How to find a good out-of-warranty repair shop

[SteveDC]

The fan is dying on my out-of-warranty X61s. I've looked at the service guide and it's more than I want to take on. Computer repair shops are everywhere. How can I find one that knows what it's doing for this fix, either local (Washington DC area) or service by mail?

[RealBlackStuff]

Contact forum member underclocker, he's in DC and knows his way around Thinkpads extremely well.

[rkawakami]

In the "old days" it was usually word-of-mouth from friends or co-workers. Now there's yelp.com, resellerratings.com, epinions.com and many others. I guess the best way to find out if the shop is competent enough is to ask them for references from past customers. I've done this a few times with painters, roofers, plumbers, etc. so I don't think that asking for this information is out of line.

[SteveDC]

I did contact underclocker. He didn't have a shop to recommend and didn't want to take it on. Underclocker suggested I try it on my own using the hardware manual, taking pictures of the antenna and other wiring routing in case there was any confusion. So, I ordered a fan and did it on my own.

It turned out OK. I didn't need the pictures. It wasn't as bad as I thought. The antenna wires are routed somewhat differently than in the manual. There is a clamp that goes over the power jack and phone line jack -- electrical terminals on those screws have to go back on the same way (underneath the clamp tabs instead of over) or it won't fit right -- not clear from the manual. Somewhere -- I forgot where -- there is an extra screw that isn't in the manual to take something apart. Common sense sufficed, but beware. The manual is a useful guide but does lack some detail and is plain wrong in a couple areas, but no big deal for me.

You'd think a mechanical part that is going to wear out like the fan would be put on top of everything instead of the bottom, and not require pulling everything apart to replace. Like the keyboard. Oh well.