Newsletter Archives

• Designed for maintenance?

  Posted on August 26, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  BEN’S WORKSHOP

  

  By Ben Myers

  Continued advances in computer technology have had a positive effect on the gear we use — faster, less power-hungry, lighter in weight, smaller and more secure than a decade ago. But maintaining and repairing modern computers present new challenges.

  The processor chips regularly produced today have up to 10 billion transistors incorporating many and varied computing cores, on-board cache memory, and a graphics subsystem and other circuitry to talk to devices attached to the computer — all etched on silicon wafers at a spacing less than 10 nanometers, or 0.0000003937 inches. Chipsets supporting the processors and circuit traces on motherboards are smaller and closer together, allowing for smaller motherboards, too. Memory and storage have grown by multiples of two with every processor generation. Computers such as the older seven-slot Gigabyte board inside an older large tower, once state of the art in 2010, have become the province of high-end gaming and specialized use.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.35.0, 2024-08-26).

  Ben's Workshop Apple, BIOS, HiRens, Newsletters, Repairability, Repairs, UEFI

• Tooling around with laptops and other useful gear

  Posted on March 13, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.11 • 2023-03-13

  HARDWARE

  

  By Ben Myers

  Portable computers have evolved from the Compaq luggable suitcase to laptops now weighing three pounds or even less, needing special handling and tiny tools.

  Today’s notebook, subnotebook, and tablet computers demand an array of small tools, sometimes unique to a brand and model. My small kit for the road can handle the screws found outside and inside many laptops, but I needed more and better help.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.11.0, 2023-03-13).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Hardware Cleaning, Newsletters, Repairs, Tools

• Desktop computers: Scrap, repair, upgrade, or replace?

  Posted on June 6, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

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  HARDWARE

  

  By Ben Myers

  Here is a practical guide to care for a computer and to help you decide what to do with one that is not brand-new.

  Computers show up on my doorstep, their owners asking whether their trusty and beloved box full of circuit boards needs to be scrapped, repaired, upgraded, or replaced. The desktop computer category includes PCs that are neither laptops nor servers, two very different projects indeed.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.23.0, 2022-06-06).

  Hardware Hardware, Hardware Upgrades, Newsletters, Repairs

• BitLocker and the dead: The story of a successful transplant

  Posted on March 21, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE

  

  By Ben Myers

  The CPU is the heart of a laptop, but we do the brain transplants here. BWA! HA! HA! HA!

  Recently, a long-time client who had moved several towns away called me in a panic. A two-year-old Lenovo Yoga laptop had failed.

  When I got my hands on the computer, I surmised that the probable cause was the third-party charger, which had blown out a circuit inside the laptop when the charger itself had failed. The charger did not function when plugged into another laptop, confirming my suspicions.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.12.0, 2022-03-21).

  Hardware BitLocker, Hardware, Newsletters, Repairs, SSD

• Breaking and entering with Linux: What you see

  Posted on September 27, 2021 at 02:42 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE

  

  By Ben Myers

  In my first “Breaking and entering” article, you saw what to do step-by-step to get an unbootable system into legacy boot mode and how to prepare a UEFI USB stick with Linux Mint.

  Now, boot your system with that Linux USB stick.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.37.0 (2021-09-27).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Diagnostics, Hardware, Linux, Repairs

• Breaking and entering with Linux

  Posted on August 30, 2021 at 02:41 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE

  

  By Ben Myers

  Use Linux on a USB stick to diagnose a Windows system.

  My working premise here is that your Windows system will not boot, not even in safe or any other degraded mode. You have no idea what’s going on, and it is premature, time-consuming, and sometimes futile to rip a computer open to see what is inside. The solution is to boot another operating system from a USB stick and use it to explore and diagnose problems.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.33.0 (2021-08-30).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Diagnostics, Hardware, Linux, Repairs

• From bad to worse: A repair goes awry

  Posted on May 10, 2021 at 01:04 CDT by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  Sometimes, well-intentioned repairs can actually make things worse than before. That’s what happened to a reader who was trying to correct a Windows login error but ended up with a completely unbootable PC!

  Is it possible for him to get Windows running again with its already installed software still intact and working? Or is a full reinstall in his future?

  Plus: The care and feeding of that little coin-cell battery on your PC’s mainboard.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.17.0 (2021-05-10).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, LangaList, Repairs, Windows