Can you beat the $50 eBay "Professional" repair for electronics?

[@ststele]

Hey now, this is my best work! Hosed off in the bathtub, baked in oven (with broiler on) and then pliers to the extract all of the bad components. Easy $50!

[@matheokoning4456]

I myself have only just started repairing MacBooks and have to do so with some cheaper equipment than some others. Still, I dare say I do provide quality repairs. This is because I don't do it just for the money but because I have always found electronics interesting and also like it when I can deliver quality.

[@pldaniels]

Having a sense of respect for the workmanship you deliver goes a long way.

[@MR308W]

Omg, how can they deliver something like this without any remorse

[@pldaniels]

They sleep soundly with a pillow full of $50 notes :D

[@MR308W]

😂 sadly that is a fact.

[@1kreature]

Aww! It looked good until you looked at it... Sad to see so much "cold" work. Speaking of cold: There are occasions where you could benefit from a bit of base-heating of board. Is it the height of a underboard heater that prevents you from using it more?

[@pldaniels]

Yep, they're all just too high; so I tend to instead rely on assistive heating from hot-air.

[@bobweiram6321]

Maybe they were just board?

[@pldaniels]

Well that's not very punny.

[@josephking6515]

@@pldaniels (Kinda was though eh 😁😁)

[@proluxelectronics7419]

Alright Paul, have a great Xmas, (or just time off from the grind). I know how a one-man band feel.

[@bblod4896]

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate. 🦃 I assume that board will be used for doner parts.

[@pldaniels]

I'm trying to get this one to work properly still, Amazingly it does boot but there's something else amiss with it that's inhibiting the OS install again ( sensors likely, and compounded by a chassis issue too I'm fairly sure )

[@bblod4896]

@JimAllen-Persona You too jim. Don't forget to play Alice's Restaurant at least once.

[@scootalong4254]

“ find another business, become a car wrecker or something” 😂

[@FuchsHorst]

Okay this board looks terrible. How should one start to learn board repair? What broken devices are good/rewarding learning targets? (not asking from a financial perspective (e.g. buy/fix/sell), but to gain experience.

[@pldaniels]

Getting their hands on A1466 ( 2014+ ) is an excellent intro machine that has a lot of information available for it, plenty of spares and they're comparatively cheap now with many people just throwing them out.

[@FuchsHorst]

@@pldaniels Thank you!

[@FuchsHorst]

I just got a broken Apple TV 4k 2nd gen MXGY2 with a short on the logic board, sadly was not able to find any schematics not even on badcaps.

[@pldaniels]

@@FuchsHorst yes unfortunately for things like that which are less common for repair you don't see the schems/boardviews much :(

[@FuchsHorst]

@@pldaniels I disconnected the power supply board but the logic board had a short. I used 12V from an ATX power supply, some alcohol over the board and turned power on. Something near the LED sparked but it booted. Still testing but HDMI, Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wifi and the LED work so far. Managed to reset the device and update to the latest tvOS. Will have to reapply thermal paste, use all screws 😅 and think about how to power it. Since I don't have the power cable and due to the risks I won't try to debug the power supply board. Will only use the device for displaying my indoor cycling app (Zwift).

[@kopazwashere]

....did the person working on the board blowtorch this whole board? Geez.

[@LeadFarmer813]

thats is some top level Poofessional tech dingo job! .. reminds me of my first days soldering.

[@pldaniels]

That's totally dingo mate... kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4O9eaOgeLB-bqM

[@iTCXtreme]

Hi Paul 👋. I believe KZbin is a reference point. The actual work differs. Some customers I get say: "oh 5mins job? I've seen it on KZbin", really???. Well, why you try doing yourself, and the face drops, 😅😅😅.

[@pldaniels]

If I hear the word "Just" in the submission talk, I tend to red-flag the job :|

[@iTCXtreme]

@@pldaniels 😅🤣😊👍

[@Holycurative9610]

I spent a year at college full time, then 2 years day release at college from the workplace and then a further 2 years building my knowledge and skill set before branching out on my own. That first repair I did was the most nerve wracking repair of my life but after 15 years of running my own business I reckon I've got better at it.. I've also seen some horrendous work from the "professional" ebay board repair man who spends more on his ad budget than he does on equipment. I sold up and retired a couple of years ago but still enjoy basic repairs with some basic equipment but it's for fun nowadays working with stuff like xbox controllers or crap chinesium laptops🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@JCozzyphotos]

I get them in like this. I look at them, a tear runs down my cheek and suddenly the sun come out, drying that tear. A ray of sunshine comes into my brain and I just send it to Paul Daniels. Frustration averted.

[@kalkgestein7762]

How can someone srew up like that and call himself professional?? I started fixing older macbooks by buying them myself. When i feel confident that everything will work as it should i sell them, but if i would sell something like that i would be ashamed of myself and definately keep it for parts only. At the beginning it is really tempting, as u think that by watching a few repair videos you know everything there is to know, or that was just me a few years ago. I got a free ipad that wouldnt charge. I thought that the charging port was bad and tried to replaced it, not knowing that it was a bad battery. I just had an soldering station and by the time i was done, half the pads were missing and the new port not installed. Last week i tried it again, run some wires and with the proper equipment and a bit more experience i got it running again and a new iPad.

[@pldaniels]

The desire for an easy dollar makes many people take this path. Doesn't help when there's no shortage of videos showing how "Just popping this cap off fixes it"; including myself. Of course, we know the reality is that those are the few and far between wins that don't quite make up for the genuine hard slog repairs.

[@josephking6515]

@@pldanielsBut you have a large bucket of electronic experience to draw from so you know when you can and when you can't _pop the cap off_ unlike the butcher who mutilated that board. 👍

[@TradieTrev]

"Go be a car wrecker"!!! Bahahaha I know you need the right gear to even attempt having a crack at this level components. It's always nice how you actually know your electronics and can explain the circuits like Big Clive does. Fixing electronics is not some guessing game IMHO.

[@TheRabidTech]

they might be not using a microscope so they can't see how grotty the mainboard is and how bad their solder joins are. They might also be from the school of "everything is easy and only takes 2 minutes" so everything they do is an awful rush job but yeah they are doing worse than those apple refurb boards.

[@Chriva]

Welcome back to the world of the living Paul :D

[@pldaniels]

I've been buried under the weight of reverse-engineering that Teboview file format.

[@fabian11235]

Dude has pin point accuracy with his 5k BTU heat gun.

[@pldaniels]

The Wagner touch.

[@NiccKennedy]

​@@pldaniels Looks more like DeWalt 😁

[@alexiekola]

eek the pain and suffering for that poor macbook board.

[@MrPnew1]

Show me where that Ebayer touched you, poor little Macbook 😂

[@alexiekola]

@@MrPnew1 it was you!, abusing the poor little macbook shame on you!

[@TheCod3r]

I love ebay specials. More money for me to put it right 😂

[@pldaniels]

Lies! I've seen your thumbnails! Honestly, if people didn't burn up so much of their money getting their gear mutilated it wouldn't be quite as bad - with phones I find so many times it's a horror story of "I've already spent $500 getting failed attempts..." then you know there's a good chance the budget is already overtapped. You're lucky you've got gamer addicts who have endless money ;)

[@TheCod3r]

@pldaniels lol true, they do really annoy me at times. Oh and trust me these gamer nerds won't spend the money. They'd much rather spend it on red bull and DLCs lol

[@pldaniels]

@@TheCod3r +10 transparency on certain outfits is well worth the in-game investment :p

[@GeorgeRoper2023]

​@@TheCod3ror a copy of fifa 😂

[@mugogrog]

Offering repair services requires that you have some experience in doing repairs. I don't mind the hustle but I do mind taking money and doing a botch job. A business requires investment. In case you want to do business and repair stuff, buy the stuff you're working on and sell it if it's well repaired and safe to use.

[@ItalianRetroGuy]

Thing is I've done much better work than this with terrible tools, if they gave a shit they'd be able to work past tool limitations.

[@pldaniels]

That's true. A lot of this is just pure carelessness.

[@als1035]

Unfortunately, this is becoming more common lately. People with little or no experience think they can buy some hobby equipment and do professional work to make a quick buck. You're showing us the results of that.

[@pldaniels]

It's understandably tempting; we're all showing videos of simply popping caps off and "solved" and cashing in $$$, but yes, there's so much more behind the choices made - as they say, "Paying for the years, not the minutes".

[@paul5828]

You tell em Paul lol

[@slam4815]

As bad as I need the money, I will do it for nothing. LOL

[@floridaapplemacprosinc.2224]

on one hand I commend the guy for reaching for the stars... on the other hand, you don't work on stuff you don't know how to work on, you have to have limits. I will tell a customer straight up im not feeling qualified to do this, im going to send it to .... and I have people I can send iPhones and iPads to, I have people I can send watches to, and I have people I can send logic boards from Computers to, if the level of repair is beyond me. instead of giving up, the guy should do what I did, practice on cheap stuff. I practiced replacing iPad charging ports until I got it right, now I have no problem offering that service as I know I can do it consistently good each time. Its good to remove the glass ceiling, but lets cut a hole with glass cutters instead of sledgehammer. car wrecker, thats classic

[@pldaniels]

Agreed, no one is against reaching for new goals, we acknowledge the problem is people utilising client gear to get there, particularly when they're so far from that skill level :| )

[@scootalong4254]

This is no repair. This is vandalism 😂

[@PiezPiedPy]

Bob the builder should stay laying bricks.

[@pldaniels]

Oh now you don't want to see what bad laying can cause. I've got a house missing 2 courses of block because someone passed out during the process and the foreman wasn't around.

[@PiezPiedPy]

@@pldaniels Geeez Bob cant even lay bricks right 😂

[@josephking6515]

I would like to introduce you to my house and that will change your mind about brick shoveling bastards........

[@irepairitall]

Holy J. Only 50 Quid. Hell Yeah! What can go wrong! :)

[@pldaniels]

Seems $50 is the true cost, everything else is just people stealing profits.

[@josephking6515]

What can go wrong? Only about £350 to fix the repaired repair? 🤦‍♂

[@MrPnew1]

My brain hurts 😂

[@pldaniels]

That's situation normal for you.

[@VincentVonDudler]

Thought you were going to go into the repair. ...a bit disappointing.

[@pldaniels]

Much like the eBay repair. I'm still working on this one.

[@heinzkup]

Ive seen more butched boards. Still sorry to see the customers suffering because maybe no data back... And also because cats dont get food... I dont like cats, but i dont want them to suffer hunger!! ❤ To pauls nervs

[@pietervanderweg1157]

What a waste. Could have been fixable, now it's just a piece of trash. Those rats give us a bad name. Waste of time and oxigen

[@electronicrepairservice2020]

Somebody was obviously trying to make a 'quick buk'. Hope the owner of this board put in for an eBay refund. Definitely how NOT to do a repair. Beyond shoddy. Someone actually put their name on this?

[@pldaniels]

Not sure at this point since it's a direct from another store who's handling this as a new job. I don't know for sure it was an eBay repair but it does fit in with the stereotype.

[@josephking6515]

Was that first sentence a reference to the missing zener? Nice one if it was. 👍

[@TheWangbolizhong]

💪

[@3x__]

🖐👍