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Made a huge Mistake, Can anyone help?

C

C.Young

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 18, 2012
9
0
Hey everybody, Im new to the forums and MacBooks in general. I bought my wife a 15" MBP a few months ago and we loved it so a month ago I bought a 13" MBP (Late 2009 Model) It worked great but after a few weeks the click stopped working on the trackpad. So I was in the process of taking the battery out to get to the adjustment screw for the trackpad when The screwdriver slipped and poked a hole through the track pad ribbon and scratched the logic board, Now when I boot it up it brings up a white screen but nothing else. I attached a picture to show the scratch. My question is, is there a way or someone who can repair it with out costing me an arm & a leg? Or is it going to need replaced? Thanks in advance.

I look forward to reading though the threads and learning new things about all the apple products.
 

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Take it to an Apple store to be repaired by a qualified technician. You will most likely be looking at $1000+ for the repair.
 
Already said above me.
It was a mistake that you tried to fix it yourself.
Anything other than your HDD and RAM, it must be checked by Apple Certified technician.

You are looking fro 500+ repair for sure.
 
No one knows of a person or a shop that can repair just the area I damaged?
 
Doubt it, as far as I know even Apple techs can't do that sort of component level repair to the logic board.

Since its an older model, it might be worth finding a logic board and trackpad cable that match your exact computer on eBay or similar. Take it to an Apple store first so they can at least tell you how much they would charge for the repair.
 
You'll most likely need a new logic board. Probably your best bet is to sell this one for parts on eBay (explaining what happened) and get another one.
 
http://www.google.com/

Search it for yourself, considering that I have no idea where you live.
There are place that does it, but it will take a great amount of money.

Also, they don't sell cable parts that is connected to your trackpad that I know of.
 
Not really sure why some of you are being rude? I took the best picture I could with my iPhone, and obviously if you read the discription you would have read that I poked a hole in the trackpad ribbon and scratched the logic board, so common sense would lead anyone (even a ********* idiot) to look around the area where the ribbon connects to the logic board. For those of you who are giving me real answers thank you I appreciate it, for those who are talking smack find something better to do than make crappy comments to someone who said straight up I made a mistake. Thanks

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yusukeaoki said:
http://www.google.com/

Search it for yourself, considering that I have no idea where you live.
There are place that does it, but it will take a great amount of money.

Also, they don't sell cable parts that is connected to your trackpad that I know of.
Click to expand...


I did and there weren't any in my area or I would have just contacted them, and yes they do well just the cable.

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Macman756 said:
Nope. These are PCBs with SMC all over the place. They are not designed to be repaired, but rather replaced.
Click to expand...

Thats what I figured but It was worth a shot to ask people that are familiar with apple laptops since I obviously am not lol.
 
If you know they sell cables for the trackpad, why won't you buy it from them then?

As far as I know, I never seen such thing since those parts are not user replaceable.
 
C.Young said:
Not really sure why some of you are being rude? I took the best picture I could with my iPhone, and obviously if you read the discription you would have read that I poked a hole in the trackpad ribbon and scratched the logic board, so common sense would lead anyone (even a ********* idiot) to look around the area where the ribbon connects to the logic board. For those of you who are giving me real answers thank you I appreciate it, for those who are talking smack find something better to do than make crappy comments to someone who said straight up I made a mistake. Thanks
Click to expand...
Your picture is CRAP. How the heck is anyone supposed to see the extent of the "scratch" without seeing it clearly. It could very well be minor.

You held the camera at the worst possible angle for a flash pic, and it was not focused properly. If I wanted help I'd be darned sure the pic could actually show the extent of the damage.




Michael
 
brand said:
Take it to an Apple store to be repaired by a qualified technician. You will most likely be looking at $1000+ for the repair.
Click to expand...

Assuming you're right he'd be better off selling it as non functional. There is no good reason to spend that much on a 2009 13" machine. Trackpad problems aren't that uncommon.
 
yusukeaoki said:
If you know they sell cables for the trackpad, why won't you buy it from them then?

As far as I know, I never seen such thing since those parts are not user replaceable.
Click to expand...

I ordered the cable but the issue is the scratch on the logic board. Unless the ribbon being damaged or disconnected will keep it from booting?

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Tinmania said:
Your picture is CRAP. How the heck is anyone supposed to see the extent of the "scratch" without seeing it clearly. It could very well be minor.

You held the camera at the worst possible angle for a flash pic, and it was not focused properly. If I wanted help I'd be darned sure the pic could actually show the extent of the damage.




Michael
Click to expand...

With out the flash you couldn't see it at all and for some reason I couldn't get a good picture with my phone. I took several but this one is the only one that made it visible at all.
 
C.Young said:
I ordered the cable but the issue is the scratch on the logic board. Unless the ribbon being damaged or disconnected will keep it from booting?

If the only damage was the cable, there should be no problem booting.
The only thing is that you can't use the trackpad for now.

And depends on how bad the damage is.
Possibly a picture?
The pic already posted is blurred and the flash is covering up the damage.
Click to expand...
 
C.Young said:
I ordered the cable but the issue is the scratch on the logic board. Unless the ribbon being damaged or disconnected will keep it from booting?

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With out the flash you couldn't see it at all and for some reason I couldn't get a good picture with my phone. I took several but this one is the only one that made it visible at all.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to be unkind here, but the photo is useless. I couldn't tell much of anything. Don't take a photo straight on with a flash on a glossy subject.

The thing I have to wonder is why the heck you applied so much pressure that this happened? You have learned an unfortunate and expensive lesson. You MAY be able to sell the unit for parts, or you may be able to buy a motherboard and cable on eBay. But you will likely have no luck repairing the one you have.

Please- next time, let Apple fix it for you. There are almost NO laptops that are easy to repair other than memory or drives.

Short answer- there is no help for you in repairing it. You broke it permanently.
 
C.Young said:
With out the flash you couldn't see it at all and for some reason I couldn't get a good picture with my phone. I took several but this one is the only one that made it visible at all.
Click to expand...

You could use a lamp to take a better pic (no flash and tap to focus on the scratch). That pic is unusable to be able to tell the extent of the damage.

That said I hope you didn't work on it in the same lighting conditions.



Michael
 
imagevze.jpg


Seriously, it's not a super secret shot of unreleased Apple hardware, so why the need for Mr. Blurry Cam?

Sorry to hear that. I agree with others, take it to Apple and see what they charge. It probably *will be* an arm and a leg.
 
Here is a better picture. Sorry for the first one.
 

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shurcooL said:
Image

Seriously, it's not a super secret shot of unreleased Apple hardware, so why the need for Mr. Blurry Cam?

Sorry to hear that. I agree with others, take it to Apple and see what they charge. It probably *will be* an arm and a leg.
Click to expand...

Haha sorry I could not get a good picture with my phone but I just posted a better one
 
It's a printed circuit board and that scratch definitely is cutting something off. It's probably safer to just order a second hand logic board from eBay and save yourself the hassle of taking it in to Apple and getting ripped off for a new logic board.

I also found this service on eBay, contact them and see if they can do this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/REPAIR-2-26...ltDomain_0&hash=item4aaa4ec459#ht_4472wt_1165

Just looked at the ratings for these guys, and this is definitely a good option at only $268. Ship your laptop to them and they fix it and ship it back in 7-10 business days.
 
You are not going to find a repair shop willing to fix the kind of damage you appear to have caused. Different people define "scratch" differently, but it would seem as if you have done something to some of the traces (read "wires") that are a part of the circuit board, possibly cutting through some of them. If this is the case a repair on a board of this density and complexity would be extremely difficult if possible at all. I have fixed my share of burned, lifted, cut or otherwise damaged traces. I can hand solder 0402 components if I have to. But I would never take your money and tell you I could fix that. It was an expensive mistake, it sucks, but anyone who would take on a repair like that doesn't know what they are getting into.
 
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