I work on computers on the side and deal with the people who want free repairs all the time. I request a $35 up front diagnostic and this chases a lot of people off which is a GOOD THING. Trust me, those who want skilled work done for free are not worth pleasing. These are the people who try to scam you so it is best to simply run them off with a reasonable diagnostic charge and not have to deal with them. For the others, I apply the $35 to the final bill as long as they pick it up within a week.
The worst are the people who buy some throwaway computer like an eMachines or much of the other stuff sold at Wal-Mart or Black Friday sales which seems like a “great deal” due to the low price but costs as much to repair as it does replace it with another piece of junk.
Trust me, you should expect to pay for a diagnosis of any problem from any competent mechanic. If a mechanic offered to do this service for free and I didn’t already have a relationship with them, I would be a little worried. There was a place in town that would fix any computer problem for $50 and trust me, I think they were the best thing ever as they brought me a lot of work after the initial repair was junk.
Conor