[citation][nom]mgilbert[/nom]My business was very successful. I grossed over $400,000 a year during my best years - and I did it on my own - no employees. I got tired of the hours, and the fact that I had no health insurance. My situation changed and I moved out of state, and rejoined the public sector as a technician for the National Library Service's Talking Books program for the deaf and handicapped. I manage the repair and distribution of Talking Book players for the entire state of Kentucky. We have over 5,000 patrons.I always repaired smokers' computers, but I told them the truth about what destroyed the components in their computer, and I charged accordingly. However, if I worked for someone else, I'd refuse to do it. And, no, you can't clean all the contacts - there are several thousand, and the power supplies are usually so full of crud that they have to be replaced. Nicotine damage to contacts is permanent. It eats the coating off the metal! You cannot do a 100% repair on a smoker's computer. A badly damaged one can be made to run, but it will never be reliable.I don't like smokers, and don't befriend or associate with them in any way. I can't stand the stink in their clothes and hair. Smoking is nothing but a legal drug addiction, and it kills more people every year than all other drugs and alcohol combined. Smokers are drug addicts - pure and simple, and I have no use for them.[/citation]
Sorry, but you're digging a bigger hole for yourself with your ridiculous claims. I call into question the veracity of much of what you've said.
First of all, the claim that nicotine damages the contacts is complete nonsense. At worst, it may form a residue that needs to be cleaned before seating a card or memory or a CPU. But many of these contacts are gold (as in the case of CPUs) or gold plated. They use gold because, in addition to being an excellent conductor, gold does not tarish and is non-reactive. In fact, even if you pour acid on gold, it does not corrode. Aqua-regia is one of the few substances that will dissolve or otherwise corrode gold, and I nicotine does not contain concentrated hydrochloric and nitric acid. Additionally, properly seated cards, memory SIMMs and CPUs aren't likely to suffer problems since it is nearly impossible for the relatively large smoke particles to get between the contacts. Though, the unused slots can be fouled, obviously.
Fans would be the most affected by smoke (and dust and pet hair). But fans are cheap. Like I said before, you buy them in bulk; replace them as needed, and press on.
The biggest problem for any computer (as you should know) is heat. The reason dust and pet hair are a problem is because, in addition to clogging ventilation ports, they act as insulators. This is what causes power supplies and other discrete components to fail. Remove the dust and pet hair for starters. Replace any failed fans and perhaps add some additional ones (most computers are under-cooled in my experience). I've saved MANY power supplies but just opening them up, cleaning them out and replacing the fan (most techs won't open a power supply because their afraid of the caps inside... they opt, instead, to just replace the whole thing).
I've being working on computers for over 20 years, and I've never seen one that was DOA that I could definitively say, "this was definitely caused by smoking." It was just as likely caused by ESD, over-heating from dust and/or pet hair, etc.
And you don't need to charge a, "smokers/idiot/jerk/pet pissed" tax. You just charge what the job costs and thank the customer for his/her patronage.
Bunch of whinny, prima dona, pseudo-techs in here, I swear to god!
Sorry, but you're digging a bigger hole for yourself with your ridiculous claims. I call into question the veracity of much of what you've said.
First of all, the claim that nicotine damages the contacts is complete nonsense. At worst, it may form a residue that needs to be cleaned before seating a card or memory or a CPU. But many of these contacts are gold (as in the case of CPUs) or gold plated. They use gold because, in addition to being an excellent conductor, gold does not tarish and is non-reactive. In fact, even if you pour acid on gold, it does not corrode. Aqua-regia is one of the few substances that will dissolve or otherwise corrode gold, and I nicotine does not contain concentrated hydrochloric and nitric acid. Additionally, properly seated cards, memory SIMMs and CPUs aren't likely to suffer problems since it is nearly impossible for the relatively large smoke particles to get between the contacts. Though, the unused slots can be fouled, obviously.
Fans would be the most affected by smoke (and dust and pet hair). But fans are cheap. Like I said before, you buy them in bulk; replace them as needed, and press on.
The biggest problem for any computer (as you should know) is heat. The reason dust and pet hair are a problem is because, in addition to clogging ventilation ports, they act as insulators. This is what causes power supplies and other discrete components to fail. Remove the dust and pet hair for starters. Replace any failed fans and perhaps add some additional ones (most computers are under-cooled in my experience). I've saved MANY power supplies but just opening them up, cleaning them out and replacing the fan (most techs won't open a power supply because their afraid of the caps inside... they opt, instead, to just replace the whole thing).
I've being working on computers for over 20 years, and I've never seen one that was DOA that I could definitively say, "this was definitely caused by smoking." It was just as likely caused by ESD, over-heating from dust and/or pet hair, etc.
And you don't need to charge a, "smokers/idiot/jerk/pet pissed" tax. You just charge what the job costs and thank the customer for his/her patronage.
Bunch of whinny, prima dona, pseudo-techs in here, I swear to god!
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram