Recommended Posts

What can fix a motherboard? and What worth repairing?

1 worth repairing electronics? That are being disposable?
From what I saw, manufacturers only provide information to authorized electrical diagrams assists and not for any technician of electronics. What does the manager not knowing exactly what this piece and which put replacement. It may happen many mistakes.


2 which can correct a motherboard? or and what was already and over.
Usually you can fix? Which components?
And when you have a component that can not be repaired, there are cases in which recovery is difficult muti, or no spare parts or impossible places to fix.


3 What kind used plates save for reuse of components?
For example, motherboard is always good store, but what other cards are practically disposable and see no need to save. As pci cards, memory burned, burned cpu, etc.
motherboard repair is good, but not good fix a card pci.

I think older graphics cards are worth repairing, by reballing or changing the memory chips, not really for the sake of the device, but if you are a repair shop it's a cheap way to hone your skills, otherwise the margins are too thin for the resale of this type of repaired products. However litography has shrunk and there is a cut-off generation of products that are way too difficult to fix. CPU/PSU fans/coolers and other such components are always a reusable type of thing.

my question is quite wide, are 3 questions within one.

I need experiences of people who tried to repair any piece of electronic informatics. is it worth the repair, was found easy replacement of components.
I need to answer people who have been through some experience in motherboard repair for example.

someone has tried to fix something related to informatics? what problems and difficulties we saw in repairing a piece of PC hardware?

Replacing whole motherboards, video cards, sound cards, ethernet, usb cards -- yes, it can be worthwhile.

 

Getting in to the diagnosis on bad capacitors, resistors, IC chips --- not usually worth the effort.

 

I don't care to fool with ocilliscopes and soldering.

 

Parts containing gold can be recycled.

I repair motherboards for a living, it's cheaper for the customer if you can repair to board level if you have the skills. There really is no limit to what you can repair on a circuit board, you're only limited by your own skillset. The equipment can be expensive, but it pays for itself in the long term. It's the learning part that takes time. Learning about such stuff as semiconductors, bridge rectifiers, voltage regulators, and switchmode supplies are all things you need to learn where motherboards and computers are concerned.

 

I take great pride in knowing that I'm a repair shop with a difference, I actually repair rather than replace components in computers and all the devices I repair, while other shops just chuck boards out and whack new ones in, but that's easy peasy child stuff, it makes me kinda smug :) You learn by doing, so if you're looking to get started, I recommend good books, and some junk boards. Jestine Yong writes some really good books, I recommend checking him out, he's very plain english and doesn't baffle you. The first thing you need to do, is start learning soldering, without soldering you can't do surface mount repair, never mind pass through soldering. Pass through soldering is where legs of components pass through the board and are soldered on the underside, whereas obviously as the name suggests surface mount is soldered on the component side.

 

As for knowing all about semiconductors and all that, stuff like this takes years to learn, even I'm still learning as technology improves, and I've been doing this since I was a kid, cassette players and AM radios and huge brick phones with tons of wiring inside them were all the rage!

 

1 hour ago, Hum said:

Replacing whole motherboards, video cards, sound cards, ethernet, usb cards -- yes, it can be worthwhile.

 

Getting in to the diagnosis on bad capacitors, resistors, IC chips --- not usually worth the effort.

 

I don't care to fool with ocilliscopes and soldering.

Replacing is the easy bit, is laziness, and can be more costly to the consumer. Just because you don't "fool" with the stuff, doesn't mean it can't be done without a bit of dedication, your post just sounds like, "I can't be arsed, so why should anyone else?"

 

It's very rewarding. Obtaining schematics for motherboards and other PC boards is often the biggest issue, as two motherboards with identical chipsets and components can often be wired differently, or have differing companion circuitry. If you've got the drive, passion and determination, learn, learn, learn. You won't become a master overnight, but once you know electronics there's no limit to what you can fix. I started out fixing computers, now I fix all manner of consumer electronics, from your TV to your washing machine, even vehicle ECU's :)

2 minutes ago, Hum said:

Good for your skills and business.

 

But the average person is not going to want to try and repair motherboard parts.

True, but there's no harm in encouraging someone who does. Where would sport be, for example, these days if everyone said, "Your average person doesn't play sport!!" Don't "assume" everyone is average. People taking interest is what grows something. Most highly skilled people started off as "average" people sometime early in their life. Bill Gates would be a prime example. He got interested in something and made something big out of it.

I do not for one person to know everything.
It does not give to me and many other people who use pc, learn electronics background.
many only know how to use a program on the PC to work. people focus only on their profession.
if I think about learning a lot of electronics, I have to work with it. and not programs, programming and parts of PC software.

I think if I or someone want to study the electronic background, will have to work only with electronic repairs and not to work with computers.
but work just fixing all kinds of electronics and appliances.

I and many others, can only focus on one thing in their profession work. make money in any kind of work.

If you're into electronics repairing, this guy's YouTube channel has a lot of worthy information that gives you an idea of what can be repaired if you are skilled. Hardly something that can be done at home alone at minimum cost, though.

https://www.youtube.com/user/rossmanngroup

stopped reading at: "I need experiences of people who tried to repair any piece of electronic informatics". Informatics? Even spell check knows that's not a proper term. (I majored in computer and electronic repair.....yes, it's more times worth it to fix a 20 cent capacitor, than go out and buy a 200 dollar motherboard. YMMV.) Informatics.....thank you, I needed a laugh today! XD

12 minutes ago, Obi-Wan Kenobi said:

stopped reading at: "I need experiences of people who tried to repair any piece of electronic informatics". Informatics? Even spell check knows that's not a proper term. (I majored in computer and electronic repair.....yes, it's more times worth it to fix a 20 cent capacitor, than go out and buy a 200 dollar motherboard. YMMV.) Informatics.....thank you, I needed a laugh today! XD

just I want to have a same basic concept, I want to at least replace capacitors, and those easiest parts to fix.
I do not want to go as deep into the electronics.

I and many other people, it's not your area is not a sand and beach, being a technician of electronics!
but at least get a sense of what it is, to know a little of everything.

 

25 minutes ago, Obi-Wan Kenobi said:

stopped reading at: "I need experiences of people who tried to repair any piece of electronic informatics". Informatics? Even spell check knows that's not a proper term. (I majored in computer and electronic repair.....yes, it's more times worth it to fix a 20 cent capacitor, than go out and buy a 200 dollar motherboard. YMMV.) Informatics.....thank you, I needed a laugh today! XD

Sorry, informatics is a real word whether your spell check flags it or not. :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informatics

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Amazon may use OpenAI and Nova models after Anthropic reportedly raises costs by Karthik Mudaliar Amazon is reportedly considering to use OpenAI models and even its own Nova family of AI models after Anthropic raised the cost of using Claude inside Amazon services. According to a report from The Information, Amazon is weighing its options to reduce costs under a new arrangement with Anthropic. But back in April, Amazon said it would invest $5 billion more in Anthropic, with the possibility of adding up to another $20 billion if certain commercial milestones are met. That investment actually came on top of another $8 billion Amazon had already put into the Claude maker. Anthropic, meanwhile, committed to spend more than $100 billion over 10 years on AWS technologies, including Amazon’s Trainium chips. Amazon isn't just a customer of Anthropic but also one of the most important backers and cloud partners. This is why it makes it interesting that Amazon is considering other alternatives to handle its internal workloads. Although Amazon has been building its own options for a while now. Its Nova family of AI models was announced in late 2024 for Amazon Bedrock, with models aimed at text, image, and video tasks. Amazon pitched the model around cost and latency at that time. With that said, OpenAI has also become a more realistic option recently for AWS customers as well as for Amazon itself. Earlier this year, OpenAI brought its latest models and Codex coding agent to Amazon Bedrock, after changes to its previously more restrictive Microsoft cloud arrangement. This allowed AWS to serve even those customers who wanted other alternatives from Claude, without having to move workloads out of Amazon's cloud. Evaluating alternatives could also be due to commercial pressure and not necessarily a sign of a damaged partnership between Amazon and Anthropic. Whether or not Amazon is actually considering switching entirely to OpenAI's models or its own Nova models remains unknown at this moment.
    • Samsung introduces new AI classroom tools and interactive displays at ISTELive 2026 by Fiza Ali Samsung has announced several new education-focused software features and interactive displays for schools during ISTELive 2026, taking place in Orlando, Florida, from 28 June to 1 July. The focus of these updates is on making shared classroom displays easier to use for teachers while giving IT administrators more control over managing devices. One of the key additions is the Samsung Account Management Solution (AMS). In many schools, multiple teachers share the same interactive display throughout the day, which means signing in and setting everything up can become repetitive. With AMS, teachers can log in by scanning a QR code or tapping an NFC-enabled ID card. Once signed in, their personalised workspace, including wallpapers, bookmarks, app shortcuts, and files, can be instantly accessed through Home Personalisation. Samsung has also included a screen lock feature, allowing teachers to lock the display if they need to step away briefly. Furthermore, the company is also updating its Education Portal with new tools designed for school IT administrators. The portal will allow IT administrators to register teachers, enrol devices, and manage user access from a central dashboard. Administrators can also link NFC cards to teacher accounts, making sign-ins quicker across shared displays. Another addition is a Tags feature that lets schools organise displays by building or classroom. Those tags can also be used to send emergency notifications to selected Samsung Interactive Displays through compatible platforms such as InformaCast and Raptor. Moreover, the tech giant's AI Assistant is gaining several new features aimed at supporting everyday classroom tasks such as lesson planning and classroom engagement. One of the features is Circle to Search, which lets teachers circle text or images on the display to quickly find related information, videos, or web results without interrupting the lesson. The content can then be brought into Samsung Whiteboard. Another feature, Live Transcript, converts spoken lessons into real-time captions, which could be useful for students with hearing impairments or those in multilingual classrooms. The AI Assistant also introduces AI Summary and AI Quiz. The summary tool creates summaries of recorded lessons, while AI Quiz generates questions based on lesson content so teachers can quickly check how well students are following along. Teachers signed in through Samsung AMS can also return to their previous AI-generated lesson materials without logging in again. Alongside the software updates, Samsung has expanded its Android-based Interactive Display range with three new models: the WAF-S, WAFX-PS, and WAHX-M. The WAF-S and WAFX-PS ship with Android 16, bringing updates to security, accessibility, and overall usability while maintaining compatibility with Google's education services including Google Classroom and Google Drive through EDLA certification. Meanwhile, the new WAHX-M is the biggest addition to the lineup, introducing a 98-inch display for larger spaces such as lecture halls and conference rooms. It will also be available in 65-inch, 75-inch and 86-inch sizes. Samsung says the WAHX-M further includes on-device AI features such as voice commands, text-to-speech, and an AI calculator, alongside support for Samsung AMS and AI Assistant. Samsung AI Assistant has been available since April, while Samsung AMS and the updated Education Portal will begin rolling out in July.
    • It's been $24 (single) or $89 (4-pack) for many days on both Amazon and Walmart as far as I know. That isn't a big discount. If these end up like the 1st gen, the 4-pack will routinely get down around $80, give or take a dollar. I think they have even hit $69 at times.
    • Microsoft brings Claude to its own Azure infrastructure, powered by Nvidia GB300 Blackwell by Karthik Mudaliar Anthropic's Claude models are now generally available in Microsoft Foundry on Azure and are running on Nvidia's GB300 Blackwell Ultra systems. Nvidia wrote in its announcement that the models are hosted on Microsoft Azure and accelerated by GB300 Blackwell Ultra GPUs, with Quantum-X800 InfiniBand networking used to support larger agentic systems and specialized sub-agents that can operate across business domains. This is great for customers and enterprises that want to build autonomous and domain-specific AI agents using Claude without moving outside Microsoft’s cloud platform. Microsoft currently offers Claude models in Foundry in two forms: “Hosted on Azure,” which runs end-to-end on Azure infrastructure and is generally available, and “Hosted on Anthropic infrastructure,” which remains in preview. This separation is quite important for organizations that have procurement, compliance, data processing, or internal governance requirements tied to Azure. Anthropic currently has 11 Claude models listed in Microsoft Foundry, including Opus 4.8, Sonnet 4.6, and even the unavailable Mythos and Fable models. Billing is handled through Claude Consumption Units (CCUs). Microsoft says CCU is an invoicing unit for Claude models in Foundry, with token usage converted using Anthropic’s published per-model token rates. The usage is billed through Azure Marketplace just like models from other distributors and appears on the customer's Azure invoice, while eligible spend can count against a Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment. For starters, GB300 NVL72 is a rack-scale, fully liquid-cooled system that combines 72 Blackwell Ultra GPUs and 36 Grace CPUs. Nvidia has listed 37TB of fast memory, 130TB/s of NVLink bandwidth, and FP4 Tensor Core performance of up to 1,440 petaflops with sparsity. The deal is also part of a three-way partnership between Microsoft, Nvidia, and Anthropic. Under the deal, Anthropic has committed to buying $30 billion in Azure compute capacity and contracting additional capacity up to one gigawatt. Nvidia and Microsoft also said they would invest up to $10 billion and $5 billion in Anthropic, respectively.
    • WhatsApp is getting usernames, and you can reserve your preferred one now by Fiza Ali Sharing your phone number isn't always something you want to do, especially with people you've just met. Whether it's someone from a class, a local community group, or a sports team chat, handing over your number can feel like giving away more personal information than necessary. That's exactly the problem WhatsApp is trying to solve with its upcoming usernames feature. The company has announced that users can now reserve a unique WhatsApp username ahead of the feature's wider rollout later this year. Once usernames become available, they'll let people connect without revealing their phone numbers. It's a change that makes a lot of sense for group chats. Right now, everyone in the group can see your phone number. With usernames enabled, that won't necessarily be the case when someone contacts you for the first time. WhatsApp says it's opening username reservations early because more than three billion people use the app, meaning plenty of people are likely to want the same usernames. Reserving one now gives users a better chance of securing the name they actually want before the feature launches more broadly. If your preferred username is already taken, WhatsApp will also offer a built-in username generator to suggest available alternatives. The feature isn't only aimed at individual users. Creators, businesses, and organisations will be able to claim the same username they already use on Instagram or Facebook, making it easier to keep a consistent identity across Meta's apps. Furthermore, privacy is a big part of how WhatsApp is introducing usernames. There won't be a public directory where people can browse or search for usernames. Instead, people will need to know your exact username before they can start a conversation with you. Additionally, users can also choose to enable a username key, which adds another layer of control by requiring people to enter that key before sending a message. Once the feature rolls out, people who choose to use a username will no longer have their phone number shown when messaging a person or business for the first time. If you want to reserve a username, make sure you're running the latest version of WhatsApp, then head to Settings > Account > Username. The tech giant says usernames will roll out gradually over the coming months, and users will receive an in-app notification when the feature becomes available in their country.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Reacting Well
      NovaEdgeX earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Week One Done
      NovaEdgeX earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      BA the Curmudgeon earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Conversation Starter
      rosiecharles earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • First Post
      KMilenkoski1202 earned a badge
      First Post
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      536
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      269
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      150
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      98
    5. 5
      macoman
      65
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!