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Using a hand lens, I can see that I’ve distorted the two gold tips inside two of the four the antenna cables” connecting pad sockets. I THINK I could solder new cable tip connecting pads to the cables, but I cannot find part numbers on the web, nor do I know of a repair enterprise that would attempt such repairs (which I think wold be far simpler than what I’ve already done.
Is this a good question?
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Turns out the mangled gold-tipped clamshells in those antenna connector tips may NOT have been irreparably destroyed. Today I went back in and looked at the connectors that didn't quite mate with the pins on the BT/WiFi board, and with magnifying spectacles it appeared I might be able to spread those two leaves apart. I did so with the smallest jewelers screwdriver I could find, and after doing so I managed to get both damaged connectors to seat onto their mating pins on the Comm board. AND, BT is BACK (even to the level of streaming to my AirPods Pro earbuds!
Having just learned that I'm too old and too clumsy to be doing this stuff, I turned to your excellent teardown photos and learned that the CPU itself can be upgraded! So, now my VERY deeply buried bipolar disorder has me considering just what I might accomplish by upgrading from my Quad Core 3.4 GHz Core i5. Given that I'm already using a processor-direct slot 1 TB NVME2 SSD stick for my boot/data Catalina volumes and have quadrupled the RAM to 32 GB (and since the new 24" iMac's display would be wasted on MY 74 year old peepers, could anyone comment on the possible performance enhancements I'd see with a CPU chip upgrade? I see that staffer Jeff has upgraded his to a core i7; is there a non-tweeting way to pose a question to him?
GREAT resource, this, even though what it does is tempt me to attempt things I shouldn't be doing . Evidence of THAT is that once I'd secured my screen with fresh painters masking tape and booted her up I discovered that I'd not re-attached the display power and data cables ?
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4 Comments
@jsrnephdoc - Can you post some pics so we can see both the cable ends and the AirPort card connectors so we are sure what needs repair here. Adding images to an existing question
by DanJ
@danj , I certainly will, but since that means "going undercover" yet again I probably won't get to it until tonight or tomorrow. However, I'm absolutely certain its the little gold tabs that are supposed to embrace the pin on the BT/WiFi board. Another respondent has suggested I just replace the entire BT cable, but that means routing the cable and knowing how and where to connect IT (them, since two connectors are damaged. Yet another suggested buying a USB BlueTooth Controller, which can be had for as little as $29 (but which for the moment is apparently not reliable in macOS Monterey.
I'll be back with photos tonight or tomorrow.
by Jim Robertson
replacement antennas may be available, but that requires opening up the display since they are mounted at the top of the display case.
These connectors are very small so replacing them may be as difficult as replacing the whole antenna.
U can start your search here to find what u choose to tackle
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32925083...
by bill
Bill, thanks so much for responding. Sorry I didn't do so earlier, but for some reason Apple's Mail.app routed iFixit's notification to me of your response to me to my spam folder.
Based on what I read here and elsewhere I actually was able to "rescue" those mangled antenna connector tips by wedging a tiny jeweler's screwdriver between the two halves of the bent "clamshell" gold-plated curved blade tips in the connector housing, spreading them apart far enough so that I could once again snap the connector tips into position to the pins on the BT/WiFi board.
Along the way I was told that the only Apple-recommended repair for my predicament would be to replace the entire rear housing of the computer!
Bottom line, however, is that I now have working Bluetooth once again!
by Jim Robertson