User:C3/The maintenance and repair page

Protocol

1.the name of the device
2.the problem
3.how to solve the problem
4.the status (done, ongoing, upcoming)

About

Since March 2024 I started doing more things connected to repurposing and repair, I've been exposed to these topics over the past years, but I only got closer them recently.

The repair (and maintain) page is a logbook that I will use to document log this journey over time. Not everything in this page demands highly specialised skills, in fact this journal is also an attempt at showing that sometime the required fixes are fairly easy.

Why

There are many reasons I am interested to this topic, but the main one is material.

In 2023 I bought a new computer and was not happy about it. My previous one after 6 years was still (and still is) pretty solid, but I had various mysterious problems connected to the software that I was using to develop my bachelor thesis project. The work that was still left to do, the time left, and the random total failures I was getting at running this software pressured me into buying a new laptop.

Not only I was not happy about it, but after only 1 year of usage that very new, powerful, amazing laptop turned out to be simply terrible to use (I had various problems with the screen, the battery reading was always wrong, the temperatures were very high even though I was not doing any demanding work on it yet).

Coincidentally, not so long after I bought the new laptop, I found an old one in my basement, which was smaller and lighter and... not working. I was also writing my thesis and I was curious to see if it could be fixed so I could use it to write, instead of carring around a 15.6 inch laptop to write some txt files. And this is how it started.

Log

An attempt at journaling what I've done so far.

ASUS eeePC 1215B

date: March 2024
status: done

This was the first time I ever repaired anything, I did it with the person that introduced me to the practical aspect of repair, Massimiliano De Cinque. Under his guidence we did some simple troubleshooting, and found out that everything was working, exept the CMOS battery, which was dead. We got a replacement, and puff, it was working again, we then cleaned it and replaced the thermal paste on the CPU. After that the computer was back to normal, but someone had installed Windows 10 on it and it was definitely not working out for the hardware capabilities (and the old HDD hard disk). I got an SSD and together with a friend we installed Debian on it, this is also the first time I installed Linux. We tested different desktop environments but after seeing how much the computer was struggling, we opted to install a window manager (i3)

MSI Katana

date: June 2024
status: done

This is one of the worst purchases of my life.

Only after 2 years this computer is working as if it was out of the box, till then the situation was only getting worst. ...I managed to put this computer in a decent stable condition thanks to the help of my friend Tin, who has a lot of practical experience with repair and computers in general. Together we reinstalled Windows from scratch on the software side and then we opened the computer, cleaned it and changed the CPU and GPU paste.

POCO phone

Eleni's phone, she had issue with her battery not lasting long enough, so she got a new one and we swapped it, it is interesting to see how brands now make a big deal out of simple things like opening a device, using low quality adhesive instead of simple screws, and even using adeshive to put the battery in place, including steps to "lift the battery correctly".

PSP 3000

date: May 2025
status: done

I've had this psp for more than 10 years now, the battery does not hold the charge to well but it is still very usable. I did not play with it for a long time because the buttons were punched in and did not click anymore, I've thought of doing a full host swap but, to be fair, there's no need. I've found a broken psp at a flea market during king's day for 3 euro! No battery, no battery cover but very clickable buttons!

I opened up both, did a superficial cleaning as this thing looks more fragile than what I am used to, and then swapped the keys, I wonder if I can figure out why is the broken one broken, but for now, it's ok.

Take aways / Observations

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