Hardware Repair - Student Personal Devices

Emerson IT Help Desk technicians can work to diagnose issues with personal student machines (not Emerson-owned) on a no-risk, best effort basis, at no cost to the student. Turnaround time is heavily dependent on our current workload. Basic fixes include, but are not limited to, assisting students with:

• Installing new software
• Installing software fixes/patches
• Virus/malware removal
• Performing operating system updates
• Attempting data recovery on internal or external hard drives

IT will not perform hardware fixes on personal computers but can make recommendations as to necessary fixes, maintenance routines, and external locations for computer repair.

• No guarantees are made for personal devices in regard to requested results.  The technician(s) will work on a best-effort basis to meet specific request(s), but they will, in no way, be held responsible if unable to complete the tasks as specified.
• No guarantees are made for the time frame of repair/recovery.  Technician(s) will be working on request(s) when they have available time and will do their best to get the request(s) completed in as efficient a manner as possible.
• Technician(s) will only attempt data recovery for a maximum of 1 TB of data. If the data is recoverable, you must provide a secondary external device with a minimum of double the storage capacity for the data to recover. If unable to provide a secondary external device with adequate capacity, the technician will not perform data recovery.  

Dropping off hardware

What to bring:

• Your device
• Any accessories (such as a charger)

What to know/have access to during your visit:

• Your password/pin that you use to log in to the device
• Your Emerson ID number
• If you need help backing up or recovering data: where do you want it to go?
  • For example, we can help you back-up data on your own external hard drive (if owned), or on cloud storage such as Google Drive or Box.

The process:

1. Contact the Help Desk (120 Boylston, Walker Building, Room 404) to schedule an appointment to drop off your device for assessment. Find our operating hours listed on the department website.
2. Our front desk staff will enter your information into a new support ticket, including:
   • Your name, Emerson ID number, contact information
   • Any errors, issues, or symptoms you report seeing, and when they started
3. Our front desk staff will do some initial troubleshooting.
   • Please anticipate around 10 minutes of troubleshooting before you leave. If the front desk staff can fix your issue on the spot, you will not need to drop off your device!
   • If the front desk staff cannot properly resolve or diagnose the issue, your ticket will be escalated to a Tier 2 or Tier 3 technician.
4. Before leaving the office, share your log-in password with the Help Desk.
   • You can write the password on a sticky note placed inside/on the device.
5. The front desk staff will take your device and accessories to the back offices, and will submit a support ticket with all of your information to the technician(s). We will send a copy to your email, and you can correspond directly with the technician(s) as they provide service or ask for an update.
   
   • Time to repair depends on the issue, and the queue level at the time of drop-off. Front desk staff cannot promise a specific time to repair.
   • Loaner laptops are not currently available for students; however, you can use any of the computer labs and kiosks on campus while your computer is being serviced.
6. After further diagnosis, the full-time technician(s) will let you know if they are able to repair your computer on-site, or whether the device needs further repair from an outside vendor, and will share with you the contact info for our preferred vendors (if you elect to pursue repairs for a fee).

IT will not perform basic fixes for personal computers of staff or faculty if they are in possession of an Emerson-owned machine.