What to take to Computer Repair Jobs

When you are on a computer repair job many different situations can arise and in most cases it has nothing to do with what the client told you over the phone. Over the years I have created a kit which I bring to computer repair jobs to be prepared for almost anything. Here is what I carry to my computer jobs and hopefully this will help you create your own kit.

The Toolkit:
– Magnetic Phillips head screwdriver
– Non-Magnetic Phillips head screwdriver: Good when you are around magnetically sensitive objects such as 3.5 floppies.
– Pen Torch: Because sometimes its hard to see?
– Tweezers: Sometimes getting jumpers out of harddrives can be a pain in the a**.
– Little grabby tool: I have no idea what this thing is called, its like a little claw which I use to retrieve screws that have fallen inside hard to get places (such as inside the PSU).
– Lots and lots of screws: Screws for cases, screws for harddrives, screws with insulation for motherboards, screws for case fans and even a few spare jumpers thrown in there.

The CD Wallet:
My Main Repair CD of Utilities: Which includes, Hijack This!, TCP View, CurrProcess, Driver Collector, Network Scanner and Killbox.

– Windows XP SP2: Copy of my original. I have copies of all my legals in case I scratch a disk or leave it at a clients place.
– Windows XP Service Pack 1 & 2 Stand alone patches.
– Windows 2000: Copy of my original.
– Technicians Repair CD: Has alot of dos based utils such as low level formatting, harddrive diagnostics etc.
– Bart PE: A operating system boot CD which is very useful when Windows wont boot.
– Ultimate Boot CD: Similar to Bart PE but with many many more useful repair tools.
– Windows 98 SE: Copy of Original.

The Bag:
– Receipt Book
– 3.5 Floppy disks: Surprisingly needed alot.
– PS2 to USB Dongle and a USB to PS2 Dongle: Often used for damaged ports on clients computers.
– IDE Cable: To test harddrive problems suspected to be the IDE cables.
– Misc ISP information such as email settings and dialup numbers.
– 256mb USB memory stick: Used a hell of alot for tempory storage and having things that frequently need to be updated on it such as anti-virus’s.
– Business Cards!: Very very important.
– I also carry my laptop to most computer repair jobs which comes in useful when Internet connections are working

In the car when going to repair jobs:
– 2 PSUs: Both old and new type.
– 2 CD Roms
– 4 Video cards: 2 PCI and 2 AGP
– 2 Network cards: 1 newer and one old one.
– Small spare harddrive: Only 10gb

This is the contents of my gear and hopefully it gives you a starting point when putting yours together or made you think of some things that you should have with you. If you think I missed anything that I should carry on-site, by all means make a comment and let me know.