Repair Shop Said $400 to Fix This Laptop

[@lbdjthethird1240]

This phrase sometimes gets thrown around too much but for real, channels like yours are what KZbin was made for. Education, entertainment, a good cause, and beneficial to society. Take all my gratitude, good brother. You are the example to follow.

[@MrHawasho]

For what

[@bryans8656]

I never tire of watching you troubleshoot and fix broken stuff.

[@Tronicsfix]

Thanks! So glad you enjoy these videos!

[@mizinoinovermyhead.7523]

@@Tronicsfix I would have been interested in what the actual cost of the repair would be. Yes you don't have to replace the board to fix it, but you do have to replace that button which requires special skill and tools, certainly the time investment to remove the board, remove the button, and replace the button would cost a significant amount of money too. Perhaps not 400 dollars, but still enough that the laptop might not be viable for the original owner to repair. Don't you think?

[@FR4M3Sharma]

@@mizinoinovermyhead.7523 10-20$ Bucks at max. This isn''t even a Hard job. A person with Average Soldering experience can do this.

[@KusarekCZE]

It's funny how repair shops charge big money for such small work. My sister's notebook had broken hinges on her laptop, and the repair shop said it would be around 450$ for repair. I ordered hinges for 15$ and replaced them myself for her. Totally 435$ saved...

[@dustinschings7042]

To be fair to the previous repair shop, I doubt they were charging that much to line their pockets. They simply couldn't find a suitable button to replace the bad one with, so they had to quote them the cost of a new motherboard, which was probably $350+.

[@microgamingrepairs1981]

Replacing hinges is much different from having the knowledge of micro soldering. Although the fact that yet another repair shop both could not fix it, but even then reassembled it incorrectly without all the screws is ridiculous.

[@Powerlip11]

coming from personal experience, both as a non-professional repair guy, and as someone who takes his computer for bigger repairs im not confident about doing myself; i can kinda see why people try to charge a lot. depending on how difficult the repair is, its basically just a mini, more technical mechanic. soldering can be very precise and tricky depending on the board so that is higher labor cost, sometimes the takedown is complicated as all hell so that could hike it up. considering $450 for hinges, you are completely correct, thats an exorbitant amount. MAYBE $50-$75 to do it depending on the model. $15 for the part, $30+ for labor. small jobs shouldnt cost a new product.

[@archive8080]

Tbf replacing a motherboard is not small work and costly but what was necessary wasn't to replace the motherboard, repair shop is f*n reta*rded.

[@chasefournier]

Not all buttons are created equal! Awesome little schematic showing the difference between the buttons! i enjoyed this one steve! awesome job buddy!

[@louisharkna9464]

I just wanted to say that you are right. If a manufacturer would list the components used and not convince suppliers to be exclusive to them, repairs could be easier and quicker as well as less expensive. In all honesty the same manufacturer would find a much more stable customer base if both customers and repair shops knew that their product can be more easily fixed and maintained. Big fan of both you and Louis Rossmann.

[@kevinanderson7613]

You know you have a top notch repair shop when it comes back missing screws! 🙄😌🤔 Great job TronicsFix!!

[@ThorneyGryffon]

Truthfully if I spend a few hours trying to repair something tombe told that I am not getting paid, for all we know he took it to the shop missing screws, and he tried to solder that wrong part on the board. Then tried to blame the shop to his buddy..

[@Hortonscakes]

This is why I'm learning from you! I'm investing in the ifixit kit and keeping up with my soldering skills. Thanks so much for this video, this is an important one! 💯💯💯

[@pehhii]

Steve is just the hero we need, but not deserve.

[@e46m3s]

Ive done a similar repair on a Lenovo Ideapad 320-15kib that wouldn't turn on because the power button is in the keyboard. The keyboard was perfectly working but the power button was not. The keyboard was soldered into the top case of the laptop and I was told it needed a whole motherboard and i fixed it with a $30 top cover assembly that included the keyboard and touchpad and now that laptop is my daily driver

[@nsaneaf4982]

I work at a computer shop and got a customer with this issue, it would'nt turn on, when i disconnected the battery and plug the ac adapter the laptop turned it on itself so I just ordered a replacement keyboard and installed it. it was soldered too but I drilled it and resolder the new one in the palmrest. Funny enough it was a lenovo too.

[@Crypto_Kush1]

Great job. You impress me every time with your tech repair skills. I used to repair xbox 360s back in the day and mod them. Your videos bring me back me back to those days. Much respect.

[@MrImmobilized]

Wow, super helpful I have the exact same laptop that has a broken power button. This video helped a ton!

[@Tronicsfix]

Wow, that's crazy! Glad this video helps!

[@MaxRager80]

Yet another fun repair video Steve, good stuff.

[@TheSkaldenmettrunk]

Nice one with that button. Better than to replace a whole working motherboard. Much better.

[@AntonioBarba_TheKaneB]

You are truly an inspiration, please keep repairing stuff!

[@virgildeklerk]

Nice fix Steve, so stupid that those components are nowere to be bought so they just throw away a perfectly good motherboard for just 1 button... pffff just the thought of that makes me sad. Have a good weekend 👍

[@zalcal8256]

Thats how the big companies do it, anything is broken on the Mobo regardless of ease to fix- they order the whole damn thing at full cost.

[@briandoss9232]

Great job! Makes me Hella nervous about repair shops man...

[@kairukun93]

Now that's what I call the perfect amount of "repair cost" and specially "thermal paste" 😌

[@PlusMotivation12]

you saved another device again . Good work and nice video

[@profounddevices]

great fix, however over time the button distance could be reduced, maybe also put plastic near button side of board but not in button path to keep distance even as laptop is moved around, and heat and cool cycles settle board to middle in case. the plastic pieces in side of board would mechanically limit this movement. excellent video

[@Steelie97]

A repair shop that doesn't solder is no repair shop at all.

[@hummelpapa8400]

I will never take my stuff to a "repair Shop" - seems as if 95% are liars and/or are incompetent

[@Tronicsfix]

There are a lot of good shops out there too. They’re not all bad

[@truthseeker7183]

5 % will do the charm fr.

[@snufftherooster93]

Repair shops are like mechanics: they overcharge for minor repairs, then try their hardest to convince you a much bigger, more expensive job is needed.

[@Talmiior]

@@snufftherooster93 I both agree and disagree with you. I have my own repair shop and am far happier to get a PS4 for example in that just needs a new hard drive than to scam them into thinking something isn't working properly. Really, if you do scam people, yes, probably a fair bunch of people wouldn't know, but eventually someone will and it will damage the business's reputation. Also, I can't imagine how someone can do crap like that and live with their conscience.

[@zionpeters342]

gotta understand that the people working on it have a chance to mess it up even more and you are paying for that labor and part cost 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@scottcol23]

I really enjoy these laptop repair videos. I like the console videos too. But these other devices are a nice addition. Keep up the great work.

[@g-wolf9445]

Regardless of which industry you are in, repair shops should be required to be certified along with their technicians. There are too many people masquerading around saying they can repair something when they don’t know squat and are causing people not to want to go to legitimate repair shops. Also, a real repair shop warranties repairs they have made. Excellent video!

[@golDroger88]

Absolutely not. The only certification you need is the customer's experience. Otherwise you'll end up with Genius bar level shops that paid for certifications.

[@kazuhirasomiller4622]

In my university we study Logic design this year and it feels super satisfying looking at grounds and deep switches while relaxing, reminds me why I took engineering classes. Cheers!

[@Dyaxxis]

By the pre-inspection part of the video, I wonder if the repair shop itself would be even valued at the $400 they quoted! 🤣

[@TAWIAG]

As Always Steve, You're The Man!! And I Absolutely Love The Way You Edit Your Videos. They're Always So Fluid And Have No Unnecessary/Unrelated Content. Not To Mention That The Quality Of Your Camera Is Amazing!!! Even When You're Really Zoomed In On The Board It's Still Crystal Clear... 💪🏾💯👍🏽🔥👌🏾👏🏾

[@natewesselink]

Shops like that give shops like the one I work at bad name, I would have never let it leave my shop in that condition even if I didn't make the repair but something like replacing that power switch would have been an easy repair for me.

[@petesagat8952]

Dude probably spent at least an hour if not two finding and soldering a new button on...

[@olehj799]

Well done, Happy Newyear and keep the good vids coming to your channel.

[@shaneh7519]

I hope the viewer that you got this from shows this video to the repair shop

[@philvt101]

We've got fan spin! Louis would be proud!

[@shadowfrost44]

Once a week is not enough! Great video!

[@seriously9501]

I was hoping for a scene where the laptops screws are not there, you snap your hand and next scene they're in, right before the finale but I played it in my head so its cool!

[@revengenerd1]

My soldering skills are at best last year when my on/off switch broke on my case that I didn't want to replcae had a non standard microswitch so once I found the correct one I just cut of the end of the cable from the old one and soldered to it, much cheaper than buying a new case!

[@AvnerRosenstein-ULTRA-LXV]

I seriously love this channel!

[@310_Latchkey_kid]

I love how you shine all those "repair shops"! 😄

[@wybuchowyukomendant]

Those "professional shops" always want to replace motherboards, sup with that. And of course, they never seem to know how to put stuff back together. I sometimes buy broken amazon returns, and this is extremely common practice - random screws in random places, misaligned or loose parts...

[@Mr.Unacceptable]

When I got this problem on my desk.. It was a power plug they broke. I got a 12V barrel plug cable and soldered that to the board. so the pigtail hung outside the laptop. So that next time it gets dropped it will bounce. I had to change the end of the power brick so it would plug in but now it runs.

[@djm9937]

Brilliant job as always :)

[@TM_Stone]

I love the angelic theme music for the Perfect Amount of Thermal Paste©It has to drive the haters mad!

[@Sacren365]

Could also use a small spring for the button.

[@j.lietka9406]

How many old laptops (or the motherboards) do you have?!?! What brand of laptop is that? A Lenovo? Thank you 🤓 great repair!

[@nathanaelaldred8885]

The way this guy positions his camera and never makes eye contact with the audience, paired with his singular facial expression in every video makes him look like an NPC

[@pulkis21]

God I do really hope that we will get that law working globally, so everyone could be able to fix they broken stuff. Cause how many electronics are thrown in landfill just because small simple job could be done like this button. I had a laptop, that had issues with GPU, since it was mounted on board and I didn't had specific tools to fixit, it was just used a donor. But that laptop was new.

[@souravsen5773]

The board can be repaired but my question is how long will it last? My experience is that when you do circuit level repairing, the thing starts giving another issue within few months.

[@bashkimajdari]

What can be wrong with my gaming laptops keyboard and rgb lightning after i cleaned it with vaccum cleaner and a soft brush 😕 i checked it and never saw a visual damage 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@specter-collecters2695]

I'm happy I found your channel on youtube I follow you on FB how I found your channel. Great content

[@deebocj]

Love the thermal paste music 🎶 🎵 👌!

[@ryanzer0170]

I took my laptop to a reputable (supposedly) repair shop and they destroyed it worse than how i brought it in. It's crazy that a repair shop didn't install the fans correctly and didn't bother putting the screws back.

[@bboystance1670]

Awesome vid man; nice work!

[@James_D.]

Nice repair!

[@MrMattDat]

Great job! It is tough to put a value on a good boneyard!

[@lifooz2955]

450$ had been a hell expensive powerswitch, nice to see you give it another try after that the first one not was fitting! That "repairshop" should be put into shame like many others, cuz a repairshop means repair, not replace! But more and more repairshops just wanna replace parts and that´s a very negative trend for the other ones like you, who actually is the TV-repair-workers of 2022! Good job man, keep it up!❤ /L

[@JulianSauco]

That case is just a little bit bent, you may not need to move the motherboard just straigthen that frame back and I’t good to go!

[@sedivecalaseda]

Hiw mutch time get you to fix this? Cost of running shop, employes....ect.... i thik thats they want new MB. And alsk they need save varanty for repair. So this is not 25c. 😐

[@papawinters]

the case around the external button looked bent...maybe tweak the case then the spacing will be correct?

[@ShiningStarAhsokaTanofan]

Anybody have any idea why a Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook would suddenly have a dead left arrow key? Rebooting and "power washing" (factory reset) did nothing. I only tried the factory reset when asked to try it by Lenovo support.

[@jiyoung4472]

Thermal paste,the unsung hero.

[@aminayasmineboutaoui8112]

HEY I VE GOT THE same laptop my hinge got broken on its attachement on the top right attach in order of the pressure that i didnt notice it got touchscreen broken any idea hoow can i repair it at lowest charges ?

[@jamesbond9294]

What prying tool would you suggest using from ifixit pro tech toolkit for laptops without damaging the plastic

[@miri669]

The additional pad at the back might be to brace the button against the external force that could rip it off.

[@Kwincy5]

I have a first gen Apple TV 4K that won't power on that I'd like you to take a crack at, how do I go about contacting you?

[@vodinsko]

I really enjoy your content, keep it up!

[@tizzi91able]

Planned obsolescence for sure. A switch so delicate

[@VideoGameRestoration]

I've heard the "fell and landed on it" Once or twice working in medicine 🤣🤣 Great repair!

[@Tronicsfix]

Lol!

[@DJ-Foul]

at worst, you can solder a mini on / off switch externally .. but to replace an entire motherboard just for a mini button ... lol (Greetings from France !)

[@alexander0the0gray]

Can I defend the repair shop? A lot of people are saying they are dishonest or ripping people off. In this video, he fixed this laptop with a $.25 button. However, it’s very obvious that he spent a good amount of time and effort on replacing that button. With his cuts in video editing, you can’t say for sure, but it was certainly somewhere between two and eight hours to fix that. I think all in it’s safe to assume he spent four hours finding donor board parts and soldering and testing in order to get that $.25 part to work. When the other repair shop quoted $400 for a new board, that board replace the power button with no work at all, it would probably be one hour or less to swap out. if we make an assumption that a tech repair shop should charge about $100 an hour, that brings the total fix up to $500. This repair with a donor board that you may or may not have on hand, took four hours of labor and a $.25 button, so $400.25 if he was getting paid as he should for his labor. Time and labor is a real cost, and unless you have the talent like portrayed in this video to do it yourself, you have to pay someone the labor time for them to do it. This repair actually cost just as much or close to it as the full motherboard replacement would be, except now you have a custom jury rigged button that you hope doesn’t fail in the future. Repair shops don’t quote new parts because they’re lazy or Untalented, they quote them, because it had no uncertainty whether it will fix it or not, and the time of the labor to manually fix it for the repair is a huge consideration, when quoting the cost of the job.

[@LIIantonioIIL]

Thanks for the new perspective.

[@moecho]

Good job! I knew you could it!!

[@laserfloyd]

It's amazing how many parts get left out by repair shops on top of how badly things get reassembled.

[@dreamwork69]

If u calculate fee for labor, I’ll say $100 max is a good charge. Now it seems like an easy fix but with the knowledge u need to be able to troublshoot, it worth the pay. Just dont overcharge.

[@EnaBBQ]

Never trust shops that put back devices badly when they decide that they cant fix it.

[@tedoyle61]

Fight for right to repair...

[@ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow]

Unfortunately, some repair shops have no idea what they are doing.

[@scottcol23]

I recently was in the market for a new laptop and really liked the Lenovo Yoga 7i with the i7 and rtx 3050 6gb and the 2.5k 90hz IPS touch screen. BUT I did not like the power button being on the side like that. It just seemed like it would be a weak point. It looks like I might have been right. What I was worried that it could be damaged carrying it around in my backpack. Im really careful with my stuff but that just seems like a bad idea having it exposed at all times.

[@namele55777]

i have a yoga too but fortunately my power button's default position is already flush to the chassis, so less likely to face the issue that josiah did

[@brooklyn5754]

Great job as always

[@Slevin_Kalevra]

I have a degree in electronics. The repair shop is 100% backed or at the very least subsidised by the contractor that has a contract with the brand laptop.

[@ThorneyGryffon]

I mean the cost to the shop to diagnose was probably 100 dollars, add to that labor and searching for and ordering the correct part, not just trying something found on an old junk board. With a parts mark up. That was probably a fair enough price for the repair. They have to guarantee the work and when it fails next month....

[@dazlee3449]

just curious did you offer to sell it back to the seller once fixed i would buy it back.

[@ernestoestrada2281]

Love your content. Keep it up!

[@willvignoli]

josiah is from brazil, for sure. noone does this fix here. anything the shop says: replace motherboard

[@kaivinsky]

Repaired like a Boss

[@MOLHAMSTAR]

WHEN YOU SAY 6:45 IS NOT WORKING ANYMORE , DO U MEAN BY TAKE THE POWER PEICE IT STOP WORKING , AND IS NOT WORKING ANYMORE?

[@LoftechUK]

Well done.

[@AndyParka]

With cost of donor board, time and labor, $400 is probably about right and the safest option for a repair business to guarantee a repair. Sensationalism aside, this is a very niche skill that many laypeople would not be able to troubleshoot or have a spare button.

[@rylar717]

a good repair tech will re-route the monitor cables and make sure parts are fit and snug - not loose like that fan!

[@JS.990]

Hello TronicsFix, I have a HP ENVY TouchSmart m7 that works very well but, when install the secondary HDD, i get a Blue screen of death. Can you help? Thank you.

[@zierlyn]

Been hopping around google to see if I could find a solution. It seems that the secondary drive slot is an mSATA slot. I suppose the first thing to check is that you have an mSATA drive and not an NVMe drive, since the two are similar enough to fit each other's connectors but are not interchangeable. I suppose next thing to check would be the BIOS to see if it shows up, alternatively if you need a firmware update to make it show up. There's also the possibility that the official firmware disables the slot completely (I don't fully trust pc manufacturers to not pull stunts like that).

[@rolih6]

I love when he is replacing HDMI conectors 😊

[@eliyahomar]

This work deserves the 400

[@imfrcd]

Question; what would be your labor rate, so what would you charge to repair this laptop?

[@jameswest2322]

Seriously, any repair shop would go out of business if they changed .25 for that repair. .25 doesn't go far towards $5000 in store rent or towards a livable wage.

[@hugo1171]

would be interesting how much time you actually spent repairing this laptop. idk what an hour of work costs where you are from, but when i think of the cost of working time in my country and calculate 2 hours (i know maybe a bit much) it would cost the customer nearly the same to change that little button as getting a new motherboard installed. so the customer would have a better deal changing the motherboard, taking in account that there coul be another problem on the old board.

[@franbertrand7213]

do u happen to have a spare c523na chromebook screen that you are not using mine is broken can i buy it

[@PescoKun]

Ah yes, 450$ for a button... Nah, just kidding, we have Steve that knows what to do 🤩

[@PescoKun]

@Tronicsfix66 Bro, it's the 5th try of scam that happens to me... 1st it's not the real TronicsFix account 2nd I'm not trusting anyone who wants to use Telegram to contact. Stop doing this stupid things...

[@BonesAlexander]

Dude, if only more people like you were out there.

[@zalcal8256]

Worked for a company that subcontracted repairs for a major brands laptops (rhymed with Bell) and whenever something on the Mobo failed their fix was always to replace it. Didn't matter if it was a quick 10 dollar part - if it was on there the protocol was to order the part and replace the whole thing. Great company otherwise though

[@realityanalyst]

We need more videos per week. Plz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@jasonmark4460]

I've always wondered why you don't blast these repair shops by name .. seems like someone like you could keep these jerks honest.

[@theshellderinslowbrostail5422]

Legal issues, thats why

[@FallingStar1080]

Back in the days you could do that, can't do it now without someone wanting to sue

[@Cerberus-db1bq]

The repair techs that don’t do the right amount of thermal paste probably have never made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

[@EL34XYZ]

Mouser or DigiKey would have that switch. The problem is looking through then thousands of switches and finding it.

[@Tronicsfix]

Exactly, you have to know exactly what you're looking for and I don't.

[@ILoveLavaLamps]

I just want to be you. You are the Bruce Springsteen of soldering iron😊

[@spookysammy7245]

Stock up on those switches. They're really cheap (about 50 cents each) and Newark Electronics sells assortments of them. The key word is "tactile switches". You're welcome.