Survey

Computer Repair

[newseed]

Time is money and when something goes wrong with your computer, you want to be back up and running quickly as you can. I would like to get as many people's feedback on how long it would take for a person to replace an old failed component with a new one for a computer and be back up and running as you were before.

Note: The total time should include: time after component failure, removing old component, installing new component, installing software, configure and finished to satisfaction. Provide only the time you have worked on the computer.

----copy and paste in your reply with your time to the right of the listed component----

Power supply:
Video card:
Monitor:
Sound card:
Modem:
Motherboard:
Floppy:
CD/DVD:
RAM:
* Hard drive as data only:
**Hard drive that requires OS to be installed:

-------------------end copy----------------------------

* Slave only

**Keep in mind that if you replace a hard drive and that it requires you to install your own OS, you will need to include the time that it takes to install all the software that you had on your old hard prior to crash.

This is only a survey.

I appreciate your time.

---forum moderator, if you feel this needs to be posted elsewhere, please move the post to the appropiate forum. Thanks. -------

[appi2]

[quote] Time is money[\quote]

Agreed and my time is not your money.

[newseed]

To be clear, you merely just estimate how long you think it would take you if you were to replace an old component with a new one and be back in service. My estimates are:

Power supply: 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours
Video card: 1 hour
Monitor: 1 hour
Sound card: 1 hour
Modem: 1 1/2 hours
Motherboard: 3 to 5 hours
Floppy: 1 hour
CD/DVD: 1 hour
RAM: 1/2 hour
Hard drive as data only: 1 1/2 hours
Hard drive that requires OS to be installed: about 4 hours (that includes OS, Office and 3 other frequently used software for work.)

For some, they may be faster and others may be slower. I am just trying to find the norm for an article.

Thanks.

[MattyMoose]

Some of your estimates are a little off, IMO, but I've been around computers for a number of years. All of these estimates assume that I'm not driving down to the store to buy the new component, which is accurate for me, seeing as how I usually have a replacement for everything somewhere in the workshop.

PS: 10-20 minutes, depending on how annoying the computer case is.

Vid Card: 5 minutes. Technically, to be up and running in VGA mode, 800x600 in Windows XP takes that long. 3 minutes for FreeBSD. ;)

Monitor: 2 minutes. Uhmmm 1 hour?

Sound card: 5 minute install. 5 minutes to download driver and install in XP, and reboot. 1 minute to boot and kldload snd_driver in FreeBSD. ;)

Modem: 5 minutes to install. 5 minutes to use the install CD to install driver.

Motherboard: Tricky. I've replaced one before in about 10 minutes, and booted up XP. It saw about 8 million new devices, but it worked. Give another 45 minutes for installing appropriate drivers and so on. I'm going to stop with the FreeBSD references now.

Floppy: 5 minutes

CD/DVD: 2 minutes

RAM: 5 minutes

Hard drive as data only: Don't know what you're asking for. If you mean how long it would take to replace the drive and reformat, then say 10 minutes. If you mean to replace the drive and restore data from tape or other media, then that's dependent on what backup system you use, the size of backups, etc.

Hard drive that requires OS to be installed: Depends. Windows XP? 2-3 hours. FreeBSD? Shorter if I'm installing applications from CD, and much longer if I'm installing from ports.

For some, they may be faster and others may be slower. I am just trying to find the norm for an article.

I'm probably at the extreme of your range. :)

Some additional things you might want to mention:
Time for a NIC?
Time for a USB failure?
KB failure? Mouse?
Time to troubleshoot a network failure in general? (ie: switch/modem/router)
etc etc

Thanks.

No problemo

[mcavic]

Motherboards and power supplies are tricky, simply because of the number of connections, and mounting the motherboard into the case isn't always a snap.

Also, the overhead time of shutting down, booting up, removing the computer from the furniture, etc, is non-trivial when you're working with a critical server.

[MattyMoose]

Agreed. I was going on the assumption of working on a desktop machine... I used to work in a computer sales and repair shop, and we used to have competitions on who could replace mobos and whatever else the fastest. ;)

If it's a server in a rack, then I'd have a bit more of a headache on my hands...

Shutting down cleanly (if poss.), Unscrewing mounts, removing connections, cables, etc, unmounting from the rack, opening it up, removing all of the airflow components, and then finally removing whatever component you need to replace can be a pain.

[mack]

Power supply: 10 mins.
Video card: 5 hour
Monitor: 2 mins
Sound card: 10 mins
Modem: 10 mins
Motherboard: 3 hrs
Floppy: 10 mins
CD/DVD: 10 mins
RAM: 5 mins
Hard drive as data only: 10 mins.
Hard drive that requires os install: 1.5 hrs

Mack.

[mack]

"Video card: 5 hour" = 5 Mins. :)

Mack.

[newseed]

Folks, am I to believe that for instance that if your computer's video all the sudden quit working and you just so happened to have a new video card that you start by disconnecting the appropiate cable, remove the panel, remove the old card, install the new one, close the panel, reconnect the cable, turn on the computer, install the video drivers and finally set the correct preference settings that you desire in 5 minutes?

I might believe that if someone was doing it on a daily or weekly basis, if that is the case but what about the "average joe"? I am thinking that most users probably will only replace a failed hardware once per year.

If I am wrong, then my apologies but I am looking for the median for an average person. I welcome guesses.

My whole point about this survey is to find out what kind of downtime a self-employed person would lose if any one hardware were to fail and needs replacing.

The time I gave is my estimates due to my experience...the "average joe" experience. I had to guess the time for power supply and motherboard because I have never replaced them.

Thanks again!

[mack]

5 mins might be a bit less than an everage joe.

Usualy I have spares for my machines close to hand. Because I swap like-for-like the setup and config is not usualy required.

disconect all wires pull box out, remove case remove retaining screw and slide card from it's io slot. inserv new card and replate retaining screw. Re-fit case reconnect and power up.

The problem with the video card example is that more and more machnes are being produced with an onboard video card set in as part of the motherboard.

Replacing a motherboard is probably the longest job you will have to do. It actualy takes longer to replace a mobo that it does to build a machine if you want to retain your data.

Just be sure you are always earthed when working inside your computer.

Mack.