Printed Circuit Boards

[Gregg]

Where can I get informtion on how to fix printed circuit boards?  I am constantly throwing out expensive boards for what should be a simple repair. For example I had to replace a board in a microwave oven the other day because the surface lights would not turn off and on.  Thanks  Gregg

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

Well, for starters you'd need the schematic for the board so you can begin to troubleshoot it. These are closely-guarded secrets that the manufacturers won't release without prolonged waterboarding. Then you'd need to know how to troubleshoot electronic circuits-- this is actually the easy part compared to getting the schematic.

In the course of running this website, I've met a few electronics geeks who can take a circuit board and reverse engineer it to the schematic. But these guys had degrees in Electrical Engineering and some kind of top secret job with the NSA... that's all they'd tell, something about for my own safety, I dunno.