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Need your computer looked at but afraid you might be ripped off?At IT magic we can fix any computer problem and we work at vey reasonable prices.We also take the time to explain the problems using normal language. We want you to understand what's happening with your computer - its not all magic! There is also no charge to "look" at your computer - We charge to fix your computer. We also deal in unusual repairs, the more unusual the better, and stuff the others can't fix - Read below for more information. The faulty laptop from FranceI received a phone call from my wife's employer, at the time, about her son's faulty laptop.Her Son lives in France and was here on holidays, with his faulty laptop, hoping to show the family some pictures of his life in France. The laptop wouldn't charge and would instantly shutdown if the power cord wasn't held in a certain position. It had been in workshops in France and locally for quotes on the repair. Diagnoses - a new motherboard was required approx $800 plus labour. I believed I knew how to fix it so I offered to look at it.(besides I can't resist a challenge) Two hours later (Most of this was pulling it apart and putting it back together - the same team that designed the Tardis worked on this laptop). The motherboard was repaired and the happy owner took it home. Cost - $150 for a $800 - $1000 repair. The Run Away RepairmanAn ancient computer landed on my repair table.( I'm talking a 286 for computer historians).The company that owned it were using a specially written interface, for FoxPro 1.0 and dBase, and the programme and computer had crashed big time. They had a "computer tech" come over to the business the day before. During the repair he said he had to get something from the car and promptly drove off! The computer offered five challenges
I decided to take it on - again I cant resist a challenge and the owners were beside themselves with concern! The businesses full Stock Inventory, Customers, Debtors and Ceditors was handled by this ancient system and it was all looking grim! They also had an old computer that they had upgraded from still in the shed. An XT (we are talking Computer dinosaurs here!) The first thing - get the info from the computers - the Hard Drives was removed and carefully backed up onto another more modern computer. The next step - convert the dBase files to a newer format - surprise surprise this original version wasn't supported! Thank God for abandonware - after a long search the original version of FoxPro and dBase was found as abandonware on the internet. FoxPro 1.0 and Windows XP - Windows XP would not have one bar of FoxPro 1.0. It was so DOS(the original operating system) that XP didnt know what to do with it! The New Computer - I put together a new computer and good old EBAY supplied a valid copy of Windows Millenium (one of the better versions of Windows 95 that can handle DOS programmes). Rebuilding the Business Data With the new computer, the abandonware Fox Pro 1.0 with dBase and the files salvaged from two ancient computers, the original programme and files were reinstalled and to everyone's surprise actually worked! As you would expect I decided to setup a backup system for this computer. Guess what? CD's wouldn't back up the ancient data formats! How did I setup the computer for weekly backups? Well thats another story! Result: Another happy customer who would have paid ten times what I charged them. A week after I fixed the computer the vanishing repairman returned, apologising, ready to fix the computer! |
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