The diagnostic: what gets tested before anybody quotes you
The short answer
A diagnostic establishes what has actually failed before a part is ordered or a screw is turned. It measures charge behaviour and current draw, tests every function rather than the one you mentioned, and separates faults that look identical from outside. It is free and there is no fee if we cannot fix it.
Why guessing is the expensive option
Half the faults in this trade look like something they are not. A black screen on a phone that still rings is a display or a connector; a black screen on a phone that is completely dead is a different problem entirely. A phone that will not charge is a port, a cable, a battery or a charging circuit. A laptop that will not start is very often a charger.
Booking a repair for the symptom rather than the cause is how people end up paying for a screen and still having a broken phone. The diagnostic exists to stop that, which is why it is free: it saves us the wasted part as much as it saves you the money.
It is also why we ask what the device was doing when it started, and whether it was dropped or got wet. Those two answers narrow a diagnosis faster than any tool on the bench.
What gets measured
The current draw measurement is the one that does the most work. A board that draws nothing at all and a board that draws far too much are two different faults with two different prices, and neither can be told apart by looking.
- Charge behaviour on a known good supply, which separates a failed charger from a failed device
- Current draw at rest and when told to boot, which is what tells us if there is a short or an open circuit
- Battery health and how the cell behaves under load rather than idle
- Display, touch across the whole panel, and the sensors behind it
- Every camera, every speaker and every microphone, not just the one you mentioned
- Every port and every button, because damage rarely lands in only one place
- Signs of liquid, previous repairs and any physical damage that changes the job
Why we test what you did not ask about
Because a device that has been dropped hard enough to break a screen has usually taken damage somewhere else, and finding it after the repair looks like we caused it.
Because a second fault changes whether the first repair is worth doing. A screen on a phone whose battery is also finished is a conversation about both, and you should have both numbers before deciding.
And because it is the only way to hand a device back and say it was tested, which is what a 360-day warranty rests on.
What happens after it
- You get the cause, in plain wordsNot a part number. What failed and why, and how confident we are.
- You get the price, before anything startsOne figure, including the part, the fitting, the testing and the warranty.
- You decideNo is a complete answer and it costs nothing. Take the quote elsewhere if you like.
- If we find something else mid-repair, we stopYou hear about it and price it before it goes any further. Nothing extra appears on a bill.
- If we cannot fix it, you pay nothingIncluding for the diagnostic. That is what no fix, no fee means here.
When it takes longer than an afternoon
Intermittent faults. Something that fails once a day under load has to be caught failing, which occasionally means leaving a device running on the bench overnight.
Liquid damage, which is an assessment rather than a diagnostic: the board has to be opened and cleaned before anybody can say what survived.
And anything already opened by somebody else, where putting right stripped screws, torn flexes and wrong screws in wrong holes comes before the repair you came in for.
In all three cases we say so at the counter, before you leave the device, rather than after.
Common questions.
Yes, and so is being told the device is not worth repairing. There is no fee if we cannot fix it either, including for the diagnostic itself.
Usually the same day, and often while you wait for a straightforward fault. An intermittent problem sometimes has to be caught in the act, and we tell you that before you leave the device.
No. You get the cause and the price and you decide. Taking the quote elsewhere is a perfectly reasonable thing to do and it costs you nothing here.
Because a device damaged badly enough to break one thing has usually taken damage elsewhere, and because a second fault changes whether the first repair is worth doing. You should have both numbers before deciding.
We stop and tell you, with the cause and the price, before anything further happens. No additional paid work happens without your approval.
Where this leads.
Next in boards and data.
Something actually broken? Bring it in.
Free diagnostic, a firm price before any work, and a 360-day warranty on every completed repair.
Book a repair 24/7 · No fix, no fee · 360-day warranty · Free diagnostic