think tank forum

i have a lot of things that i need to repair. :(

* my car's brake lights aren't working. the fuses are intact and the bulbs are new, so i'm guessing it's the switch. i'll short the switch and see if the bulbs light up. if so, then i can buy a new switch for $15.

* my d90's baseplate is broken. it's annoying because the grip flexes more than it would otherwise. i haven't been able to source this part online. i'll ask nikon how much one costs from them (this would be nice because they might be able to print my serial number), but i might go the epoxy route.

* my thinkpad now has two broken mouse buttons--the trackpoint's middle button and the touchpad's left button. i took them all off to clean under them, and i removed them improperly. they all have pretty fragile nubs. i have sourced the former for about $6 on ebay; i think it would be difficult to fix with epoxy. i haven't been able to source the latter--all i can find is the entire palmrest+touchpad assembly.

* my mom spilled coffee on my sister's laptop. i told them to bag it up with rice for a few days, but it didn't help. the status leds come on for a few seconds, then it just turns back off. i took the laptop apart. all of the hardware looks fine except for a little riser board that holds the ac connector. it looked pretty corroded. she ordered a new one online. i'm pretty worried about getting this laptop back together. it's a dell. i broke the plastic casing in a couple places while trying to snap things apart. dell's body plastic is much more fragile than the thinkpad's. the plastic breaks shouldn't affect anything. but dell uses some weird connectors in their laptops. i'm really worried that i won't be able to reassemble the damn thing.

i got an electronic service manual for my car! :D

i'm pretty sure half of my brake switch is broken. i'm going to go test my theory.

Good luck putting the dell back together!

thanks.

yep, my brake switch is broken. i installed a toggle switch so that i can manually turn on my brake lights for now. it's pretty silly. also, i can't get a new switch for $15--they're at least $35. :/

Good going on the car!.. those things have too many things to break... and in too many places...

As for the dell.. ugh.. I was always told to bathe the things in distilled water then hairdry the daylights out of them.... Oh well.. :|

i found a brake switch at a local (billings) auto parts store for $15! it'll be in on friday. i'm grateful.. manually toggling my brake lamps isn't much fun.

> I was always told to bathe the things in distilled water then hairdry the daylights out of them

Haha I like your language. :D Though that seems like odd advice...

when i spilled diet coke in my x60 (within 1 week of owning it) and the i gave it a bath in contact cleaner (mostly alcohol i think). it was perfectly fine in a few days.

when i spill liquids on my laptops, i always turn them off immediately, unplug all power sources, bag them in rice for three days, then take them apart and clean all of the boards with q-tips and rubbing alcohol. this method has worked for me twice.

i'm guessing that my mom spilled coffee on it and kept it running. it fried some electronics in the vicinity of the dc power plug on a (riser) circuit board.

> I was always told to bathe the things in distilled water then hairdry the daylights out of them

i would guess that distilled water is a good insulator. but i would also guess that it isn't the best cleaner. so it's probably not a bad plan, but i doubt the cleaning would be super effective.

i think alcohol is pretty optimal. it's a good cleaner and it dries extremely quickly. i was taught to do this at the radio station where i worked for four years. i often cleaned our live console boards with q-tips and rubbing alcohol. :)

[quote]i would guess that distilled water isn't a good insulator. but i would also guess that it isn't the best cleaner. so it's probably not a bad plan, but i doubt the cleaning would be super effective.[/quote]

Cleaning isn't the problem, corrosion is.

so you want it to dry quickly and thoroughly to avoid corrosion?

i just called nikon usa's parts dept. it's awesome!

new baseplate for the d90 -- $8
new lcd window and adhesive for the d90 -- $5
shipping -- $5

i think it's funny that you can buy the bm-10 accessory from a retailer to cover your lcd monitor for $10, but you can replace the lcd window with a part from nikon for $5.

i'm amazed at how reasonably-priced their parts are! <3 nikon

i left my brake lamps on last night. my car had a dead battery this morning. luckily, campus parking services got me jumped within six minutes!

i can't wait to get a proper switch on friday to install.

i guess i will go get some epoxy similar to this and try to fix my laptop's buttons. i'm just worried that (a) it won't work because of the minimal surface area the epoxy has to bind to, and (b) that if the bond does fail, i'll end up with a tiny piece of plastic dropping into my machine somewhere.

the next best alternative is buying this and this, neither of which are cheap affairs ($25 total). i could take carpetsmoker up on his offer, but i'm afraid that shipping costs overseas would make buying those two ebay items a better deal.

i should probably get some epoxy anyway to fix up my sister's computer where i snapped a couple things (the damage won't affect usage--i broke the bezel around the audio port and a fan grille in one spot).

or perhaps i could host a ttf competition for fabricating keys! any interest here, nny and asemi?

i wonder if i can get access to my campus's fabrication facilities.

I think a key might be too intricate for me to fab very well :/

> i found a brake switch at a local (billings) auto parts store for $15! it'll be in on friday.

i went to pick it up at o'reilly auto parts yesterday. there were a few problems: (a) there was no order placed under my name, (b) the part is indeed $38, not $15 like i was told, and (c) the regional warehouse is waiting on an order for the part, so it'll be a while.

carquest was out of stock, but they sell them for $38 too. napa had one for $45. i bought it, installed it myself in like five minutes, and it works great. i'm just glad i don't have to toggle my brake lamps by hand anymore.

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i put my sister's computer back together. the new part that she ordered didn't change anything. like before, the leds light up for a few seconds, then they turn off again. i have no idea what to do at this point. i think it's too low of a level of a hardware failure for my to diagnose.

i told her to try to call some computer shops and get someone to give her a free quote. otherwise, she may just have to sell the laptop for parts.

any suggestions?

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i'm looking forward to getting the nikon parts and the new t61 keyboard from carpetsmoker. at least those should be clean fixes, as well as the brake switch. mystery laptop failures are annoying.

where in the hell are my nikon parts? i called, and a rep said they shipped a couple weeks ago. sigh--

Maybe they can't find your tower.

nah, it was shipped parcel post to my p.o. box. granted, parcel post is kinda slow, but usually not this slow.

i received them today! my camera is fixed! :D

i fixed up my laptop! i fixed the touchpad button with super glue. the trackpoint button had too little surface area at the break for glue to hold it together, so i'm glad i have the keyboard from carpetsmoker!

--

my sister and i are ditching efforts on her laptop. i'm going to pull her files off of the hard drive, then she'll probably sell it for parts.

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new issue!

my car has developed some weird electrical problem. sometimes when the car is off and the keys are not in the ignition, all of the cluster lights will turn on. tapping the brake pedal will turn them off. i think that the brake switch i bought from napa is faulty and is shorting one of the two circuits. i guess i'll try to return the part as defective and get a new one. :/ one morning my car wouldn't start because the cluster lights were on all night and in the morning when i got in. i had to get it jumped.

the nikon charge finally showed up on my credit card today. it only came to $13.92. weird!

--

i noticed that two buttons on my pair of slacks were coming a bit loose. i cut them off and sewed them on fresh! i wrapped the shank six times and did two double-knots to finish. i could have used some better knots to finish.

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i still need to fix:

my car's phantom electrical problem. it occasionally runs the battery flat overnight.

i have a nice leather coat with a broken zipper--one of the stops came off! i need to fix that somehow.

i told my sister that i could try to diagnose her laptop using a tool like this. has anyone tried one of these? do they work?

from what i understand, it's the same as just listening to beep codes. are you still looking to repair vs replace or just curious?

if it's something cheap and easy (e.g., ram), then i'll fix it. i'm mostly curious.

fucking battery is dead again today. i'm fixing this shit this week, damnit!

update
* my car's phantom electrical problems have disappeared.
* my sister's laptop will be sold for parts.
* i have mended holes in a glove and underwear by hand.
* my d90 had the control pcb replaced and was cleaned by nikon service.

in disrepair, to be fixed
* my car's brakes have some problems. luckily the calipers are still under warranty. these will be repaired on wednesday.
* my tripod head (498rc4) has a screw that got messed up. i'm trying to get a replacement from manfrotto.
* my file server's motherboard has two dead ata channels. i'm trying to get an rma from asus.
* i still need to get the zipper fixed on my leather coat.

turntable issues

:(

i feel like everything breaks at once. my stereo and my TV had (unrelated) issues on the same day. :(

When it rains, it pours.

I dropped my nexus one and cracked the screen. got a new one on ebay and replaced it today. I'm really surprised I didn't break anything.

also I really need a torx screwdriver set.

i have a wiha t8 that you may have. it's the proper size for the hard drive caddy in the macbook.

wiha is the best. i strongly recommend buying a wiha torx set.

yeah I'll probably buy a set relatively soon. thanks for the recommendation.

now I'm waiting on some 1/8" audio plugs to solder onto my headphones.

don't want my t8?

nah, I'll get a set soon enough. I got the torx screws on my nexus one out mostly with a tiny flathead screwdriver from an eyeglass repair kit.

success!

soldering is pretty easy. the tiny ass headphone wires are a pain though. I got new ear pads for these headphones too so it's like they're new again.

haha I love the glint on it. :D

just bought that wiha torx set!