Become Your Own PC. If you are like me, you have probably owned quite
a few personal computers. You are sure to have had the occasional
problem, and rushed the machine off to the repair shop. At the time, the
cost of repairs may have seemed a bit high in proportion to the
original cost of the machine, and you might not have been quite sure
what was actually. You can learn to do your own diagnosis and repair
work. It is worth while knowing what is going on inside the box, even if
you do not do the work yourself. With a good understanding of the
likely causes of the hardware problems, you can be a lot more confident
that the repairs carried out were reasonable and necessary.
To begin with, a good source of technical information is necessary.
You can always ask at your local electronics shop, but if you really
don’t know what you are talking about, the embarrassment can be a big
turn off. There is an excellent book available called ‘Upgrading and
Repairing PCs’ written by Scott Mueller. This is the most complete and
most readable ‘how-to’ book I have found, and if you only buy one book
on the subject, Scott’s is the one to get you hands on. The next step is
to choose a few projects to get familiar with the hardware. The best
way to begin building up your skills is to pull a computer completely
apart, and then put it back together. If it still works after that, then
you have made a pretty good start. At this stage, you may be thinking
‘hang on a minute, I paid a lot of money for my system – No way am I
going to risk messing with that baby’.
No, as a beginner, you definitely should not. You can get hold of
some old computers to tear apart and rebuild. Old computers are seen as
worthless, and you will find Pentium 1 and 2 machines being discarded as
rubbish, even though they are still in good working order. Even a
Pentium 3 can be bought very cheaply, and most of these are pretty good
performers. A word of warning – be careful how widely you spread the
news of you new interest in old computers. You will be surprised how
many 486s and older are sitting in cartons in garages and basements;
your friends and family will really be delighted to give you an amazing
collection of electronic junk.
Get familiar with the various parts, and how they fit together. Learn
to identify the different styles of processor chip, RAM, disk drives
and other components. As always, safety is paramount. The computer
components themselves operate at low voltages, but you still have the
mains strength voltage coming into the back of the computer. Always
power off and unplug when you are working on the computer, and be
suspicious of any signs of overheating or of burning smells. Enjoy your
tinkering.
0 comments:
Post a Comment