What's On Your Tech Bench?

Twev1701 writes "As a small computer repair company that has seen enormous growth in the past few months, we are now looking to expand our facilities. With construction starting on our office space, we now turn to the task of designing a new tech bench. Our existing bench is 6'x3', has a dedicated 15" CRT, 4 port KVM, and overhead storage bins for parts. With a new bench of 12'x4', we have lots of room for expansion. What essentials would the /. community put on their new tech bench?"

The essentials!

[Blapto]

Apart from computers and cases of varying kinds, you need to remember your mini fridge! Don't forget the mini fridge!

Re:The essentials!

[Mr. Moose]

...and a coffee machine. Where would you be without good old Mr. Coffee?

Re:The essentials!

[tomhudson]

3 "tech benches".

1. Junk that I haven't gotten around to putting in its place. Plus, Coffee machine, Franks "Red Hot" sauce, 2 cans of coffee (1 with coffee, 1 with dog food), clipboard for notes, spare parts for whatever is being worked on lately.
2. Junk that I haven't gotten around to putting in its place. A couple of servers, spare parts, and (look UNDERNEATH - AGGG!) all sorts of shit. Parts, parts, parts. Boxes. WTF - Muriatic Acid!!! Oh, right - only safe place for it. About 50 cards (video, audio, capture, etc).
3. Junk that I haven't gotten around to putting in its place. 21" monitor and spare box for "doing stuff". Photocopier.
4. Desk - Junk that I haven't gotten around to putting in its place, crt and box, etc.

But I can FIND stuff! Just last week I found some software I wrote last year that we were looking for last month (better late than never).

Re:The essentials!

[ces]

Code Red is red Mountain Dew with a somewhat different flavor.

2. Mountain Dew and Code Red: sorry, I'm from Canuckistan (Canada to you'all :-) Our Mountain Dew is prohibited by law from containing caffeine (only allowed in colas). Cod Red? Never tried it, never will, thanks.

No caffeine in Mountain Dew?! What kind of totalitarian hellhole has Canada turned into?

The essentials of desktop repair

[Mishra100]

Definitely make sure you have enough ground straps and a place to ground them to......

Because we ALL know 99% of techies out there ALWAYS use ground straps. A+ basics right there.

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[Slashcrap]

Definitely make sure you have enough ground straps and a place to ground them to......

And make sure you remove those damn safety resistors. They are for pussies who lack faith in their own abilities. It also helps to add back that element of excitement that is so often missing in today's workshops.

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[eggz128]

I have a friend, I'll call Sue, who I help out by fixing her computer whenever they she does something stupid to it. Which is often.

Sue had been complaining for a while that her computer was slow. WinXP on a P3/600 128Mb isn't much fun :) So I figured out that she'd need PC700 Rambus ram (which as it happens ment that it would be cheaper and easier to just junk the thing and get a new one, but no, we can't do that). A couple of weeks later I get a call saying shes got the RAM and could I come over to fit it.

On my arrival she proudly told me that she'd been going to evening classes, learning how to fix computers, and the instructor had given her some spare RAM that would work.

Anyway, I opened up the case, and started to work my way through the wires looking for the RAM slots.

"No," she yelped, "You've got to use an earthing strap, or you'll damage it". She then launched into a nice 5 minute long lecture on the dangers of static electricity (which she'd learnt all about the previous night).

Ok, fine I'll wear the earthing strap. Although I'd already earthed myself by touching part of a near by radiator, this would save me any more earache.

"Ok, I can see the slot. Could you pass me the stick of RAM now please?"

Sue turned around, and picked up a nylon ruck sack. She unzipped the front of the ruck sack, rooted around inside for a bit, and then produced a single DIMM of PC66. Not in an antistatic bag, not in any kind of protection at all actually, from either physical damage or electrical damage. And covered in all sorts of whatever crap that was in the bottom of that ruck sack.

"Sue, why am I wearing an antistatic strap if you're going to carry the ram about, unprotected, in something that generates more static than your average Van der f**king Graaf generator?"

"Oh"

"And thats not a Rambus RIMM like I told you to get. It's a DIMM. PC66."

"Dave my instructor said it would work."

"It won't even physically fit in the slot. Look, the notches are in different places."

"But Dave said..."

"Dave is an idiot."

"Dave also gave me this to speed things up..."

And with that, Sue reached back into the ruck sack, and produced a K6-2 processor. Also covered in crap, not in an anti static bag.

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[bleckywelcky]

The important question: Is Sue hot? If she is, just reinstall XP and ask her to get busy while the hard drive is formatting.

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[mollymoo]

You know how it is, you have a few too many beers and gradually the chick with three ears, one eye and an OS/2 laptop with a broken floppy starts to look like Natalie Portman asking you to make the dock icons smaller on her PowerBook.

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[SacredNaCl]

The essential I couldn't do without:

A good quality multimeter, and a large lighted magnifying glass. . So many problems can be traced and solved with that. Doesn't hurt to have an exacto knife and some copper tape as well, depending on the exact type of repair work you do (I can salvage some boards and cards this way, though its patient work).

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[Goody]

I wouldn't laugh at anyone who uses a ground strap. While there's plenty of folks here that have worked on PCs for 50+ years and never wrecked anything from static (or so they say), the potential is always there. No static protection may not have outright killed equipment, but there's no saying that it hasn't caused damage that showed up later as squirrely intermittent hardware problems.

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[jellomizer]

Maybe so. But if the customer decides to sue because their computer was unrepairable for the price they wanted to pay, and you told them that, they may use the fact that they don't have a static strap as a reason why the computer is now unrepairable. When dealing with the public you will get people who will complain and sue for almost anything especially when they feel they got ripped off, or they want to rip you off. It is better to have a static strap and use it to show to the customer and perhaps the court that you take good care of the others property.

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[bernywork]

Some things are out of your control, and unless you have video tape evidence, it really doesn't matter that much.

Get the customer to sign a disclaimer as they give you the PC. Accidents happen sometimes, nothing you can do about it.

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[crashelite]

oooo ooo throw in a Van de Graaff generator and then we have a nice little show... that is the only time i have seen static charge blow something (one of my teachers stood on a stool and was demenstrating and neglected to notice the electrical outlet right next to his lower exstremity... i was going to say something but he said for me to not question him.)

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[Dr.Opveter]

I was doing a hardware inventory for an internship at a company (first business related work I ever did, I think I was like 14 or 15 years old) and on the second day I already wasted a users videocard by just touching it. Don't know if it was because of static but I even touched radiator pipe before crawling under the desk to open the computer and do the inventory.
They didn't have spare parts either... oops.

Anyway, I'm happy to hear you never had any problems with static electricity but I've heard plent

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[timmarhy]

people can't sue because i quoted them $100 for a repair and it turns into $200. they can either pay or refuse to pay, simple as that.quotes are subject to change, they aren't a legally binding document. and both of you missed my point. grounding yourself isn't bullshit, grounding STRAPS are bullshit. because to open the case in the first place you have to touch it, and if you can generate enough static to zap a chip in the time between opening the case and touching the card, then i'm very very impressed.

Re:ah yes, grounding yourself on the case

[cbiltcliffe]

kills the static, also may kill you if you touch a hot rail in the PSU, or the PSU's faulty and shorting to ground.

Ok...let's stop and think about this.
If the PSU is faulty and is shorting to ground, then as soon as you plug it into the wall it's going to blow the fuse/breaker for the outlet, so no power to kill you with.
If you mean the 12V supply is shorting to ground, then one of two things is going to happen:
1. The power supply detects the short (they are built to do this, you know) and shuts down,

Re:ah yes, grounding yourself on the case

[cbiltcliffe]

Yes, but put one finger on the positive side of the coil (the 12V input), lick your other finger and put it on the negative terminal of the battery. You get a nice tingling sensation, also you now know that the circuit between the positive terminal of the battery and the coil is good.

That's not 12V from the battery you're feeling. That a higher voltage induced from the ignition coil.

When you have DC flowing through a high-impedance coil, there's a static magnetic field formed around the coil. Remove the DC supply, and the rapid collapse of this field induces a current in the coil flowing in the opposite direction from the original DC input.

This is the principle by which your car ignition system works. The ignition coil doesn't have a constant current to it. Voltage is applied, builds up the magnetic field, and when it's time to spark the plug, the voltage is removed, and the collapsing field generates one hell of a high voltage across the secondary side of the ignition coil, which is typically many times the impedance of the primary side.

You're feeling a little tingle of maybe 50 volts and a few milliamps on the primary side by doing what you describe. The secondary side has a voltage between 25,000 and 80,000, depending on the ignition system, but with only microamps of current available. That's why if you grab a spark plug lead when the engine's running, you feel quite the belt, but it doesn't do any damage. Not enough current.

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[Mysticalfruit]

I only half agree. I think grounding straps are basically stupid. However, grounding mats are a gift from the Gods. In my 10 years of tech, I've watched plently of ungrounded people take perfectly working pieces of ram and turn them into memory swiss cheese.

We have a couple of testing stations that have the following setup.

1. Nice grounded table, with grounding mat(s). We also have a couple grounded turn tables that really help when your building a machine.
2. Lots of 3 prong outlets.
3. A common area with all kinds of Power supply testers.
4. A couple of different 450 watt power supplies wired with power switches for different models of motherboards.
5. A common area with with a whole bunch of different ram testers.
6. All our work areas are very well lit. Each station also is equipped with a couple long necked work lights, at least one of them has a magnifying glass so you can make close inspections of parts.
7. A couple of our stations are equipped with grounded compressed air.
8. Bins with test parts (video cards, ram, etc) all conspiciously marked with a color coded label to that bench.

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[fireboy1919]

grounded compressed air

Its a good strategy to keep grounded compressed air on hand.

While it's little known in the computer industry, the common use for grounded compressed air is for tire-air replacement (it gets stale). Its best to replace the air in your tires once either every 4-6 months, or when you change your blinker-light fluid.

When using your grounded compressed air, its important to remember to stay away from electrical outlets. Normal air is an insulator, and therefore incapable of being a ground at all.
Grounded compressed air is not, and as it drifts around it may randomly form an electrical path between things if it loses contact with the ground.

Now please excuse me. I have to go rotate my hood ornament.

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[LaCosaNostradamus]

Lots of 3 prong outlets.

There's a simple formula, too, for figuring that out:

1. Figure how many inches of bench length you have.
2. Figure 1 outlet per inch.
3. Multiply by 3 for top, middle and bottom mounts.
4. Multiply by 10 just in case.

More seriously, and almost literally, you cannot have enough power outlets. People who provide techie areas just don't friggin' understand that one. We need DOZENS AND DOZENS of power outlets. We can consume a good 12-24 per 6FT of bench.

KVMs help reduce that need, bu

depends what you work on

[RMH101]

when i used to to this for a living i used a ground strap when working on laptops. prior to that, maybe 1 in 15 i opened had some possible ESD damage. afterwards, none. it certainly doesn't happen everytime but sod's law says when you don't do it, if you work with enough sensitive components, something will die/degrade when you're working on it due to ESD.

Re:The essentials of desktop repair

[cellocgw]

blah blah never seen a PC part blow due to static blah blah
No, you've just never looked closely enough to see the damage. Most often the ESD damage is not catastrophic but does degrade a chip or two, leading to errors or slow performance, or maybe the chip's premature death months hence.
Just because you don't get a micro-nuclear explosion doesn't mean you didn't break something.
Heck, I once grounded the wrong side of an FM antenna (in the pre-polarized-plug days) and saw a spark. The electronics ran fine for another 6 months until some part finally croaked.
At the risk of sounding officious :-) , trust the experts. They may actually know something.

More than one console . . .

[millisa]

One CRT isn't going to cut it. Get a second LCD mounted up on the wall. That much space, you likely want to watch more than one thing at a time and a switch box is frustrating.

An old laptop with floppy drive (and a burner if you want to get fancy). Nothing is more irritating than having to walk back and forth for bios, drivers, and whatnot to put on floppies at your desk . . . There's always something you want to lookup online or download to use on your hardware.

Easily accessible tools. Not bins. Not a toolbox under the bench. A nice set of phillips and flatheads, maybe a couple needle nose just there on the wall. (Paint them fluorescent orange or something so they dont walk away if you want). Those all-in-one tool cases with their plastic snapin holders are not conducive to putting things away right.

An assortment of 'known good' parts in easy to get to bins doesn't hurt. And a nice sorted variety of screws is always good (I don't know what they do with them, but people seem to like hording backplanes and their screws . . .).

Easy to reach canned air. Easy to reach paper towels.

Re:More than one console . . .

[Zawash]

In addition to the Phillips and Flathead screwdrivers, you'd also want some Pozidrivs, Hex and Torx. Although most computer screws are of the Phillips variety, it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

Most screws out there are actually Pozidriv screws, but a lot of people use Phillips screwdrivers in Pozidriv screws and vice versa. ..Even trained carpenters! The result - ruined screws, ruined screwdrivers and carpal tunnel syndrome..

You guys know the difference [lara.com] between a Phillips [wikipedia.org] and a Pozidriv [phillips-screw.com], right?

Cheers!

Re:More than one console . . .

[CastrTroy]

Oh, and don't forget the robertson screwdrivers. For the americans who don't know, it's a square bit used a lot in Canada. They work so much better than phillips and flat (which is the worst invention ever). I don't know why everything hasn't moved over to robertson. Does anyone know where you can get a Nintendo Triangle bit? is this only available as part of the triforce in Zelda?

Re:More than one console . . .

[cgenman]

Another easily accessable computer. Sometimes you just need to google to see if a company's driver causes problems.

A completely naked computer that has been optimized for quick booting (a CF-system, perhaps?). Either way, a quick and easy way to test parts for failure.

Voltometer. Always good for testing parts for failure.

USB flash drive with all of your utilities.
Linux boot floppies / CD's.

A wired rotary disk-cutting tool. These come in handy far, far more often then they should.

A Lazy Susan. I hate having to constantly turn machines around.

All of the assorted parts you need to put into computers... Things like spare case screws, spare PSU's, little rubber feet...

All of the assorted screw drivers, etc, that you need to fix computers, which i'm sure you have figured out by now.

A bin of dead parts for scrap. Sometimes you just really need a face pannel from a networking card. You'll figure out what the usful scavengable parts are pretty quickly.

A pen and a notepad, believe it or not.

Booting and power

[commanderfoxtrot]

I'd definitely agree with the USB key/CDs.

Much of the time spent fixing is in diagnosis. Having a selection of USB keys and CDs to boot into memcheck and Linux environments for analysis will be very useful. Also have a huge disk around with *everything* on it.

You'll need power. Lots of power. Put a few mains sockets on the wall, and get a couple of big computer power supplies screwed to the wall with extra-long cables. Just make sure you have a means to turn them on and off- modern power supplies can be a pain in this respect. On the ATX ones, I recall you ground pin 10 to turn it on... but check this!

I'd also say my Leatherman has fixed more than its fair share of VCRs and computers :-)

Re:More than one console . . .

[peragrin]

Don't forget a test bed system. For times when you need to format a Hard drive, Duplicate a drive, test a piece of hardware, etc.

You don't even need a case for the thing.

Re:More than one console . . .

[SlamMan]

Make sure your KVM has the ability to auto switch between inputs on a timed interval.

Re:More than one console . . .

[dagr8tim]

That's a good list, might I add afew small things.

The alcohol prep pads that hospitals use. I usually buy them at home health places cheaply. Bottles of rubbing alchool with q tips and swabs. And lastly, those large anti-bacterial computer/equipment wipes.

I hate starting on a case that's covered in tar because their owner smokes. That's bare min an additional $25 fee if I have to wipe the computer down to work on it.

I also keep assorted fly swatters/heavy hand held objects to squash anything that tried

Re:More than one console . . .

[bernywork]

I thought that "Easy to reach canned air. Easy to reach paper towels" was your sig, and I thought, "Yes , an air horn and toilet paper could well be of a lot of use"... Well, that is if you have the air horn and they don't know you are behind them.... Then THEY need the toilet paper.

An excuse calandar...

[spammeister]

Just like the BOFH! In him we trust... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/08/11/802_11bofh / [theregister.co.uk]

Known Good Parts

[Fortress]

IMHO, nothing helps more with diagnosing hardware problems than some tested hardware (video card, processor, RAM). Makes isolating a problem or conflict dead easy.

workbench ...

[tim_uk]

Lose the CRT and wall mount the 3 new LCD panels (you are getting 3 new LCD panels, right?)

Two more 4 port KVMs would then fit right in. Wall mount those as well. Keep as much bench top space as you can free. The overhead bins are a GREAT idea.

Also several drawers running along the front. Norm (New Yankee Workshop) has a plan for a storage/workbench that would adapt really well for your requirements. Flush mount the power outlets (double the amount you think you will ever need) either to the bench surface or the wall. Beware static! ;-)

Re:workbench ...

[Andy_R]

Don't lose the CRT. Make sure you have a good one, that can cope with a wide variety of resolutions and refresh rates - you never know what some idiot has set their screen resolution to (and wants it left at because they like it), and LCDs are a complete pain to look at if you are not feeding them their native resolution.

Illuminated Magnifier

[mr.henry]

Maybe I am getting too old, but I've been thinking an illuminated magnifier [jensentools.com] would be pretty useful to have for my bench.

BTW, check out the Xcelite PRO-SERIES ergo screwdrivers (model #XPE500 for the 5 piece). I love these things -- using quality German made handtools is really satisfying. I think I paid $25 at Fry's.

Klein screwdrivers

[dickens]

I used to truly love my Klein [kleintools.com] screwdriver. There it is right on the home page. Sniff.

It made the Xcelite tools seem like toys.

For example...

[Yeti.SSM]

In random order:

1. Something to remove dust from the computers' inside and from the workbench (compressed air, vacuum cleaner, both...)
2. Voltmeter
3. Spare PSU
4. Air conditioning (posibly in conjunction with 1)
5. Trash bin

Dixie cups

[DragonHawk]

Don't forget a bunch of dixie cups. I find the small (3 oz) plastic ones work best. Keep em stacked up in a nook that will keep them from falling over.

What for? Easy: For parts. When you start taking something apart, put the bits in a dixie cup. When you move to the next level/layer/component, put a new cup in the old one. When you're done taking apart, put an empty cup in the top of the stack. Now you've got all the parts, in a nice neat stack, reasonably safe from spilling, at a cost so low it's al

Test bench

[xx01dk]

Not quite related, but my bench is hand made, stands 43" high in a "L" shape, conforming to the layout of my single-car garage. I've got a kegerator in the corner, with the tap mounted 2' from my main PC's keyboard. Also have a 29" tv mounted bar-style in the corner, angled down with an Xbox and PS2 and a 5-disk DVD player attached.

My "console" consists o my main PC, an WinXP machine on an Intel 540 with Raptors in Raid-0 and 2Gb Ramm in the center, with a 2Ghz Dell laptop on the left and a 2.4 Ghz Fed Core server on the right, all controlled via Synergy.

The "L" is 6' by 34" on one leg and 8' by 34" on the other, along the wall. The wall portion is designed to fold down via gate hinges and gas shocks (not installed yet...it's heavy)in case I need to actually get a car in here.

My Fed Core tower has external, front-mounted IDE and Molex connectors, and it and the WinXP pc use LCD's to save on desk space. I've got a 2'6" rack box with nothin in it at the momment but plan to add sound gear and maybe a blade server of some sort when the fundage comes. :)

The workbench surface itself is white laminated 5/8's inch particle board stock which works great for optical mice. I wired in a 12-outlet power strip along the short wall and another 2-outlet box in the middle of the long wall.

It's quite cozy in here and I love having all this surface to work on whether standing or sitting on my barstools. And currently, I have Pyramid Heffe on tap which doesn't hurt either. Here's a link for a pic:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y41/testbenchdude /DSCN2545.jpg [photobucket.com]

Hope you all like. I know it's kinda off-topic, but I do have a full range of miniature/microminiature solder repair equipment availible to repair PCB's and such. :) Lemme know what ya all think, and if you're even in the SD area, look me up and I'll pour ya a pint.

Re:Test bench

[moonbender]

Well, TBH the first thing that came to my mind was that I wouldn't want to sit on a bar stool for the amounts of time I typically spend at the computer. I imagine the ergonomics geeks won't be happy with that, either. You've got an office chair there, but that's probably for console gaming, I can't see how you would use the computers sitting in it.

Re:Test bench

[cloudmaster]

Make sure that you periodically fold the things up. I shoudl've made my workbench foldable. As it is, since the bench is a flat surface that's rarely disturbed, it accumulates junk rapidly. If it folded up to the wall when not in use, I might actually have a flat surface to work on once in a while. :(

PSU

[Patrik_AKA_RedX]

A loose power supply. One that you can actually switch on without a mainboard attached. Very conveniant to get that forgotten CD/DVD out the drive, or to test drives.

A harddisk with linux installed on it

[jurt1235]

Probably SuSE or another flavor with a large hardware support kernel right out of the box. Makes testing for hardware bugs days faster. Just mount the disk to the bench. Maybe a disk per interface type (ATA/SATA/SCSI).

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

From my list of requirements for the ideal PCbench

[Qbertino]

• standardised personal tool harness for everybody. Power Screwdriver, small wrenches, bits, e-meter and maybe a headlamp/MiniMag with headstrap.
• Bench Bays with rounded corners. Bench surface should be as high as your lower rib when standing (ca. 130cm)
• 1 or 2 barchairs for those occasions when you want to sit down
• adjustible LED-driven spotlight armlamps down from the ceiling
• named part components at the wall end of each Benchbay
• named screw components!
• lists of SOPs between the bays
• fixed bolted-on open and caseless PC setup for quicktesting hardware between bays
• ready harddrives with all standard installs of you shop
• small parts grabber handy
• remotely switchable vacuum in other room with a thin hose to every workplace
• optional: remote compressor with dentist air nozzle at every workplace
• anti-static grounding at every workplace + anti-static armring installed
• telefone/intercom at every workplace, maybe with headset
• wooden working surface, thick and well waxed, oiled and polished
• enough room for supplies/finished product trolleys
• customer waiting zone inside the shop with coffee and magazine rack - especially if your shop is impressive and well kept

That's all that comes to mind just now.

Re:From my list of requirements for the ideal PCbe

[snookums]

standardised personal tool harness for everybody. Power Screwdriver, small wrenches, bits, e-meter and maybe a headlamp/MiniMag with headstrap.

What on Earth do you want an e-meter [wikipedia.org] on there for?

Re:From my list of requirements for the ideal PCbe

[giverson]

Apparently you haven't studied the history of psychiatry.

Re:From my list of requirements for the ideal PCbe

[bernywork]

Double checking their answers while they fill out the questionaire before you start work on their PC?

From: http://lotl.cc/humor.xs [lotl.cc]

1. Describe your problem:
2. Now, describe the problem accurately:
3. Speculate wildly about the cause of the problem:
4. Problem Severity:

      1. Minor __
      2. Minor __
      3. Minor __
      4. Trivial __

5. Nature of the problem:
      1. Locked Up __
      2. Frozen __
      3. Hung __
      4. Strange Smell __
6. Is Your Computer Plugged In? Yes_____ No______
7. Is It Turned On? Yes_____ No_____
8. Have you tried to fix it yourself? Yes_____ No_____
9. Have you made it worse? Yes_____ No_____
10. Have you had a "friend" who "Knows all about computers" try to fix it for you? Yes_____ No_____
11. Did they make it worse? Yes_____ No_____
12. Have you read the manual? Yes_____ No_____
13. Are you sure you've read the manual? Yes_____ No_____
14. Are you absolutely certain you've read the manual? Yes_____ No_____
15. If you read the manual, do you think you understood it? Yes_____ No_____
16. If 'yes', then explain why you can't fix the problem yourself?
17. What were you doing with your computer at the time the problem occurred?
18. If you answered 'nothing' then explain why you were logged in?
19. Are you sure you aren't imagining the problem? Yes_____ No_____
20. Does the clock on your home VCR blink 12:00? Yes_____ What's a VCR? _____
21. Do you have a copy of 'PCs for Dummies'? Yes_____ No_____
22. Do you have any independent witnesses to the problem? Yes_____ No_____
23. Do you have any electronics products that DO work? Yes_____ No_____
24. Is there anyone else you could blame this problem on? Yes_____ No_____
25. Have you given the machine a good whack on the top? Yes_____ No_____
26. Is the machine on fire? Yes_____ No_____ Not Yet_____
27. Can you do something else instead of bothering me? Yes_____ No_____

Re:From my list of requirements for the ideal PCbe

[Dr. Evil]

Power screwstrippers should be outlawed for use on PCs. Horrible things. I never recommend a shop where I see them being used... The longest screw on a PC is about 6mm, and most are fine metric threads screwing into brass, aluminum or sheet metal.

The following is a good start....

[EvilCabbage]

Rule 1, you can never have enough bench space. Get more of it.

Without knowing exactly how much business you're doing, I'd look at fitting out with the following:

- 4 x 17" CRT monitors. KVM's are nice and all, but there will be occasions they're just too painful to bugger around with.

- Magnetic screwdriver set. Phillips, flathead and hex.

- A good cordless drill. These do come in handy.

- Assorted cable ties. I don't know about you but I'm fussy with my cable work in PC's, gotta keep things neat and a bunch of

A naked woman...

[BladeMelbourne]

A naked woman on a work bench - that's how real men get "the job" done :-)

A POST Card

[malraid]

And list of common BIOS POST codes. One of the best tools ever in the trade

Well, in reality

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Shit boxes full of old cables, 386SX motherboards, 4M memory sticks, 14.4K modems, etc. Day-old coffee cups, half-full pop cans, overflowing ash trays, McDonalds wrappers...

quality digital MM

[pbjones]

buy a high quality digital multimeter, I recommend fluke, I have used them for 30 years and love 'em. a basic CRO is handy, but a CRO fast enough to work with modern computers is a waste of money. a Frequency counter is a better option. Serial port and ethernet tester. Good quality soldering tool, I like JBC, but we, the the service dept, also use basic Weller with the right tips, cheap and long lasting.

You can try buy cheap, but you need stuff that is good and accurate. We buy a lot of major top brand sec

Cleaning station

[jimcooncat]

Garbage in, garbage out! A dedicated cleaning station with a good vaccuum set and supplies cordoned off from your workbench area would be a first stop for every computer that came in your place. Keep your workbench area clean with a dust bunny containment room!

Stuff I'

[SoupIsGood Food]

Some things to consider -

1)KVMs with both VGA and DVI in, and a DVI out to a flat panel hanging on the wall behind the bench.

2) Big, scary Server PSU with a gazillion power connectors. Maybe two or three, and lots of extra molex connectors.

3) A universal notebook PSU with all the lead attachments. You know someone's gonna drop off a stinkpad and not leave their power brick.

4) A universal wall wart for powering troublesome peripherals that the owners neglected to bring the PSU for.

5) Multimeter

6) Nice soldering station, with adjustable temp and a variety of tips.

7) Big, honking USB drive for emergency backups.

8) Wireless Router with ethernet ports, and a gigabit hub to uplink to it, to test out networking ports, read Fark on company time.

9) Electrical tape in three colors, duct tape in two, gaffer's tape, superglue and a hot-glue gun.

10) Spare cables: USB in all its variations, ditto Firewire; Mini Din-8, DB9, DB25, Centronics and gender changers and adapters for all involved; PSU cords; Cat-5 patch cables, crossover cables; bluetooth mouse extenders, RJ-12 phone cords.

11) A n00b intern willing to go look for a bluetooth mouse extender cable.

12) A bluetooth mouse, to test bluetooth functionality.

13) Ordered bins with commonly needed hardware (plastic washers, mounting studs, screws, etc.)

14) Lotsa wireties in various sizes and colors.

15) Professional grade anti-static setup your technicians won't bother to use, all the while rubbing their shoes on wool sweaters and playing with styrofoam.

16: big magnifying glass on an articulated arm, preferable with a bright light.

17: Pin vise, and one of those aligator-clip armatures. And a real bench vise, too.

18: heat gun for heat-shrink connectors.

19) Locking toolboxes assigned to each tech, inventoried in the morning and at night. You'll save a ton of money on tools. What goes in those boxes is another post in and of itself.

SoupIsGood Food

6X3 is plenty of room

[Lumpy]

going to a non standard custom bench size is silly.

chuck that CRT for a LCD on the wall, get the techs a small sized keyboard with a trackball integrated for even more space savings. we also mounted a small shelf 6 inches from the desk surface that is only 6 inches deep to hold the soldering and desoldering stations the digital VM/Oscope as well as the other test gear. one dedicated PC with their testing software, a digital storage scope app that can go to 2ghz as well as a digital VM card in it plus ot

Re:6X3 is plenty of room

[Lumpy]

IBM. they have one for in a server rack that is perfect. Plus they feel hefty enough to kill people with. we bought ours from the IBM server rep no idea on model number but they are a replacement for their drawer mounted units.

KVM?

[juventasone]

While a kvm may sound like a grand idea, in practise it really isn't (or shouldn't be). When a system is busy scanning, installing, etc, you need know when its ready at a glance, anything else is wasting time. At our shop, we simply have a big 6-station bench. Each station has its own 15/17" CRT, keyboard, and mouse, and room for 1 or 2 towers.

Band aids

[rf0]

Going by recent expierences expect to get a lot of cuts.

desk mod

[shortscruffydave]

Install something around the edges to create a raised lip to stop screws and other small bits'n'bobs rolling off the bench and onto the floor

What would I have on mine?

[hattig]

I wouldn't bother with having a massively deep bench, maybe 2 foot deep.

I'd wall-mount a couple of LCDs - nothing fancy of course.

I'd have wells for various screw types, so they were always on hand.

I'd have a bare component test bed, for component tests. Set it up with a working setup, then when you need to test a PSU, Motherboard, etc, just swap it into the working setup.

Around 10000 plug sockets and a wall mounted 4 port switch. Also a wall mounted KVM?

An area to queue up units for testing - a 'quick test' area and a 'long term repair' area too.

A set of wall-mounted optics for easy access to spirits.

A mini-fridge for various mixers for aforementioned spirits.

Compressed air tank for cleaning dust out of cases, fans, etc.

PS2 and USB keyboards. PS2 and USB mice. USB hub, Firewire hub.

Music system.

Invaluable

[BS405397]

I have to say that one of the most useful things I've gotten my hands on in a long time is an IDE to USB cable. It saves tons of time hooking up drives that aren't able to boot for one reason or another for data extraction. All that slaving to another system and rebooting gets old real fast, but I end up working on quite a few laptops. I'd also reccomend a hard drive duplicator/maintainence station. As far as tools go, everyone has their favorite for one stop shopping, but I prefer the Swiss Army Cybertool. It's way more useful than the model with a USB drive, and has nearly every commonly used PC maintenance tool I need, including a pin for reset buttons. A bit bulky, but I wouldn't be without it in my pocket. I don't know what type of KVM you use (USB or PS2), but I would also reccomend keeping a genuine opposite, read not using adapters, keyboard and mouse handy. Typically, I use PS2, but every now and then I get a system like a Compaq iPaq (the desktop not handheld) that only has USB, and doesn't work well with adapted PS2 devices.

Vid cards come to mind...

[Rooked_One]

how often do you hear that awful 3 beep'er? Lets say some PFY has decided to flash their 9800pro to an 9800XT but forked it up... I hate to be scandelous, but pop a PCI vid card in there, reflash it, and take that puppy to ebay and make another hundred bucks.

Also, I *heard* through the grapevine that a supposed Geek Rescue cd is avaliable on some torrent sites. And i've also *heard* that what is on there is quite useful in many ways. I'm sure you already have a disk similar to this, but what i've *HEARD* about this cd is that it is pretty handy. ;P

Re:Vid cards come to mind...

[Rooked_One]

i believe it is something like "[BEST BUY] Official Geek Squad MRI CD"

I just woke up... what can I say...

let's see...

[pointbeing]

• one monitor, KVM switch and grounding mat per tech. suspend the monitors from the ceiling a little above eye level.
• keyboards and mice in under-bench drawers for each tech.
• two Gigabit Ethernet switches - one connected to the Internet, the other connected to a samba server in a sandbox.
• a boatload of screws (both sizes), those nylon motherboard standoff thingies and fiber washers.
• tools? those magnetic screwdrivers that Compaq used to give out with the replaceable bits are really nice. so are hemostats. and nut drivers.
• couple spare hard drives and an IDE adapter for 2.5" drives for each workstation.
• hardware disk duplicator.

Cordless drill

[nuggz]

A cordless drill is better than a screwdriver.

Other than the normal bits and pieces you already have, hopefully in bins what more do you need?

Requirements have changes over time.

[pcjunky]

It used to be that repairing computers involved electronics knowledge. You would need to troubleshoot down to the chip level and replace the bad component. Motherboards back a couple decades cost upwards of $500 to $1000 depending. A well equiped bench would have Multimeter, Oscope, Logic probe, Chip tester, eprom programmer (bios upgrades),

Nowadays the motherboards (and most other pc components) use ASICs (aplication Specific Integrated Circuits). Even if you could troubleshoot down the that level replaceing them is very difficult (surface mount ICs mostly) and getting the parts just as tough. With motherboards costing only $80 to $200 it's not worth it. The one repair we still do is replacement of bad caps. These are a VERY common failure and are easy to spot (bulged tops). To unsolder these you will need a soldering station (irons don't get hot enough and aren't temp controlled) and a desoldering vacum station. The ground and PS PCB plains are so large they draw away mass amounts of heat when trieing desolder them. We generally have to use both the iron and the desoldering tool at the same time (one on the back of the baord, one on the front) in order to clean the cap lead holes. The caps? We get plenty of those from old/bad motherboards.

Power supplies are another thing we sometimes repair. The thing that most often fails is the fan. Like to MB's the caps can fail here to, however these are much easer to desolder.

A post diag card is helpfull to some degree but the best thing to have is lots of spare parts to swap. Old eqipment (486 and earler) is valuable for caps and fans. Allways salvage these parts before trashing.

I find most tech work these days involves not hardware repair but software repair. Most of our time is spent getting rid of spyware and viruses and fixing OS screwups (frequently reinstalling windows). The key here is to be able to work on several machines at once because you spend a lot of time waiting for things to happen (virus/spyware scans, os installs). Have at least three hookups for machines so you can work on three at once.

If you really want some test gear (machine that goes ping) for wow factor consider a used Oscope from ebay (~$100-$200). Analog is good enough here. I personally like HP test equipment here. You should be able to get a 100MHz or better scope for very little money. If nothing else they look impressive. A freind of my father used to have a sign in his office that read "If you can't dazzle them with brilance, baffle them with bullshit".

antiVirus Software : for install and resale

[ayeco]

Have plenty of Antivirus software availble that you can install and charge the client for.

Tech Bench Musts

[Pseudomaniac]

USB Floppy Drive
USB NIC with XP recognized driver set
BART PE CD
Knoppix CD
350 Watt or greater ATX power supply
Digital Volt Meter
Paperclip

Something no one mentioned

[e.coli]

a grounding strap across the entire front of the workbench. Something you can touch whenever or lean into to disapate static.

Anti-static Mats

[Ed Almos]

Don't forget those anti-static mats and wrist straps.

Ed Almos

My previous employment

[csirac]

The workshop was compact but the main repair bench had 12 "stations", 6 stations on each side opposite each other. They had keyboard trays underneath them, and all cables (IEC mains, RJ45 LAN, telephone, VGA, keyboard) came up from the bottom through a hole about 50cm inward in a bundle for each station.

This main bench was about 5 metres long.

Running down the middle of the table from end to the other was a narrow shelf raised up about 30cm above the work area. It was actually a "double" shelf, a second shee

Mains power safety, etc.

[csirac]

I forgot to mention each IEC mains cable and each power point on the main repair bench was powered through a "lifeguard" personal mains power safety box. Thing. Although the earth-leakage detection on most modern mains circuits installed into your building will cause a trip at a certain threshold current on their own, these "personal" mains safety boxes (usually aimed at tradesmen with power-tools at a building site, I think) are designed to have a much lower threshold current and hence the theory is, that

A sledgehammer

[ceeam]

Don't forget the sledgehammer!!

It depends on what kind of service you provide

[KillerBob]

Seriously, it does.

That said, my regular "tech bench" consists of a known-good CDROM, a *big* hard drive, a copy of BootIt NG which I use to make images of the "client"'s hard drives on said big hard drive before I go changing anything (yes, I could do it with Linux, but BootItNG is a lot easier in that respect, particularly if the host system doesn't support bootable CDs), a known-good PCI NIC and an Internet connection to use it with, a known-good modem, and a phone jack.

On the software side, I keep a copy of System Rescue CD (http://www.sysresccd.org/ [sysresccd.org]), which has MemTest+, Aida, FreeDOS, and a whole bunch of other bootdisks in its boot menu, as well as a bunch of really useful Linux tools such as gparted, QtParted, ClamAV, PartImage, etc..

Oh, and all the stuff that should be obvious: wrist straps, grounding strips (make sure they actually connect to a ground and aren't just a long strip of metal), etc..

Ultimate Boot CD

[Throstur]

I worked for a company doing warranty repairs for some major brands. Other people have mainly listed all the essentials you need, but there is one thing we used a lot which I notice noone has mentioned - the Ultimate Boot CD. I won't go into detail what's on it, but one of the tools we used most were all the hard disk diagnostics tools from all the HD manufacturers. It also has partitioning tools, memtest, virus scanners, and other tools. And best of all, it's free and 100% legal! I recommend it for any PC

Re:Ultimate Boot CD

[Throstur]

Yes, I managed to forget the link - here it is: Ultimate Boot CD [ultimatebootcd.com]

Ask your employees

[oniony]

Surely the best placed people to know what is needed are the people using these desks. They know what's missing, they know what's not used, they know what would make their life easier.

my service bench

[v1]

As a macintosh repair tech I probably have a little different spread of toys than many PC techs, but I suspect the basics will be much the same. Some items have been added after a moment of inspiration, and have made life a LOT easier.

* A parts caddy. One is a large caddy, and is full of parts of course. Start out with one at least twice as big as you think you'll need, then add a second one later when you run out of space.

* Another parts caddy. This should be a smaller one, with 36 small drawers. DO NOT put anything in this one, it's for service. This is a huge idea. When taking apart a laptop, each step of disassembly, pull out a drawer and put the parts/screws/etc in the drawer and set it on the bench to the side. Set them down in a row as you take apart the computer. This does three important things for you. First, it makes it unlikely that you will lose a part or try to put a screw in the wrong place. Second, you now have a distinct order in which to reassemble the computer so you don't put a panel back on and then realize you have to take it back off to attach a cable. Since you can't always count on having a service manual, especially for a laptop, this is very important. Third, all the parts for each assembly step are grouped together, which also helps prevent delays in reassembly and "hmm I have parts left over...". This is good for laptops and desktops, but the biggest benefit is really anytime you really have to tear something apart.

* KVM or similar switch, to switch video between your service monitor and up to 3 other VGA sources. USB switchbox to switch your keyboard between your service machine and up to thee other computers. Four VGA/USB combo cables to run around with. Number them, and number your switchbox positions. Some people opt for the "tap shift three times" KVMs, but I personally prefer the good ol pushbuttons.

* Tools. You can never have enough. I have particular need of my precision screwdriver set from Sears. It includes philips 0, 00, and 000 which are essential for laptops. It also comes with t5-t8 and small flatheads too. I also have a larger set of long handled philips 1 and 2, plus a set of large torx wrenches for t powermac g5's.

* multimeter. Doesn't have to be an expensive one. You need to test voltage (BIOS batteries, power supplies) and continuity (is that wire good?) $15 from radio shack is fine.

* firewire card in your service machine, and firewire enclosure, opened up, on your bench. This is for quick hookup and removal of drives for testing and repair, without having to reboot your machine. Another very "big idea", this will really help you. I *strongly* recommend a Granite Digital "FireView" bridge board, it has an LCD display and menu buttons and can be used to test a drive without even hooking it to a computer - extremely helpful and costs only about $100. Hard to find good diagnostic hardware of any type for that price. This will easily save you hours of frustration trying to track down a gremlin that ends up being a flakey or failing hard drive.

* air compressor, and a place to use it. (outside) You will be thankful for this when a machine comes in that looks like it was fresh dug up out of the ground. You'll see the worst ones at least twice a month, and they will send up a huge brown cloud when you first hit them with the air. Make sure it does not have a tool oiler in line, (yes, I've seen that done to a computer, once) and it would be better still if someone knew how to empty the water drain valve occasionally.

* cables and adapters. Like USB A-to-B, USB A-to-mini, firwire 6-6, 6-4, and 6-9. Parallel, maybe even some scsi (they come in handy from time to time). Serial, old and new style. Don't forget a DVI to VGA adapter (both ways!) because you will need them.

* floppy drives. Definitely need a 1.44mb usb floppy, and should also try to have a zip-100 if at all possible. Zip 250 is optional but good. DVD burner also manditory, for data backups. Anything else probabl

Okay, here's what you need

[multipartmixed]

1. Run a piece of angle iron along the front of the bench. Ground the angle iron with 10 or 12 awg wire. Touch this frequently and forget about those PITA straps. Or attach your strap to it if you're a paranoid numpty. ;)

2. Grab some anti-static mats. Screw them into your workbench. This will help you avoid scratching the customer's equipment, and if you ground them, further mitigate accidental ESD.

3. Make sure your floor isn't a friggin' carpet. If it is, lay some laminate floor over it.

4. A shelf for monitors. You want a monitor ever 3.5 feet or so.

5. A couple of "test beds", matching your most common configs. These are easy to make. Take the removable part of a case that the motherboard bolts up to, bolt a motherboard to it. Grab a piece of MDF. Bolt the case back to the MDF, and then bolt a harddrive, CD-ROM, and floppy disk to it. You can put this away and take it out easily, and it won't succomb to the "oh I'll just use this..." syndrome so easily.

6. A network jack and a phone jack for each monitor (or more).

7. An internet-connected PC with a floppy drive and a CD-Burner.

There, you'll all done. Assuming you have a shelf full of spares, you can fix anything -- safely and quickly.

AN ERASER!

[drunkennewfiemidget]

No, seriously! Go to your local Staples, and buy a bag of those big, pink, school erasers.

They work WONDERS for cleaning contacts -- RAM contacts, AGP, PCI, etc.

I learned this from an electronics engineer. I've taken *MANY* RAM chips that failed memtest, cleaned them off with the eraser, put them back, and voila! Never seen again.

I don't know how it works or what it is that does it, but erasers remove corrosion from copper.

Re:AN ERASER!

[dpaton.net]

<EE hat firmly in place, nomex coveralls fully zipped>

This is less than stellar. First off, if you actually see copper on RAM, AGP, PCI or any other edge card connector something is seriously f'd up.

Edge cards are plated with tin/(lead)/nickel, or (90% of the time) gold. Gold is used because it doens't really oxidize, and if for some reason it does develop a microscopic layer of oxide, it's conductive and friendly.

Any gook on the edge connector is the result of something else touching it. Kimwipes and

More ideas from another small shop.

[UncleRage]

In no particular order.

1.Live Linux distro of choice (Ubuntu & Knoppix are both good choices) for recovery as mentioned below many times. These are invaluable -- I also include a labeled Ubuntu Live disc w/ every consumer job I perform.

Winternals is not without it's merrit. Especially if you have a high volume of 2k/XP systems and are unfamiliar/uncomfortable with Linux.

2. USB keydrives. 1 GB's are very cheap now. No reason not to have a couple w/ at least one set up for quick boot/recovery on drive.

3. A larger monitor (as mentioned previously). 10-12 hours of staring at small screens makes me cranky. Even a 17" is a vast improvement (w/ minimal footprint increase).

4. Seperate workbenches are a must: I've got a similar small workbench (5x4x5) specifically set for hardware work. That bench is for nothing but hardware installs, soldering work, etc...

My second bench (a 7' table) is set up for installs, troubleshooting, etc... It has a small desk (actually, an old 80's industrial printer stand) with a 19" monitor, keyboard, mouse, KVM and a small 5-port linksys 10/100 hub (that ties into the main network). I am able to perform 4 simultaneous install jobs at once. Greatly reduces workload.

5. A dedicated fileserver is a good idea. All it takes is a single job where the client insists (and is ready to pay) to have 100-200 GB of data backed up, for you to realize that shuttling data around on 1 GB keydrives is for the birds.

6. An older laptop or SFF desktop (1GB P III, 512 MB Ram is more than enough... and very affordable via ebay -- less than $100 for a SFF Compaq Deskpro EN) for rolling out patches -- eliminates the necessity of burining weekly updates. This reduces network clog, and greatly lowers bandwidth requirements. You could pull double time w/ your file server... but I prefer for each piece of equipment to have a single dedicated purpose (not to mention, downtime is greatly reduced when one of your boxes goes down).

7. Creature comforts. Whatever those may be.

That last part may sound silly, but it isn't. All it takes is to get slammed w/ 7 or 8 straight 14 hour days and you'll soon realize that a handful of 15 minutes breaks with something enjoyable is a sanity keeper. As my shop has a LAN gaming center along with the PC sales and repairs, I have a 27" TV behind the counter attached to several old(er) consoles (Genesis, Saturn and a Dreamcast). It works with the overall theme of the business... and I really appreciate a quick button masher during crunch times. Along with this goes decent speakers for music, a small fridge, a pair of comfy slippers and a pair of sneakers for a quick 15 minute walk at some point in the day.

I'm sure you'll figure out more things as time goes by (specific tools, a third station for console repairs or custom builds, magic fingers vibrating bed, etc...) The biggest thing is to maximize your space and be comfortable in it. I cannot stress this enough. If you're not comfortable, you cannot make your clients comfortable -- and if they are not comfortable, they won't come back.

Anyway... good luck and congrats on the increase in business. Every time a friend of mine comes in to town he bitches and moans and looks at my little shop with envy in his eyes. He's always fond of saying... "Yeah, doing it on your own and not shoveling it for the man. You've got it made".

Meanwhile, he's raking it w/ a major player, benefits, and all the toys he cares to buy (like a nice new convy Jag). Ah well, I guess it always looks better from the other side. ;)

A firewall. Seriously.

[myov]

Firewall off your test area. Viruses, worms, malware, irc, bots, etc. all want to get out and infect things, or will flood your network trying. Allow access to only the things the boxes need to see (windows update, antivirus/spyware, your local file server, etc). Block everything else, or at least be able to turn it off. Cache the updates and save bandwidth.

Log everything and watch the logs to see what the malware is trying to hit.

Ideally, use a managed switch and separate each port (or a few cheap routers) so that machines can't infect each other while they're connected.

Emergency repair tool kit

[hcdejong]

... which consists of a rabbit's foot, a magic wand, a crystal ball, and a hammer. A hand grenade is optional.

(from the Repair FAQ [drexel.edu])

Re:i'd put..

[biryokumaru]

Actually, in my experience, the single most useful tool for computer diagnostic/repair (next to a philips screwdriver, of course =]) is Linux. Whenever a friend needs to reformat or gets some virus that keeps their machine from booting, or some such, I just plug their hard drive into my Linux box here and do whatever needs to be done. Recently, my Chief (I'm a Navy recruit) needed some files recovered from a system who's admin password was lost and/or corrupted. I just hooked his hard drive into my system, recovered encrypted NTFS files with ease and burnt'em onto a CD. Yes, a 15" CRT is nice, but if all you're hooked up to is a BSoD, it's not terribly helpful =] Also, both the laptop offerings are called "m5000 Series." Typo?

Re:i'd put..

[shancock]

Yes,
and bootable Linux CD's like Knoppix http://www.knoppix.com/ [knoppix.com] and Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com/ [ubuntu.com] are also good tools. The CD's can be loaded toward Windows, or Linux/BSD tools depending on the system in for repair.Essential for out of the office repairs and analysis but also useful at the bench.

Re:i'd put.. IDE expansion and SCSI conversion.

[Forge]

I would have kits and cables to conect any disk to a very simple, test "box" SCSI, SATA, IDE (2.5" & 3.5"). including a PERC 3/DC (Dell RAID card) Box is in quotes because it would never actualy be closed.

It should have a multiboot disk drive (Linux and a few other OSs.) a 2nd very large drive for dumping rescued data. A DVD/CD burner and DAT drive for returning rescued data to clients.

A small vacum cleaner and some canned air are esential (Broken computers tend to be dirty).

A set of Jewelers screwdrivers (For laptop work).

A Leatherman (look it up)

And last but not least; an anty static wrist strap.

PS: Ohh and a competent enginear. :)

Re:well..

[fshalor]

1. Ability to make coffee: insinkerator hot water tap (replaced our bunson burner and fleaker.) We still use a glass funnel with coffee filters. Fresh grind and then pour 190 deg F water over them in a careful method. Perfect concentrated brew.
2. Multimeter. *vital*.... never leave home without it.
3. Complete screwdriver/torx set.
4. Spare towles for laptop disembowlment operations.
5. Stack of "fresh" drives. Never trust an old drive!
6. Rubermaid container full of untouched, pristine, NIB IDE cables. Another must have. I tend to swap out IDE cables when ever I get a box just in case. It's saved me a lot of problems.
7. Trusted powerspuplies.
8. iPod hooked to sony stereo system.
9. KVM.
10. 19" LCD Samsung 930b + Sony trinitron E400.
11. Laptop cooling pad.
12. 7pt USB hub.
13. 8 pt netgear switch (home bench) and 24 pt gigabit switch (foundary) at work.
14. Safety gooooogles and electrical tape. (I guess for sledge-o-matic operations safety.) Must have my PPE's.
15. Swingline stapeler. (Not red.) Vintage.
16. TI-89.
17. Perrys Handbook for Chemical Engineers. (DOn't ask why I have it near my comp workbench.... you don't want to know.)

Re:well..

[tintub]

You're right, spelling wise, but chose a bad way to make your point - espresso is Italian for "very quickly" :-)

A common misconception, but actually espresso is the past participle of esprimere, meaning to express or to press out, and relates to the process of making an espresso coffee.

Re:well..

[tintub]

I prefer to attribute the origin of the name espresso to the "quick" way it is prepared in opposition to the usual italian way of preparing the coffee (at home) by using a special coffe maker tool called "moka" that produces coffe lighter than the espresso.

Gah! No, no, no! A moka (such as the classic octagonal aluminium pot that you are talking about) is an espresso machine. It's a cheap stovetop version designed to emulate the cafe espresso machines. The point of espresso and the reason an espresso is called an espresso is that the water (or steam) is forced through the coffee grains at high pressure, which is exactly what a stovetop espresso machine does. The heating of the water in the lower half of the moka builds up the pressure, until the steam is forced through the coffee, up through a tube and into the top half. You are right that it doesn't match a cafe espresso, you don't really get a crema with a moka. Another disadvantage is that because the water is boiling when it passes through the coffee, the coffee gets a bitter burnt taste when compared with a cafe machine, which runs at about 90 degrees C. All the same, it's still an espresso.

Re:Very first thing...

[Errtu76]

Really. Getting rid of the KVM is something i would never do. I don't know if you worked in a computer repair shop, but having a workbench with so many keyboards is just not practical. Ofcourse, this also depends on how many persons are going to be working on it at the same time. Two people and you'll want 2 keyboards with 2 KVM's, etc. Just buy some extension cords for the keyboard/vga/mouse and you'll be fine.

Re:Very first thing...

[SlamMan]

Check out Belkin's Enterprise line of KVMs. Hard to beat a daisy chain-able 2x16 ps2/USB KVM for $1000

Re:FP?!? Get some priorities, man! Slashdot is dyi

[tomhudson]

His numbers are off - its worse!

He's including the AC posters (so remove half the 13,545,370 posts), so divide by 2 to give 7.25M

He's including accounts that are no longer active (so remove 3/4 of the rest). This gives under 2m, but we'll say 2m

Now, there's a difference between the MEDIAN and the AVERAGE. 1 active poster will make more posts than 100 mostly-inactive posters, so lets take me as a median for an active poster - +6000 posts (nowhere near some of the others, but wtf) - 2m/6k = 333 active p

Re:This.

[Patrik_AKA_RedX]

A Logic Analyser: This is a device that looks a bit like an overly fat ballpoint pen with a wire attached. The idea is that you attache the wire to the ground of a circuit and with the tip of the pen you touch a part of the circuit and the leds (and with some: a buzzer) indicates if it is logicaly "high", "low" or oscillating. These can be switched between CMOS and TTL logic levels. Pretty handy to test low speed digital circuits, but pretty much useless for anything else.

Re:A sledge-o-matic

[networkBoy]

Right, so after scrolling down a while and finding nothing on the actual topic of tools:
1) 2 metcal re-work stations
2) 2-3 rolls of solder, varying diameter
3) 2 bottles of liquid flux (someone will steal one)
4) IPA, swabs and cloth wipes
5) Machinist chest (small) loaded with the RightTools (TM) (ESD safe snips, strippers, pliers, etc.)
6) bin box for scrap devices and solder soaked wick for "proper" disposal
7) PC w/ 17" LCD, mounted on a swivel arm.
8) the kitchen sink.

other:
* One bench with an inspection mic

How about real tools like ...

[Forge]

I would have kits and cables to conect any disk to a very simple, test "box" SCSI, SATA, IDE (2.5" & 3.5"). including a PERC 3/DC (Dell RAID card) Box is in quotes because it would never actualy be closed.

It should have a multiboot disk drive (Linux and a few other OSs.) a 2nd very large drive for dumping rescued data. A DVD/CD burner and DAT drive for returning rescued data to clients.

A small vacum cleaner and some canned air are esential (Broken computers tend to be dirty).

A set of Jewelers screwdriv