Help & troubleshooting

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3D Printing

• Klipper vs stock vendor firmware — which should you use on your 3D printer?

  Klipper genuinely makes printers faster and more accurate — but it's not the right answer for every user. Here's the plain-English comparison, including cases where stock firmware is actually the better choice.

• How to ship a 3D printer safely for mail-in repair or tuning

  A 3D printer is the most fragile thing you'll ever post. Gantries bend, extruders shear, beds crack. Thirty minutes spent packing properly is the difference between a fixable printer and a write-off. Here's how to do it.

• 3D print first layer won't stick? The complete fix list

  A first layer that won't stick is the single most common print failure across every FDM printer. Nine times out of ten the fix is in one of four places — and none of them is 'buy a better printer'.

• 3D print layer shifted halfway through — causes and fixes

  Layer shift — where the print suddenly jumps sideways partway through — is almost always mechanical. Loose belts, a stalling stepper, or the toolhead hitting something mid-print. Here's how to find out which.

• 3D print under-extrusion — gaps, missing lines, weak walls

  Under-extrusion shows up as gaps between lines, pin-holes in top layers, and walls that crack apart easily. It has maybe six causes total, and most of them are in the last metre of filament path.

• Creality K2 extruder clicking, skipping or filament jam — how to fix

  A clicking noise from the extruder on a Creality K2 or K2 Plus almost always means the drive gear is slipping on the filament. Here's how to find out why and fix it without tearing the whole toolhead apart.

• Creality K2 retraction settings — stop PLA and PETG stringing

  The K2's direct-drive extruder needs shorter retractions than older Bowden Creality printers — if you've copied settings across from an Ender, you'll get jams or grinding. Here are the numbers we use, and what to change when strings still appear.

• Creality K2 bed leveling & first layer problems — a practical fix list

  Almost every first-layer problem on the K2 traces back to one of four things: a contaminated bed, a wrong Z-offset, a failed auto-level run, or a residual blob on the nozzle before homing. This guide walks through each in the order we check them in the workshop.

Games Consoles

• PS5 white light on but no signal on TV — what's actually wrong

  A PS5 with a solid white light but no HDMI signal isn't dead. Nine times out of ten it's a cable, a TV input, a damaged HDMI port, or a software glitch fixable from safe mode — in that order of likelihood.

• PS5 HDMI port vs HDMI IC — how to tell which has failed

  The HDMI port is the physical socket; the HDMI IC is the chip that drives the signal. Port failures are mechanical (tripped-over cable); IC failures are electrical (usually a surge). Port repair is roughly half the cost of IC repair — knowing which is which saves money.

• How to pack a games console safely for mail-in repair (PS5, Xbox, Switch)

  A badly-packed console arrives damaged — you ship a broken HDMI port and receive a cracked motherboard. Ten minutes packing properly saves weeks of extra repair. Here's exactly how we recommend customers do it.

• Is PS5 HDMI repair worth it? Independent workshop vs Sony

  You've got a PS5 with a dead HDMI port. Sony wants £229 flat. An independent repair shop quotes £90. Is the cheap one actually a good deal? Here's the honest breakdown.

• Xbox Series X error codes explained — E100, E102, E105, E200 and more

  Microsoft publishes only partial information about Xbox error codes. Here's a plain-English workshop guide to what the most common 'E' codes actually mean, which you can fix from the sofa, and which need bench-level repair.

• Xbox Series X won't boot — repair or replace? A cost guide

  An Xbox Series X costs £450-£500 new. A repair can be £60 (dust clean), £120 (HDMI port) or £300 (SSD/mainboard). Here's where the sensible line is between fixing and replacing.

• Hall Effect vs TMR vs standard Joy-Con sticks — which should you fit?

  There are three kinds of replacement Joy-Con stick on the market: the same carbon-pad design that came with the controller, Hall Effect modules, and the newer TMR sticks. They cost, feel, and last very differently. Here's how to choose.

• PS5 disc drive grinding, rattling, or won't read discs — fix guide

  A PS5 disc drive that grinds, rattles or won't read is usually one of three things: a loose metal bracket vibrating against the case, a misaligned laser carriage, or a disc drive at end of life. Here's how to tell which.

• Xbox controller stick drift — fix it or replace it?

  Xbox controller stick drift is annoying but usually fixable without buying a new controller. The 3-minute calibration fix handles 30% of cases; cleaning gets another 40%; the rest need a stick swap or Hall Effect upgrade.

• Nintendo Switch won't charge — cable, port, battery or mainboard?

  A Nintendo Switch that won't charge has a short list of causes — and one of them (a dusty USB-C port) is the answer more often than you'd think. Work through these before assuming the battery or charger is dead.

• PS4 overheating, jet-engine fan, or shutting down — the cure

  The PS4, especially the original launch model, runs hot by nature. A console that's suddenly jet-engine loud or crashing mid-game is usually a simple dust clean and repaste away from running like new.

• PS5 no HDMI signal — is the port damaged?

  A PS5 that powers on but shows no signal is usually one of three things: a loose or damaged HDMI port, a faulty cable, or the TV on the wrong input. The port is by far the most common failure and it's always repairable.

• PS4 blue light of death or PS5 won't power on — what to try

  The infamous blue light of death on PS4 and the equivalent 'won't power on' fault on PS5 have a short list of causes. Work through the diagnostic order here — two of the fixes take five minutes at home.

• Xbox Series X green screen of death / stuck on boot — fix guide

  The Xbox 'green screen of death' — stuck on the green boot logo — is almost always a software corruption rather than dead hardware. Microsoft has a specific recovery procedure that fixes it most of the time.

• Xbox Series X overheating and loud fan — what to do

  An Xbox that suddenly sounds like a hairdryer, or shuts itself off mid-game, is telling you it's overheating. Most of the time the fix is a can of compressed air and thirty minutes.

• Nintendo Switch Joy-Con drift — temporary fix or permanent cure?

  Joy-Con drift is one of the most common console faults in history. You've got three levels of fix: quick clean (buys you weeks), stick module swap (buys you months), or Hall Effect / TMR upgrade — the only permanent cure.

Laptops

• Laptop repair or replacement? A cost-based decision guide

  A good rule: if the repair costs more than 50% of a used replacement, replace. But the details matter — age, fault, upgrades, and sentimental value all shift the line. Here's how we think about it in the workshop.

• Laptop overheating, loud fan and throttling — step-by-step fix

  An overheating laptop throttles itself, making everything slow. 90% of the time it's dust in the fan or dried-out thermal paste. Both are fixable — and fixing them can make a 5-year-old laptop feel new.

• Laptop painfully slow, long boot, occasional freezes — is the drive dying?

  If your laptop started slow one day and has never got better, the drive is almost certainly dying. SSDs fail silently, HDDs fail noisily. Either way, act now — the window to save your data is not forever.

• Laptop keyboard keys not working — liquid, crumbs or failed ribbon?

  A laptop keyboard with dead keys, stuck keys, or an entire row out is telling you one of four specific things — and the fix differs wildly. Diagnose before you buy a replacement keyboard.

• Laptop hinge broken, screen wobble or cracked case — fix or replace?

  A wobbly laptop screen or a crack around the hinge will only get worse. They start small — annoying but usable — and end with the top half of the laptop ripped off the bottom. Fix it now or pay a lot more later.

• Laptop won't turn on or black screen — step-by-step diagnosis

  A laptop that won't turn on has maybe six possible causes. Work through them in the right order and you'll know in 20 minutes whether it's a £10 fix at home or needs to go to the workshop.

• Spilled liquid on your laptop — what to do in the first 10 minutes

  The first ten minutes after a spill decide whether your laptop lives or becomes scrap. Almost every 'rice doesn't work' post online is a laptop that was handled wrong in the first 60 seconds. Here's what to do.

MacBooks

• Is MacBook repair worth it vs buying new? A clear-headed cost guide

  A new MacBook Pro costs £1599+. A MacBook repair can be £90 or £700 depending on the fault. This is the maths that decides which way to go, split by what's wrong and how old the laptop is.

• How to back up your MacBook before sending it for repair

  Any reputable repair workshop is careful with your data, but nothing is 100%. A proper backup before sending your MacBook for repair takes 30 minutes and protects you completely.

• MacBook butterfly keyboard sticky or repeating keys — what you can do now

  If you own a 2016-2019 MacBook with the butterfly keyboard, you already know: one crumb, one speck of dust, and a key is done. Apple's free repair program ended in November 2024. Here's what to try before scrapping an otherwise-perfect laptop.

• MacBook running hot, fans like a jet engine — causes and fixes

  A MacBook that's suddenly noisy and hot is telling you something: either a runaway process is hammering the CPU, the cooling system is clogged, or the thermal paste has dried out. Here's how to find out which.

• MacBook black screen or won't wake from sleep — fix list

  A MacBook with a black screen but a running system is usually one of four things: a display sleep stuck, an SMC hang, an NVRAM corruption, or a failed backlight. Three of those fix themselves with a keyboard combo.

• MacBook display flickering, lines or coloured bands — diagnosis

  Vertical lines, flickering, or coloured bands on a MacBook screen have three main causes. The differences are subtle but important — one is a £40 fix, one is £200, and one can mean the logic board.

• MacBook won't charge — is it the charger, cable or battery?

  A MacBook that won't charge is usually one of four things: a failed charger, a damaged cable, a dirty port, or a worn-out battery. Three of those are five-minute fixes.