Sorry we couldn't have been of help sooner. There is a widespread practice of some of the repair shops to "sell up" on repairs by claiming some costly repairs are need when the problem/solution is actually very simple. A local TV news team wanted to find out just how pervasive "sell ups" really are, so they took a desk top machine to a well-known computer expert and had him render the computer inoperable; this he did by simply loosening a couple of cables, to the HDD and the mainboard. The news team then took the machine to several repair spots, including some of the big box stores and major office supply chain stores; they also took the machine to some of the smaller independent shops. Almost without exception, the team was told the cause of the failure was something fairly major and recommended replacing the HDD, the mainboard, and other costly repairs. There was one small shop, here in Hollywood, where they took the machine; the guy there opened up the machine, spotted the loose cables, refit them into their sockets and closed the machine up again. When the undercover team asked how much for the repairs, he declined to accept payment, saying it was only a minor, simple problem. The news team later returned to the shop to reveal who they were and what they had done. They guy was very surprised and somewhat flustered by the attention. When they asked why he had not taken payment, he again cited the minor nature of the repair and further said "it was only the right thing to do". The reporters made sure his shop and its address were prominently mentioned in the report...
Good luck to your daughter on her architecture course...
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