soldering required - chip detached from circuit strip

FeeMBee

I have a Macbook Pro which had a glass of wine spilt over the keyboard (!) the screen went blank and so I began to take the computer apart to mop up the spillage to see if that would help... then I encountered (created?) another problem.

The keyboard is attached to the motherboard by a chip (soldered to a circuit strip) which you can prise away from the motherboard, then click back in. By prising the chip away from the motherboard the keyboard is detached from the macbook unit.

Unfortunately, when I was taking the keyboard off, the chip came away from the strip and so needs to be soldered back on.
I've uploaded a photo of the chip and the strip and their size in relation to a 50c coin. (IMG_0319.jpg)
IMG_0323.jpg shows the keyboard upside down; you can see the strip (without chip) at the top. The green button on the left is the power button so the macbook is useless without the keyboard in place


Is there anyone/a company/a service out there that could solder it back on? My soldering skills are fairly rusty and wouldn't be able for such a delicate operation. I'm based in Munster but could bring to Dublin easily enough.

Or any advice on how to repair this would be greatly appreciated. I've searched online but have had no joy.

Thanks!

Mister Man

FeeMBee wrote: »

I have a Macbook Pro which had a glass of wine spilt over the keyboard (!) the screen went blank and so I began to take the computer apart to mop up the spillage to see if that would help... then I encountered (created?) another problem.

The keyboard is attached to the motherboard by a chip (soldered to a circuit strip) which you can prise away from the motherboard, then click back in. By prising the chip away from the motherboard the keyboard is detached from the macbook unit.

Unfortunately, when I was taking the keyboard off, the chip came away from the strip and so needs to be soldered back on.
I've uploaded a photo of the chip and the strip and their size in relation to a 50c coin. (IMG_0319.jpg)
IMG_0323.jpg shows the keyboard upside down; you can see the strip (without chip) at the top. The green button on the left is the power button so the macbook is useless without the keyboard in place


Is there anyone/a company/a service out there that could solder it back on? My soldering skills are fairly rusty and wouldn't be able for such a delicate operation. I'm based in Munster but could bring to Dublin easily enough.

Or any advice on how to repair this would be greatly appreciated. I've searched online but have had no joy.

Thanks!

I would say any PC Repair show would be able to do that for you, but im sure theres a local Mac Repair shop that would also do it for you

Solitaire

Thank God! Just re-read your post. My sister would never drink wine! I'm expecting the call/email/post/text saying she's just destroyed €2000 worth of MacBook Pro any day now

Not sure if there's any SMD soldering firms that do odd-job repair work on PCs, let alone Macs. In any case I'd say Apple are about to have a field day with you. Be prepared to fork out an awful lot of money in any case...

Unless of course you have a mate in college who has a mate who's doing a Masters in an electronics discipline in a well-equipped lab with a (working) SMD solderer...

MM - I'm pretty sure that IT repair outfits out there who have fully-functional SMD soldering stations are pretty thin on the ground... check out the pic of the 50c coin for scale. Of course, there may be a few geniuses out there who have their own private SMD rigs or have superhuman dexterity and an ultrafine soldering iron tip set...

massy086

what model macbook pro is it

Cuddlesworth

Solitaire wrote: »

Thank God! Just re-read your post. My sister would never drink wine! I'm expecting the call/email/post/text saying she's just destroyed €2000 worth of MacBook Pro any day now

Not sure if there's any SMD soldering firms that do odd-job repair work on PCs, let alone Macs. In any case I'd say Apple are about to have a field day with you. Be prepared to fork out an awful lot of money in any case...

Unless of course you have a mate in college who has a mate who's doing a Masters in an electronics discipline in a well-equipped lab with a (working) SMD solderer...

MM - I'm pretty sure that IT repair outfits out there who have fully-functional SMD soldering stations are pretty thin on the ground... check out the pic of the 50c coin for scale. Of course, there may be a few geniuses out there who have their own private SMD rigs or have superhuman dexterity and an ultrafine soldering iron tip set...

Pretty much, a normal pc repair shop wouldn't be able to do it. Contacts are way too small and close together for a normal solder job.

MunsterCycling

First words out of my mouth were "Holy Cr@p", sorry op but that chip was baked on there, not a chance of repairing that using an iron!

Why do Apple insist on do stupid design stuff like this, there is no need for that chip to be placed in such a vulnerable position, best solution is a new ribbon and/or keyboard.

MC

Gurgle

FeeMBee wrote: »

Or any advice on how to repair this would be greatly appreciated. I've searched online but have had no joy.

Nothing to it, take about 3 minutes.
PM me if you want to stick it in the post.

Anti

Now i can solder with the best of them, but i wouldn't attempt contacts that small. I think your best bet might be to put this in the electronics forum, im sure there a young eager student there willing to try this who can take it into the lab with a nice powerfull microscope.

Solitaire

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Why do Apple insist on do stupid design stuff like this, there is no need for that chip to be placed in such a vulnerable position

They insist because it ensures that if their devices are fiddled with and/or treated roughly something will break that the layman can't fix. Apple can then accuse you of fiddling/bashing it and charge you insane amounts to make it all better again :mad:

We all moan on about Microsoft and Sony and Nintendo and nVidia acting the maggot and yes they can often be showers of ****s at the end of the day, but if you want to see gray-area and illicit business practices that will make your blood turn to ice just have a look at the kind of BS Intel and Apple get up to...

Gurgle

MunsterCycling wrote: »

First words out of my mouth were "Holy Cr@p", sorry op but that chip was baked on there, not a chance of repairing that using an iron!

Why do Apple insist on do stupid design stuff like this, there is no need for that chip to be placed in such a vulnerable position, best solution is a new ribbon and/or keyboard.

MC

Its a chip on an FPC, theres nothing strange or unusual about that - take apart any mobile phone/netbook/laptop and you'll find similar.

Fixing it couldn't be easier, I've soldered up FPC circuits from scratch by hand with much smaller pads.

MunsterCycling

Gurgle wrote: »

Its a chip on an FPC, theres nothing strange or unusual about that - take apart any mobile phone/netbook/laptop and you'll find similar.

Fixing it couldn't be easier, I've soldered up FPC circuits from scratch by hand with much smaller pads.

Great for you... OP you have a volunteer to repair this for you :P

Gurgle

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Great for you... OP you have a volunteer to repair this for you :P

I volunteered yesterday
OP has 2 posts in 4 years, could be a while before (s)he is back.

FeeMBee

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Gurgle, would you be able to solder it?
I don't really have anything to lose, the machine is unusable as it is.
Searched for the part as well - just using the printed numbers/letters on the strip itself:

Hf-e1 APPLE
821-0587- A
632-0618
fmFU-2(14) 4

Not sure what all that means but was hoping there might have been a part number in there to order a new one/source one from somewhere.

FeeMBee

Upon doing another search I found the part for sale!

http://www.welovemacs.com/mbptrkpdcable.html

Have put the order in so hopefully the macbook will be well dried out and back to normal once it's installed

Thanks again to everyone; Gurgle if you still fancy soldering the original, let me know

copacetic

As noted above this is easily possible without any specialist equipment/stations. A little bit of solder paste, a half decent iron, tweezers and a steady hand and it'll be done in a couple of minutes. A magnifying light would be handy too, but not really needed.

The naysayers should realise that pretty much any pinned chip is easily done by hand, no 'smd' stations etc are required, a little bit of flux/braid and heatguns for removing parts, and a scalpel, paste and a chisel tip iron for rework. Solder wants to flow to the pins and contacts all you have to do is use the right amount.
Pretty much the only thing you can't do by hand is bgas.