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My repair backlog grew thanks to slow part deliveries.
I had a laptop motherboard repair delayed for a week because the chip I needed was out of stock. Now I order common ICs in bulk to avoid this.
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alice_bailey621mo ago
That chip shortage pain is too real. I got stuck waiting on a simple USB port controller last month, so now I keep a few of those and common charging ICs on hand. @shane_hayes has the right idea with the basic repair kit. My bench drawer has little bins for the parts that always seem to die, mostly salvaged from old boards. It doesn't fix every wait, but it cuts down on the small annoying delays.
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smith.nancy19d ago
Salvaging parts is smart but you need to test them first. I learned that the hard way with a batch of bad mosfets from an old board. Now I keep a known-good parts bin just for repairs. @shane_hayes is right about the assortments, they cover a lot of basic needs. It turns a two week wait into just opening a drawer.
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shane_hayes1mo ago
Ever think about keeping a small stock of other common components too? I started a basic repair kit with common value caps and MOSFETs after a similar delay. Grabbed one of those 0603 resistor/capacitor assortment boxes, it's saved me a few times waiting on a simple part.
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charlie_jones351mo ago
In my experience, keeping a stock of common failure parts like GPU voltage regulators and BIOS chips saves a lot of downtime. I order them in small batches from reputable suppliers when prices are low. Your mileage may vary, but this approach cut my wait times for common laptop repairs by half. It's not a perfect fix, but it helps manage the backlog.
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