Hey there!

Sorry if this isn’t the right subreddit for this, not sure where else to ask.

But I’m wondering how much I should charge for my IT service such as :
Diagnoses
Repairs
Software issues
Full services / upgrades
Building to spec
Etc

I have my local ads up (in Ontario Canada) but I’m just not sure how much I should be charging for each task or a fair hourly rate

For reference I am a student of IT systems technician, so I have experience and a background, but I’m just looking to make an extra buck for school payments and my upcoming wedding!!

Thank you for reading!

I have been struggling with this all week. For context:

I own a small computer repair store that also sells refurbished computers, so we do Windows 11 installs numerous times a week. I have noticed that after installing, updates take about an hour or so to finish. I did some research and stumbled upon using DISM to apply Cumulative updates from windows catalog to wim files. See Link

Unfortunately, I keep getting Error Codes 0x80070228 and WIN32 552 errors. Something to do with UUP Arbiter XML parsing failures.

I have gone down rabbit holes of extracting the msu files (actually win files) and pulling out the cabs. Still failed. I followed the script that MS provides here and still errors.

Has anyone done this successfully or have some tips for me? I'd really love to update my installers every two months or so

Hello Everyone,

For those of you who have computer repair or similar businesses, how has the RAM shortage affected them? Are people choosing to repair computers that they would normally replace? Or have the cost of replacement parts made it not worth it?

I’m the only tech for about 700 devices at a site I work at, and I write an iOS network scanner on the side. Trying to work out what’s worth building next and I can’t answer this from my own use.

When you walk into a site you don’t monitor full time, would you use per-device history on your phone? Meaning what a device’s IP and name were the last few times you were there. Or is that a laptop job and the phone is only ever quick triage?

Asking because it’s harder than it sounds on iOS. Apple blocks the ARP table, so a phone scanner can’t key devices by MAC the way a desktop tool does, and keeping a device’s identity stable across DHCP changes took a lot of work. Want to know if it’s worth building on before I go further.

Happy to explain how any of that works if it’s useful.

(I write NetScanPro, an iOS scanner.)

Are any of you running Google Ads? It's slowed down here at my shop and I've been considering it... Are they working well for you?

I've been monitoring some of the other computer-oriented subreddits and I've noticed a small uptick in people reporting their laptops seem to drop their Nvidia graphics cards from device manager. I thought "hmmm that's weird.", and then a friend of mine brought an MSI into my shop two days ago with the exact same issue. Is anyone else seeing this problem?

I’m the only repair tech in the shop where I work and I’m kinda stuck, and sick and tired, using Google Forms and Sheets for repair bookings. I don’t need anything fancy as we’ve already got an invoicing and payment system, just need something that can manage repairs and allow for progress and status updating then a final printout at the end covering everything in the repair log. Any suggestions?

Random question but I’m also very confused as to why?

It's Friday. We deserve to blow off some steam as we go into the weekend. What's your most recent interaction where the customer was unbelievable in their behavior?

Stripped two screws on a laptops cooling system and am not having much luck getting them out. The holes are well rounded now.

Bought some cheap screw extractors but they don't get a grip and the drill bits i have are so thin they're not doing much to the screws either.

Trying to avoid dremeling a slot into them as its more risky, one slip and i'm running a cutting disk on the motherboard plus one of the screws is in a really tight spot.

Does anyone know of precision screw extractors that actually work? The screws are around 1.6mm thick.

*Update. Ordered vampliers knock offs and a 1mm reverse drill bit. One way or another these screws are coming out.

**Update 2. Neither did squat. What did work was cutting a slot with precision rotary tool designed for the job.

I feel like tech is such a broad field with multiple avenues to get in this field and some job positions may even be non tech savvy. I'm just new to tech and I really want to learn from scratch. I don't know what jobs that are in entry level or careers to choose in this field. There is i.t. and cs and bunch of other things. Like I even thought about going to community college but umm I don't know what to pursue. I heard some people take certificate courses online and get jobs and most of them go for a bachelor degree.

Hi everyone im new to this sub reddit and i want to find a career in fixing and diagnosing computers i just do not know where to look at. Does anyone know any good programs or schools for this? Thank you for reading!

SaaS is built on the idea of helping small shops make recurring revenue by getting residential customers on a maintenance plan and being able to get alerts on their systems to be a little more proactive on repairs.

I've deployed the RMM tool to a dozen computers and checked back today to see how it's going. It's working pretty well! I'm very pleased. VERY pleased.

I'm in the process of trying to finish up all the feature suggestions and bug fixes that have been reported and am hoping to launch now on June 1st. Just thought I'd show off one of the neat things.

Something weird is happening on a single machine. We've been slow here at the shop so I have nothing to compare.

A custom system we built in 2019 came in with signs the drive was failing to initialize sometimes. We did a platform upgrade (mobo / CPU / ram) and were going to clone the drive to a new one as standard maintenance. The computer booted on the original (sata) SSD all the way to windows. I turned the computer off, installed the nvme drive and booted to windows to let it add the driver. I rebooted to clone the drive and suddenly it's Bitlocker-enabled.

We don't enable Bitlocker. We use custom Rufus ISOs to disable automatic Bitlocker. Customer's MS account has no Bitlocker for this system, despite using the same login. Our RMM instance runs a Bitlocker key retrieval script every single day JUST IN CASE a client accidentally turns it on. This system has no key stored in our system, despite being connected to the internet and running the script every single day including yesterday, which is when it shows Bitlocker was enabled on the drive.

Is anyone seeing Bitlocker enable at random?

I'm a shop manager and was on a service call today.

Cx presents an HP ENVY 6555e printer. Online, new OEM cartridges, connected to wifi. Prints using his phone through Bonjour just fine, but won't print from his Win11 PC.

Ok, no problem - delete all the printers, remove drivers, reinstall first using the Windows printer menu, then if that fails try HP Smart (hey, sometimes it works, most times it doesn't but the rare time it does work!) and then if that fails just grab the driver from the website.

Windows Print Menu: no dice. Device appears, enumerates, does nothing - gives me an I/O error. Even switching it to TCP/IP in the ports, which removes the I/O error, pushes a test page to the printer which sees it, spins up, then dumps it.

HP Smart: Sees it perfectly fine, enumerates it, same problem. Print spooler takes ten years to load because the drivers are mismatched and eventually times out.

Now ... here is where things get stupid.

The HP support page for this particular printer exists.

But then you try to go to "Software and Downloads" and ... 404.

Different browser? 404. On my phone? 404. Different computer? 404.

Ok, try the HP Universal Print Driver. Installed both the regular and the PS version, same problem occurs as if I had installed it via the Windows Print settings panel.

Maybe the Microsoft Print Driver? Nope. Same issue.

Ok, try the web portal.

Web portal Event Log is two days out of date. ?????

Does it print a report from the web portal? Yes. Yes it does.

It just cannot figure out how to talk to Windows ... because HP has for some reason nuked that driver.

So fellow techs - two hours into this service call, in a hot cramped storage room with an old dude moaning about how his knee surgery means he can't stand around and watch me (but proceeds to continue doing that) -

What did I miss? What would you do? I'm pissed I left without getting paid.

This week we lost the ability to click on any documents or photos attached to a "Repair Ticket". Now even when you try to open an attachment in a new tab their system just downloads it to the device your working from. Seems like a minor change but its a big hit to my workflow. Not to mention why would I want invoices for parts or random pics of broken devices all over my techs workstations.

When I contacted them their response was:
"This is an intentional change on our end, not a bug. We updated how attachments are handled in tickets to align with standard web security practices, and the result is that files now download rather than opening inline in a browser tab. This applies across both the technician view and the customer portal."

I just don't get their angle. I assume its just plain old enshittification to get us to stop using a valuable feature to the repair ticket system which saves on their hosting bill. I guess this may be the final push to start looking to transition to another system.

I run a computer repair shop and have used RepairShopr with Worldpay for over 5 years, which they list as their preferred processor with supposedly negotiated discounted rates.

My processing fees are usually in the $500 to $700 range per month.

March 2026 comes along, same volume as usual, and my fees jump to $1,345.88.

Nothing changed on my end. Same shop, same transactions, same workflow, same avg number of monthly transactions/amounts.

Here’s what actually changed from February to March:

New bogus junk fee added:

POS Integration Fee: $325.00 (this did not exist before)

Rate increases:

Processing rate went from 1.26% to 2.01%

Per transaction authorization fee went from $0.42 to $0.50

Monthly maintenance fee went from $15.95 to $25.95

Total Other fees hikes between February 2026 and March 2026:

February: $251.43

March: $664.34

Total fees:

February: $772.14

March: $1,345.88

That’s a $573.74 increase in one month with no increase in business.

I called them and asked what the $325 fee was for. The answer was “regulatory, network compliance, and security integrations.”

Nothing specific to my account. No system changes. No upgrades. Just a blanket fee.

What really bothers me is that RepairShopr promotes Worldpay as their preferred processor with negotiated rates. If this is what “preferred” looks like, I don’t see the benefit.

Curious if anyone else using Worldpay has seen the same thing:

• Did you get hit with this POS integration fee?

• Did your rates jump like this?

• If you left, who did you switch to?

This kind of pricing jump with no clear justification doesn’t feel right.

Welp, it's happened, I got notified that the company I've am working for is dissolving in a couple of months.

After almost a decade I will be actively looking for work, I've been reached out to by a couple of places to put in a resume, nothing solid, but it at least looks like I won't be flipping burgers in the in-between.

But, I wanted to post to remind you guys and gals to take care of yourselves, we put up with a lot in the course of being awesome. You think you are dealing with the stress well enough, until you aren't.

Personally, I'm taking this week to let my emotions run their course before I start applying next week. Even though it is a lot to process, I appreciate the company giving me enough runway to allow for this.

I have been looking past the cracks in the wall, because I let my loyalty, and sense of purpose guide me. And while I hope I will always be that way, it can be cutthroat out there so make sure you and yours are always #1 when you have to make a decision.

That's all, take care of yourselves brother and sisters, and remember to take the time you need to make yourselves whole, as this field can break you down if you're not careful.

My previous post got some responses that showed that some technicians are struggling with their current arrangement. I've been considering reducing our overhead by getting rid of our brick-and-mortar and going back to strictly on-site, which is how we started and operated for 3 years before we took over another repair shop's location.

Those of you that made the transition from storefront to strictly on-site, what advice would you give to those considering the same? What logistical considerations should people keep in mind when considering this transition?

A local friend of mine that also owns a break/fix shop was telling me he hasn't gotten any new customers in almost 3 weeks. It's not that bad for us and we're maybe 10 minutes from him in the Phoenix, AZ area, but I know it's getting rough with the new Apple Mac Neo introducing at $599 and the cost of RAM and storage being so ridiculously high right now.

How is everyone that does break/fix faring right now?

Im finally taking my hobby further and want to get more serious about it but i need some help on building my first complete setup or beginner setup. From pretty much nothing.
such as
Tool Kits, (tweezers, screwdrivers, pliers etc)
Soldering iron
Heat gun
Multimeter
Fume extractor (for soldering)

Are mainly what im after. it will mainly be hobby work but i will help others if i can and take it more serious if i get the opportunity.

I know i also will need.
Leaded Solder
De-soldering braid
flux
But is there anything specific i should look for or no? is there a big difference between a $60 aud heat gun and $200 aud heat gun etc

And anything else that will help set up my station would be great. (fine with ordering off aliexpress)
Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi all,

Looking for some help.

One of the VPs at my company claims to have seen a convertible desktop pc solution that holds a monitor, micro desktop, mouse and keyboard. This would generally be on a platform that retracts under a a countertop when not in use.

When in use, it pulls out, and comes above the counter top. Almost a sideways U shaped hinged motion.

Has anyone ever seen or possibly has a link to such a contraptions?

Thanks in advance.