Skip to main content

Repair information and guides for the iPhone 6S released by Apple on September 25, 2015. Models: A1688, A1633

2686 Questions View all

Water damage repaired & off-axis capacitor

Hi everyone, I tried to be as much precise I could, hope I succeeded.

The iPhone 6s we are speaking about had a water damage near the sim tray (white dot near the sim tray turned red, while the white dot on the upper side of the motherboard, “near” the camera is still white), it then was repaired (not by me, so I do not know anything about the fixing process) and worked for about one month until one night I turned it off, put it in charge, and never powered on again.

- Specification needed: I’m not a pro repair tech, but I’m not even a beginner at all, I made many iPhone repairs, sometimes even involving soldering, so feel free to suggest whatever you think is appropriate.

I opened it for the first time and here came the first question:

1) shielding over A9 chip and baseband is unsoldered and easily removable, is It a critical problem?

Then I continued looking at the motherboard and I found a small capacitor in the baseband area off-axis, I then slightly tried to move it with a needle and it moves!

2) I uploaded a picture of the off-axis capacitor at issue, it is a critical problem, right?

Additional consideration before final question:

- when I put the charger on, I have the feeling the battery is not charging at all, the charger does not get hot even a bit, as well as the battery, BUT (maybe it his important) there is electricity flow along the phone, because passing my finger over the battery I feel that sort of vibration common when something disperses energy.

- I inspected the whole motherboard a lot but I couldn’t find any oxidized part except for a small mark near the sim tray.

What should I do in your opinion? I tried to put in charge the iPhone keeping firmly the capacitor in his position but anything happened, is this an adequate attempt? Should I replace it? If yes what capacitor it is? Or should I try soldering it?

Thanks a lot for the help.

Post Scriptum Question: there are some black dot near A9 chip, it is normal (thermal paste) right ?

Block Image

Block Image

Block Image

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

Is this a good question?

Score 0
Add a comment

1 Answer

Chosen Solution

First question...The shield should have been properly soldered back in place. While it doesn't have to be there, having floating around is not good because it could cause shorts with adjacent components.

Second question...capacitors are mainly used for filtering and decoupling. In your case, it is C1502, a 15uF/6.3V capacitor in an 0402 package. While not critical because it is in parallel with several other capacitors on the PP3V0_NAND power rail, my concern would be if it is causing any shorts with the capacitor and inductor right next to it. It definitely needs to be soldered into place.

The best way to know if the phone is charging is to plug it into a USB ammeter. The black dots on the inductors next to the CPU look perfectly normal.

Water damaged phones are tough to repair because if the water wasn't displaced properly, all kinds of latent issues can pop over time. This is exactly what happened in your case. I would check to see if the off-axis capacitor is shorting to the adjacent components and if so, re-solder it in place. If you don't have tools or skills, then you could have it looked at again by a professional shop that specializes in water damage and micro soldering.

Was this answer helpful?

Score 3
Add a comment

Add your answer

Mario Pepe will be eternally grateful.
View Statistics:

Past 24 Hours: 0

Past 7 Days: 0

Past 30 Days: 0

All Time: 144