#techrepair — Public Fediverse posts

Finally got around to helping a friend with a phone repair today: shattered back glass + new battery on an iPhone 15 Pro.

Waterproofing + glue everywhere made getting inside an absolute nightmare. Removing the shattered back glass was the worst part. Tiny shards everywhere, so much tedious, careful work. 😩

Job's done, phone's fixed, but that was NOT a fun repair.

Seriously though, why do manufacturers keep using brittle glass for the backs of $1000+ phones? Sturdy plastic would survive drops so much better and repairs wouldn't be a shard-hunting nightmare.

#RightToRepair #iPhone #TechRepair #Mastodon

Fix monitor that goes black, off or blinks due to static electricity in chair

https://aalonso.dev/blog/2023/how-to-fix-monitor-that-goes-black-off-due-to-static-electricity-in-chair/

#HackerNews #fixmonitor #staticelectricity #techrepair #monitorissues #troubleshooting

Success! I have repaired my phone's USB C port! Shocked to see that the old one had completely disintegrated and fallen apart ... hope the replacement holds up for a long long time.

The process was super easy, I watched the tutorial (the relevant part being like 2 min long) and immediately got it to work.

Hurray for repairable tech! 🎉

#techrepair #righttorepair #fairphone #repair

A friend of mine will actually teach me how to solder in December ... so I'll be replacing that mp3 player battery after all! :blobmaracas:

#soldering #techrepair #righttorepair #mp3player #learning

Micro Center partners with iFixit to make tech repair more accessible in stores nationwide

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://nerds.xyz/2025/10/micro-center-ifixit-partnership-tech-repair/

Sustainability win! ♻️ 🌟 This week, me and my partner successfully replaced a broken laptop screen (fall damage) on a 5 year old HP probook laptop. It was a little fiddly but NOT HARD TO DO, and the replacement screen (~120€) was the only cost involved. Seriously, if you can operate a screwdriver and have some fine motor skills, you can do this.

We couldn't have done it without videos on YouTube though, so thank you to everyone who has ever uploaded a video of a repair! We have replaced this laptop's keyboard last winter, so this is the second repair. It works like a charm and hopefully will last many more years!

If you read this, share a recent repair or sustainability win of yours, I'd love to celebrate with you! 🎉

#sustainability #laptoprepair #fixingthings #careandrepair #plannedobsolescence #techrepair #sustainabilitywin #hp

Weirdest Commodore 64 Yet? A DIY Disaster on the Bench
#Commodore64 #C64Repair #RetroComputing #WeirdTech #VintageComputers #RetroHardware #C64Fix #DIYMods #TechRepair #CommodoreFix
https://theoasisbbs.com/weirdest-commodore-64-yet-a-diy-disaster-on-the-bench/?feed_id=2627&_unique_id=67f3cd11b0fda

Amiga 3000 of Urine – Part 3 Finale: The Repair That Broke Chris Edwards
#Amiga3000 #RetroComputing #VintageComputers #ChrisEdwardsRestoration #AmigaRestoration #TechRepair #RodentDamage #Leptospirosis #ComputerRestoration
https://theoasisbbs.com/amiga-3000-of-urine-part-3-finale-the-repair-that-broke-chris-edwards/?feed_id=2599&_unique_id=67ee88a1e4392

Restoring Three Amiga 3000s – A Deep Dive with Chris Edwards
#Amiga3000 #RetroComputing #ChrisEdwardsRestoration #VintageHardware #AmigaRestoration #RetroTech #ClassicComputers #TechRepair #AmigaForever
https://theoasisbbs.com/restoring-three-amiga-3000s-a-deep-dive-with-chris-edwards/?feed_id=2215&_unique_id=67d42a360265e

The Stubborn Commodore 64: Triple Freedom’s Latest Repair Challenge
#Commodore64 #RetroComputing #C64 #TechRepair #VintageHardware #TripleFreedom #RetroTech #Restoration #ClassicComputers
https://theoasisbbs.com/the-stubborn-commodore-64-triple-freedoms-latest-repair-challenge/?feed_id=2179&_unique_id=67d2d8425eb6a

Rescuing a Battered 1541: Tim’s Retro Repair & JiffyDOS Upgrade
#Commodore64 #C64 #Commodore1541 #RetroComputing #FloppyDrive #TechRepair #JiffyDOS #8BitGaming
https://theoasisbbs.com/rescuing-a-battered-1541-tims-retro-repair-jiffydos-upgrade/?feed_id=1947&_unique_id=67c5b7c8a786f

Chris Edwards’ Most Brutal Repair: Amiga 3000D Restoration Gone Wrong
#Amiga3000D #RetroComputing #VintageComputers #AmigaRepair #RetroTech #HardwareRestoration #TechRepair
https://theoasisbbs.com/chris-edwards-most-brutal-repair-amiga-3000d-restoration-gone-wrong/?feed_id=1763&_unique_id=67b737c20e92a

Fixing the Commodore 64 PSU Overvoltage Problem on a Budget
#Commodore64 #C64 #RetroComputing #C64PSU #DIY #RetroGaming #TechRepair
https://theoasisbbs.com/fixing-the-commodore-64-psu-overvoltage-problem-on-a-budget/?feed_id=1663&_unique_id=67af4dd18eb76

Fixing Commodore Power Supplies: Part 1 – C128 & Amiga 1200 Repairs
#Amiga #C128 #Amiga1200 #RetroComputing #TechRepair #RetroHardware #GadgetUK164
https://theoasisbbs.com/fixing-commodore-power-supplies-part-1-c128-amiga-1200-repairs/?feed_id=1301&_unique_id=67924ce20653e

Amiga 1200’s 5000km Journey and Restoration
#Amiga1200 #A1200 #Amiga #RetroComputing #RetroRepair #CommodoreAmiga #VintageTech #TechRepair #RetroTech, #HolidaySeason #FinalVideo2024 #BlackScreenFix
https://theoasisbbs.com/amiga-1200s-5000km-journey-and-restoration/?feed_id=916&_unique_id=6772c1e8bd7a5

Dropped by Game Stop yesterday (side note, wtf is up with opening at noon, Game Stop? some of us like to get their "out in public" nonsense done BY noon, ya bastards.) and picked up The Outer Worlds Switch cart (side note 2: almost $30 bucks?? No wonder people prefer to emulate the Switch. this game is half that on any other media.)

Dropped it in the OLED when I got home and it was immediately recognized and I "updated" it which mostly meant DLing the stuff that wouldn't fit on the cart. Played it for a couple hours with no problems.. other than it looks not great on the Switch, even docked lol. It's been a few years since I played it but I still remember it pretty well.

So yeah, this OLED is in fully working shape. Now I just need to get some good pics of it and pack it up to sell.

#DIY #TechRepair #SwitchOLED #Gaming

The other Switch I bought that is complete except for a mobo arrived today. So far the Joycons connected and paired fine, the charger works fine, and the Dock is in good shape and works fine. Which basically means the OLED is working fine. Currently downloading DCUO since it's an MMO so I won't be forced to play against other people/I have an acct with it already. If I can't access that acct well that's fine, I'll roll something just to give the console an actual playing conditions test for a while. Only thing left to test after that would be the game card slot, so I guess I should hit up Game Stop soon, heh.

Feeling pretty good about being able to resell this Switch, hopefully.

#DIY #TechRepair #SwitchOLED #Gaming

How it started vs how it's going 😀

Now I just need to get some Joycons so I can test the rails. And a Switch game cart. It does launch Tetris but as don't think I have a Nintendo acct any more (haven't owned one since the Wii) and def no NSO, nor did the previous owner of the console, I can't play it. All the other games were carts so they don't work either. All the functionality I can test currently works great tho, Bluetooth (to my KK3 Max controller), WiFi, touchscreen is fine, SD card slot works, and obviously the new USB-C port I put on the board works, hehe. Even without Joycons this thing sells for $160+ USD regularly so if I can find a cheap pair in decent condition I can probably clear $200 on it.

#DIY #TechRepair #SwitchOLED

I'm most of the way through the NMS Aquarius expedition. Put a good 9 hours on the repaired PS4 today (taking breaks of course). Other than the fact that it's struggling to keep up with the game, as evidenced by the frame skips and lag and a couple freezes long enough I thought the game crashed, the console is holding up just fine.

Should be able to finish the expedition tomorrow and then I'll go grab the other failing PSU(?) PS4 I gave Mark as well as the games (so I can install and update them since he doesn't have internet) and give him this console, finally content I've set him up with a good working one he'll be able to use without issues hopefully for a couple years at least. Who knows, maybe one day I'll fix up a PS5 for him. .. gonna have to ask him for a little $$ for one of those tho, lol.

#DIY #TechRepair #NMS #ShareYourGames #Gaming #DoingMyNeighborASolid

Started the latest No Man's Sky Expedition today and finished the first leg of it. Nothing special.. other than I did so on a PS4 I got in the mail yesterday, broken. It popped up on eBay for 25$ and shipping, which made it total out to under 50$.

It had been a roach motel, to the point a lot of the metal shields were discolored or rusted. So the first thing to do was give it a deep clean. Decided to swap out the heat sink and top plate Mobo shield, as well as the fan since I have the parts lying around to do so.

Then I checked the HDMI port (which was the reported issue) and sure enough, one of the pins was pushed through the back of the port. So I swapped that for a new one, put in new thermal paste and started reassembly. By then it was 10pm (I had a fam BBQ yesterday so I got home around 6pm) so I just got the core together enough to test. Presto, display, WiFi showed networks, disc drive took a disc nice and read it was a DVD (which I got from a broken Xbox drive, lol). Called it a night.

Got up early this morning and finished assembly. While I was at it, I took both my Dual Shocks and cleaned them thoroughly and put in new batteries. Brought everything in and hooked up the PS4, tested on this monitor, installed NMS (from disc) and updated/DLd my save files.

I'm going to be doing the whole Expedition on this console. I'm giving it that much of a test run because I am, once again, going to be giving it to neighbor Mark, lol. The last one I gave him works.. but it keeps losing power overnight, forcing him to unplug and plug it back in. I'm guessing the PSU may be failing. Didn't have a compatible spare, so I bought this console. Now that I have it, it's actually in better shape than the other one (other than the roach thing) so I figured I'd just swap em.

Here's hoping this console doesn't pop up with any issues the next couple days, heh.

#DIY #TechRepair #NMS #ShareYourGames #Gaming

Just got back from getting the latest Covid Vax/Flu Vax combo. Gonna do all I can to keep my streak of not catching Covid (that I'm aware of) going. Yeah, I still wear a mask when I go indoors except for very rare occasions (the $750 restaurant meetup in SF with ATL friend, for ex). Don't see me stopping that, ever.

Also dropped by Game Stop for the first time in like 6 years and got an Xbox One copy of Far Cry 4 to test with. Cheapest thing I could find that would be a decent system stress test. Now it's time to clean the RV a bit and then "relax" with some system testing, lol.

#COVIDIsntOver #WearAMask #DIY #TechRepair

Xbox One S with a "bad HDMI port" arrived today. It's been painted a rather dark purple-ish color, fairly well done, actually. Still had a warranty sticker on it and from what I saw inside, yeah I think it hadn't been opened before. Most of the intakes were clogged with dust etc. Hooked up and powered on. Fired up and.. displayed. Ok.. reached back and wiggled the cord.. blink. Aight, might need to reflow the port.

Disassembled, cleaning along the way. Thermal paste was more cement than paste. Checked the port and thought "you know, this is solid on the board, the pins are fine... say what's this?" Turns out the outside frame of the port was bent a bit so it was wiggly. So I went at it with a pry tool and pliers and bent it back into place to where it barely moved any more.

New paste on the APU, put the bits back together enough to hook it back up and test. Fired up, displayed, and this time when I wiggled the cord.. no blinks. Put it back together all the way and brought it in to do more testing. Updated, logged in my profile, DLd the Doom collection, installed fine. Played for an hour and no issues at all. Still sitting there running right now.

Yeah '94 Doom isn't the most demanding game, but I literally don't have any Xbox One discs, lol. Never bought any physical games for the One I had or the Series X I have now, just use em for Game Pass. I did stick a 360 game in it and it read it and knew what it was and initiated the file DL from M$ servers so that's promising, I think. .. Yeah I really should drop by Game Stop and get the cheapest Xbone game I can find so I at least have one to test with.

Now I have 2 Xbones I can sell, a One X and this One S. I should prob get on with that heh.

#DIY #TechRepair #XboxOneS #ThereWasntEvenThatMuchWrongWithIt

Aside from learning how to Godot, I'm also waiting on a couple more broken game consoles to repair. An Xbox One S and PS4 that were both under $50 USD after tax/ship. Both need new HDMI ports, possibly.

I wonder about the PS4, as the first broken one I bought said the same thing but the port seemed fine. Then I screwed it up and broke traces trying to get the port off. I tried to fix what I did a couple times but eh, I don't have all the kit I need to work on traces that small yet. But, I was messing with the multimeter and found some shorts on the HDMI controller area, which went away when I removed the chip. So I'm going to make sure to test that with this next PS4 just to make sure the port really is the problem.

I need to start selling these things too, lol. I was gonna start an eBay store but when I created it for some reason it got flagged almost immediately and I've been trying to figure out what happened/if I can get it unbanned. The response to a BBB complaint was basically "we can't tell you why" coupled with vague phrasing about "fraud", and ending with "good luck selling stuff somewhere else". I wrote back rejecting this response but that was days ago so I think eBay is fine with telling me to fuck off.

So.. I guess I'll have to find another way to go about it, shrug. Making your own store is not cheap, so I'd need to sell on some other site for a while and make sure this is viable enough before I go that route. #DIY #TechRepair

The 3rd PS4 in the "Do Neighbor a Solid and Get Him a Working Game System" Saga showed up today. Plugged it in and started testing. Booted into Safe Mode first, which was a bit stomach dropping. Said error doing an update. Rebooted it and it came back in reg mode.

Bunch of accounts on it. Picked one and logged it so I could test things. Disc drive was very reluctant to take a disc, but did take one with some "help" and actually spun up and read it. Ejected, barely. WiFi worked, also barely. An RV Park is basically a WiFi scream. Controller paired fine.

Took it inside and updated it via LAN cable, wiped it back to factory. Back out to the shed and totally disassembled it. Full clean, which it desperately needed. Lots of dust, heat sink clogged. Repasted the APU. Took apart the disc drive, cleaned the laser and the rollers, then heated the rollers with my hot air wand.

Reassembled drive, then the core of the system, enough to test again. Booted fine, running much cooler. Takes a disc like smooth butter, reads it fine, ejects fine. Finished assembly and brought it back inside to install some games.

Here's where it gets stupid. Spent hours and a decent chunk of bandwidth installing and updating 3 disc games(GTA5, RE7, Shadow of Mordor) and 6 more digital games (Horizon ZD, Witcher 3 CE, Disco Elysium, Control, Metro 2033 Redux, Last of Us Remastered) I have PAID for. Only to find that once the system is offline, it won't play digital games if it's not my "primary" PS4. I already have one my partner uses for her gaming. Can't add him to "family" unless he uses that system. Thought he could play my stuff on my acct offline. Guess not. Fuckin' lame.

Ok, whatever. So I just got back from taking it up to him, and he's fucking tickled, lemme tell ya. Told him if he got net he could play all the games, but discs would work now. "Dude, this is great! I've missed being able to play games." Even more tickled that I gave it to him. He did kick me a joint, lol. #DIY #TechRepair #ShareYourGames #PS4 #GoodDeedsFeelGood

Decided to try and reflow the APU on the Blue Light of Death PS4 for "funsies" today. No dice. I think maybe I need a bit more powerful of a hot air wand or maybe run it without even the big nozzle. I got bubbling flux to happen under it, but only one side at a time. Couldn't get enough heat into the board to float the chip.

However, I did kinda stupidly knock/blow off half the caps on the "underside" of the board as I tried to heat the board from the bottom. Found a few of them, and then "borrowed" some from the backside of a dead Xbone S board. Repopulated the blank spots and tested. Still a BLOD, but.. it's *still* a BLOD. So I didn't break it more. Small victory maybe, but I'll take it.

#DIY #TechRepair #LearningIsFunAsLongAsYouAreNotBreakingThingsWorse