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Welcome to the Restart Wiki! This is a place where those of us in the Restart community with experience and skills in mending appliances and gadgets can share them with those who are starting out, or whose own knowledge lies in different areas.

What it isn't: It isn't going to show you how to fix a particular make and model of device, which we leave to the various fix-it sites and many disassembly videos. You can also get help with a device on social media using #SOSRestart. Here, we concentrate on basic and widely applicable principles.

Who it's for: It's aimed at anyone with a curiosity about how things work and how to fix them. No prior knowledge is assumed. In the spirit of sharing knowledge as widely as possible, everyone is welcome to read it. To contribute, just become a volunteer Restarter in your community and contact us.

Like any wiki, this one is work-in-progress. Pages referenced below in red don't yet exist but are projected.

If you wish to reuse anything here, you are welcome do so under the terms of the Creative Commons ShareAlike Licence 3.0.


Repairing with others

General Topics

  • Scared to Repair? Some useful tips for complete beginners.
  • Tools - You can pick and choose what you need.
  • How to search - Tips on how to search for useful material.
  • Resources - Good sites for fixit or disassemble guides, service manuals etc.
  • Diagnosing faults - Common processes for troubleshooting
  • Sticky Stuff - How to stick things back together when they break
  • How to solder - An amusing but informative resource from Technology Will Save Us. (You don't need an expensive soldering iron though - it just makes it a little bit easier.)
  • Surface mount soldering - What you can do and how to do it by supplementing the tools you probably already have with a few inexpensive extras.
  • Case Studies - Our favourite fixes in which we learned something new, or which nicely demonstrated a diagnostic or fixing principle.
  • Finding a reliable professional - best practices and some London examples.

Basic electrics and electronics

A Restarters' Training Session makes an easy introduction to the following sections down to and including Electronic Components. It consists of a presentation with audio commentary, lasting around 50 minutes.

Computers and home office

Software

Computer Hardware

Peripherals

Electronic gadgets

Feature phones

Smartphones (except Apple)

iPods, iPhones, iPads

Headphones

Cameras

Satnavs

Home entertainment

Kitchen and Household items

Scratch Pad

Unfinished articles: