I first visited this customer in Mansfield about six years ago, when the hard drive in his desktop was failing. I replaced it with an SSD, and he carried on using the computer. About a year later, I was back to replace the power supply. The same PC was still on his desk when he called me a couple of weeks ago.
The screen was blank. The built-in graphics output wasn’t giving us a picture, so I fitted a separate graphics card and got it going again. Then the screen went blank a second time.
On my latest visit, I took out the memory stick and tried starting the PC. The motherboard beeped to tell me the memory was missing. I put the same stick back into the other slot, and the picture came back. Windows started and recognised all 4 GB. That got him going again, although it’s still unclear whether the original slot has a fault or the stick simply needed reseating.
The motherboard dates back to 2011. Spending around $100 to get a computer going again can make sense when it still does what you need and a replacement might cost around $1,000. Some of the earlier repairs bought this customer years of use. It’s hard to say how much time this one will buy. And with parts such as memory costing more than they did a year ago, waiting could go either way on price.
There’s also Windows to consider. This PC is still running Windows 10, and its processor doesn’t meet Microsoft’s requirements for Windows 11. That gives him a reason to think about an upgrade even while the old PC is working.
I’ll send him a quote for a new motherboard, processor, memory and case. I’ll check which existing parts are suitable to carry over, starting with the SSD. Reusing what’s still serviceable should bring the cost below a complete new PC and give him a supported path to Windows 11. He’s back up and running for now, and he’ll have an actual price to weigh up before deciding what to do next.
