Not everything is worth fixing, and not everything that looks dead is. Before I open anything up, I try to answer a few questions so I don’t sink an afternoon into something that was never coming back.
Topics in this note
- Is the failure obvious (a cable, a fuse, a button) or a mystery?
- Are replacement parts still available and reasonably priced?
- Is it safe to work on? Mains power and big capacitors deserve respect.
- What would a replacement cost, and is the old one better built?
- Is the repair a learning project even if it doesn’t work out?
Sometimes the right answer is to salvage the good parts and recycle the rest properly.