Author Topic: What was your easiest repair ever? (Read 62766 times)

Wirehead · « **Reply #100 on:** September 25, 2016, 06:36:30 pm »

Yamaha RX-V457 / Yamaha RX-V650.. 20 cent X2-Rated cap in the stand-by power supply section. Took me more time to screw the thing open, than to solder the new one in.

CJay · « **Reply #101 on:** September 26, 2016, 09:14:18 am »

Quote from: CatalinaWOW on September 23, 2016, 06:25:47 pm

Adding to a theme mentioned several times above, I was on call to maintain a test station worth over a million dollars (in the dollars of four decades ago). Arrived in response to a trouble call and it took less than a minute to observe that the equipment function far better with the power cable plugged in. Someone had kicked it out without noticing.

Similar albeit not quite as expensive.

A manufacturer of 'specialist ceramics' (read submarine sonar transducers, they were very cagey about what they made but the pictures of the British nuclear sub fleet on the walls in reception combined with the name of the company and knowing which contract the call was logged under made it pretty damn obvious) called in a fault with their production server, they'd done a site power down to test backup supplies, generators etc. and the server had hung up on POST with an error relating to SCSI termination, the result being that they couldn't restart the production lines.

The fix?

Unplug the redundant SCSI cable inside the server, they had added an Ultra 160 card and stopped using the motherboard SCSI controller, at some point the active terminator on the motherboard SCSI cable had failed.

TheBay · « **Reply #102 on:** September 30, 2016, 09:26:36 am »

I often buy faulty items on eBay and fix them, I won a Lenovo laptop which was just over a year old, said faulty does not work.

Turned up and it indeed did not work, went on Lenovo website to find out the exact specs etc, still had another 2 year warranty on it, posted it to Lenovo and it came back fixed.
Didn't even need to attempt a repair.

HighVoltage · « **Reply #103 on:** September 30, 2016, 09:59:21 am »

Quote from: TheBay on September 30, 2016, 09:26:36 am

I often buy faulty items on eBay and fix them, I won a Lenovo laptop which was just over a year old, said faulty does not work.

Turned up and it indeed did not work, went on Lenovo website to find out the exact specs etc, still had another 2 year warranty on it, posted it to Lenovo and it came back fixed.
Didn't even need to attempt a repair.

Great fix!
I just had the same with a Keysight PSU.
Bought it broken from Romania very cheap and still had full warranty and Keysight Germany did not fix but exchange it for new.
Sometimes we can get lucky.

Robomeds · « **Reply #104 on:** October 01, 2016, 01:21:35 am »

Hard to say since the list is long and over many years. I did have an easy repair recently that was notable because I have no idea "how did that happen". I bought a set of Bose Roommate speakers off ebay for $20. They were listed as not working and the seller said this thing fell out. The thing in the photo looked like and turned out to be the bridge rectifier out of the power supply board. Nothing more than putting it back into place and soldering the four leads fixed the speakers.

MarvinTheMartian · « **Reply #105 on:** October 10, 2016, 05:03:17 am »

Quote from: Wytnucls on July 09, 2016, 08:12:07 pm

... Bob's your uncle...

Can someone explain why I seem to be everyone's uncle?

Bob

Berni · « **Reply #106 on:** October 10, 2016, 05:07:32 am »

Quote from: MarvinTheMartian on October 10, 2016, 05:03:17 am

Can someone explain why I seem to be everyone's uncle?

Bob

Just be happy you are not Murphy. Everyone hates that jerk.

KeepItSimpleStupid · « **Reply #107 on:** October 15, 2016, 06:20:16 am »

Did the ebay thing too. I took it apart and said the ribbon cable is crap (yada yada yada) and they gave me a brand new product. So, you just have to tell them how bad their product is made. An approximately $400 USD piece of electrical test equipment that I paid like $25.00 for and shipping one way. I warranty registered the replaced item as a gift.

So, you just have to tell them how bad their product is made. This worked for stuff at work too.

FrankT · « **Reply #108 on:** October 16, 2016, 04:27:56 am »

A friend was quote $500 for a new central air conditioner remote control.

A bit of scotchbrite on the battery terminals, and the faulty one was good as new.

grifftech · « **Reply #109 on:** October 17, 2016, 02:51:16 pm »

loose wires

kc7gr-15 · « **Reply #110 on:** October 18, 2016, 04:30:20 am »

My most recent one was a Teltone telephone line simulator, specifically their model TLE-A-01. Pretty neat device... It can emulate a central office, including sending caller ID data, which makes it ideal for development and test work on an Asterisk PBX.

Anyway... These units have a VF display on the front panel, connected to the mainboard by a flat cable. The one I had was dead, to initial appearances, so I got it for cheap (I thought its power supply might have gone wonkers).

What did I find when I got it on the bench and opened it up? The flat cable for the display had come disconnected. It took less than a minute to reconnect and verify the unit was just fine.

'Tis truly amazing how little effort some folks are willing to put out when something doesn't instantly respond as expected the first time.

VK5RC · « **Reply #111 on:** October 18, 2016, 07:43:14 am »

A recent retro HP 203A oscillator, check fuse ok, take cover off - look - think (a rare event - HiHi) - those daughter boards look too high - push them down, switch on. +

Simon Spiers · « **Reply #112 on:** October 18, 2016, 06:16:37 pm »

It had to be an HP4261 Component tester bought from the USA listed dim display non working.
Thas because it was set to 240V

Nermash · « **Reply #113 on:** October 18, 2016, 07:31:42 pm »

Wife said washing machine does not begin to wash after selecting the programme and other options. Figuring the problem could be control board connection issue I gently tapped the front panel

Been working fine ever since.

free_electron · « **Reply #114 on:** October 18, 2016, 07:45:57 pm »

flipping the switch on the back from 220 to 110 ... went from 25$ to 1500$ ...

DTJ · « **Reply #115 on:** October 19, 2016, 03:49:47 am »

Quote from: Nermash on October 18, 2016, 07:31:42 pm

Wife said washing machine does not begin to wash after selecting the programme and other options. Figuring the problem could be control board connection issue I gently tapped the front panel Been working fine ever since.

That's called percussive maintenance. It often works.

ludzinc · « **Reply #116 on:** October 19, 2016, 04:19:53 am »

Rescued the wife when her car didn't start.

Slipped the gear stick from D to P and all was good.

jonovid · « **Reply #117 on:** October 19, 2016, 04:35:14 am »

Quote

Quote
Wife said washing machine does not begin to wash after selecting the programme and other options. Figuring the problem could be control board connection issue I gently tapped the front panel Been working fine ever since.

That's called percussive maintenance. It often works.

one in every toolbox

ip2k · « **Reply #118 on:** October 20, 2016, 02:19:10 am »

+1 for finding a monitor (22" Dell Ultrasharp) in perfect condition with a blown backlight (could see an image when plugged in and shining a flashlight on it). One capacitor was leaking in the PSU section.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

CJay · « **Reply #119 on:** October 20, 2016, 08:48:41 am »

Quote from: blueskull on October 20, 2016, 02:21:31 am

Windows OS issues. Usually computer problems solve themselves when I show up.
Yes, even at 21st century there are still many people can not use Windows properly and they themselves induce many problems while blaming the computer.

Amen to that, most of my daily life is based around users who are involved in projects to build things like power stations or rail infrastructure but can't work out how to use Word or organise their email.

Legionary · « **Reply #120 on:** October 21, 2016, 05:39:25 pm »

Not really electronics based, but still a fun return.

Dell 8024F 24 port (SFP+) 10G switch with 8 installed SFP's, but no psu's and a slightly bent faceplate from a local liquidation sale, listed as "not working".

Bought a PSU off ebay, powered on fine. Checked the management console, ports with SFP's were listed in a fault state.
Removed one of the SFP's, it was a fibrechannel SFP. I facepalmed a little at that point.
Removed the remaining fibrechannel SFP's and replaced them with some 10G SFP+'s from the bin.
Worked like a charm.

A very nice ~$75 investment for the home network.

Bicurico · « **Reply #121 on:** October 24, 2016, 10:22:07 am »

Changed two capacitors C848 and C819 on my VU+ Duo receiver, which had problems receiving most transponders. After the replacement, it worked again. Total cost: <1 Euro. Total repair time <1 hour.

BUT: It took me a whole day to actually identify the problem at the receiver... I changed the whole cable distribution on the roof and all LNB's!!!

Regards,
Vitor

MatthewEveritt · « **Reply #122 on:** October 24, 2016, 05:57:34 pm »

I got my current laptop on eBay spares or repair, mouse not working. The fix was to pull off the swollen rubber cap and just use the button underneath it.

Probably the easiest was a fitbit charge for the princely sum of £3.20 with a missing button. Fix for that one was to use a cocktail stick to push the microswitch in order to pair with it, then... um, ignore it. That's pretty much the only thing you need the button for.

enut11 · « **Reply #123 on:** October 31, 2016, 02:24:01 am »

Bought a signal generator on eBay that powered up but no output. Traced the signal across the PCB until it disappeared - except that was after a solid copper wire link! On removing the copper link it showed open circuit on the ohm meter. Crazy. A new copper wire link fixed it.
enut11

P90 · « **Reply #124 on:** October 31, 2016, 02:47:21 am »

Quote from: MarvinTheMartian on October 10, 2016, 05:03:17 am

Quote from: Wytnucls on July 09, 2016, 08:12:07 pm
... Bob's your uncle...

Can someone explain why I seem to be everyone's uncle?

Bob

Hey, it's bettet than being Chester... lol

Replaced a thermal fuse on a close dryer, $5 part (looks like a 25 cent piece) and 10 minutes later, saved couple hundred $$ for a service call.


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Author Topic: What was your easiest repair ever? (Read 62766 times)

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