seconds. (This may help in case you forget to put on your wrist strap.

 

All of the above PLUS a power supply tester (it's easier and quicker than a multimeter) and a motherboard POST card to read and interpret any POST error codes instead of relying on beeps which don't always tell you everything. Case in point: I was working on an older Compaq 5000 and the client had purchased a 5 year extended warranty (I was doing warranty work for a national company at the time - a long story) so I was at her house and had just replaced the hard drive 'cuz that's what 1-800 tech support said it was. So I fired up the system restore CD's (for Win ME) and everything would be fine until a point where I had to use the keyboard to navigate to a certain selection. Then the PC would appear to lock up. After trying different RAM, different keyboards, I put the POST card in and it told me right away: "accessing keyboard; waiting for user input". Well it was stuck on that code, which meant to me that the keyboard controller was bad. After a bit of talking with the client, she told me that the reason she called 1-800 tech support in first place was because the PC wouldn't boot past the Compaq logo (because BIOS was set to stop the boot process on any error) and the error message "keyboard not detected" was behind the logo unbeknownst to her (and 1-800 tech support).... anyway- I no longer do work for that national warranty company anymore because they mis-diagnosed the problem about 80% of the time, sending me on site to do unneeded repairs and making me look like a stooge when I couldn't fix the problem..... UH OH!!! I'm starting to ramble all bitter....
Also bring a POST card and power supply tester.

hd2k

 

I can't believe you all missed the most obvious tool! An 4 to 6 pound sledge hammer.

Just prop it next to the offending computer, so it knows you are serious. Sorry, could not resist. Been doing some research for my own job...

E

 

Just curious, how would you use a flash drive on a stock 98 box? Every time I've tried it I had to go onto the internet.

If you can burn a CD of all the software you find important, which is what I do. This includes things like 98SE cab files, Adobe Acrobate, zip, several windows updates for Win98SE, virus and malware scanners, DirectX, Windows media player, etc. 5mm hex drive is an unusual size, but is needed for a lot of assembly, regular speed drives (don't remember the sizes, but only 2 of them), several cross point/phillips screwdrivers, needle nose, regular pliers, magnet on a stick (for those time you drop something into the MB.

 

Oh, yeah mechanical fingers are a definite tool to have.

http://www.setools.com/mechfing.shtml

 

Got them and magnetic ones too but never used them.
Bluetack or stuff on the end of a screw helps stick to driver until located.

I take a known to be working dsl modem, filters and cables around with me.
Another tip. Never take the originals of your service disks. make copies and take those.
Simple mains go / nogo tester. Suprising the number of (electrical installations) I visit that have line/neutral reversed or no earth.

Some of the (cheaper) psu testers will always light the LEDs if the psu voltage is above minimum, but still indicate good when over maximum. This can have disasterous consequenses.

 

Thanks everyone I have added a couple things to my shopping list. I was a little shocked that some of you are still working on win98!!! I have only ran into one person that still was using win98 and I ended up building them a new pc. Seems like everyone has xp now.

Thanks again and was wondering if you use any repair/tuneup utilities?

 

Personally, I do very little on site software work; it's mostly hardware as software isn't covered by warranties in most cases. I do 97% of the software work in a shop without the customer watching my every click... If they watch you fix it once, and it was an easy fix, they might not call again the next time they hose their OS, or they might say "all you did was click this, click that... I could have done that! I'm not paying $XX for a five minute job!!" and then you try to explain that they're not necessarily paying for time, but also for expertise. And that if "they could have done that" they would have, but they obviously didn't know how to, or whatever.... and if you have to run a virus scan or a chkdsk that can take over an hour, they are sometimes unwilling to pay for the full hour because "all you did was sit there..." Anyway- that's why I don't do on site software work if it's at all avoidable. If I have to replace a hard drive, I'll do that and then boot to the customers restore CD or XP CD, and I'll explain what they need to do to finish it up, but I don't stick around for complete install....

hd2k