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Model A1286. Released February 2011 / 2.0, 2.2, or 2.3 GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 Processor

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Mysterious solder on display connector

Hi, I got my sister’s macbook pro back from a slightly shady repair shop. The display is now not working and I think I may have found the issue. Can you wonderful people please confirm that this blob of solder is not standard from the factory? I also note the flux n the board and the slightly melted chip to the right

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Do you use a wired connection (Ethernet) with your system here? The Ethernet transformer case appears to have exploded! Like it got a zap, note the solder connections are missing!

I suspect when the system got hit (Lighting via the Ethernet connection) the current was high enough to melt the solder and the explosive push from the breaking up case pushed the liquid solder across hitting the connector which shorted it out.

If you look at how liquids behave this was pushed vs dropped by its pattern.

So the question is why did you bring it in to the shop?

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It's not my laptop it's my sister's. She brought it to the repair shop hoping for a quick fix i guess. She told me that the display was 100% working before she dropped it in so maybe they caused the damage? I'm an electronic engineer so familiar enough with this stuff but I've never attempted to repair a motherboard before. I have an experienced tech coming to give me a hand with it tomorrow so we'l see if removing the blob improves things at all.

The problem that she dropped it in with was a failure to boot caused i suspect a corrupted drive.

Also thanks for the detailed explanation, I though it would have had to have been caused by an idiot in the shop with a soldering iron and fat fingers!

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At first I saw the solder and I too thought a drip from a soldering iron but that seems out of place here as the drip is at an angle and flat across the pins. Then looking at the transformer (a bit out of focus) the internal solder joint near the connector is missing its solder! Thats why I think that was the root issue which then messed up the display.

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You might be able to fix this by getting some solder wick and a soldering iron to pull off the blob. Do make sure you first take the battery out. While that might fix the display your Ethernet port still has issues.

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I'm going to attempt this tomorrow. I know a fairly experienced tech who used to do board level repairs so he's going to advise me

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Oh yeah, that’s definitely not normal. You have found the source of your problem. Looks like you are going for a new logic board there if you can’t find someone who does microsoldering nearby.

MacBook Pro 15" Unibody Early 2011 Logic Board Replacement

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Thanks, I have a friend who's a bit of a soldering wizard so we'll see what he thinks

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Andrew Redmond will be eternally grateful.
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