Sodering On Laptops

[shanenin]

I went to a job interview today. The job was working in a pc repair shop. The owner said he was looking for someone with good soldering skills(I only know how to solder water pipe). He said they do lots of soldering on laptops. Since most pieces have connectors, what kind of things would need to be soldered? Does that imply they are replacing suff(like capasitors) on the motherboard?

Their is so much I do not know about pc repair :-(

[xxkbxx]

I went to a job interview today. The job was working in a pc repair shop. The owner said he was looking for someone with good soldering skills(I only know how to solder water pipe). He said they do lots of soldering on laptops. Since most pieces have connectors, what kind of things would need to be soldered? Does that imply they are replacing suff(like capasitors) on the motherboard?

Their is so much I do not know about pc repair :-(

I've only seen soldering on a motherboard once (changed a broken video connector) so it's pretty rare - other then that, I've only had to solder broken fans and stuff, but never anything with laptops

[jimras]

I don't know what you'd be soldering either

but I know that for electronics stuff (circuit boards)

you have to use a lower wattage soldering iron so

you don't overheat the components.

Soldering is just a skill and takes a little practice

to get good at it.

[shanenin]

I went down for a second interview. They told me that one of the most common hardware repairs to laptops is replacing the female connector, where the apadter plugs in. That requires soldering

[xxkbxx]

I went down for a second interview. They told me that one of the most common hardware repairs to laptops is replacing the female connector, where the apadter plugs in. That requires soldering

What connector are you referring to?

[shanenin]

the part that you plug the adapter into. When the cord gets yanked on it, it wrecks the female end

[xxkbxx]

the part that you plug the adapter into. When the cord gets yanked on it, it wrecks the female end

The power connector? Gotcha, have seen a lot of those broken now that you mention it - we usually replace the actual connector - of course there is a $100 charge just for opening up a laptop (some shops around here charge close to $200 for it)

[naraku9333]

Pretty much anything that can break on a laptop will require soldering, ie: cardbus slot, usb ports etc, etc..). Soldering is the easy part, de-soldering isn't (for me at least). Considering the cost of most oem laptop motherboards it is cost effective to repair the board. It's not a particularly hard thing to do with some practice (I suck at it because I dont practice), if you have an old motherboard or expansoin card laying around practice de-soldering and re-soldering pieces.

Edited May 5, 2006 by naraku9333

[irregularjoe]

I went to a job interview today. The job was working in a pc repair shop. The owner said he was looking for someone with good soldering skills(I only know how to solder water pipe). He said they do lots of soldering on laptops. Since most pieces have connectors, what kind of things would need to be soldered? Does that imply they are replacing suff(like capasitors) on the motherboard?

Their is so much I do not know about pc repair :-(

Sorry, but that cracked me up.

Being a plumbing contractor for thirty years and a computer repair enthusiast for the last 5 years, I'd highly recommend that you do not use a torch to "solder" circuit boards.

Edited May 6, 2006 by irregularjoe

[shanenin]

we usually replace the actual connector

do you need to solder the new one in?

[JSKY]

I went to a job interview today. The job was working in a pc repair shop. The owner said he was looking for someone with good soldering skills(I only know how to solder water pipe). He said they do lots of soldering on laptops. Since most pieces have connectors, what kind of things would need to be soldered? Does that imply they are replacing suff(like capasitors) on the motherboard?

Their is so much I do not know about pc repair :-(

Sorry, but that cracked me up.

Being a plumbing contractor for thirty years and a computer repair enthusiast for the last 5 years, I'd highly recommend that you do not use a torch to "solder" circuit boards.

LOL........

[xxkbxx]

we usually replace the actual connector

do you need to solder the new one in?

I don't know - my boss use to handle all the laptops. I can see where some soldering would be envolved. If you want to practice, you can get a cheap solder iron from Radioshack (even though solder stations are the way to go, but they cost more) and take apart any electronic crap you have lying around. De solder capacitors and resistors and work on getting them back in there. It took me around a week to get it down where I could easily do the basics. After I purchased a solder station with a controllable temperature, it's just like boom, switch part (generally LED's for me) solder back in, really quickly. On laptops you'll probably be using solder wick to suck up the solder as you desolder the broken parts to keep liquid metal from running down the board and shorting something out. Let me know if you have any questions!

[naraku9333]

we usually replace the actual connector

do you need to solder the new one in?

As a generalization I would say yes considering the limited number of laptops I have dis-assembled.

[shanenin]

I turned the job down. He was just paying $8/hour for a 54 hour workweek(6 days). Working those hours would not be giving me much of a chance building my own business. I spent the day with the current guy who is leaving. I learned a few things. Most importantly, I can do any job. After seeing how things were done their, I felt I much more confident in my abilitys. The little bit of time I was their I saw them raping their customers. It was crazy the fees they charged.

To reinstall windows they charged $130. That broke down to a $30 diagnoses fee and a $100 reload fee.

some guy brought in a laptop with a usb plug that was mildly damaged. The plastic instide piece was damaged. The plug still worked fine. The computer was also slow. They did nothing with the plug(since it still worked) defraged and ran adaware. For this they charged $120. This breaks down to $50(laptop diagnoses fee), $30(defrag, tuneup fee), $40(run adaware, spyware removal fee).

An older gentelman wanted his "socket A" processor upgraged along with a fried motherboard. He had an athlon xp currently in their(not sure on the speed), but they reccomended he upgrade to a a sempron 2800. That is rediculous, they did not check, but he may of a had as fast as an athlon xp 2600 already in there.

I could not rip people off like that on a daily basis.

Edited May 6, 2006 by shanenin

[xxkbxx]

That's rediculous man - honestly I wouldn't want to be associated with that type of crap (you might as well just join the Geek Squad at Best Buy)

That's 2x as much as the place I work at charges for most of the stuff. Just get your business going, establish an honorable reputation for having honest prices and good work and you're better off. Besides, I get paid $7.50 and hour, and lately I'm getting paid to keep my boss company.

[shanenin]

I got a quetion about using flux. I talked to the tech at the shop I interviewed at, he said DO NOT use flux, it will damage the motherboard. I also talked to a friend who works at a place that refurbishes motherboards. Mainly all he does is solder all day. He said you need to use flux. Do you guys have an opinion on this matter?

[xxkbxx]

Hate to sound stupid, but what is Flux?

[MrBill]

That's 2x as much as the place I work at charges for most of the stuff. Just get your business going, establish an honorable reputation for having honest prices and good work and you're better off. Besides, I get paid $7.50 and hour, and lately I'm getting paid to keep my boss company.

Hope that your boss is good looking and of the opposite sex and you don't get caught by your other half...lol

I agree with the fees that these rip off shops charge. For the price that they charge, they should at least do a back up for you for that price.

[shanenin]

and lately I'm getting paid to keep my boss company.

did his shop slowdown in april? I ask becasue I was getting steady calls(and jobs, maybe three per week) for the months of Jan, Feb, and March. April and May have been horrible, I have not even been getting a job a week. Being a very new business, I am not sure what to expect. I was kind of hoping this is the slow time of year for everyone(not just me).

Edited May 7, 2006 by shanenin

[shanenin]

Hate to sound stupid, but what is Flux?

I am not exactly sure. In plumbing it is used to help the solder both flow and bind to the metal. I believe it is used in the same way for electronics.

[naraku9333]

Hate to sound stupid, but what is Flux?

I am not exactly sure. In plumbing it is used to help the solder both flow and bind to the metal. I believe it is used in the same way for electronics.

It is, I've worked for electronics manufacturers and they used it and never damaged anything. Ive only seen it used for whole boards not single parts if it makes any diference.

[shanenin]

would you personally use it for a single part?

[xxkbxx]

and lately I'm getting paid to keep my boss company.

did his shop slowdown in april? I ask becasue I was getting steady calls(and jobs, maybe three per week) for the months of Jan, Feb, and March. April and May have been horrible, I have not even been getting a job a week. Being a very new business, I am not sure what to expect. I was kind of hoping this is the slow time of year for everyone(not just me).

Yeah it slowed down throughout April, but its starting to pick back up. Last week he sold 3 New computers (people generally buy used ones here) that he's had here for 6 months. Tuesday we are going to go back to building custom PC's to fill up the shelf (aka "fun") Summer is generally slower than the other seasons, not many people are interested in sitting at a computer during warm weather, but storm season will bring in modem replacements and if you're lucky (hence, they are un lucky) totally fried computers!

[bozodog]

I did soldering on micro components for Stryker corp. Tiny little things for the pin connectors. (like usb plugs) Flux was not used because it's a type of acid that could corrode. If it was used, (flux cored solder) we had to clean it up enough to pass a 100X microscope inspection.

[shanenin]

I did soldering on micro components for Stryker corp. Tiny little things for the pin connectors. (like usb plugs) Flux was not used because it's a type of acid that could corrode. If it was used, (flux cored solder) we had to clean it up enough to pass a 100X microscope inspection.

Thanks. I appeciate your hands on knowledge :-)