English-speaking computer repair

For the “what little it is worth” department:

I bought a used notebook (Asus A6) and blew out the motherboard within two months . I took it back to the store, apologized for bothering the staff, and asked them nicely if they would send it back to the manufacture to be repaired. Perhaps because I had purchased some items from them in the past and perhaps because I was polite and non-demanding, they eventually agreed. A few days later, my notebook was repaired and I wasn’t charged anything.

I mention this only because ;

  1. attitude matters. Most Taiwanese will be happy to help you if you are calm, polite and soft spoken. Whereas screaming and yelling might be effective in New York (the squeaky wheel gets the oil), being angry, loud, or demanding will get you nothing but contempt for your ‘barbarian’ ways.
  2. the original manufactures will do the best job repairing their own products. Had the store declined to return my notebook to the manufacture, I would have located the factory on my own and gone there with my notebook. A smile, some quiet polite conversation, an understanding attitude… this will get you very far in Taiwan.

Again, for what little it is worth.

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Anyone know of one of these somewhere in Taipei? My friend’s laptop recently contracted the blue screen of death or something similar and he’s not sure where to go. Any tips? Thanks!

Is it just a software problem?
If so I’m sure I could help, but otherwise, I dunno

Or you can try this:
acer.com.tw/service/onsite/index.htm
call this :0800-580-200

Does anyone know a computer repair shop that has English speaking staff?

Lots of folk know of plenty of computer shops with English-speaking staff, all over Taiwan. Tell us where you are, exactly, and you might get more help.

Well… I sure as hell don’t own a computer repair shop. But I can fix just about any desktop related problem given some time. Send me a PM if you need my rescue :bow: :cop:

For those with computer issues and need an English speaking person to help them out, give me a call. My name is Danny and I ran a repair shop around Los Angeles for about 11 years until I gave it up early last year. I live in Linkou near Taoyuan, but head into Taipei City quite a bit (its boonie out here). If you live between Chungli in the south and Neihu in the north, give me a call. I do have a job here as well as having to take care of my niece some evenings, so my service will not be one of those “30 minutes or its free” deals. My job is pretty slow right now so its not a problem for me to head out during the day. Its evenings that I may have the most trouble with. I am an insomniac so late nights are okay by me.

Let me state some of my views on comptuer repair so I don’t have to go into my little spiel everytime…

Anti-virus is a false idol. Nobody is going to know what kind of code that 12 year kid in Eastern Europe is going to write until he releases it onto the world. The sasser worm many years ago (the one that made your comptuer restart itself every 60 seconds) proved that fast malicious code delivery is very difficult to stop in today’s connected world. The thing that is making your software slow, prone to crashing, or just plain not working is malware or spyware. There is no stopping spyware as it is up to the user to install it in their systems. We all know there are very few free lunches, why shouldn’t it apply in the digital world? That “free” song you just downloaded, the “free” picture of a pantyless celebrity, or the “free” cooking recipe all come with a price. That price is the lack of privacy of all of your digital content in your computer. Your digital life is broadcast out into the world to the highest bidder and you agreed to it by clicking on the link. Anti-virus is not going to stop you from clicking on something, and it may or may not know how to fight the malicious code you just loaded into your computer. The only real way to fix it is to erase everything, good and bad. Reformat is the term and it is usually the quickest and most efficient way to fix ANY software problem. The problem is that one really has to be vigilant with their backups. Documents, pictures, music, favorite websites, or anything you would like to have again on your computer needs to be backed up often. Unforunately, programs such as MS Office or Photoshop cannot be backed up due to the way Windows is designed and the programmers thinking of “Why would you need to backup the program? When you BUY the software, you get the disc and its simple enough for you to stick in a disc and click 3 or 4 buttons.” For the files and content that are created with these programs, Microsoft gives you a free backup utility with most of their operating systems. How many of you knew that, or better yet, use it?

Whew, it doesn’t usually take me as long to say it as it did for me to type it. To make a long spiel short, many times, its much easier to erase everything and start from scratch. Fixing just the particular problem is not as complete (there are always leftovers when taking out malware).

That being said, what I can offer are two options to fix your PC.

  1. I can come by your home or work, pick up the PC, repair it, and then drop it off to you at your home or work.
  2. I can come over and diagnose the problem and fix it right then and there. This may take some time. Imagine running a spyware scan that takes 3 hours and I will just be twiddling my thumbs during that time. Also, would take more time if your PC has a Chinese operating system as I cannot read Chinese well enough, yet.

As for costs, I honestly do not know, yet. Just give me a call, tell me your problem and where you live, and I’ll figure something out with you. I am not looking to make this a business, just something to make a few bucks and maybe meet a few expats like myself (I am… yelling at the top of my lungs…Chinese-American). That said, gas, tolls and parking really adds up.

My contact info:
Danny Chen
Mobile: (09)8883-8972
Email: dailo13@yahoo.com

Hi, I’m a Canadian Ex-pat living in Taipei City. My name is Peter. I provide professional computer repair in the Taipei area. I have traveled as far as Dan Shui to do a repair. I have several services that I offer. The first is an in home service. I will come to your home or place of business and provide on-site computer support. The second is an in-shop service. You bring the computer to me or we meet somewhere convenient. The next day I give you your computer back, fixed. My shop is located in downtown Taipei, Zhong-Shan District. Prices for in-shop service differ from those of on-site service. Please see my website for more information.

If you are in the market for a new computer or want to buy things at Nova or Guang Hua computer market. I’m also available to take people on shopping trips. I can speak Chinese and know several of the shops at Guang Hua, as I go there very often. Just last week I helped a Canadian woman replace her laptop. We went down to the market and she tried different computers while I translated for the shop owner. After she purchased her computer, I helped her get an English version of Windows and basic software installed. She knows that if she has any problems while it is under warranty that she can call me and I’ll help her get it repaired.

For more information about services I offer please visit the links below.

Peter 0910196632

[quote=“dailo13”]For those with computer issues and need an English speaking person to help them out, give me a call. My name is Danny and I ran a repair shop around Los Angeles for about 11 years until I gave it up early last year. I live in Linkou near Taoyuan, but head into Taipei City quite a bit (its boonie out here). If you live between Chungli in the south and Neihu in the north, give me a call. I do have a job here as well as having to take care of my niece some evenings, so my service will not be one of those “30 minutes or its free” deals. My job is pretty slow right now so its not a problem for me to head out during the day. Its evenings that I may have the most trouble with. I am an insomniac so late nights are okay by me.

Let me state some of my views on comptuer repair so I don’t have to go into my little spiel everytime…

Anti-virus is a false idol. Nobody is going to know what kind of code that 12 year kid in Eastern Europe is going to write until he releases it onto the world. The sasser worm many years ago (the one that made your comptuer restart itself every 60 seconds) proved that fast malicious code delivery is very difficult to stop in today’s connected world. The thing that is making your software slow, prone to crashing, or just plain not working is malware or spyware. There is no stopping spyware as it is up to the user to install it in their systems. We all know there are very few free lunches, why shouldn’t it apply in the digital world? That “free” song you just downloaded, the “free” picture of a pantyless celebrity, or the “free” cooking recipe all come with a price. That price is the lack of privacy of all of your digital content in your computer. Your digital life is broadcast out into the world to the highest bidder and you agreed to it by clicking on the link. Anti-virus is not going to stop you from clicking on something, and it may or may not know how to fight the malicious code you just loaded into your computer. The only real way to fix it is to erase everything, good and bad. Reformat is the term and it is usually the quickest and most efficient way to fix ANY software problem. The problem is that one really has to be vigilant with their backups. Documents, pictures, music, favorite websites, or anything you would like to have again on your computer needs to be backed up often. Unforunately, programs such as MS Office or Photoshop cannot be backed up due to the way Windows is designed and the programmers thinking of “Why would you need to backup the program? When you BUY the software, you get the disc and its simple enough for you to stick in a disc and click 3 or 4 buttons.” For the files and content that are created with these programs, Microsoft gives you a free backup utility with most of their operating systems. How many of you knew that, or better yet, use it?

Whew, it doesn’t usually take me as long to say it as it did for me to type it. To make a long spiel short, many times, its much easier to erase everything and start from scratch. Fixing just the particular problem is not as complete (there are always leftovers when taking out malware).

That being said, what I can offer are two options to fix your PC.

  1. I can come by your home or work, pick up the PC, repair it, and then drop it off to you at your home or work.
  2. I can come over and diagnose the problem and fix it right then and there. This may take some time. Imagine running a spyware scan that takes 3 hours and I will just be twiddling my thumbs during that time. Also, would take more time if your PC has a Chinese operating system as I cannot read Chinese well enough, yet.

As for costs, I honestly do not know, yet. Just give me a call, tell me your problem and where you live, and I’ll figure something out with you. I am not looking to make this a business, just something to make a few bucks and maybe meet a few expats like myself (I am… yelling at the top of my lungs…Chinese-American). That said, gas, tolls and parking really adds up.

My contact info:
Danny Chen
Mobile: (09)8883-8972
Email: dailo13@yahoo.com[/quote]
Dude! :roflmao: You might want to reword your ad a bit. I can’t imagine there are too many people who’d be happy to give you their computer only to have it returned wiped clean!
If other people are a bit like me and barely computer-literate … I mean, even I can back up files, wipe my hard drive and reformat. The point of paying someone to do a repair is to AVOID having to do that!

Sandman,

I, of course, would inform whomever it is exactly what I am about to do before I do it. As for wiping the drive, it is the most simple and time efficient way of fixing ANY software issue that most home users would encounter. I had mentioned another option of me sitting there while the computer does most of the work. It is not as thorough as there will always be bits of unknown and unwanted software floating around. Just like trying to uninstall any symantec problem. After uninstalling from add/remove programs, one will find at least 100 registry entries and files left in one’s computer. They all look harmless, but with people connected to the internet all the time now, you never know what one file may do. This is from a “trusted” company like symantec. Now malicious software will not be as nice and will “call up some friends” and have themselves a data collection party on your computer.

Any computer repair person would of course prefer to “fix” a computer rather than just reformat as it takes more time and thus, more money. I WAS happy getting calls to go to people homes and offices with my little all in one spyware/virus scanner and make three clicks, sit there for 2 or 3 hours chatting up a cute secretary, make one final click to “clean” the computer, and charge $120/hour for it.

Sandman, you are definitely very comptuer literate if you can do all that on your own computer. I doubt you even need tech support for your home wireless network and the last time you called tech support was because you had trouble connecting to the office computer and its only because you didn’t remember your password. Most people out there are not able to do that. I am offering an English speaking service with in-home delivery and service with a smile. If one doesn’t need that, one can take their computer down to their local repair shop and from personal research, pay 500NT and have their computer reformatted for them. If you ask them to not format and just fix the issues, they’ll either laugh in your face or offer their second born to you because one obviously has deep pockets.

Well, good luck to you.

[quote=“ImaniOU”]Right, so I have “called” Nationwide three times this week now, only getting a voice mailbox on which I have left my name and phone number and I have yet to hear anything back from them. I am crippled by the fact that I don’t have access to my computer when I desperately need it for work and I don’t have time for the waiting game.

Are there any other options, viable options where I do not have to go through a ridiculous waiting period (if “never” can be called a waiting period), to get my laptop repaired?[/quote]Laptops are made out of more custom parts, not much is replaceable. You might be better going to the manufacturers. Depends what’s broken.

Which brings us back ot the question…

Where can I find English-speaking computer services who actually respond to customers?

I have a HP Pavillion dv2000 with Vista. It is more or less inert when I turn it on. It could be a hardware malfunction (it got overheated a few times before I realized the external fan was not doing its job) or it could be a problem with software (I had a worm on it, and my anti-virus sucked at cleaning it out). Any contact information for someone who can both fix this problem and explain it in terms I can understand would be much appreciated as I have already wasted a week waiting on Nationwide to get back to me.

Ditto on the custom parts message. Laptops that are “inert” are usually not worth fixing since just finding the parts is difficult, much less cost efficient. The simple things that can be swapped out usually do not cause a laptop to fail. The company logo will still appear despite a hard drive failure. Only result may be windows is unable to boot up. Memory rarely fails so completely to cause a computer to not start. Its usually just read/write errors causing erratic behavior. Wireless cards/modems are easily swappable, but again, not likely the cause of a system malfunction. If the power light turns on when the laptop is plugged in, the power supply should be working just fine. Also, if it is just the power connector, power would be intermittent and with the battery out, the system will turn on and off randomly.

Couple of tips for people with similar issues as imaniOU. Take the battery out and just try to turn on the computer with only ac power, no battery. Most people leave the battery in while leaving the laptop plugged in all day. Surprising how often just taking out the battery, turning on the computer and then shut it down to reinstall the battery works.

Second, try plugging the laptop into a desktop monitor. Maybe the computer is working fine and its just the screen going out.

Those that are more technically inclined may want to remove the memory and insert it into another slot if one is available. If not, just switch the memory modules or simply remove and reinsert an exisiting one.

If those simple things do not correct the issue, send it in to a professional and in the meantime, start looking for a new laptop. For imaniOU, good luck with your laptop. I haven’t seen many people here in Taiwan with the dv series HP laptops as they usually do not like the bigger screen and media center functions. Parts may be hard to come by.

I met a great guy off here called Peter, very handsome, no just kidding. I cant find his original post but I googled him and found his google site about taipei english speaking computer repairs - I was somewhat confused as to what had happened to my PC. I left it safe and sound flew to England for a few weeks and came back and it was dead and powerless, long story short a bleeding rat had bitten through the switch cables!! Peter, who advertises on here looked promising so I rang him, he met me at a convenient MRT station, gave me a FREE replacement switch a few quips and a bit of advice and was on his merry computer fixing way, so that man comes HIGHLY recommended.

Thanks for the good review Gaz. It was no trouble to drop off the switch, since you met me while I was on my way back home.

I just want to leave the following message.

PC Solutions Taiwan wants to wish you all a happy Chinese New Year. Our office will be closed from Feb 8th to Feb 24. Please use the contact page on the website to leave a message.

Peter Saffold

My name is Ed and I just moved to Taiwan. If anyone needs Mac repair/troubleshooting, shoot me a message.

My name is Michael and I do repair and troubleshooting for PC’s and printers. I’m A+ certified and my last job was working for Siemens for desktop support and also worked three years supporting numerous Microsoft teams with their hardware. I haven’t formally put together a offsite/house call business but will see if there’s a market for it. I’m in Sanjhih and Taipei is accessible. Shoot me a PM if you have a question and I will do my best give you some options.

Michael

My name is John. I have lots of tools to allow me to fix anything. Even stuff you did not know could be fixed. I will charge 1 NT less than the other guys.