# Recommended PC repair on the Costa Del Sol?



## teatime (Feb 12, 2015)

I'm based in between Fuengirola and Marbella and am looking for recommendations for a PC repair shop in the area. I know a place in Estepona but thought I'd ask if there are any closer that you guys would like to direct some business to?


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

teatime said:


> I'm based in between Fuengirola and Marbella and am looking for recommendations for a PC repair shop in the area. I know a place in Estepona but thought I'd ask if there are any closer that you guys would like to direct some business to?


http://www.computercity.es/


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## teatime (Feb 12, 2015)

Thanks, is it just a company youre familiar with or have you used them yourself?


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

teatime said:


> Thanks, is it just a company youre familiar with or have you used them yourself?


The guy who owns it is called Marcus,English and is partner a German.Been here probably 12 or 13year.I don't personally use him but I do know him.If you could tell me specifically what your after I might be able to help you a bit further.Do you want a rig fixing or a laptop.Myself I actually build rigs but I specialize in water cooled.At the moment I have just been building some Hackingtoshes using powermac G5's.One thing I will say if you do go to get a repair get a quote first and don't fall for the old oh it won't be expensive as some of the shops over here it's 35euros an hour which I don't have to say can add up.Respect.SB.


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## teatime (Feb 12, 2015)

Thanks for the advice. I need some sort of hardware diagnostics on a tower PC. It won't boot up, lights and fans come on but no beep from MB.


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

teatime said:


> Thanks for the advice. I need some sort of hardware diagnostics on a tower PC. It won't boot up, lights and fans come on but no beep from MB.


The only thing I can suggest is to take the side panel off and check that the ram is seated properly.Also check that the 24pin power is seated correctly and also the 4 or 8pin is seated correctly as over a period of time these can work loose.It's just process of elimination.What make is your tower is it one you have built yourself or is it something like a HP or Packard Bell.If it's a know make post me the model number and I will see if I can help a bit further.Not promising anything but you never know.Regards.SB.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Depending on how old your tower is the mother board battery might have died. Simple to replace but sometimes hard to find but an easy fix if that is it...


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

thrax said:


> Depending on how old your tower is the mother board battery might have died. Simple to replace but sometimes hard to find but an easy fix if that is it...


Should still boot even if the battery is dead and you should be able to get into the BIOS and the only thing it will say is time year and date are wrong.


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## teatime (Feb 12, 2015)

Its a homebuild, about 5 years old now. Asus P6T mb with an i7 920 CPU. Can't get into the BIOS as literaly, nothing happens apart from the fans coming on.


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

teatime said:


> Its a homebuild, about 5 years old now. Asus P6T mb with an i7 920 CPU. Can't get into the BIOS as literaly, nothing happens apart from the fans coming on.


Have the same mother board and CPU in my old test bench.dated now but were good in their day.I would say give Marcus a ring it's possible it could be the PSU.Hope you get it sorted.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

If the BIOS bat is dead then that might well be the problem


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

thrax said:


> If the BIOS bat is dead then that might well be the problem


What are the signs of CMOS battery failure?

Sign -1 Incorrect computer date and time settings. Also, the date/time keep getting reset even after you fix them in the BIOS. This is the most common CMOS battery failure sign.
There is a thumb nail there of my old test bench and I can take the battery out of the mother board and it will still boot.I think the OP needs to get it checked out.


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## teatime (Feb 12, 2015)

Well, up until this happened, I never had any strange behaviour from the CMOS side, the time, etc. always appeared as they should. Have followed some more steps from YouTube, removed each component in turn, cleared the CMOS memory, stuff like that, all with no results. Have also spoken to a forum member on the phone who works in computers and all come to same conclusion, the MB is dead! 

Decision I have to make now is this, A) replace like for like, ie, a socket 1366 mb to go with my i7 920 or B) upgrade both to later generation spec as it seems that a new generation AMD or Intel CPU with a modern 1150 MB or similar will not cost much more together. Thoughts?


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

teatime said:


> Well, up until this happened, I never had any strange behaviour from the CMOS side, the time, etc. always appeared as they should. Have followed some more steps from YouTube, removed each component in turn, cleared the CMOS memory, stuff like that, all with no results. Have also spoken to a forum member on the phone who works in computers and all come to same conclusion, the MB is dead!
> 
> Decision I have to make now is this, A) replace like for like, ie, a socket 1366 mb to go with my i7 920 or B) upgrade both to later generation spec as it seems that a new generation AMD or Intel CPU with a modern 1150 MB or similar will not cost much more together. Thoughts?


Before you shell out on a new mother board I would get the PSU tested as it might be possible that it's not putting enough juice out to boot.As for 1166 boards you might pick one up on ebay if you are lucky but they are not cheap.That picture I put up is the identical board to yours with the i7 in.In their day good CPU but when overclocking threw out a lot of heat.That's why there is a water block on mine going through a 360 rad with 6 Typhoon fans in push pull.At the moment there are some good boards around reasonably priced.In the power mac I have just built got a Asus republic of gamers with an AMD 8120 CPU and I can get some good clock speed out of that with 16gb of DDR3 ram it's pretty quick.Whichever way hope you get it sorted.Respect.SB.


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

soulboy said:


> Before you shell out on a new mother board I would get the PSU tested as it might be possible that it's not putting enough juice out to boot.As for 1166 boards you might pick one up on ebay if you are lucky but they are not cheap.That picture I put up is the identical board to yours with the i7 in.In their day good CPU but when overclocking threw out a lot of heat.That's why there is a water block on mine going through a 360 rad with 6 Typhoon fans in push pull.At the moment there are some good boards around reasonably priced.In the power mac I have just built got a Asus republic of gamers with an AMD 8120 CPU and I can get some good clock speed out of that with 16gb of DDR3 ram it's pretty quick.Whichever way hope you get it sorted.Respect.SB.


have a look on here PC Coste IT franchise. Offers on laptop and desktop computers. will give you a rough idea of prices.the one in Fuengirola is run by 2brothers.If you don't speak Spanish one of them speaks perfect English and there is one in Cartama that's run by Rafi.Had a few bits off him from time to time and he is one hell of a nice guy.


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## teatime (Feb 12, 2015)

Looks like a useful website, thanks.


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## teatime (Feb 12, 2015)

Ok, I thought I'd post this for future reference as I've just found what has to be the worst PC repair shop in Europe! Don't panic, site admins, I'm not going to slander a company in public, if you want to get your PC repaired and want to avoid this cowboy, send me a PM.

The store in question is in the Callehonda area and I took my PC in to him on Monday. Explained I wanted to confirm if the motherboard was at fault and asked if he had diagnostic tools to determine this. "sure, I'll look at it tomorrow and ring you" was his reply. It is now FRIDAY and he's just looked at it, phoned me to tell me this- " er, Hi, yes, youre right, it doesn't work" ..... Ok says I, whats the problem? .... "oh, well, im not sure, it's either the motherboard.... or maybe the CPU.....errmm, could be the graphics card maybe?"

So, kept my PC for FIVE DAYS to tell me what I already knew, wonderful! I'm off to order new parts myself online......


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