Welcome to the forum! We will be happy to help you through fixing your boards, assuming you follow a few basic rules.
1) Provide FULL answers to our questions, nor partial answers.
We are going to need information from you that you did not present in your original post to solve your problem. We can't see the board you're working on, nor can we measure. We are guessing over the internet, and the quality of our guesses will depend on the information you provide.
I see posts where Duke or I might ask for resistance of R7005, resistance between pins 17/18 of U7000, and resistance to ground on F7040. This is a request for three pieces of information. The reply,will sometimes only answer one of the questions! If we ask questions in a post, there is a reason, and we need all of them to be answered or we cannot help you. From here on in, if we ask for information and you do not provide it, we will let the thread die. You are welcome to revive it when you provide the information we have asked for.
2) Answer the question we asked; not a different question.
If we ask you to plug in a USB mouse and tell us if it lights up - plug in a USB mouse. Not a USB microphone, not a USB stick, not a USB dildo. There are reasons for what we are asking you to do. There are constants. Throwing in other variables will lower the consistency of quality in the advice we offer. I don't know how the fuck a USB dildo will react when you plug it in, but I know how a USB mouse will. If you do not provide answers to all questions, we will let the thread die. You are welcome to revive it when you provide the information we have asked for.
3) Basic proficiency with a multi-meter & understanding of basic electronics is required.
You should know how to do the following with a multimeter before posting here.
4) Proficiency with soldering is required.
This is one of the most important. Chips like an SMC or an ISL6259 are difficult to solder at first. 99% of the issues people have regarding these circuit areas are not circuit issues, but rather, soldering issues.
You must know how to
5) Test parts are required.
Without parts for testing, you will be in the dark. You need a 2015-2016 A1502 assembly that is a known good if you are working on an 820-4924 board with no backlight. You need a known good DC in board if you are working on a board that does not charge.
6) Not all boards are fixable.
Some boards are simply not fixable over the internet. Infact, there are many boards that aren't fixable at all. When you sign up for the forum, you are subscribing for the ability to receive advice from us. There is no guarantee of every board being fixable, and no warranty expressed or implied nor any guarantee that what we tell you will fix your problem. Further, we are not liable for any action you take as a result of the advice we provide.
7) New problem? New thread!
When we click onto a thread, we don't remember the train of thought, so we'll read through some of it and try to pick up where we left off. If we get to the end of a thread only to realize it is a new board we are looking at, that time is now wasted. If you have a new problem, post in a new thread. Do not post in other threads!
8) Give as much information as possible!
What power rails do work, what don't work, what signals are present, what are not present? We will have our own plethora of questions for you, but the more information you offer up, the better.
9) You've gotta have a thick skin.
I'm from Brooklyn, and Duke is a classic engineer personality. Most business relationships have the "people person" and the "engineer." We are definitely absent our "people person."
Here you will find the highest quality library of knowledge and troubleshooting techniques for these products, because we work on them day in and day out for a living. We find solving these problems to be a unique personal challenge, and that makes us good at our job. At the same time, we don't have time to waste concerning ourselves with emotions, feelings, political correctness, or tact. We aren't social butterflies and we're not trying to pretend that we are. We are answering these questions inbetween our own repairs and type the bare minimum required to give good advice and get the point across, which doesn't leave room to rephrase everything so it sounds nice.
Nothing we say here should be taken personally, as it is not meant to personally belittle or offend you. If we say "you need to learn X before going further", it isn't an insult. It's just the honest truth.
10) Subscriptions are non-refundable.
You are absolutely welcome to cancel a subscription at any time. However, we do not refund prior payments. The same way I can't ask my cable company for a refund because I "didn't watch much TV that month", we just aren't getting into that here. This isn't a tangible good we can give back to you should you seek a refund. If you use it to your great benefit, or do not use it at all, the rate is set & the same.
This is a side project for duke & I and we are trying to keep hassle to an absolute minimum. If you wish to unsubscribe, you can remove us from your recurring payments in PayPal and it will go away. However, we will not get into back & forth about what was used, when people logged in, it's just too much trouble as the forum grows and takes on more users to get into.
1) Provide FULL answers to our questions, nor partial answers.
We are going to need information from you that you did not present in your original post to solve your problem. We can't see the board you're working on, nor can we measure. We are guessing over the internet, and the quality of our guesses will depend on the information you provide.
I see posts where Duke or I might ask for resistance of R7005, resistance between pins 17/18 of U7000, and resistance to ground on F7040. This is a request for three pieces of information. The reply,will sometimes only answer one of the questions! If we ask questions in a post, there is a reason, and we need all of them to be answered or we cannot help you. From here on in, if we ask for information and you do not provide it, we will let the thread die. You are welcome to revive it when you provide the information we have asked for.
2) Answer the question we asked; not a different question.
If we ask you to plug in a USB mouse and tell us if it lights up - plug in a USB mouse. Not a USB microphone, not a USB stick, not a USB dildo. There are reasons for what we are asking you to do. There are constants. Throwing in other variables will lower the consistency of quality in the advice we offer. I don't know how the fuck a USB dildo will react when you plug it in, but I know how a USB mouse will. If you do not provide answers to all questions, we will let the thread die. You are welcome to revive it when you provide the information we have asked for.
3) Basic proficiency with a multi-meter & understanding of basic electronics is required.
You should know how to do the following with a multimeter before posting here.
- Tell the difference between when you would use AC voltage vs. DC voltage.
- Understand which symbol on your meter is for measuring AC voltage vs. measuring DC voltage.
- Understand units of measurement when measuring resistance, aka 0.5 ohms, kiloohms, mohms, etc.
- Understand how to put your multimeter into diode mode.
- Understand why you NEVER EVER EVER do diode mode or resistance mode measurements with the board turned on.
4) Proficiency with soldering is required.
This is one of the most important. Chips like an SMC or an ISL6259 are difficult to solder at first. 99% of the issues people have regarding these circuit areas are not circuit issues, but rather, soldering issues.
You must know how to
- Solder a QFN package and verify that each individual pin has a proper connection to each individual pad on the board.
- Solder a QFN package without blowing away anything around it.
- Solder a QFN package without overheating & burning it.
- Solder a microBGA package and verify that the balls have dropped and are aligned with the board(check in a microscope via side view, just tilt the board and look).
- Solder a microBGA package without blowing away anything around it.
- Solder a microBGA package without burning it.
- Solder 0603, 0402, 0201 packages.
- Solder jumper wires from points to components to fix board issues.
5) Test parts are required.
Without parts for testing, you will be in the dark. You need a 2015-2016 A1502 assembly that is a known good if you are working on an 820-4924 board with no backlight. You need a known good DC in board if you are working on a board that does not charge.
6) Not all boards are fixable.
Some boards are simply not fixable over the internet. Infact, there are many boards that aren't fixable at all. When you sign up for the forum, you are subscribing for the ability to receive advice from us. There is no guarantee of every board being fixable, and no warranty expressed or implied nor any guarantee that what we tell you will fix your problem. Further, we are not liable for any action you take as a result of the advice we provide.
7) New problem? New thread!
When we click onto a thread, we don't remember the train of thought, so we'll read through some of it and try to pick up where we left off. If we get to the end of a thread only to realize it is a new board we are looking at, that time is now wasted. If you have a new problem, post in a new thread. Do not post in other threads!
8) Give as much information as possible!
What power rails do work, what don't work, what signals are present, what are not present? We will have our own plethora of questions for you, but the more information you offer up, the better.
9) You've gotta have a thick skin.
I'm from Brooklyn, and Duke is a classic engineer personality. Most business relationships have the "people person" and the "engineer." We are definitely absent our "people person."
Here you will find the highest quality library of knowledge and troubleshooting techniques for these products, because we work on them day in and day out for a living. We find solving these problems to be a unique personal challenge, and that makes us good at our job. At the same time, we don't have time to waste concerning ourselves with emotions, feelings, political correctness, or tact. We aren't social butterflies and we're not trying to pretend that we are. We are answering these questions inbetween our own repairs and type the bare minimum required to give good advice and get the point across, which doesn't leave room to rephrase everything so it sounds nice.
Nothing we say here should be taken personally, as it is not meant to personally belittle or offend you. If we say "you need to learn X before going further", it isn't an insult. It's just the honest truth.
10) Subscriptions are non-refundable.
You are absolutely welcome to cancel a subscription at any time. However, we do not refund prior payments. The same way I can't ask my cable company for a refund because I "didn't watch much TV that month", we just aren't getting into that here. This isn't a tangible good we can give back to you should you seek a refund. If you use it to your great benefit, or do not use it at all, the rate is set & the same.
This is a side project for duke & I and we are trying to keep hassle to an absolute minimum. If you wish to unsubscribe, you can remove us from your recurring payments in PayPal and it will go away. However, we will not get into back & forth about what was used, when people logged in, it's just too much trouble as the forum grows and takes on more users to get into.
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