Talk:Repair centers

Leave your comments and thoughts on repair centers below.

Wiki headers needed

This and many other pages unrelated to the support FAQ are being tagged with that header. We need separate headers and navigation for repairs and local SIGs. --Sj leave me a message 10:41, 21 January 2008 (EST)

Alternative parts

There have been reports of alternative charger tips, etc. working with XOs in lieu of the "original" parts produced by Quanta. If you know of any alternative parts that can be used for repairs, and sources and prices for such, please post them here! Mchua 10:41, 13 February 2008 (EST)

Added a title/some thoughts from KayTi

The one idea listed near the end of the wiki page sounds an awful lot like a "repair jam" where people and computers would come together for a day to repair a bunch of laptops. Am I getting that right? I added that title tot he wiki page as an idea. If so, then this might be a business model for repair dates. It would requiring queing of "needs repairs" laptops, and would probably work best on a periodic model (e.g., quarterly repair jams in xyz location in xyz city.) This way people could plan in advance (example: I have a sticky key laptop. I would consider shipping or bringing mine to a repair jam and either working on the repair myself or expecting someone from the repair jam to do the repair for me and then shipping it back. but to do so I'd want it back on some kind of schedule.)

Some further thoughts - who is the primary customer for a repair center? OLPC? Individual users? Schools? Organizations? Is it global or local? How local? Or, local only in the sense of being close to a shipping facility?

If OLPC is the primary customer - e.g., providing broken machines currently located at Brighstar to get repaired to re-enter the product stream, well, that's one kind of operation. But if individual G1G1 donors are the primary audience, that's something else entirely.

I like the idea of the repair centers being able to charge for services, that might make it a really fascinating school project. I would like to talk to the IMSA folks about this some more, but things like setting prices, setting up governing documents, arranging shipping logistics, managing workflow through the repair center, tracking units, doing the actual repairs. This is cool stuff. I'm interested in getting my son's pre-k through 8th grade school involved too, probably in partnership with IMSA if they are interested.

More on this later, but I'm intrigued by this idea. KayTi 15:46, 19 February 2008 (EST) aka Karen Smith

Sample Mail to holt at laptop dot org

Hi,

I intend to open an XO (XS) repair center for the Birmingham, AL, USA, region. Currently I have a "day job" leading / training a small team of electronics repair personnel at a major automobil manufacturer. I / we fix PCs down to component level and keep the test environment running.

Having worked close to hardware since 1991, and in maintenance since 2004, I thought I'd start a XO (XS) repair venture. If it takes off: fine, if not: no big deal.

With 15.000 XOs coming to the area, and if ony 2 - 5% suffer some damage per year, this could keep one busy. Be it busy training school / student repair centers, or busy fixing hardware. But it all hinges on the availability of spare parts. Does olpc expect the repair shops to get their components from e.g. digikey?

I expect to see the first 1000 units in Birmingham by April 15th, warranty will run out by May 15th... So a (somewhat equipped) repair shop needs to be operational by May 17th (08!). The solution to run with failed G1G1 XOs is not sustainable. Particularly for a serious business. Nice for soldering practice but not for serious operation.

For a start I'd expect to be buying about 10 - 30 XOs in parts, depending on the time between ordering and delivery of spare parts. I don't expect order lists on component level, but on module level (smallest unit accessible with a screw driver, including wiring harness). I also expect schematic drawings and parts lists on component level (component value / location). Getting components in high demand from digikey is no problem. I expect the price for the sum of components necessary to make one XO to be lower than the price for one XO. (Otherwise working XOs would make valuable targets for spare parts). I also expect to have "wholesale prices" which would give (semi-) professional service providers a (small) price advantage beyond the saving on shipping cost over do-it-yourserlfers to encourage businesses to get in on this.

For a start I can imagine 3 paths to doing business: a) Teaching repair b) Offering advice, tools and material to do-it-yourselfers at a flat fee plus cost of parts. Maybe in a workshop / repair jam setting. c) Full service repair I can imagine doing all three simultaneously.

I already have a business set up, so starting operation mainly depends on the availability of parts and schematics.

Please contact me at +1-205-292-5131 anytime between 7:00 am and 8:00 pm CDT (GMT -5) on any week day. A.s.a.p. of course... ;-)

Best regards Stefan Reitz

Anybody have a better aproach to getting this started?

Mail-order parts

For G1G1 purchasers, it would be convenient if there was an on-line place they could order replacement parts that they would install themselves (such as the OLPC battery).

What is the process here? What is the address, email address, or other contact protocol?

Online shop for accessories and parts

I have just opened an online shop to sell accessories specifically to the XO community (www.XOExplosion.com). I am currently the only U.S. distributor for the ZoWii USB-to-Cat5 Network Adapter. I am also interested in stocking kits to make sensors, etc. (The shipping necessary when you source the parts for one sensor makes it cost prohibitive... and there are folks out there who additionally need very detailed instructions to make such items) And I would be glad to stock parts that repair centers may need. But I don't know who in the repair center community to contact about this. Any help would be appreciated. -- User:AuntiMame 17 March 2008, 23:15

Screwdriver information

Just to be more specific, you need a #0 and a #1 Phillips screwdriver to remove all of the screws. It's also necessary for the screwdriver to have a slim shaft so you can get to the screws around the hinge. If you use a driver with a bit holder, it's may be too wide to fit into the small space. 128.118.119.10 13:01, 1 May 2008 (EDT)

Help us decide what spare parts to stock!

This message is for people running or starting repair centers.

Kim, Adam, the good folks at Brightstar, and many others are moving closer towards a long-term spare parts solution (much, *much* closer) and one of the last things we need to figure out is how much of what parts to stock for sending to which locations (read: what should we make available to repair centers?) and where to send broken machines for spare parts stripping in the meantime (read: repair centers that need parts - where are you? can we forecast the need a little?)

In order to do that, we'd like to know about what you've been doing with your repair centers so far.

If you could take 5 minutes to fill out a 7-question survey by next Friday, May 30, we would love you forever (we do already - our love will grow). I'll compile and post the results (minus contact information) on May 31st.

The survey URL is here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pLRFS4t4wk4dVwTjInokIRg

Most of the information should already be on your repair center wiki page (you have one, right? ;) Please holler back if you need any help, have questions, comments, improvements, etc - and pass this on to any repair center folks not on the list (and tell them to subscribe, please - http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/repairs).

Many thanks!

Mchua 09:13, 23 May 2008 (EDT)