Glue like substance around a chip on the motherboard

[Meitou]

So yesterday, I was experiencing constant disconnection after 5 minutes, which I would then proceed to reboot. However, the problem persisted and I decided to turn off wifi and shut off the mac. I think proceeded to take the case off to see if the wires were disconnected. When I opened up the case, there was some glue like substance that was on my logic board. I'm not really sure what it is but I have attached a picture of it. When I turned on my mac once against, there was a problem with my wifi card, when hovered over the wifi icon in my task bar, it said that there was no hardware installed. I took it to the apple store this morning and they said the problem is with my airport card, it needed to be changed. Since it was still under warrenty, I left my mac to be fixed. However, I did not ask why there was glue like substance on my logic board because I'm not sure if it voided my warranty if I said that I opened up the bottom case. Was wondering if anyone could tell me what it is, here is a picture.

From my perspective, it seems like something was melted underneath the chip, what do you guys think?

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

Your picture is very fuzzy - if you are talking about the adhesive / epoxy surrounding the chip near the foreground - it's exactly that. Because it's likely a BGA (ball grid array) - they are mounted and secured to stay in place with adhesive to increase their mechanical strength. (as the solder connections tend to be VERY thin - and are less robust when it comes to mechanical stresses vs other types)

I've seen some even applied before any soldering is done - to keep the chip in the correction location after multiple reflow cycles. They also do it to help with thermal conductivity in some designs, and to keep moisture / debris from getting between the IC and the PCB it's mounted to.

 

[lagisibuk]

dont worry about this.
i found same on my old macbook (2010) and it's normal ...

 

[Meitou]

thanks guys, and Big-TDI-Guy that was exactly what I was talking about Thanks for the information guys, hope the people over at Apple can fix my problem, still have 1 month of warranty. It would be great if they found out the wifi problem was because of my logic board and they replaced it. But that's being optimistic

 

[nickandre21]

i think thats the smc chip, my late 2011 did not have the glue but my mid 2012 did have. Its totally normal found on many electronics.