Old Technology

[andrewrost3241981]

What is the oldest type of hardware and/or OS you are able/willing to work on? If a customer brings in a computer and wants it to work faster, but it is so old that you really can't do anything to make it go as fast as a modern PC, what do you tell them? If you tell them that the best option would be to just get a new PC, what is their usual response?

 

[C6Gunner]

I never turn down hardware fixes (even PI & PIIs), but I'll usually recommend an upgrade. Most times, the folks that own those systems just don't have the $ to upgrade though...

For OSes, I go as far back as Win95. I will not touch Win3.1 and earlier.

S.

 

[basic]

It all depends on the circumstances of the situation. I won't turn anything down just because it's old. I would base it on:

- What is the problem?
- What does the customer want to do with the computer or what are there needs? (Do they want to take a Pentium 1 and install Vista? Unrealistic stuff like that.)
- How easily are parts/software obtainable?
- etc.

 

[Sn@Ke]

Nothing Pre- win2k

I had a job fixing old computer (ex-gov) etc, don't ever want to work on 95/98 again. Bad times..
But all depends on what the problem is, if its something easy then np.

 

[Rodel]

I have a PII now at my house...it's a SIEMENS SCENIC 800, 400MHz, 8GB, 128MB, it has trouble with it's power supply...

 

[Kenhelms]

oldest that is still in operation that I service periodically is 3.1

Ive acquired quite a bit of business on the basis of newer techs not wanting to/knowing how to work on older machines. A lot of manufacturing places have no choice but to continue working with what they have.

a lot of Point of sale machines use 3.1 as well.

 

[ProTech Support]

oldest that is still in operation that I service periodically is 3.1

Ive acquired quite a bit of business on the basis of newer techs not wanting to/knowing how to work on older machines. A lot of manufacturing places have no choice but to continue working with what they have.

a lot of Point of sale machines use 3.1 as well.

Ah those were good days, I used to love 3.1

 

[iisjman07]

We'll repair (or try to) anything, but we only reinstall Windows XP nowadays. We rarely get anything less than XP, but we do see the odd older machine - we had a Win98SE laptop in the other day.

 

[andrewrost3241981]

I would like to be more knowledgeable in older hardware and operating systems just in case someone brought that type of thing in, but I don't know if it would be worth the trouble and time to learn those things since I doubt all of the time I spent learning about these things would bring in much revenue. I have been trying to focus more on newer technology and what is coming next...

A couple of years ago I did buy a 5 1/4" inch floppy drive on Ebay to put in my PC. I have a Intel core 2 quad 2.66 Ghz processor. I think I only really bought the drive for the nostalgia of being able to read that type of media on a new PC. Since then I have started a repair business and I have kept the drive around with the idea that maybe someone out there might actually have data on 5 1/4" floppies and not have a drive to get the data off of them. I haven't had any people yet wanting data off of 5 1/4" floppies, but I have had one person wanting to get data off of a ZIP disk, which I also have a drive for. During my "nostalgia phase" I also bought an parallel port adapter that would let me hook up a Commodore 1541 floppy drive to a PC. I guess that is when I fell out of that phase, since I never took the step of actually buying a 1541 drive.

 

[NYJimbo]

It's not so much the hardware, it's more the software. I mean I can do any hardware as long as the customer can deal with any delays or higher priceses because of the age of the machine.

I will only work on XP, 2003 server and Vista. On rare occasions I will work on Windows 2000. Anyone with W95/98/98SE/ME I tell them I cannot work on their machines but I can build them a new box and move their important data/crap to the newer setup.

 

[NYJimbo]

I would like to be more knowledgeable in older hardware and operating systems just in case someone brought that type of thing in, but I don't know if it would be worth the trouble and time to learn those things since I doubt all of the time I spent learning about these things would bring in much revenue. I have been trying to focus more on newer technology and what is coming next...

Older hardware and O/S's are dying very quickly, dont waste time learning them, you might as well learn to program in Assembler and learn how to strap a wire board on a series 80 card sorter. I rarely see anything below XP. I cant remember the last time a 98SE machine walked in and only old laptops with 144 pin SODIMMS cause be any trouble for stuff life upgrading so they can handle resident antiviruses.

 

[usacvlr]

In my case it's old laptops and I simply tell them they are money pits and you're just throwing your money away by fixing it and I could have very easily sold them on fixing it and made a nice profit but I don't bother because in the end the system becomes one of those laptops from hell that has one problem after another. They generally just seem amazed that I was so honest and didn't try to rip them off. Then they go happily buy an acer netbook at costco for 300 bucks.

What is the oldest type of hardware and/or OS you are able/willing to work on? If a customer brings in a computer and wants it to work faster, but it is so old that you really can't do anything to make it go as fast as a modern PC, what do you tell them? If you tell them that the best option would be to just get a new PC, what is their usual response?

 

[nj_computer_repair]

If the repair cost more than the computer is worth, I let the customer know.

Usually if someone has such an old computer, they are not willing to pay "today's" repair prices to fix it. One guy wanted me to look at his ancient machine and see what I can do to speed it up, I told him my diagnostics fee is $45 just to look at it and he did not want anything to do with me.

So for the most part, unless the machine is fulfilling a special purpose and is making money for the owner, I would not bother with anything that is 5 or more years old.

 

[wtigger]

I still deal with the ancient stuff sometimes. I do have one business customer (chemical lab) that uses very OLD instruments, and the interface cards are still ISA bus, so they buy my old P-2's and 3's to use when theirs die... But to the OP, unless you come across a lot of this stuff, don't make a big effort to learn this stuff. I have worked on all this stuff long ago, but as othrers have told you, the cost to repair it far exceeds it's "value" to the end user. Most people I have told to junk it and upgrade, and they appreciate that...