A 2015 MacBook Air gave me a real headache yesterday

The customer said it just died and wouldn't charge. I popped the bottom case off and saw the battery was swollen, which is normal for these. But the real issue was a tiny, burnt SMD capacitor right next to the MagSafe port. I had to use my hot air station at 350 degrees to remove it and solder a new one from a donor board. Has anyone else had a MagSafe board fail like that, or was this just a weird one-off?

3 comments

3 Comments

ericj4510d ago

I mean, that's a pretty specific failure point. I've seen swollen batteries kill the board before, but not a tiny cap right at the port. Did the board have any liquid damage signs or was it clean?

elizabeths519d ago

Wait you had to use a hot air station at 350 degrees for that? That sounds so intense for a tiny part. I've seen batteries puff up and wreck things, but a single capacitor frying right there is wild. Makes me wonder if there was a tiny power surge or something.

kaih369d ago

Yeah, a buddy had a similar thing happen, @elizabeths51. His phone's charging port just died, and it was one tiny cooked capacitor too.