Recommendations for Computer Repair Kits?

lpq asks: "I've recently starting doing some computer repairs and don't feel organized when it comes to tools. I'm wondering what any people who do computer building/repair use for a portable kit? Are any of the toolkits any good? Or are they just cheaper tools than I might already have with a cheap vinyl case? I saw some expensive kits -- but it looked like one of the main difference is rather a driver device with scads of fittings, the more expensive kits seem to go with separate tools. One had 15 socket screwdriver type tools where I get the same in less space with a ratcheting screwdriver and an adaptor for sockets. I noticed many kits with soldering irons -- not something I've had a need for in most computer upgrades / repairs. Ideas? Basics things to have?"

Comments

tom's recently ran an article about this

[Gregory S Patterson]

Tom's Hardware

I don't think many of us need all the stuff this guy carries, but it's a nice article to get you started.

I recommend

[Professor Collins]

Any plain-Jane kit you can buy at your local Radio Shack or Fry's. There's really no need for an extravagant repair kit. You just need: various screwdrivers, a grapler to get out-of-reach screws, and possibly an IC remover. Not much else to say about repair 'kits.'

Re:I recommend

[walt-sjc]

The problem is that those kits come with crappy / useless tools. The damn things are made with really soft steel, and have crappy handles. The first tough screw you run into ruins the screwdriver. Get some good Vermont American or high-end craftsman screw / nut drivers. Buy them individually, cause you only need a couple of the smaller ones. You also find that you need a few other things that these kits don't have.

Get a good 1/4" driver handle (magnetic) and a bunch of bits (good ones), with hex heads, torx, phillips, standard, security/tamper-proof bits - real handy. (see http://www.wihatools.com/pro_BitSets.htm BTW, Wiha carries ESD safe sets too.) Even though these sets come with phillips / slotted bits, make sure you get NORMAL screwdrivers as mentioned above. Trust me on this. You end up using your #2 phillips and 1/4" nut drivers more than any other tools in the bag.

Another "nice to have" is a little cordless screwdriver.

I've NEVER used an IC remover in the past 8 years. Everything is surface mount anyway. I guess they may have been useful in the 8088 days when memory was socketed chips. Soldering irons are just as useless. Some of those kits come with those crappy vaccuums - don't EVEN bother. Those things are a joke.

Throw in a good wire cutter, needle nose, bent needle nose, normal pliers, telescoping magnetic pickup, dental mirror, small flashlight, anti-static wrist strap, and that should do it for a good basic set for PC work.

For supplies, a can of Air, wire ties, motherboard-sized ESD bag, electrical tape, and anti-static cleaning wipes.

Past that, it depends on exactly what you do. Do you need to make custom RS-232 cables? Network cables? Fix / clean a printer? A good IT tech usually has quite a few tools as he ends up working on just about everything.

Don't buy a pre-made case kit right away

[dnight]

Get a $5 cheap kit, and make note as you go what tools you need, and aquire them. Jensen Tools is a good place to check out. Kind of pricey, but a pretty good selection of tools,. test equipment, etc.

Been there, done that, here's what you need:

[itwerx]

- A screwdriver with #2 Phillips, flat and assorted Torx bits
- A small set of little-tiny screw drivers for laptops
- A penlight
- A telescoping mirror
- A telescoping magnetic pickup or grabber
- A big (40+) CD case to carry all your utility software
- A couple of blank floppies
- A '98 boot diskette (for machines that won't boot off CD-ROM for whatever reason)
- Spare IDE/FDD cables
- Spare SCSI cables and terminators
- Spare Cat-5 cables of various lengths including one short cross-over and a couple of inline couplers so you can daisy-chain them

And if you still have room: a mini-hub, spare NIC, spare video-card, HDD for imaging, laptop with PCMCIA nic and modem

Enjoy!

Quality over gizmos.

[Jonny 290]

My kit (when I finish it) will consist of:

• Craftsman screwdrivers (large, medium, small, in flathead, Phillips and Torx)
  
• Hex wrench set
  
• Gerber multi-plier (flat-nose)
  
• Craftsman diagonal cutters, end cutters, straight needle nose and bent needle nose pliers
  
• Quality jeweler's screw driver set
  
• Requisite Altoids tin or film canister full of screws, jumpers, etc.
  
• Weller pencil iron (you may not need it for a HD swap, but when you're doing a watercool job or fanbus it's critical) with silver (small diameter) and rosin-core (larger diameter) solder
  
• DMM - even a $30 eBay special can test continuity, LED's, ground paths and PSU voltages.
  
• RJ45 crimpers (quality) with an assortment of RJ45 and RJ11 ends
  
• 2AA Mag Light with extra batteries
  
• Medium size (8 inch) vise-grips (Please, get the name brand. :))
  
• Shrink tube in 1/2", 3/8" and 3/16" (preshrunk sizes)
  
• Cable ties (4", 6" and 8")
  
• Canned air (cleaning, and if you turn it upside down you can use it as freeze spray and isolate components that are having heat-related failures)
  
• Bonus points for a TP cable tester, signal tracer, heatsink compound, Loctite, Dremel with bits, and super-glue (to counteract the previous Dremeling :)).
  

One of the most useful $US5.99 I ever spent...

[devphil]

...was for a metal dish, with high walls, about six inches across, with a very magnetic base. It sticks to metal, and any screw or latching piece will stick to it. No more building a little pile of tiny screws as I take apart a computer while hoping they don't roll away or I knock them over.

It's for home, but I'm thinking about getting another at work.

What utility software?

[itwerx]

I hear you ask...

'98 boot disk (and bootable CD)
Spinrite
MemCheck
CheckIt/QAPlus
pcAnywher e
VNC
WinZip
Acrobat
DOS version of PKZip
Collection of common nic/video/printer/etc drivers
Copies of major OS's (Win2K, 98 OSR2 etc.)
Copies of Office
Copies of SP's and patches
Copies of browsers (IE, Netscape, Opera)
L0pht Crack
Your favorite IP scanner and other IP tools (e.g. Putty)
Other tools depending on OS's you work with (e.g. JCMD for Netware, Upromote for NT, the Win2K/NT resource kits, 'Nix boot disk and utils and hundreds of other favorite need-specific utils)

Re:What utility software?

[walt-sjc]

Add to that:

Tomsrtbt floppy
Linuxcare Bootable Business Card CD
Ghost
Paritition Magic

Re:What utility software?

[SpaceLifeForm]

I'd also add a MEMTEST86 bootable floppy.

Stuff I forgot to list

[itwerx]

- Spare screws and jumpers of all sizes
- Needle-nose pliers
- Canned air
- Cable tester and fox-and-hound (tracer)
- Spare power/usb/parallel cables
- Wooden pencil or tongue-depressor (for cleaning mice)
- Paperclip
- Pen
- Sharpie permanent marker
- Assorted gender changers
- SCSI cable adaptors (e.g. 68F-50F)

Probably more stuff...!

First and last choice.

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

Sledgehammer. You don't always need it, but when you do, nothing else can substitute for it.

More detail

[0x0d0a]

I have a little Radio Shack kit as recommended above, which I endorse. Here's my breakdown:

Phillips and flathead screwdrivers, in two sizes each (you need a dinky little pair for some screws).

Tweezers (these can get awfully useful)

Two hex drivers in different sizes (so you don't strip case screws...I love hex drivers).

Torx screwdriver with two sizes of head that doubles as a large hex driver.

Pair of tweezers.

Little gitchie-grabber thingie to grasp tiny parts where your fingers can't fit.

Case to store extra screws and screws in use. Losing screws from the case you're working on can get really, really easy.

The non-useful bits that came with the kit: IC removers. Why the *hell* do they ship IC removers with repair kits any more?

I added the following to the kit:

Pair of forceps. Holding wires or little bits out of the way can come in handy. Fishing/bait kits have these.

Needlenose pliers. Useful for all sorts of stuff. I strongly recommend these.

Here's what's in my kit

[slaker]

I don't do MUCH techwork any more, but unfortunately, I've never in my life actually been able to walk away from it.

99% of the time, the only thing needed, hardware-wise, is a #2 philips screwdriver. For safety and completeness, though, a set of "precision" screwdrivers and at least one smallish flathead are good, too. Lest I forget, the possibility of my patient saying "Compaq" on its chassis also merits my inclusion of #8 and #10 Torx, which are both hard to find.

Very thin needlenose pliers, and a thicker set for miscellaneous bending.
A pair of tweezers.
Dental mirror.
Wire snips.
Multimeter & oscilliscope (er, I keep that one in the car).
Dusk mask and thin, wool painters gloves (screw static, I can touchtype in them and they keep my hands from getting cut).
Bandages (in case my hands get cut) & neosporin.
Canned air.
Wrist strap in case my customer is paranoid or something.
Sears 3.6V cordless screwdriver, if I'm working on several machines that day.
2.5" to 3.5" hard disk adaptor.
Intel Pro/100 NIC
8GB 2.5" hard disk, filled w/ software installs & diagnostic packages.
USB CD-RW
8x Parallel CD-ROM.
An assortment of ribbon cables (IDE, 50-pin SCSI, floppy, serial etc).
A collection of power splitters and adaptors
Socket 7 HSF.
Slot 1 HSF
Slot A HSF
80mm case fan
Floppy disk drive
14.4 USR external modem
Some AA batteries
Keyboards: 1 AT-style w/ PS2 adaptor, 1 USB
Mice: 1 serial, 1 USB w/ PS2 adaptor
A lighted magnifying glass
Spray n' wash (in car) and spray-n-wash wipes
Artic Silver
Deodorant & clean shirt
basically lint-free rags
Crimper
Velcro ties & plastic "zip" ties
Cable tester
4-port switch
Spool o' cable & some connectors
Punch down tool.
Known-good 14" monitor (in car, also) and matrox millenium PCI card.
A wide assortment of RAM (presently: 2x72-pin 64MB FPM, 128MB PC100, 256MB PC2100, 64MB 72-pin SODIMM, 256MB 144pin SODIMM, 128MB PC800 RIMM + cRIMM)
Lots of screws & spare jumpers
Dremel tool

Add to that essentially a complete collection of every driver, operating system or software package I've installed more than once (about 70 CDs, I think), and you're basically set.

I carry everything around in a big, soft-sided tackle box.

Hardware that I choose to carry around is generally on the the basis of very wide support. You'd be hard pressed to find an OS that didn't know what to do with a Matrox Millenium, for example.

Last thing: Big bottles of tums and asprin. Not for the work, which is easy, but for the endless demands from people who realize that you know how to fix computers.

Watch the quality/warentiee

[bluGill]

Sears Craftsman tools have a lifetime warentiee, if they break you walk into any sears store and get a replacement no questions asked. Snap-on is much higher quality (in general), but they in general don't carry the smaller tools computers need. Many tools are lifetime warentiee, but you can't find where to get it exchanged.

Don't fool youself, you will need that warentiee. The non-warentieed tools are generally soft metal that nearly bends working air, they have no hope of dealing with a real part. (Okay, not quite that bad, but close enough) With the good tools you won't have nearly as many problems, but you will eventialy break something. I can't say what (other than your #2 phillips) you will need it for, but you will need it for something.

Oh, in addition to the above: a #2 square drive screwdriver. I've never seen the need for one in computers, but if you ever come across the person who designs computer packaging ask them to change. Square drive is a lot nicer than phillips, it lasts longer and takes more torque if nessicary. (Warning, don't over torque screws putting them in, but sometimes you get a stubberen on that needs extra help to come out). Opinion I know, but I think it is a good idea.

Spare screws

[zero_offset]

Everybody is forgetting the "accessory" I find I use the most -- a big old ziplock baggie full of spare screws, motherboard mounting posts (and those square snap-in mounts), washers (paper and metal), and just about every other computer-related fastner you can think of.

How many times have you cracked open a case to discover that every drive was held in by a single screw? Or that screw that the owner has stripped and is relying on it being wedged in just right to hold the $400 video card in place?

Of course, it's easiest to acquire these items by simply collecting them over time. That would be a cool thing for an online retailer to sell. "500 piece miscellaneous computer fastner pack... $7..." :)

Oh yeah, in case nobody said it: zip-ties and velcro tie-wraps...