Looking to do a laptop repair course

josha007

Hi all.As the title says I'm looking to go into laptop/computer repair and thinking about doing a course on it.I was wondering if anyone had been on one before or could reccommend one to me?

Many thanks.Josh

Strider590

If it's anything like these 17 week courses at the local college, don't bother.
Why do you want to do this anyway?

I'm actually getting right wound up at the moment with how many people are starting PC repair businesses based on these college courses, they go out and mess up someones PC/laptop, the first thing they always do is a full OS reinstall, using bad product key's and not replacing the drivers/software.
I then have go in and sort out the mess with a customer who refuses or is reluctant to pay.

I didn't do any courses, I work on over 11years experience of building and maintaining PCs and networks.

Sorry..... just venting a bit of frustration there.

I watched my career in electronics go down the pan because of kids doing basic electronics at school and employers gradually bringing us experienced/qualified engineers down to minimum wage.

josha007

Sounds like you've run in to a few problems.

I've helped lots of people who have had problems with their laptops and computers and fixed them. Obviously I've not charged them anything, but feel I could go into it as a job.But I dont know enough about the insides of a computer to fully understand the industry.So I'm looking for a course or help to aid me.

josha007

Anyone else have any ideas?

jmc160

CompTIA A+ is always a good starting point for repair/maintenance. It'll give you a good base knowledge across the board. It's also a good certification to have as it shows you have an all-round knowledge.

http://www.comptia.org/home.aspx

OneADay

Most of what I think these courses teach is what a person learns over many years of tinkering at home or work - i.e. practical experience.

In order to get practical experience you need a proper job - in order to get a job you need training - college courses could teach you basics but to me, nothing beats real life experience.

And personally I started my tinkering with computers in 1991 upgrading a 40MB hard disk (that was huge back then) to a MASSIVE 200 MB hard drive.

Now even after all the building of desktops, tinkering with other peoples PCs, I have only touched my own laptops in the last few years. And that to do basic things like replacing memory, hard drive. If I had a real problem with a laptop I would want someone from the manufracturer to repair it - not someone from the high street.

johnmcgrath

I don't think you will find a course in laptop maintenance. But there are two ways to get training. You can find a computer repair place that will take you on as a trainee. Or else buy old laptops and learn to repair and sell them complete or as parts.

Rich44_2

What experience do you already have in repairing computers? If nothing then you need to get yourself some books and an old PC to experiment with etc first.

If you have some experience than the CompTIA courses like A+ and Network+ are excellent starting points and many local colleges will do these ask around locally.

As for laptop repair it's a tricky one if I were you I really wouldn't go down that route because it's not as simple as desktops, every laptop is different to strip down.

The basics like HD, RAM even optical drives should be well within anyones grasp but anything more advanced I really wouldn't choose to start there as laptops can be tricky beasts and getting hold of the exact part can be required and not easy to source.

I don't want to rain on your parade but start with desktops and you'll do much much better then learn about laptops.

I agree with picking up old laptops and taking them apart/repairing them as doing this you'll also build up a stock pile of spares which you'll need if you're going to go into laptop repair.

I was an IT engineer for 12 years then a network manager for 2 years and I still think twice before working on laptops as they can be a pain in the bum.

Good luck with it, it's an interesting way of working for yourself and its certainly not an industry that's ever going to go away but realise it's not a quick way of making money it's a VERY cut throat market out there with the "bedroom builders" students, local small business, online etailers etc

If you are going to end up self employed, get some business link training on running a small business as well, it's free and doesnt cost anything

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/

and most of all research your market, research your local area etc etc etc

All the best

Strider590

There was a guy where I used to work (i didnt speak to him much), but he got onto a PC repair course at I think Dudley college with the intention of starting his own business doing it.
The same guy had to ask people at work, how to connect his own PC to the internet.

If you've got some experience and your pretty damn hot on all Windows operating systems then fair enough, but for example:

Do you know how to gain access to a Windows XP PC when someone forgets their password?
What is a SAM file?
How to lock out control panel or GUI features by using gpedit (only XP pro) or direct registry alteration?
What are the differences between the versions of Windows Vista?
How to remotely access a system registry across a networked connection?

Oh and in my opinion knowing MS DOS inside out is an abolute must, because half the time when things go badly wrong, it's the only thing you'll have.

This is why so many people just blindly reinstall windows, when it's in fact hardly ever necessary.
There's a guy locally who states on his site "you must have the original reinstall disks", and im betting that all he does is go in and reinstall windows.

I'm in regular connect with friends all over the world, they're MS engineer's, software devs, hackers and government related IT "specialists". I have learnt so much over the past 11yrs and even I can struggle at times.