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A2159 (820-01598) - Cant restore system via USB or internet recovery

HeyWatchOutDude

HeyWatchOutDude

Member
Hi,

I have here an A2159 (820-01598) which was water damaged. (I took pictures before cleaning - please check the attachments)
After removing/replacing the broken stuff (caps, 94AGTJIELC180) and cleaning the corrotion the device booted fine .... it also worked for 2 whole days.

But after trying to run "Diagnose Mode" it stopped working and now I cant even restore the system via USB or internet recovery. (Error -2003F | Progress bar is kinda weird)
Furthermore I cant see the hard drive (SSD) when I press "Option" ... is the SSD/T2 bad?

Note:
DFU restore/repair via apple configurator 2 worked fine .. so no problem overall.

I measured some of the important voltages:
  • PPBUS_G2H = 12.57v
  • PP3V3_G3H = 3.3V
  • P3V3MAIN_PGOOD = 3.2V
  • PP3V_G3H_RTC = 3.0V
  • P5VG3S_EN = 1.8V
  • PP5V_G3S = 5.1V
  • PP1V2_AWAKE = 1.2v
  • PP1V8_AWAKE = 1.8v
  • PP3V3_AWAKE = 3.3v
  • PP0V8_SLPS2R = 0.8v
  • PP1V8_SLPS2R = 1.8v
  • PP1V1_SLPS2R = 1.1v
  • PMU_PVDDMAIN_EN = 3.3V
  • PP1V8_S3_MEM = 1.8v
  • PP1V2_S3 = 1.2V
After trying "Diagnose Mode" again it says "No issues found." Sadly still not working.

Any idea?
 

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2informaticos

2informaticos

Administrator
Staff member
Some resistor, or trace affected by corrosion.
Can also be accumulated crap under a BGA chip.

SSD is not visible in boot menu, if doesn't have bootable partition.
Can you access it in Target Disk mode?
It should be good, if passed DFU restore.
 
HeyWatchOutDude

HeyWatchOutDude

Member
Picture "4.jpg" is the U3701 (WiFi/BT Chip).

Yeah I can enable the "Target Disk mode" (via "T") but the disk wont show up on my second mac (MacBook Pro M1).
Already checked in hard disk utility only the internal SSD of the working mac is available.
Note: Connected via OEM apple cable (not THB).
 
2informaticos

2informaticos

Administrator
Staff member
Same cable used for DFU should serve for Target Disk.
Are you syill able to do DFU restore (not revive)?
 
HeyWatchOutDude

HeyWatchOutDude

Member
Tried it but still won't show up in "Disk Utility" or via command "sudo diskutil list".
Yeah DFU restore is working fine :/ After the restore I get a "question mark" symbol, which is normal.

When I connect an USB drive (with macOS installer on it, used the tutorial from apple) why does it go back to the "internet recovery"?
 
2informaticos

2informaticos

Administrator
Staff member
T2 machines don't boot from USB, because of security settings.
In recovery mode, adjust Startup Security Utility, if want that.
 
HeyWatchOutDude

HeyWatchOutDude

Member
LCD, TouchBar and TouchID (board) disconnected but it won’t show up anything on the external display.
Now I have the TouchBar and TouchID (board) disconnected but it’s the same behavior while restoring via “Internet Recovery” - Result Error -2003F.
 
2informaticos

2informaticos

Administrator
Staff member
May also be a problem with the SSD; as you can't see it in target Disk mode.
However, this board may have a "second life" as donor.
 
Mortentoft

Mortentoft

Member
All respekt for any solution you’ve discussed but as 2informaticos write there is/could be corrosion on traces resistors and even under BGA chips. It is a very corroded/infected logicboard and will have issues in future. In
9 out 10 of -2003F failures I solved with known good topcase. I do not say that this is your solution but even today I have solved such an issue by installing the Logic into a known good top. (Even I Can not see any defekts)🤷😅. Is it important data on board Or else I would offer the client a spare logicboard and use yours as donor☺️. Greetings Morten
 
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