My £16 Macbook pro!

Jordan537 · 06-04-2014 8:43pm #1

Hi All,

I want to tell you a little story.

A friend of my mothers sent me a message about a week and half ago stating that two months ago she had spilt a cup of coffee all over her 2011 Macbook pro 15" i7 machine. She had taken it directly to a specialist in Apple and they quoted a repair cost of £1200 as the Logistics board had fried and would need to be replaced.
She asked if i wanted it, for spares or to sell for parts as she knew i was interested in computers. Having never gone into any detail with apple products i decided i would take it and see what it was about.

A couple of days later i went around to pick it up and took it home. Once home i opened her up, not having to take any screws out of the bottom as none were in it.
I took out the Motherboard/ Logic board by unplugging the necessary wires as again no screws were in it as the apple techs didn't put screws back in to the laptop, instead into a plastic clear bag. Next i took out the CD/DVD optical drive, this was screwed in! and i was left with a black sheet covering the keyboard which i soon found out to be the backlight.

At this stage i decided the laptop was actually in excellent condition, no scratches or dents and looked in very good shape, apart from the keyboard keys which were all sticky and stuck. Next, i unscrewed all the tiny screws holding the keyboard in and put them aside and took out the keyboard, i then ordered a new keyboard off ebay as a replacement, the keyboard was £16 so with the laptop not going to work again, it wasn't that much of a loss. The keyboard arrived in the post the next day and i installed it, put all the screws back in and put the diffuser for backlight and backlight back on top of the keyboard and set about the task of putting everything back in. I then cleaned throughly the logic board with rubbing Alcohol and a soft toothbrush to clean any corrosion that had occurred from the coffee spill. Not planning on trying to put this laptop back together again i didn't take much notice in how i removed everything in the first place so resorted to a couple of youtube videos and "how to's". I reinstalled the DVD drive, motherboard and put all the wires back into the logistics board, loosely put the cover back onto the laptop and turned it over and pressed the power button.

It booted up!! and worked perfectly. In fact i am typing this very message on the laptop with not a single thing a miss!

I soon realised my keyboard wasn't backlit like it should be so i set about taking the laptop apart again and realising a very small connection wasn't plugged in, once plugged in I put it all back together again to have a working backlit keyboard.

I deleted all the data of the hardrive and set up my own account and currently using it as my Primary laptop, transferred all my documents to it this morning and working flawlessly. So, there is my Macbook pro for £16.

Hope you enjoyed the read

Jordan.

bmm · 06-04-2014 10:55pm

Once repaired, did you offer to return the laptop to your mothers friend ? The difference between right & wrong. This is your conscience speaking .

Jordan537 · 06-04-2014 11:04pm

She offered me the laptop to do as i please. But, yes i told her it was all fixed and up and running. My mother friend had already claimed on her insurance for accidental damage and purchased a new laptop, so she didn't lose out.

bmm · 06-04-2014 11:09pm

Ouch! insurance fraud too .

Jordan537 · 06-04-2014 11:13pm

Nope, she was told by a apple technician the laptop was fried and therefore dead. I was given the laptop to use as spare parts, i just managed to be better than an apple technician and fix it!

If you have nothing good to say, don't say anything at all.

bennyc · 06-04-2014 11:15pm

bmm wrote: »

Once repaired, did you offer to return the laptop to your mothers friend ? The difference between right & wrong. This is your conscience speaking .

No , he didn't offer to repair she offered it to him, the fact that he spent hours doing what he did and also taking a risk on buying parts would offset a large cost on the ops part.
OP well played and don't feel bad, the mobo got damaged and may not work for long , but then again i am typing this on a laptop which I baked the mobo in the oven 18 months ago and was told on here it will never last.
I would be pretty sire she got an insurance claim on the laptop as Apple would have given her the cost of repair. (if she didn't she should)

Jordan537 · 06-04-2014 11:18pm

bennyc wrote: »

No , he didn't offer to repair she offered it to him, the fact that he spent hours doing what he did and also taking a risk on buying parts would offset a large cost on the ops part.
OP well played and don't feel bad, the mobo got damaged and may not work for long , but then again i am typing this on a laptop which I baked the mobo in the oven 18 months ago and was told on here it will never last.
I would be pretty sire she got an insurance claim on the laptop as Apple would have given her the cost of repair. (if she didn't she should)

Thanks Bennyc, I don't feel bad at all, i spent a considerable amount of my time researching the internals of a Macbook, having never worked on one before i was unfamiliar. I then spent a lot more time taking it all apart and replacing the keyboard and of course power button, which is connected to the keyboard.
The laptop was given to my in a disrepair state, i spent my own money and time on the machine and i fixed it, therefore it's mine.

bennyc · 06-04-2014 11:19pm

bmm wrote: »

Ouch! insurance fraud too .

How so ??? Laptop was borked and wrote off by apple ?
I have a shed full of laptops and pcs, I could start baking mobos and get about 5 laptops going tonight that were handed to me to do what I want with. I wont feel bad if I get any working and I use.

Senna · 06-04-2014 11:20pm

No fraud what so ever, people on here like to begrudge and nit pick anyone who starts a thread.
Great job OP

Digital Solitude · 06-04-2014 11:22pm

I had a friend who cracked the screen on an 2008 MacBook, who brought it to a specialist in Galway, where he was told it would nearly be cheaper to buy a new laptop for the price to fix it.

So I bought the glass off eBay and replaced it for him for about £25. Are Apple techs put to get people or something? Your story is resonant to mine

bennyc · 06-04-2014 11:22pm

Jordan537 wrote: »

Thanks Bennyc, I don't feel bad at all, i spent a considerable amount of my time researching the internals of a Macbook, having never worked on one before i was unfamiliar. I then spent a lot more time taking it all apart and replacing the keyboard and of course power button, which is connected to the keyboard.
The laptop was given to my in a disrepair state, i spent my own money and time on the machine and i fixed it, therefore it's mine.

As a matter of interest would it have worked without the new power button and keyboard, I ask as I am looking at a mac on my shelf that has a pint of beer spilled on it . I never got around to doing anything with it.

maringo · 06-04-2014 11:25pm

Enjoy your mac - and well done

bmm · 06-04-2014 11:26pm

No offence meant to OP , just my view .

Jordan537 · 06-04-2014 11:30pm

bennyc wrote: »

As a matter of interest would it have worked without the new power button and keyboard, I ask as I am looking at a mac on my shelf that has a pint of beer spilled on it . I never got around to doing anything with it.

Yes it would have worked, i find the most corroded part was the keyboard, probably because it was first hit and this is where most of the liquid settled.

It didn't turn on with the power button and had to be turned on manually by opening up the laptop and shorting the wires on the power cord.

I didn't try to turn the laptop on without first taking it all apart and cleaning the logic board with rubbing alcohol and a soft tooth brush, just to make sure i got rid of all corrosion.

My £16 Macbook pro!

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