Technicians tool bag

[ADS_Tech]

We sub contract a few local techs, supplying them with certain equipment etc.
As a quick and easy toolkit, we were looking at these to give out. Works out about £220.00 inc delivery -

http://store.pc-diagnostics.com/Prod...=PCD%2DMASTECH

Anyone got an opinion on them or used these guys before?

[TangleWeb]

We sub contract a few local techs, supplying them with certain equipment etc.
As a quick and easy toolkit, we were looking at these to give out. Works out about £220.00 inc delivery -

http://store.pc-diagnostics.com/Prod...=PCD%2DMASTECH

Anyone got an opinion on them or used these guys before?

You could build that kit for less than $100, but it would be more work of course. That seems awfully overpriced to me.

~Dave

[Niclo Iste]

I agree you can make a better kit for a lot less. Or you can even make a great kit for the same price on your own.

[ADS_Tech]

The idea behind this is that we then know they have the same tools each.
There is also the time factor, as this would have been a quick solution.
Maybe I should look further into this.
Has anyone had any experience of these particular kits though..........

[TangleWeb]

You make a good point about consistency between kits. "Geek Squad", the PC support arm of Best Buy has a similar concept with their MRI CD. This same consistency can be achieved by downloading the most recent Hiren's UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD). The rest of the kit can be assembled for much less than the price charged by that supplier. A PCI/ISA diagnostic card (POST reader card) is very inexpensive, a Power Supply tester even less so. The value of this kit would be in documentation & updates. As you mentioned it's a quick & easy solution, if expensive.

I don't have personal experience on this particular kit, but perhaps others do. Most experienced techs build their own kits, so you may not have much luck finding someone here with experience with this particular product.

I do wish you luck

~Dave

[ADS_Tech]

Abandoned the idea now after reading these posts, and decided to make them up.
We have a Micro2000 PC POST card, which we have had a few years now.
Any one got any good advice on UK suppliers of PC and laptop POST cards?

[slgrieb]

Micro 2000 probably makes as decent a POST card for the money as anyone, but they really aren't all that cheap. Startech and Soyo make some in the $30 $45 range, but they don't have very thorough support for POST codes from older hardware, or even complete support for newer boards.

UltraX sells a board (around $800) that includes code in ROM that can run diagnostics (not just report codes) on many boards that won't even boot. When this works, it's a pretty nice suite of hardware tests, but it just doesn't work with all boards, manufacturer's claims to the contrary.

Personally, I have a couple of MIcro 2000 cards and an old Forefront Technologies card. Over the last few years, though, I've more or less decided that POST cards aren't very useful unless you intend to do component level repair on a board. Most of the defective motherboards I see these days are simply dead.

On rare occasions, I get something like a defective USB controller, and MicroScope software can test for that, but otherwise virtually all the problems I encounter these days are much more likely to be software issues.

These days, my normal tool kit is a couple of screwdrivers, small pliers, PSU tester with LCD voltage displays, Microscope, Mfgs hard drive diagnostics, Memtest 86+, and a whole slew of antimalware tools on a pendrive.

[ADS_Tech]

The card will save an age of fruitless testing though, so is worth using before any other work. But you are right, its not often you get a system that need such attention to detail. Its mostly software issues, or the board would either have obvious physical issues such as blown/leaking capacitors, or simply wont boot at all.
Power supply tester is essential, but these are cheap enough. That said, you know when you just sit in front of certain PC brands that the psu is prime suspect.
So. I will be ordering multiples of a PCI POST card, a laptop POST card, psu tester, voltmeter and then make up several CDs and a pen drive of standard diag tools. A screwdriver set, pliers, tweezers, and a cheap bag to put it all in, like these maybe? - http://www.phoenix-luxury.com/dolce-...33-p-7466.html

[Draggar]

A pink purse, ADS? (Check your link).

IMO the kit is overpriced. Out of my tool bag, what do I use the most?

Small screwdriver set (I mainly work on laptops) - $5-$10
8GB USB thumb drive with a bunch of free diagnostic tools ($25-$40)
IDE/SATA to USB converter kit ($20-$40)
Cable tracer (RJ21, RJ45, alligator clips) - $80
Dell Diagnostics disc (my company uses Dell computers).

If you work on desktops a lot then an inexpensive computer kit will also help - about $10-$20

You can get tons of scanners, cleaners, diagnostics, and utilities for free online (CCCleaner, CleanCache 3.0 etc..).

A cheap bag can run you $10-$20 but a good one will be about $40.

[ADS_Tech]

A pink purse, ADS? (Check your link).

.

It was meant as a joke for anyone who actually clicked on it!

All sorted now, at a cost of £110.00 (including bag!) each. The time consuming bit was sorting out the diagnostics, but this proved really useful, as it gave us chance to take a look at what we were already using. We changed a few, updated a few, and found a few new ones. Thanks.