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  1. #1
    fompsweeva is offline You take your car to work, I'll take my board.

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    Default Ergh.... Broken internal cable MBP 13" = no camera,wifi or bluetooth. :(

    Hey there,

    Now, before you get all preachy, I've worked inside many electronic objects before and have pulled apart many things to fix, including circuit board level repairs.

    So I ordered a 9.5mm optical drive adaptor to put a second hard drive in my MBP 13" before I go away traveling, so I can have everything handy without an external drive to lug behind.

    When it came time to remove the connector that talks to the wireless comm aerials in the screen section, and the web cam, it was extremely stubborn and wouldn't come out. It finally budged but it seems that the already delicate connector didn't like being disturbed and I noticed that it had become a bit distorted but it looked okay, I didn't think I'd have any trouble getting it back in.

    Now comes the fun part... getting it back in was painful. First attempt it just didn't feel right, and I saw that a pin looked incomplete/bent.

    At this stage there wasn't much I could do, but knowing it was a simple signal cable I thought I'd take my chances and got it in place and booted up.

    Now, the 13" MBP has no WIFI/Bluetooth or Webcam functions.

    Does anybody know how I could go about getting this fixed? Or am I royally screwed and have to buy a whole new screen assembly?

  2. #2
    mattydee's Avatar mattydee is offline approves this message.

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    Default

    bent socket on logic board? probs new logic board including processor needed
    bend plug on cable? probs new screen needed

    ifixit.com could be a good place to go for parts considering you have already voided the warranty because it was a non user replaceable part (happy to be corrected if thats not the case)

  3. #3
    fompsweeva is offline You take your car to work, I'll take my board.

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    Default

    Damn it, this sucks. The quality of that particular internal connector is rubbish!

    Considering my time factor, I'm not sure what to do. I fly out Friday morning.

  4. #4
    leon's Avatar leon is offline That TAM guy

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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by fompsweeva View Post
    Damn it, this sucks. The quality of that particular internal connector is rubbish!

    Considering my time factor, I'm not sure what to do. I fly out Friday morning.
    Buy a new one. Sell it when you get back and take the $$$ hit. Not even enough time to grab a refurb.

  5. #5
    fompsweeva is offline You take your car to work, I'll take my board.

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    Default

    Good idea.

    I'm going to take my 15" that I was selling.

    However, I was wondering, does anyone know how much Apple would charge to fix this in NYC? Assuming it's just the screen.

  6. #6

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    Default

    Just a word of warning for next time, there seems to be a plastic stopper stuck right next to the connector on the logic board itself. I've discovered that the connector takes much less effort to free if the stopper was removed in the first place. The plastic stopper was held on with adhesive so re-application should not be an issue. For some unknown reason this was not highlighted in the ifixit guide.

    That's what I've learn from poking around with optibays on my Late-2008 MBP (15")
    [Insert text here to compensate]

  7. #7

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    You may not have first removed the small L shaped bit of plastic that is glued to the logic board next to the connecter. Among other things this helps hold the camera cable connector in place. You have to remove this first so that the camera cable connector can be release easily.

    The 13" Macbook Pro display is a whole unit replacement so depending on what margin the place you get it from uses the part itself will start at approx $1000 and up.

    Ad about 30 minutes to 1 hour labour on top of that.

    <preachy mode> If you had simply shelled out a few dollars to pay labour for a certified tech to fit it for you you would have saved yourself this big repair bill.</preachy mode>

    Edit: Ok, so gr8bob replied about the plastic while I was slowly typing :-)


    Quote Originally Posted by fompsweeva View Post
    Hey there,

    Now, before you get all preachy, I've worked inside many electronic objects before and have pulled apart many things to fix, including circuit board level repairs.

    So I ordered a 9.5mm optical drive adaptor to put a second hard drive in my MBP 13" before I go away traveling, so I can have everything handy without an external drive to lug behind.

    When it came time to remove the connector that talks to the wireless comm aerials in the screen section, and the web cam, it was extremely stubborn and wouldn't come out. It finally budged but it seems that the already delicate connector didn't like being disturbed and I noticed that it had become a bit distorted but it looked okay, I didn't think I'd have any trouble getting it back in.

    Now comes the fun part... getting it back in was painful. First attempt it just didn't feel right, and I saw that a pin looked incomplete/bent.

    At this stage there wasn't much I could do, but knowing it was a simple signal cable I thought I'd take my chances and got it in place and booted up.

    Now, the 13" MBP has no WIFI/Bluetooth or Webcam functions.

    Does anybody know how I could go about getting this fixed? Or am I royally screwed and have to buy a whole new screen assembly?

  8. #8

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    Default

    Not that this is going to make you feel any better but.....I just did the EXACT SAME THING, almost word-for-word.

    The instructions I followed for installing the optibay didn't mention the little sliver of plastic that would stop the wifi/bluetooth/camera connector from pulling out easily. I thought it was just being stubborn so I pulled it out, managed to break one side of the little plastic tabs that protrudes from the end of the pin header clean off. Only one pin on the cable end was damaged, and that bent back into place, but unfortunately I didn't notice anything was wrong until after I'd tried to force it back into the header on the board..... I can't be sure without a magnifying glass but i THINK one of the pins in the socket on the actual mainboard may be slightly bent.... and that's beyond my level of expertise!

    Only my wifi is gone - bluetooth and camera still work fine (although I'd probably rather have wifi than both of those features combined!). Hopefully I can find someone who has tools small enough to straighten out my mess! :-) Ah well, you live you learn.

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