I got an iPhone 7 Plus in for water damage data recovery. As soon as I get the board out, I instantly see someone has been here before.
I can see someone had already removed an IC, MLBPA_RF.
I KNEW they were wrong. The board had a VCC MAIN short, as it pulled +2A before prompt to boot.
But that IC doesn't connect to VCC MAIN.
I look at the rest of the board & i noticed many IC's have the black top layer missing, where all the markings are. So instead of being a black IC with the part# written on it, it was just a shiny "glass" looking IC.
I found a few that had the black layer still there, but you can see it was peeling.
I'm guessing they ran the board through an ultrasonic cleaner as well, which caused those stickers to peel.
So i did my usual visual inspection & found no obvious corrosion... anymore. You can see some caps were black but were cleaned.
I injected voltage into VDD MAIN & spotted a cap with my Seek Thermal Cam at the very bottom of the board, C3722, which was shorted.
Removed it (did not replace it) and the phone booted up & i got their data 🙌
These are always great, because you can tell, whoever touched it last, had no idea what they were doing. Plus, it's even better when it was a super simple VDD MAIN short.
Anyone with just some minimal training, should have been able to solve this. I'm just happy I was the one to do it 🤑
If you have a Seek Thermal Cam, you're missing out if you don't have a VCC Seek Stand: https://www.vccboardrepairs.com/buy-seek-stand
Injured Gadgets just got these back in stock, so get them while you can!
It can take us a while to build these out sometimes, so they're sometimes out of stock for a while, but we're working towards always having inventory ready to build more as they sell out.
This stand makes using a thermal cam so easy. So much better than any other thermal solution on the market.
It allows you to get real close up (using my Macro Lens), and easily find where the short is coming from.
Plus it's hard free, so you can have your hands free to try to boot the device from DCPS, while having an image that is in focus & not moving around.
You can even record a video through the app, while you inject voltage into the short, so you can go back & see exactly which component was it that was heating up.
Save yourself lots of time by getting a Seek Cam, Stand & Macro Lens! ...
Anyone who is doing game console repairs, knows how many screws you need to remove to access the motherboard.
Especially the PS5, with the 5,000 screws or so.
If you don't already have an electric screwdriver, GET ONE ASAP.
🌟 Cordless Screwdriver with T9 Bit: https://amzn.to/3E5duCj
🌟Extended T9 Bit: https://amzn.to/3c4YJac
It's rechargeable through micro USB and allows you to easily swap the tips out. You can also fold it to be straight or L shape.
Let me know below if you are already using an electric screwdriver 👇👇
If you didn’t know, this Locals community works more like a repair forum than just a feed.
So if you're stuck on a board repair, data recovery case, weird boot issue, or anything microsoldering related, make a post and ask your question here.
There are a lot of talented techs in this community, and I’ll jump in whenever I can to help point you in the right direction.
A couple quick notes:
• Paying members can create posts and comment
• Followers can still see everything and like posts, but commenting is limited to members
So if you want to ask questions, participate in discussions, and learn from other techs, becoming a member unlocks that.
My goal with this community is to build a place where repair techs can share knowledge, troubleshoot tough cases, and help each other improve.
So if you're already a member, don’t be shy. Post your repair questions, photos, schematics, or weird issues you're running into.
Let’s get some discussions going 👇
Just uploaded a new repair video on a Samsung S10e bootloop case where the customer needed the data recovered.
The phone would either:
• bootloop on the Samsung logo
• occasionally reach the home screen for a second
• then shut off and start looping again
Basic fixes obviously weren’t going to solve this one. The issue ended up being weak solder joints under the CPU / RAM stack, which seems to be fairly common on these.
For this repair I had to:
• remove the shield
• separate the RAM from the CPU
• clean the underfill
• reball both chips
• reinstall and test on the bench supply
Once everything was back on the board, the phone booted normally and we were able to recover the customer’s data.
Curious how many of you have seen CPU / RAM related bootloops on the S10 series?
Watch it here:
This one came in completely dead with abnormal USB meter behavior. It would detect 5V but amperage was stuck and not ramping.
Power supply testing showed elevated current draw on boot compared to a known-good donor board.
Thermal camera confirmed heat at the USB-C charging controller under shield.
Replaced:
• Charging controller IC - ACE(SN20122027)
• ROM / SPI Flash IC
Restored proper 9V fast charging and normal current behavior.
Original battery was also fully discharged and wouldn’t take a jump.
Full diagnostic + board repair video here:
