Replaced Optical Drive, now BT, Wifi and iSight don't work - Late 2008 Unibody MBP

[MrNothingman]

Hello,

tried to bring new life to my macbook pro (Late 2008 Unibody) and bought the OWC Data Doubler with a new SSD.

After the installation bluetooth, wifi and isight camera don't work, the OS just can't find the hardware. From my searches i think i damaged this cable or connector removing it and putting it back again, i remember i had problems with it because of the angle and other stuff on the motherboard.

What should i do now? i tried removing and connecting that cable again, cleared PRam, anyone with the same problem or tips?

Should i just send it to apple to fix it? Anyone knows how much would it cost me?
Or should i just forget about it and bought some usb dongles to replaced my damaged hardware.

Cheers,
Thank you in advance.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Apple won't fix it for free and I wonder if the cost to repair will be too high to warrant actually repairing. Did you check out the tear down on ifixit.com? Perhaps you can find that part and replace it yourself. Clearly, you damaged something.

 

[bushido]

the same thing happened to me last week

i played around with the cable a little more and made sure the golden connectors were all there and it started working again. i noticed that it always got loose a little once i let go of the cable.

 

[Brian Y]

That cable is a pain in the you know where.

If you fiddle around with it, you may be able to get it working, but so many people don't realise that there's a little plastic chock behind it, then use excessive force and break the cable.

The cable itself is replacable, but it requires you to take the glass off of the LCD, and will require a good couple of hours. If you're not confident about doing that, it's a new clamshell.

 

[MrNothingman]

Apple won't fix it for free and I wonder if the cost to repair will be too high to warrant actually repairing. Did you check out the tear down on ifixit.com? Perhaps you can find that part and replace it yourself. Clearly, you damaged something.

I checked the repair guide on iFixit and it looks very complicated and dangerous and they don't sell that cable. On ebay i found it for $50 (£30) so i'm thinking it would be too expensive and just buy usb hardware to replace that parts.

 

[MrNothingman]

the same thing happened to me last week

i played around with the cable a little more and made sure the golden connectors were all there and it started working again. i noticed that it always got loose a little once i let go of the cable.

That cable is a pain in the you know where.

If you fiddle around with it, you may be able to get it working, but so many people don't realise that there's a little plastic chock behind it, then use excessive force and break the cable.

The cable itself is replacable, but it requires you to take the glass off of the LCD, and will require a good couple of hours. If you're not confident about doing that, it's a new clamshell.

Thank you both, i'll try and play a little more with it and see if it starts working again, but knowing how clumsy i am, i probably broke it

I'm definitely not confident to replace it myself and looks a "not as cheap as it looks" part to replace.

 

[btownguy]

Hello,

tried to bring new life to my macbook pro (Late 2008 Unibody) and bought the OWC Data Doubler with a new SSD.

After the installation bluetooth, wifi and isight camera don't work, the OS just can't find the hardware. From my searches i think i damaged this cable or connector removing it and putting it back again, i remember i had problems with it because of the angle and other stuff on the motherboard.

What should i do now? i tried removing and connecting that cable again, cleared PRam, anyone with the same problem or tips?

Should i just send it to apple to fix it? Anyone knows how much would it cost me?
Or should i just forget about it and bought some usb dongles to replaced my damaged hardware.

Cheers,
Thank you in advance.

Did your fans also run fast after this problem?