Troubleshoot and Fix Your Electronic Gadgets

Broken electronics are a sad side effect of the digital age, and a frustrating part of being "plugged in" to the world. If you own a computer, printer, television, DVD player, cell phone or most any consumer electronic, then you've almost certainly had something go wrong with it; in all likelihood, before its useful life was complete. These handy gadgets are great when they work-most of us can't imagine life without our laptops, cell phones and PDAs-but are a royal pain when they don't.

We're often told that when these electronics break down, it's best to just cut our losses, get rid of the defective device, and replace it with a new model, but it doesn't have to be that way. The community at Fixya was designed for folks who have, shall we say, less-than-perfectly-functioning electronics, but aren't willing to send them to the big electronics recycler in the sky just yet. If you've got a nearly working printer, washing machine, computer or just about other electronic device, this place is for you; they've got fixable solutions for more than 700,000 devices-and, with more than 3 million visitors per month, users are adding new solutions every day.

You'll need some ambition and a little technical know-how to tackle some of the projects, but for the determined DIYer, Fixya is a gold mine of fix-it solutions to keep your electronics running, their toxic components out of landfills, and the extra cash you would spend replacing things in your pocket. ::Fixya

[Via ::The Lazy Environmentalist]

Difficulty level: Moderate to advanced