LVDS Connector GONE FROM LOGIC BOARD

[Nasty275ss]

Ok to make this short n sweet, Im a newb to rippin Macs apart and dont wanna be a dumbass and just dive into an $800 computer n **** it up, I bought a Late Unibody 2008 MBP 15" cheap as **** and everything works great on External Display, except the fact that the LVDS connection port was gone when I opened it up so I bought a new 40 pin connector and going to try this task myself since I have experience in soldering this stuff, just never one of these, My question is, Is it possible? has anyone done it? Im sure ppl have done it, I just cant find **** anywhere about it. I got everything to do it correctly Hot air station, Kapton tape, solder, etc. and just wanna turn around and sell it fully functional, any input would help, thanks.

Im trying to post a pic. but its not responding for some reason.

 

[Nasty275ss]

heres a pic.

 

[triplelucky]

Yes its possible. I’ve been putting them on by hand, point to point. But its pretty close work.

I haven’t had much luck with trying to “drag solder” the pins.

On the last one I decided to see how it would go to try and Kapton tape it and reflow after I already had it on..

It actually went pretty well and didn’t melt or warp.

So on my next one I’m going to try and hot air it from the git go.

Thats with a preheater from the bottom and the hot air from the top.

Can you post a better pix of that pad area on yours?

 

[Nasty275ss]

yea i can get another pic. for u... thats wut i was wondering? doesit matter if some of the solder touches on each pin, cuz thats gonna be hard not to get it to touch, and what do u mean uve been puttin them on by hand, i really appreciate the feedback, i have never done one of these yet and could use ANNNY tips, i appreciate it man thanx

 

[triplelucky]

What I meant was that when I replace them I have been removing the old one with hot air from the top.

That warps and destroys whats left of the old one.

Then hand soldering the new one in point to point as opposed to using hot air because, normally the hot air will warp or burn the new connector.

In general the pins can’t touch or be shorted. If you look at a diagram of the pad layout there are a couple of pins that are connect to to same pads on the logic board but for all practical purposes they can’t touch or short.

So those pins are a pretty intricate soldering job. And also the side bars and rear bottom of the connector need to be soldered.

Tips?

You will need a microscope or some type of lens setup so you can see whats going on there.

You will want to remove the old solder from the pads with flux and solder wick.

You can apply new flux and solder to all the pads however if you do that it will cause some issues as you work your way around the connector because the yet to be soldered pins are above the board by the height of the new solder on the pads.

What works best for me so far is to add new solder to only one of the larger pins that are on the ends of the front row of pins.

Then I run a small line of solder paste around the rest of the pins and connector surfaces.

Then I place the connector on the logic board and use that one pin already with solder on its pad to “tack” it in position, move over and “tack” the one on the other side.

Now its tacked in position and you can work the front pins without knocking it out of alignment.

There is already solder paste from before under the other pins so just carefully work your way down the row of pins (using a suitable soldering tip) making good connections.

If the amount of solder paste you used is correct it will be just enough to solder the individual pins and not enough to bridge them.

Then do the side pins and next change to a larger tip and heat the back connector. There is already paste flux under there. Don’t suck any solder up over the edge in the back. That make it hard to put the cable in later.

PS There are a lot of other “technique” things you could do such as catch a few pins at a time or try drag soldering the whole row at once.

I was just trying to explain how I have been doing it.

 

[Nasty275ss]

wow, thats perfect info man, thanx, i figured thats how i was gonna do it, my biggest fear is bridging two pins cuz thatll b a bitch to work with, but as i look at other connectors on my other macs, from factory, it seems they have a thin layer of metal under the entire connector and this board doesnt, i bet someone broke it off with the connector, i hope thats not going to affect the video, or if itll work at all without that, ill get a pic. hang on, i was actually just watchin a movie on it (external display) so gotta open it up again.

 

[Nasty275ss]

heres some more pics

 

[triplelucky]

Well that looks like some pretty significant damage there.

There are missing pads, traces and possibly damaged via’s.

It might be possible to trace that all out and get the right signals to the right pins, with enough time and effort..

Or maybe not.

Anyway best of luck with it.

 

[ha1o2surfer]

Another thing to note, if any of those pins got shorted, it might have blown the back light driver or something else..

 

[Nasty275ss]

Ok, Im about to solder this tonight and see what happens, I appreciate all the feedback.

 

[iMacC2D]

Removed.

 

[triplelucky]

https://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=466211&stc=1&d=1395766825

Here is a pix of the pad area with a 40 pin LVDS connector removed.

The large contact area under the rear of the connector and the two large side pins in the front help to keep the connector from ripping off of the board under the strain of holding the LVDS cable. (in addition to grounding et.)

They are the easy part. I use solder paste under the new connector in the rear and there is enough room on the sides when the new connector is positioned to just use regular small diameter wire solder.

You can heat the new connector in the rear, with a clean, larger tip and the solder paste already underneath it will flow.

The front pins are the hardest. They need to provide a solid connection. I use a pin and push them a little from side to side after soldering to check for a solid connection. Sometimes they “look” good but didn’t really make a solid connection.

How I have been doing these lately is to apply new solder to the front pins after cleaning with flux and solder wick. But not the two front larger side pins.

I put solder paste under both of them and the under the rear as mentioned earlier

Then I tack the down the two front side pins, solder the sides of the rear, and solder across the rear middle.

Next I Kapton tape the connector on the top and the rear, preheat the board from the bottom and move back and forth across the front pins with hot air and a small tip until the new solder that was put on the pads earlier flows.

Because there is a small height difference between applying new solder to a pad and using paste flux underneath, the front pins make good contact with the board when reflowed .

Any way you approach it. Its a tricky soldering job.

 

[dwmciver]

Hiring someone to replace LVDS connectors

Anybody have a resource / connection I can hire to replace the LVDS connector on two different MBPs? 2011 - 13" Unibody and a 2012 - 15" Unibody

Thanks in advance -