[Psychotron]

My friend went to get his bad computer (2 year old dell) checked out at a computer store. The guy at the comp store said his Dell motherboard went "bad". He said It is a rarity for computers that are only a couple years old but it does happen. Sometimes within 6 months. He said it will cost him:
$125 for a motherboard that is compatible for his computer.
$95 to back up all his files in the harddrive and
$80 for all the labor of checking his computer, and installing a new motherboard.

Now he wants to know, does this guy sound reasonable OR Should he bring it to Geek Squad at Best Buy?

[serverguy]

Sound a bit steep if you ask me... What was wrong with the PC? A motherboard can't "go bad" without showing any obvious signs.

[redden137]

hi m8
you say the pc was "bad" what exactly do you mean?
not starting? crashing? taking ages to load? overheating? or what?
give a bit more detail then we might be able to help you a bit more

[philthomas]

Hmmmmm. ...... $80 labour charge doesn't seem too bad, but $95 for copying data from one drive to another sounds a bit steep. I would want to kow a bit more on exactly what he is going to do for the $95, as the existing HDD should boot up just fine if he is simply changing the mobo for an identicle one.

The $125 for a Dell board may be right, as there will be little choice of supplier, but we would need to know the Make/Model of the PCto check this out.

I guess it depends on how much his data is worth to him ..... if it's critical stuff, then pay the money, but remember ... very few outfits will guarantee integrity of data and they may manage to botch it and lose it all anyway.

[Hybr!d]

It depends what the original fault was.

If it actually needs the mobo then it's about right.

[Desertfish]

1: I agree with everyone else. You should give us the details of the fault.
2: If you're being told that the problem is something as serious as the motherboard, it pays to have a second opinion.
3: I also agree with Dave: if it is indeed the motherboard that is at fault than what they are charging is not cheap but it doesn't seem overpriced either.

Cheers:
Chris.

[gaza14]

$300 to fix an old computer is pretty bad. I'd say to just get another computer. you say it was quite old so why not just get another pc. From what I hear it won't need to be new or top of the range. Or he could even get a second had one.

[gaza14]

Originally Posted by Desertfish

1: I agree with everyone else. You should give us the details of the fault.
2: If you're being told that the problem is something as serious as the motherboard, it pays to have a second opinion.
3: I also agree with Dave: if it is indeed the motherboard that is at fault than what they are charging is not cheap but it doesn't seem overpriced either.

Cheers:
Chris.

I agree, get some other people to have a look and get some info on it.