SMC Issue on MBP 13 - Hardware Troubleshooting Guide

[Dadioh]

One more update.

Today i tested with a 85w adaptor, and a good battery. Shorting pins 4 and gnd on the keyboard connector, the fan will spin, but will stop when i stop doing it.

Only with the battery connected, same thing, shorting pins 4 and gnd, fan spins, only with power adaptor, just give a little flick, both battery and power adaptor fan also spins, but i dont think the board starts up because it will spin only while im bridging those pins.

Any ideas?

It is pin 5 that is the keyboard start pin. Pin 4 is G3Hot. You should avoid grounding pin 4.

Since you know you have G3Hot then you should start by looking at pin 14 of the charger ISL6258. I suspect that may be 0V. It should be 3.3V.

 

[cmdrdata]

Impedance of around 10 Ohm on pin L7220-2 is probably normal. With L7220 removed, pin1 should have much higher impedance since it is connected to to the push-pull FETs and feedback pin of U7200. This is well within the loading of 3.3v supply (3.3v/10A = 330mA). In reality the active loading will be more than that but certainly no where near the design limit of 4A. Audible tester cannot really distinguish low resistance value from a short, so that's not a good way to check for shorts except for quick test followed by actual ohmmeter reading.

----------

Hi Commander,

Ok I measured the pins you asked I just wanted to note that the L7220 and the C7270 are both pulled with the results listed below.

Thank you so much for your patience. okay remeasuring with just ohms L7220 pin 1 is 7.15 k ohm and 2 is 10 ohm

After you telling me about not using the audible I went back and measured pins 4 and 8 on U7200 to ground and they are both 1.8 M ohms to ground. Remember though you asked me to remove cap C7270 in post 1357.

So since I kind of led this thing astray. You had asked me to trace out the ALL_SYS_PWRGD showing no voltage. I was having a problem though understanding. I did a search for those lines or nets to all those you circled and I came up short I had checked the page numbers next to them but the lines don't have the same wording so I'm not sure which ones to check. So when you went to Carlsbad I just starting checking things like short to ground but with the audible. I do hear you though you are saying that at first just running around and checking the board out you can use the audible but if you do find something check with ohms to verify.

Thank you.

Yes, I have been led astray. Put the capacitor and inductor back on and measure voltages with just magsafe connected and measure voltages on the components I indicated. The reason for this is that since ALL_SYS_PWRGD is an "OR" logic of 3 different supplies, one of these supply status (marked in green) is causing ALL_SYS_PWRGD to be logic zero, but since they are tied together, we don't know which one, and cannot easily isolate them because they are wired together via printed circuit trace. The only way to know is by measuring the real output voltages of these 3 supplies. Knowing the state of the FET drivers and inductor voltages will help determine which one is not working.

 

[Techkat]

Yes, I have been led astray. Put the capacitor and inductor back on and measure voltages with just magsafe connected and measure voltages on the components I indicated. The reason for this is that since ALL_SYS_PWRGD is an "OR" logic of 3 different supplies, one of these supply status (marked in green) is causing ALL_SYS_PWRGD to be logic zero, but since they are tied together, we don't know which one, and cannot easily isolate them because they are wired together via printed circuit trace. The only way to know is by measuring the real output voltages of these 3 supplies. Knowing the state of the FET drivers and inductor voltages will help determine which one is not working.

Hi Commander,

My hubby put back on the 2 components as asked and we checked the voltage with just the power supply attached. Again Thank you so much

 

[cmdrdata]

Hi Commander,

My hubby put back on the 2 components as asked and we checked the voltage with just the power supply attached. Again Thank you so much

Wow, the measurements on the block diagram looked like you've got a fundamental problem at the 12v level. I thought you already had 12v at the secondary fuse that provides power to the system. I'll need to spend time looking at what you just measured. All the other questions I asked in the 3 diagrams are now useless if you don't even have 12v at the second fuse (F7000). You're not even at first base yet.

 

[cmdrdata]

My hubby put back on the 2 components as asked and we checked the voltage with just the power supply attached. Again Thank you so much

See my comments in the attached picture. Your measurements doesn't make sense.

 

[Techkat]

See my comments in the attached picture. Your measurements doesn't make sense.

Hi commander Yes you are correct I did have 12volts at one time see post and reading on 1332.

To answer question about the 6.3mv that reading was taken from ac in pin #3 on u7000 last night. The one above the 16.8 it is v not millivolt. the two on the u7000 were the last taken before posted. That being said before I answered you back today I thought I would double check again to make sure. I dont get any real voltages at all now. I had my hubby help me last night I can never get him to so I took advantage of it. Poor guy I'm always trying to rope him in After he took the readings from the board in the areas you circled previously. I wanted to show him, what you were saying about the ALL_SYS_PWRGD In that same post. So I thought if we kind of took ones generally but followed the power system on page 3 it would give him an overall picture and I then showed him the ones on the bottom right and how they interacted with the system as you were explaining to me. When we took them the last few looked kinda funny so I actually edited my post there and added what we had found.

So Im clueless I changed the pwer connector and the magsafe a little while ago and it's still the same. I thought I would check in a bit again because it has been kind of hectic here today.

 

[Giuly]

AND THE WINNER IS (Drumroll please):

R7086 with a total score of ∞ Ω. Congratulations.

 

[Sambolero]

New hobby: Rescueing Macbook Pro 1278 K6 Mid. 2010

Good evening !

I have some spare time and some time to burn and computers are my hobby and profession since more than 30 years. So I did some research and found the SMC thread and the backlight threat amazingly interesting.

As I was soldering a lot and have good understanding about electronics I decided to get back into it after many many years.

I am damn sure, that I will have many questions in the future and might bother some of you (if not all) with my struggles to bring life back into my 2 macbooks that just arrived from the US.

For now I just want to say hello and thanks for all the know how provided ! I have prepared myself a bit and found some schematics and boardviews in chinese forums. Maybe this helps, to understand my future questions, so I publish them here for everyones pleasure !

Take care everyone,
Sambolero
View attachment A1278-820-2879.pdf

View attachment landrex.zip

 

[Yako76]

Mba

Hello Sambolero!
Nice to meet you.

Do you have any experience with Macbook Air 11 late 2010, or similar Problem like my.
My MBA goes on, fan spinn up but no Chime and no Display.
I have Schematic and Board View.

Thanks a lot for your Help!!!

Good evening !

I have some spare time and some time to burn and computers are my hobby and profession since more than 30 years. So I did some research and found the SMC thread and the backlight threat amazingly interesting.

As I was soldering a lot and have good understanding about electronics I decided to get back into it after many many years.

I am damn sure, that I will have many questions in the future and might bother some of you (if not all) with my struggles to bring life back into my 2 macbooks that just arrived from the US.

For now I just want to say hello and thanks for all the know how provided ! I have prepared myself a bit and found some schematics and boardviews in chinese forums. Maybe this helps, to understand my future questions, so I publish them here for everyones pleasure !

Take care everyone,
Sambolero
View attachment 398632

View attachment 398633

 

[Giuly]

Good evening !

I have some spare time and some time to burn and computers are my hobby and profession since more than 30 years. So I did some research and found the SMC thread and the backlight threat amazingly interesting.

As I was soldering a lot and have good understanding about electronics I decided to get back into it after many many years.

I am damn sure, that I will have many questions in the future and might bother some of you (if not all) with my struggles to bring life back into my 2 macbooks that just arrived from the US.

For now I just want to say hello and thanks for all the know how provided ! I have prepared myself a bit and found some schematics and boardviews in chinese forums. Maybe this helps, to understand my future questions, so I publish them here for everyones pleasure !

Take care everyone,
Sambolero
View attachment 398632

View attachment 398633

You should label those files correctly for the Mid-2010 (and to some extend the 2009) 13" MacBook Pro.
Also, your board view zip is broken because it's a RAR archive, but I've repacked and attached it, and also included the board viewer application.

Thank for the board view though, if you can get more schematics and board views off that Chinese forum, feel free to share them with us.

 

[Sambolero]

You should label those files correctly for the Mid-2010 (and to some extend the 2009) 13" MacBook Pro.
Also, your board view zip is broken because it's a RAR archive, but I've repacked and attached it, and also included the board viewer application.

Thank for the board view though, if you can get more schematics and board views off that Chinese forum, feel free to share them with us.

Thanks for your help !

Very much appreciated.

Sambolero

----------

Hello Sambolero!
Nice to meet you.

Do you have any experience with Macbook Air 11 late 2010, or similar Problem like my.
My MBA goes on, fan spinn up but no Chime and no Display.
I have Schematic and Board View.

Thanks a lot for your Help!!!

Hey !

Thanks for asking me, but I guess I am too much of a newby at the moment to really assist you. But here in the forum are real experts and your problem is not that uncommon, I read about it before. Maybe somebody can chime in ... ?

Sambolero

 

[Sambolero]

MBP 13" Mid 2010

Hey !

Please see attached image, where you can see that it blow away a SI7149.

Could the experts here please advice how to handle the open copper areas. The Nets of Q7085 are not that complicated, but I have a lack of experience how to use or insulate the open damage on the board.

I did not yet do any measurements nor any cleaning.

Thanks,

Sambolero

 

[volley85palermo]

hello all
guys help me find the value of this capacitor? unfortunately blown away and I can not find any datasheet for the dc-in

 

[ace2000]

Hi guys the imac let me down again lol, but i have borrowed one for now, so really need help trying to rescue the macbook,
just to recap, I have a mid 2009 macbook pro 13, with cmdrdatas help I have restored 3.42v to G3 hot and can get the fan spinning with the bypass trick but not getting no chime or anything else, quite good at soldering have an achi ir rework station and JBC soldering Iron and a hot air rework station and used to do reballing of games consoles and laptops so can do the work necessary but dont know where else to start I have the board view files and schematic,

also I have a very dim green LED but if I pop the magsafe onto my friends macbook it lights bright green and then swap it to my macbook it stays bright green for about a minute then fades to very dim green again.. I just want to know where to start troubleshooting this..

 

[debo160]

Macbook air 13 no boot just beeps

Hello folks!! just wanted to ask had anyone ran into a macbook air with beeps. Normally with beeps your looking at ram. I was thinking maybe the ram needs to be reflowed. Anyone ran into anything like this? Thanks

Update. Ok this is a video card issue like the 15in 2007/2008 pro models. By pressing the chip The computer will boot. It needs a reflow.

 

[young88a]

Hi guys the imac let me down again lol, but i have borrowed one for now, so really need help trying to rescue the macbook,
just to recap, I have a mid 2009 macbook pro 13, with cmdrdatas help I have restored 3.42v to G3 hot and can get the fan spinning with the bypass trick but not getting no chime or anything else, quite good at soldering have an achi ir rework station and JBC soldering Iron and a hot air rework station and used to do reballing of games consoles and laptops so can do the work necessary but dont know where else to start I have the board view files and schematic,

also I have a very dim green LED but if I pop the magsafe onto my friends macbook it lights bright green and then swap it to my macbook it stays bright green for about a minute then fades to very dim green again.. I just want to know where to start troubleshooting this..

Exactly the same problem with my board from a late 2008 Uni MacBook ...
Have no idea what to try next ...

----------

Hello folks!! just wanted to ask had anyone ran into a macbook air with beeps. Normally with beeps your looking at ram. I was thinking maybe the ram needs to be reflowed. Anyone ran into anything like this? Thanks

Update. Ok this is a video card issue like the 15in 2007/2008 pro models. By pressing the chip The computer will boot. It needs a reflow.

I have a 2011 MacBook Air that started with the same problem, 3 beeps on startup, non stop, black screen. 3 beeps codes point to RAM problems, but I find somewhere in another site someone saying that he had success with 2 MacBooks Air by replacing the thermal paste, and also in one occasion was some problem of the thermal sensor between the CPU and Gpu getting loose. I'll try these first.

 

[Pecociulo]

Mabook pro 13" - 2011

Dear All,

First of all sorry for my bad english, I'm writing form Switzerland.

I have a couple of MBP with some power issues and I really hope someone in this Forum will help me.

I bought a MBP with liquid damaged! I haved cleaned the Logicboard with the ultrasonic and now looks bright and sharpe however still doesn't power up...

When I plug in the Magsafe adapter the light is green and if battery is pluged it also charges which is a good sign but problem is that when I push the power button the fan goes to the max speed but doesn't chime and nothing comes on the screen.. so I'm just wondering if someone can give me some pratical suggestions on how/what components measure/test to find out what wrong on the logic board.

Ps. I'm not a technician and I don't have experience on testing logicboars or us the Multimeter.. but I'm a goos student!
Please let me know if you need that I Post some pictures of the logic board


Thanks in advance for your support.


Peco

 

[macattack600]

A1278 2011 I7 2.7 13inch Jumper wire found on P Fuse -Hotttt!

I have a I7 13 inch MBP no response when power pressed, I have power from the charger and voltages are correct on the on fuses. On inspection I noticed this has been previously worked on the inline P link fuse (backlight driver fuse?) has a jumper wire straight across it , to the left I believe is the wled driver which is very small compared to the earlier a1278's , when you touch it's burning hot around the area. The square yellow component under the green component looks cracked and solder joint on one side look bad (capacitor?) . I know this area functions led backlight so I don't think no power at all comes from this. chances are the wled driver is blown being so hot right? How to test this? Its different from earlier a1278 driver ic.

 

[macattack600]

I have a I7 13 inch MBP no response when power pressed, I have power from the charger and voltages are correct on the on fuses. On inspection I noticed this has been previously worked on the inline P link fuse (backlight driver fuse?) has a jumper wire straight across it , to the left I believe is the wled driver which is very small compared to the earlier a1278's , when you touch it's burning hot around the area. The square yellow component under the green component looks cracked and solder joint on one side look bad (capacitor?) . I know this area functions led backlight so I don't think no power at all comes from this. chances are the wled driver is blown being so hot right? How to test this? Its different from earlier a1278 driver ic.

update I've pulled the wire off the fuse it boots but with no backlight I'll switch this to the proper thread with backlight

 

[gazucha]

MacRumours advice just killed my Macbook

Hi people,
I am seriously hoping that someone can help me here, as following the advice on the OP on page one of this thread;

With the magsafe disconnected press and hold the power button. While continuing to hold the power button plug in the magsafe connector. Continue to hold down the power button for 5 to 10 seconds. Release the power button and wait a couple of seconds. Now press and release power button. PRESTO! The Macbook chimes and starts up but with fan on high speed. Boots up into OSX but with a few caveats which I list below:

my previously working (but not charging) Macbook, now stalls on startup. It whirrs that oscillating whirr but no chime and a black screen.

Tried SMC and PRAM... nothing!

PLEASE someone help, as this is actually my girlfriends and she has already forbidden touching it. I just thought it may resolve the charging problem... not kill it!

 

[gazucha]

Solved

Ok, fixed the problem.

That 'flash' trick seems to have messed up the RAM- so removed RAM, booted (failed) reinstalled one RAM at a time...

WooHoo!!!

 

[AlohaMac]

Amazing Thread! I've learned a lot from it, really thanks to ALL!
But as i am not an electric wizard, please bear with me...

I do have some Logicboards laying around and getting dusty, one of it is from a A1342 Polycarbonate 2009 Macbook (PartNr.: 820-2567-A). It won't come up, symptoms are:

- when Magsafe connected you can see a really dimm flickering green light. Magsafe itself is 100% OK, i have a couple of them, known good (45W,60W and 85W) for testing Purposes.

- measuring the white bodied Fuse near the DC-IN connector i get readings jumping from 16.80V to 17.10V.

- badly soldered component near the Heatsink honeycomb part.

-missing Mainfuse near the Battery connector, does somebody know where to get it from (i live in Germany, so EU would be great) and whats the Name/part number of it?
With only battery connected i measured about 12.48V at the incoming pad of where the Fuse normally is soldered to. When disconnect the Battery and connect the magsafe i measure about 0.50V, going slowly down to 0.00V when holding the test probes for about 2min at the solderpad.

- Known good Battery not charging.

- G3Hot (see pics where i measured) without battery is 3.4V relatively constant (sometimes 3.39V and 3.41V)

- G3Hot with connected battery but without Magsafe connected is most of the time 3.41V, sometimes 3.4V


I'm grateful for every advice i can get - So let the life!

Aloha!

 

[widerstand]

A1278 non-pro

Hello!
Earlier I had a post about an Alu UniMacBook, non-pro.
Since then more corrosion removed, and a HAT1127H replaced from an other board the computer has stable voltages on dc-side, this time not alternating.
DC board replaced to a brand new one.
If i start the computer with the charger on - that still has no light feedback on charger head - and i pop in the battery, the computer starts up. system says it's not charging.
If i remove the battery it keeps alive. but still no charger light. Profller sees the charger.
if i want to start the computer off charger (no battery) it wont start.
Which parts do i have to check?

I measure 12.5V on battery fuse when charger is connected, and battery removed.
I think smc partly sees the charger, because when battery is removed and charger is plugged in, and i press the battery indicator light, it makes the normal knight-rider-style light effect.

Is the G3Hot part of the board bad? Which parts do i have to check? Maybe some location tips would help, since i don't have the board view file for the MacBook Alu.

Greetings
Zsolt

 

[l.a.rossmann]

One thing I'd like to chime in here, since I noticed it wasn't mentioned.

If you do any soldering around the ISL625* power IC - note its proximity to the memory slots. This entire area is very sensitive. I cover the slots entirely in kapton tape before doing anything here. Even a fan connector. Too many boards with only 1 ram slot are floating around out there after no power issues being repaired.

 

[GlassOgnion]

Thanks for the advice. When replacing a connector on a macbook board do you have to preheat the board and do you use a hot air station or the solder iron ?

One thing I'd like to chime in here, since I noticed it wasn't mentioned.

If you do any soldering around the ISL625* power IC - note its proximity to the memory slots. This entire area is very sensitive. I cover the slots entirely in kapton tape before doing anything here. Even a fan connector. Too many boards with only 1 ram slot are floating around out there after no power issues being repaired.