fishfixes

[fishfixes]

also who the fuck is using fucking pentalobe screws to secure the back

[fishfixes]

in this house we hate apple ❤️

[fishfixes]

yall know how much i fucking hate apple? you know how they seat the battery in the late 2012 mbpro? WITH ADHESIVE. THAT YOU HAVE TO USE FLAMMABLE. FLAMMABLE. SOLVENT TO REMOVE TO RELEASE THE BATTERY.

THE LI-ION BATTERY. THAT IS HIGHLY VOLATILE IF ITS CASING IS PUNCTURED.

[fishfixes]

new woop-paper :) art by @steveover600

[fishfixes]

acquisition!!!

oh im just gonna peruse craigslist for fun see whats in the computers category. finds a perfectly fine 2012 macbook pro for THIRTY FIVE US DOLLARS, just no charger??

[fishfixes]

omg the guy still has it im buying this thing for 35 dollars tmrw

oh im just gonna peruse craigslist for fun see whats in the computers category. finds a perfectly fine 2012 macbook pro for THIRTY FIVE US DOLLARS, just no charger??

[fishfixes]

oh im just gonna peruse craigslist for fun see whats in the computers category. finds a perfectly fine 2012 macbook pro for THIRTY FIVE US DOLLARS, just no charger??

[fishfixes]

totodile is my dell latitude e6400 with a custom paint job on the left speaker grill! the paint was chipping so i decided to give it a whole new color. totodile is dedicated for keeping track of all my repair projects.

he features a intel 2 duo T9950 cpu, a whopping 4 gb ddr2 800 mhz ram, and a fresh 480 gb crucial solid state drive. he has some sporty, flashy (but professional) dark blue LEDs to indicate when the drive is being read, or when wifi is active. i may or may not have broken the bluetooth card while disassembling him for spraypainting (i ordered a new one and will document how i install).

he runs linux mint xfce with no issues:)

[fishfixes]

so i got this old dell latitude e6400 that absolutely fucks wrt design but the paint on the left speaker grill is chipping off (ig bc its right underneath the fan exhaust so the heat caused the paint to deteriorate faster than the right side). and im thinking abt disassembling the whole laptop to just the palmrest, fully scraping off the black paint for Just that grill, then covering everything w tape and spray painting/clear coating the grill a diff color (maybe a metallic gray to match the battery, or a bright electric blue to match the indicator LEDs). am i insane for this. maybe. do i care? no<3

[fishfixes]

faqs (updated 05/28/23)

how'd you get into the hobby? one of my computers broke. started acquiring old computers from people. tested if i could repair them (i did!) and gained confidence. fixed my computer; felt accomplished. i also like the feeling of caring for something that would otherwise get thrown out.

is it easy to repair computers? on the whole, yes! but newer laptops (2015 and newer) can be challenging and a bit more expensive. apple is almost always annoying in some way. older computers are easier than new ones, and desktops are easier than laptops.

i dont open up imacs re: difficult and electrocution hazard. newer apple laptops are almost impossible to repair yourself (made this way by design).

where do you buy replacement parts?

- b&hphotovideo for fresh solid state drives (i prefer to support them over amazon)

- parts-people for dell OEM parts

- powerbookmedic for OEM apple parts

- ebay for everything else

what tools do you use? mostly the mako bit kit from ifixit! i have their master kit, but have yet to use the mobile device repair tools in this kit (but maybe soon!)

where can i check if my computer is upgradable? crucial.com is a great database to use if you cant find information on RAM and SSD upgrades from your computer's manufacturer. their database is mostly - but not completely - accurate, so check in a secondary location if you can (e.g. see if someone on reddit or in your manufacturer's support forums has made a post about upgrading)

what computers do you actively use?

i have three i actively use currently: a custom built desktop, a framework laptop, and a dell latitude e6400. the desktop i primarily use to play videogames; the framework is my daily driver for grad school; the latitude is my hub for all my repair records :) i'll post their specs and pictures of them soon!

[fishfixes]

about minnow: nb lesbian, 25. i repair computers bc i think it's fun (also a bit of a side hustle).

ongoing projects are linked here

completed projects are linked here

check out my faqs here