are Geek Squad PC repairs any good?

[cheesychick]

I've heard that Geek Squad are big in the US, but has anyone here use them in the UK?

I've got a serious problem with my PC, but after a bad experience with PC World in the past, I don't want to take it back there. I'm just looking for alternatives, but there don't seem to be many where I live.

There's a little computer shop, up the road, but it looks a bit iffy!

I've never used Geek Squad or heard of anyone who has so it's hard to say.

In general I recommend using a local PC expert who will probably have more expertise than your big chains and charge less.

But if you can describe your problem here more then we can help guide you better.

I've used them for about four years. When you have a crisis they are fab - they take over your computer remotely and try to fix. Never had/used them for a hardware problem though. If your problem doesn't stop you accessing the internet, then for me they have been great.

@niceguy2

It's our home PC, so I can only reply from work!
Basically you turn it on, the fan goes crazy, then it shuts itself down.
We've had it apart, cleaned it and checked everything works as best we can.
Last resort is taking it to someone.

Then a small local computer shop would still be your best bet, in my view. If you don't know why it is doing what it is doing, someone who may have seen the symptoms before can probably help you out.

Just ensure they are willing to do a check for a relatively small (25-35 pound) fee and will get your approval before doing anything further, so they don't rack up some (possibly unnecessary) 'repair' fees, and be holding your PC for ransom afterwards.

Does it make any beeping noises? If so can you tell us what how many long/short beeps?

To be honest it sounds like a motherboard issue. Impossible to say for sure without seeing it and taking it apart. But either way you will probably find that by the time you've paid for an engineer's time to diagnose it, replacement parts and reconfigure the operating system that it's more cost effective to replace the whole unit.

You don't need a new monitor/keyboard/mouse. Just a new base unit. The data stored such as your photos etc can easily be transferred off as long as you can open the case and pull the disk out.