Dead configs. Broken APIs. Bricked boards. Smashed-screen phones. Untested backups. Custom Home Assistant and network builds. We’re the escalation bench — you tell us what’s broken, or what you need wired together, we work it on the bench, and you get it back running — no appointment, no ticket queue, no tier-1 script between you and the people reading the logs.
Or email us direct: andy@paschalla.dev
Most shops swap the board and close the ticket. We find the failed part and fix the actual thing.
Everything below is something we already do, week in and week out — with a real process behind it, not a guess. If it’s on this page, there’s a workflow for it.
The bread and butter. Docker that won’t start. Nginx that worked yesterday and doesn’t today. A reverse proxy pointing at nothing. A service that fell over at 2am and nobody knows why. I untangle the configs, bring the services back up, and leave notes on what broke so it stays fixed.
Local-first Home Assistant builds, smart-home setups, segmented networks — the stuff that doesn’t come in a box. I build it so it keeps working when the internet drops, and so you can actually run it yourself.
Dead laptops, dead boards, dead power rails. Most shops swap the board and hand you the bill. We find the actual failure point — a blown e-fuse, a $2 part on a $500 board — and fix that.
APIs that stopped talking. Webhooks gone quiet. Two services that used to get along and don’t anymore. I get them talking again — and tell you what changed.
Smashed or black-screen phones where touch is dead, unbootable drives, busted enclosures. I pull your files off with ADB, USB-OTG control, TalkBack navigation and disk imaging — without making you buy a new screen first — then leave you with a backup plan so you don’t lose it twice.
A backup you’ve never tested is a rumor. I set up backups that get verified — and show you the restore working before it counts.
No phone tag, no waiting room. You write in, the bench works it, you get it back. Most triage turns around fast — and you always know where your case stands.
Email it in. As much detail as you’ve got — error messages, photos of the board, what changed right before it broke. Messy is fine.
Remote jobs get a flat-price quote up front, after I read what you sent. Mail-in hardware gets a bench check first, then a fixed repair price before any real work starts. If a board isn’t worth saving, I’ll tell you straight.
Remote work runs over temporary, revocable access — a scoped SSH key or Tailscale node you pull the minute the job closes — with notes on every file I touch. Hardware ships in. Either way, it’s one bench, one pair of hands, no hand-offs.
Fixed, tested, and with notes on what broke and how to keep it from breaking again.
Custom builds and tailored setups are a separate quote from incident triage — same bench, different conversation. A home server that actually fits your life. A smart-home setup that doesn’t fight you. A machine built from parts other people threw away.
If you’ve got a weird idea and a rough budget, send it in. Weird ideas are our favorite kind.
That’s what “escalation” means here: the case lands here after the easy answers ran out.
I’m Andy. I run the bench out of a single-wide in Hartwell, Georgia, with real tools — reflow station, oscilloscope, bench power, proper diagnostic gear. The lab also rescues written-off, “parts-only” machines into a working Linux and local-AI fleet — that’s the proof I fix what other people throw away. The lab runs on sub-$200 machines and local models, because the point was never shiny gear. The point was fixing the thing.
Select hardware rebuilds and lab rescues get filmed long-form for the I Know A Guy channel, from the 16 Bit Single Wide lab — never client configs, credentials, or personal data, and nothing goes near a camera without explicit permission.
One email starts a case. Tell us what’s broken, what changed before it broke, and what “fixed” looks like to you. You’ll get a straight answer back — remote jobs get a fixed-price quote up front, mail-in hardware gets a bench check first, then a fixed repair price.
andy@paschalla.devRemote rescue worldwide · Mail-in bench across the US (Hartwell, GA) · I Know A Guy / 16 Bit Single Wide