Computer BSOD Follow up . . .

[Rodger Tellefson]

I finally broke down & took my desktop in to have it (Blue Screen of Death) repaired. I could only run in safe mode w/ netorking. It turns out that my mother board has goine bad. Since it is just over 3 yrs old, and I have a new Dell w/ duel processor running XP Multimedia Edition; I will just get my data off the HD & cut my losses. If anyone has any other suggestions I'm open to listening.

 

[Daniel Park]

? Oh yes that thing, no clue.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

Sorry, I accidently hit the enter key when I wanted the shift key. And, you saw it before I could finish my edit.

 

[TRACket Paul]

R&R the motherboard.

 

[George C]

I don't know the details of your situation but did you take the computer to a reputable place where you are sure they are telling the truth? I'd hate for it to be only a stick of memory and they are trying to get you for a full board. What were the stop error codes on the blue screen?

George

 

[TomT]

If it's over 3 years old it's pretty much worthless. I wouldn't pay to have it repaired.

 

[Casey B]

What type of mobo? proprietary? Try searching for a replacement, you should be able to find one for $5-20 on an older machine. Installing is pretty simple.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

It's a Dell computer that is between 2 & 4 yrs old. I did take it to Best Buy where the Geek Squad worked on it, so I feel that I took it to a pretty reliable place.

 

[A K]

I will say that the Geek Squad is overpriced. I have checked BB's circulars, and for a $50 "tune up" or $50 "spyware removal," they like to stick it to the consumer.

 

[Casey B]

I called the geek squad for my mom who lives in Idaho. She doesn't have a clue about computers but she needs her compaq system to be factory restored with the disks. They told me it would cost here $59 to look at it and another $59 to restore. Seems way overpriced to me.



If your just going to throw the dell out send me an email and I'll pay to have it shipped to me. I keep older computer parts for helping others when I can.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

C, No I don't plan on throwing it out if I can figure out what is wrong with it. :wacko::unsure:

 

[Jacob Dryer]

How much do you pay a mechanic when you take your car/truck to them? $60ish an hour seems average to me.



GS is at least all flat rate pricing so you don't have to worry about getting bent for a problem that takes them awhile to figure out. You know what you are going to pay everytime.

 

[Allen Smith]

Geek Squad IS slightly overpriced for much of their work, plus they do not leave until they've tried to sell you a bunch of stuff. I charge $49/hour with no travel charge for local visits. The only time I charge more is for web design.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

Humm? No travel charge... allen you want to come to Sacramento, CA? :lol:

 

[Michelle Widell]

Cripe.. if I only charged $49 an hour for computer repair, I wouldn't be able to keep the lights on. And I charge for travel too.



The company I used to work for charged the average Joe $120/hr.

 

[TomT]

There's a big difference between an auto mechanic and a computer tech. I can totally rebuild a computer with all new parts for less then $800. Can't do that with a vehicle. Let's face it. With today's computer prices and the ever changing technology, an old computer is just a paper weight. Especially if it's a Dell, Gateway or HP, since probably everything is built into the mother board.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Those are good rates, Allen ($49/hour for PC housecalls).



In my part-time business I do web and custom business app dev and get a lot more for that per hour (closer to $90 depending on the job), but for PC housecalls I charge a lowly $25/hour. The reason; I just do it for mostly friends of friends, who would otherwise get ripped off by GeekSquad or such, and have to charge something lest it totally consumes my time (that I could be making $90/hour from the comfort of my home). Everyone says my housecall rates are too low.



And I never try to sell anyone anything. All most people need these days is a little more RAM, XP SP2, and free AVG (once I get their computers cleaned up that is). I often buy ram and optical drives, etc. for people, and then install them at cost (no markup), because that way I know they get good parts.



TJR