Required Tools for PC Repair?

kennethrona asks: "I seem to be spending a lot of my time installing friends' WiFi access points, replacing power supplies, hard disks, blocking ports, installing software, etc. I can usually find any of the software I need on-line, but am thinking about putting together a "toolkit" for PC repair. What tools, both hardware and software, does the community think are essential for PC repair? Bonus points for free software (I always install a free firewall and spyware checker). Also, keep in mind that most folks are running Windows."

Comments

Hardware

[NickMc2000]

A philips screwdriver is always needed. I would suggest getting a packof different sizes. Laptops i've worked on have used smaller screws. besides that an extra ethernet cable is always handy, a crossover helps too. Maybe an extra ide cable would help.

Re:Hardware

[ReverendRyan]

A good idea to go along with philips screwdrivers is a socket set. Most standard computer screws have a hex head around the x for the philips, and its sometimes easier to use a socket in tight spaces (they've saved my ass many a time)...

They should be availible at most good hardware/tool stores- I'm sure RadioShack has them.

Re:Hardware

[nelsonal]

I have this 6 socket nut driver that I pretty much always take with me, it comes with a large and small phillips, flat, and Torx bits, and has a little magnet in the middle that extends to grab those little fiddly screws that I always seem to drop in between to PCI cards. It has lights but I've never put batteries in it.

Re:Hardware

[davey_darling]

I have this one here. (scroll down)

It's a pretty cheaply made tool, it certainly does the job for electronics related jobs, but wouldn't stand up to any significant amount of torque.

This one here (scroll down) looks to be of slightly higher quality. (now that I read the page, they have a few lighted screwdrivers)

They both seem dreadfully overpriced, my mom bought me mine from one of those dodgy characters that come into businesses and try to sell crap to the employees.

Re:Hardware

[cybermace5]

A handy little space saver is to bring a long ethernet cable and a very short ethernet cable. Then take one of those little end-to-end coupler and swap the wires inside to make it a crossover converter. That also works well for connecting two laptops, when the cables have a proprietary connector on the end instead of a dongle.

In a pinch, you can make a crossover converter without any tools. They snap apart easily, and you only have to bend the contact pins a bit to pull them out and swap them.

memtest86

[cymen]

memtest86 - never leave home without it!

Tape

[2sleep2type]

Some not to strong tape / bluetack to hold screws that you have taken out. After slowly losing more case screws than I care to think I now tape/stick them to the side of the case till I put it back together. Even if I've just open it for a couple of minutes...

Re:Knoppix

[eakerin]

Hate to reply to a troll, but to answer the question: ALL THE FRICKIN TIME!!!

I was working on a laptop, couldn't get the network card working for the life of me, My hunch was it was software, but I wanted to check. Knoppix to the rescue, booted up, and it Worked perfect in Knoppix, also known as, NIC works, Windows dosn't.

Turned out, the registry has gone currupt, so we had to rebuild it.

Check the previous Ask Slashdot...

[catseye]

This previous thread had a lot of good suggestions for toolbox goodies. My favorites include a Swiss Army Knife/Leatherman tool, and velcro straps/zip ties for organizing cables, etc.

-A.

Laptop

[Justin Ames]

I find a laptop with a CD burner, and both windows and linux installed can come in very handy. If you forget anything software wise in your tool kit, you can pull it off your laptop, or use their net connection to pull it from the net. You can also use your laptop to check defaults and to test any external hardware (like printers, mice, keyboards). -Justin Ames

CyberTool 34

[lsommerer]

I find that since I started carrying a Victorinox CyberTool 34 I very seldom have to go searching for any other tools. It has a built in socket set with a variety of Phillips and Torx bits, a pliers and the various other sundry clever things you'd expect to find in a Swiss army knife (ballpoint pen, straight pin, cork screw...).

It also happens to be the smallest Swiss army knife that has both a pair of scissors and a pair of pliers (make sure you get a pair, neither is worth a hoot singly).

Finally, since I'm posting anyway, does anyone know what that crazy hook thing is that appears on the "back" of most Swiss army knifes? I've been wondering for years, and the only thing I can figure is that it is very common in Switzerland to get from the top of a building to the ground by sliding down a thin wire.

Re:CyberTool 34

[Seraphim_72]

I was told it is a package hook. In europe I guess it is still fairly common to wrap a package in string - so when you get the mail, you open up your swiss and hook the strings and acrry it back :)

My brother got me one of these for getting my CS degree...you are right there is not a more useful computer tool -Seraphim

Here's a few tool ideas...

[speleo]

Here's a few suggestions from my toolkit that I've put together over the years. I might work on anything from a Sun server to a Wintel or Mac so the tools are pretty generic.

A power screwdriver. Most PCs have a large number of screws and doing them all by hand is (literally) a pain. I like the Milwaukee 2.4-Volt 2-Speed Cordless Screwdriver -- it's more expensive than some but is a quality tool that'll last. Get several extra batteries and an extra-long driver bit for easier access to motherboard screws.

A set of nut drivers. These are screwdrivers for nuts, especially those little nut-screws on the back of the PC that hold the serial and video connectors on.

A multimeter. Useful for all sorts of things from checking power at the outlet to grounding. Skip past the Wal-Mart cheapies and get a quality instrument like a Fluke.

A set of ball-drivers. These are hex (a.k.a. Allen head) driver tools with a ball on the end so you can work at an angle.

Torx drivers. Handy for working on laptops or newer machines. When you need it you need it -- no other tool will work.

A DOS boot disk.

An assortment of cables: a normal Ethernet, a cross-over, IDE, Floppy, USB, and serial. If you work on Unix or Linux servers or routers you might need to be able to hook up a serial terminal connection. I also like to have a set of extension cables for keyboard, mouse, and video for hooking up to equipment on racks.

Several extra PC power cords.

A cordless soldering iron (and the knowledge to use it). Not used very often but you never know...

And, last, a book: "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" by Scott Mueller. This books is an amazing resource -- it'll tell you the pin-outs for everything from an ATX power supply to an IDE hard drive. It's handy to have when working with old or odd hardware.

that crazy hook thing

[Hubert_Shrump]

I was curious, so I looked it up.

They have it simply billed as:
multi-purpose hook (parcel carrier)

My Suggestions

[dasunt]

This might be overkill for the average hobbiest repair kit, but I find that it works well.

First, a binder of software:

• Knoppix - Operating system in a bottle with the tools you'll use.
• Partition Magic - Being able to shrink a partition just to be able to make another partition and do a clean OS install is invaluable.
• Norton Ghost - The best in drive imaging.
• CD with DOS boot floppy images (and some spare floppy disks stuck in the back) - You will need dos floppies to flash most bioses.
• AV software - There are free AV scanners out there.
• AntiSpyware software - Make machines run cleaner/faster.
• filemon, regmon, etc - Small apps to figure out what applications are doing what to the system.
• memtest86, burncpu - memory tester and cpu heat tester - keep images on a CD and spare floppies to dd them to.
• GNU software disk - Latest stable releases of OpenOffice, Mozilla, CDex, etc for obvious reasons (e.g. "What can I do to stop pop ups while browsing? How can I write papers? How do I make mp3s?")
• Free proprietary software people would be interested in - For example, Trillian.
• CD copies of any legitimate OS CDs or utility CDs you own - Never, ever take the actual CD with you, it will be destroyed sooner or later. Make copies.
• CD of windows updates and patches - Many people have 56k connections - you don't want to wait for the downloads.
• CD of virus definition updates for common AV software - Again, you don't want to wait for software to update over 56k connections.
• CD or reference materials - I find that a good set of hardware documentation works wonders. Of course, you can always use dead-tree format, but a CD is a lot more compact.

Now, the tools:

• A phillips screwdriver.
• A flat head screwdriver.
• A collection of nut drivers, good for badly stripped screws.
• A collect of torx head screwdrivers for those damn Compaqs!
• A collection of small phillips and flat head screwdrivers - useful for laptops and the occasional rewiring of LED and USB connectors (use the smallest flathead screwdriver to pry up the tab, slide the metal wire out of the connector, then push the wire into another connector.
• Needle nose pliers.
• Tweezers.
• Bright flashlight.
• Small container of common computer screws.
• Container of compressed air.
• Bandaids (some [usually cheap] computer cases have sharp edges).
• Cable ties.
• Some people suggest a small dental mirror as well, and a screw retriever - I've never found either to be that useful though. :)
• Digital multimeter.
• Outlet polarity and ground tester.
• Small tablet and pen for notes.

Now, replacement parts to be able to swap in and out:

• A run of a mill ethernet card (ne2000 compatible or common 3com card seems to work best - try to get one that is DOS, Novell, Windows and Linux compatible)
• A boring soundblaster sound card (cheap soundblasters are far from being the best cards out there, but they tend to be well supported by OSes)
• 33.6 or 56k hardware modem - you can find the 33.6k modems dirt cheap used, but the 56k hardware modems will run you $50 or so new - either works well for testing out bad internet connections.
• Known good PCI video adapter.
• Working floppy, and 80-Wire IDE cable.
• Known good older HDD (2 GB should work for testing)
• Printer and serial cable.
• 100mbit network cable.
• Quality USB 2.0 cable.
• 8' AC power cable.
• Y power adapter and molex-to-floppy power adapter.
• Known good CD drive.
• Known good floppy drive.
• Headphones or small speaker set.
• Small ps2 mouse an

Defeating "security" TORX screwheads

[plover]

I've found I don't "need" a security TORX driver.

A standard TORX driver plus a needlenose pliers (or other small-tipped, hard object) is all it takes. Use the needlenose or screwdriver to push the security pin off to one side or the other. They're just spot-welded in and break out really easily. Once the pin is gone, the standard TORX driver works just fine.

At least TORX bits are analog and I'm not violating the DMCA by telling you guys this. Of course, there's probably something in the USA PATRIOT act that prevents me from telling you how to open a power supply case... sigh.

Tape. Preferably of the duct variety.

[WoTG]

Tape always comes in handy. What's the rlie? Duct tape to make things stop, WD-40 to make things go.
I generally keep the WD-40 away from the PC's, but tape has all sorts of uses. Such as:

• taping up (network) cable ends so they don't snag or fray whlie pliling them through walls or other tight spaces
• bunching up cables inside a PC to make things neater or have better air flow or stop jamming the CPU fan(!)
• strategic placement to prevent or minimize rattles and other noises in the case. A little tape here and there can often prevent annoying resonating vibrations.
• holding things in place temporarliy (or permanently). Especially handy if it's a real hassel to put things together with only two hands.
• labeling stuff!
• the list goes on...

Memory testing - memtest86

[Myself]

For some reason, I always want to call it memchk86, but it's memtest86, and it's indispensable. Memtest86 boots from a floppy and begins running immediately. It's got several types of test, and runs in a loop so if you have an intermittent problem, you can just boot it and leave it for a while.

The author has finally given in to popularity and set up a site for the program, MemTest86.com. I encourage anyone who's found bad ram with memtest to throw a few bucks his way. ("Professional" memory testers are nowhere near cheap!)

There's also a bootable CD .ISO for machines without a floppy drive. Some of my favorite machines don't have CDROMs either (subnotebook with a network card and nothing else), so I'd love to see a version I can download and invoke with Loadlin, but hey, there's only so much I can ask.

Tom's Hardware article

[llzackll]

How to Assemble the Ultimate Toolbox

GOes into a lot of detail on the various tools needed for PC repair.