Fixed rMBP early 2013 magsafe port - saved $1350 quoted by apple

Моя проблема

My room flooded, and water got into my laptop. I dried it under 2 fans continuously for a month, that dried off most of the water from the screen except for a little water spot that doesn't bother too much, but the magsafe port got corroded. The power adapter, when connected kept my laptop on through external power, but the battery was not charging and remained at 12 %. The charging light wouldn't show either the green or the orange when connected. Over time, that went down to 0. Then the laptop wouldn't switch on any more saying low battery. Took it to an apple store, they told me the magsafe board was corroded and quoted me $1350 to fix it, saying they would have to re-build the entire laptop.

Моё решение

Now that i had nothing to lose, no warranty, such a high repair bill, and a laptop that was as good as dead because it was not switching on, i thought i'd try to fix it myself. Looked up the instructions on ifixit, which at first, seemed pretty complicated. I ordered a replacement magsafe port through amazon (was out of stock on fixit), and screwdrivers and a spudger from ifixit, and started the repair process. It was a little intimidating at first because of the sophisticated parts and connections, but i got a hang of it as i went along. Took around 3 - 3.5 hours till i opened up all the parts, replaced the magsafe board and then re-assembled the entire laptop. Then when i connected the charger to the new port and saw the green and orange light for the first time, it was an amazing feeling. I let it charge to a full, and now my laptop is back to normal and working great.

Мой совет

For a price of $30 in parts and tools for my laptop, i was able to save $1350 in repair bills or the possibility of having to buy a new laptop. For the first time, the process can seem intimidating, but don't be scared and go for it, it actually ended up being a lot of fun and it solved the problem. Ever since, i've been looking up other repair jobs for other electronics to fix more things, after such a tough job, i now have itchy fingers of taking on more complicated jobs.

Advice: Try to be organized with the parts and screws in de-assembly, especially the screws since the screws are different lengths at different locations. I setup my repair job over a big table, and organized the parts in a clockwise direction in order of the de-assembly steps. Have a soft touch when taking out parts from the hinges, especially the keyboard wire. When putting back the logic board, make sure to take out all the wires from under the board and bring it above the board.