That senior tech at my shop saved me on a tricky motherboard repair

Last Tuesday I was about to bin a Dell Optiplex because it wouldn't post. An older tech named Mike told me to double check the CPU socket for bent pins. I brushed him off at first but gave it a look under the scope, and sure enough I found two pins that were slightly out of place. Straightened them with a razor blade and the thing booted right up. Has anyone else had a small fix like that save a whole board?

2 comments

2 Comments

keith_henderson16d ago

My buddy Dave almost threw out an old HP laptop last year cause it kept freezing during boot. He had already ordered a replacement board online when his dad, who used to fix radios in the 80s, said "check the RAM slots." Dave popped the memory out, blew some compressed air in there, and reseated it. Worked perfectly after that. He told me he felt like a total idiot but also super grateful cause his dad saved him like 300 bucks. Just goes to show, sometimes it really is the simplest stuff that gets you lol.

patricia_wright16d ago

Has that ever happened to you where you almost tossed something and then someone older and wiser steps in? Honestly, that kind of save is the best feeling, makes you appreciate the veterans who've seen it all before. I bet that little fix saved you hours of frustration and a couple hundred bucks too.

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