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Sorry to disappoint you - I just don't care for electronics and never did.
On the other hand, I love inspecting generated machine code after compiling a piece of software. One can't really trust these modern compilers and their crazy optimizations 
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Back when I was younger 8-15 I used to open stuff up more often. I started building my own PCs by the age of 12 because of that. But not before breaking stuff or not assemblying it right and get screamed at by my dad.
Today is a little more challenging for the following reasons:
1 - I pay for the gadgets, so usually I won't risk ruining it if it's not broken
2 - Except for PCs, components get really small and complicated that isn't worth to just open it up to figure out you won't learn anything
3 - Risks of damaging the beautiful casing and voiding warranty aren't worth the possible benefits.
Of course, if it's broken I'll try to fix it myself before calling the guy. Recently, on the risk of voiding the warranty I opened up the top part of my brother's notebook to clean up spilled soda. I was afraid to damage those keys that were held by very fragile and thin plastic components. Good thing everything worked and he can type again.
I love to tear stuff apart, it's just nowadays the lack of time and the risks make it worth in very few cases, that's why I voted for "it depends". My next task is to try to recover my neighbor's hard disk, which fails to read anything (possible mecaninc components broken), but I look forward to it, as long as it does not interfere with my mundane pleasure of the weekends. 
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I'll give you the cost argument...and when I finally shell out some serious dollars on a phone, truth be told, I won't risk wrecking the device.
Come on, Canada release data for WP7!
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Exactly! I used to build my own PCs when I was a kid because I couldn't afford to buy them already built. Now that I can afford it, who has the time? I still change my own oil though.
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Derek Viljoen wrote: I still change my own oil though.
Yeah, but I prefer with the help of a lady 
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If its a cheap device - I might.
The funniest thing about this particular signature is that by the time you realise it doesn't say anything it's too late to stop reading it.
My latest tip/trick
Visit the Hindi forum here.
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I have had to open up a few laptops to add memory. And with some Dell models that means you need to remove the keyboard to access the second channel. Usually by that time the warranty is long gone anyways.
John
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I have a Toshiba Laptop that I added memory to. After I added the memory the laptop would not start or boot. I found from other users that you have to take the battery out and hold down the Boot/Power button for a period of time. After that you put the battery back in and it will bootup like normally. Apparently, there is some CMOS RAM in there that has to be cleared.
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One of my pair of Sony earphone (with noise cancelation) would sometime start to stop working on one side when I turned noise-cancelation on. To make it work, I hate to twist the headphones a little and everything would be fine until I moved a bit too much.
I decided to opened them and see if I could do anything.
I open the half-broken side and *click* something fall off on the floor. it's a small metal pin with some adhesive paper on it. It was maybe holding something, I don't really know. Then, I start checking if all the cables are all right. They look like they do. They're so flimsy that I fear breaking one by looking at it so I rapidly close the headphones back without replacing the pin since I have no ideas where it goes.
Try them in my MP3 player, BAM. They work perfectly like day 1. lol.. I'm awesome.
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the engine cover on my truck. Rarer still to open a piece of hardware. 
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...if I haven't seen, how it looks like as long as it works, how would I know, how it should look like after I have finished repairing it?
Well, this applies at least to mechanical devices.
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." (DNA)
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You may also not want to repair it, instead want to make it behave in a way other than the one it was conceived to. 
In this case you don't care how it worked before... 
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A childhood compulsion, and as I've never grown up, I still indulge.
But it's much bigger than just opening up the box.
I prefer clear glass dishes. I even had those corning ceramic pots (it was some years ago) that you could see through whilst the cooking progressed (Now, I settle for stainless steel and a glass cover).
(Despite my best efforts, I can't seem to get a see-through camera)
As for PC stuff - I've only bought bare-bones desktops since my first experience with one - which, besides including all the manuals [to encouraging poking and fixing] means I get to look inside intimately.
Interesting (per original question), since the options for change are relatively small (and over priced), lap-tops aren't all that interesting while they still work.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek dissappointment. If you are searching for perfection in yourself, then you seek failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I take broken things to bits, even if I know I can't do anything with them, just for a look.
Anything that can be salvaged, e.g. switches, buttons, displays, get stripped and thrown in a box just in case they come in handy one day (I find more and more things are since buying a few arduinos to play with).
Maybe its something to do with The knack[^]
Dave
Find Me On: Web| Facebook| Twitter| LinkedIn
CPRepWatcher now available as Packaged Chrome Extension, visit my articles for link.
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DaveAuld wrote: Anything that can be salvaged, e.g. switches, buttons, displays, get stripped and thrown in a box just in case they come in handy one day
Yeah - I know the feeling. I've actually even used some of my saved stuff. Not sure why I don't through out the serial mouse and some of the slightly broken stuff . . . but hey, you never know.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek dissappointment. If you are searching for perfection in yourself, then you seek failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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There was a time when all good programmers had a screwdriver in their desk. The REALLY good ones had a tool kit! You never knew when you going to need to build a cable or wirewrap a circuit board  .
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I'm so glad to find out that someone else had heard of wirewrap! I was at Fry's Electronics and asked if they had wirewrap tools and supplies. I felt momentary joy when he said, "Sure, right over here." A few aisles later my heart sank as he showed me their supplies of cable ties, tubing, stick-on fasteners, and other stuff to neatly bundle cables together. I was wondering where the tools were that I was looking for, until it finally dawned on me what "wirewrap" meant to him!
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My laptop has a sticker which says-"No user serviceable parts inside do not attempt repairs."
Those people who recognize that the imagination is reality’s master we call sages, and those who act upon it we call artists or lunatics. — Tom Robbins
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2 years ago, i have bought a new high end computer with 4x 2,8 Ghz.
When i got my computer, the processor was only a 2x 2,0 Ghz. So i contact the seller for this mistake and he want to correct this problem and give me the right processor.
He has asked, if i can replace the processor by myself or i have to send the new computer to the seller and get it back with the right processor. I have answered with the question, if the warranty get lost in the case i replace a processor by myself.
He said: "No, but if you install a bios update, the warranty get lost.", so i have decided to replace the processor by myself. Now after 2 days, the right processor has arrived, i replaced the processor and find out, that the motherboard "needs" a bios update to be compatible with the right processor...
So i had to replace the 2,8 Ghz processor back to the compatible 2,0 Ghz processor, install the bios update and insert the 2,8 Ghz processor with the hope of working at least.
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Not in the last decade, if the bloody thing breaks then I will growl at a tech to fix it. If it is mine then I'll pay to get it fixed or use the excude to buy a new one. Thankfully I am at last affluent enough that I can afford to pay some other poorer bugger to do the hardware bits.
OTOH my son has inherited some rahter nice bits of hardware!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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... it doesn't matter.
Incidentally, my son broke the screen on his laptop.
1 year and 2 days after it was purchased!
That has cost £70 for a new screen and 3 hours of my life to install it!
------------------------------------
I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave
CCC League Table Link
CCC Link[ ^]
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so in relative terms quite expensive then...
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sunaSaRa Imdadhusen
+91 99095 44184
+91 02767 284464
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And you enjoyed every minute of those 3 hours, right?
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Well, truth be told, yes!
------------------------------------
I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave
CCC League Table Link
CCC Link[ ^]
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