VCC Board Repairs
Education • Science & Tech
The goal is to share solutions & techniques for microsoldering & data recovery repairs. I'll cover mostly iPhone & iPad motherboard repairs.
Interested? Want to learn more about the community?

Learn more first
Error 4041 - iPhone 11 Pro Solution

This iPhone 11 Pro came in recovery mode. Customer had already tried to restore it & was getting error 4041.

I had never seen this before, but was thinking maybe NAND due to the error being very close to Error 4014 & sometimes Apple changes things around with new iOS versions (16 in this case).

I tried a restore with 3u and failed at 19%, while the device would show a frozen spinning wheel on the screen, further validating my guess that it's NAND.

Replaced the 64GB NAND with a 128GB, but sadly, same results. It did not solve it.

I decided to check DCPS consumption & noticed during the restore, it was pulling +500mA, even after it had failed. This didn't look normal.

Check with thermal cam, I found PP_AVE_S1 had a short to ground. Wasn't sure what it was supposed to be, so I checked on a donor & it was .300 something, so definitely shorted.

Injecting 1V/1A to this line & found PMIC would heat up. Pulled PMIC & sure enough, short was cleared.

Then it turns out, the replacement PMIC, did not match the part# from the original. So the vendor who sold me a PMIC for iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro max, was wrong.

343S00354 is for iPhone 11
343S00355 is for iPhone 11 Pro & Pro Max.

So always check the part# on the IC. Never trust the vendor's labels.

Anyway, replaced PMIC & the device failed at 12% on iTunes flash 😅.
Decided to try again & it flashed successfully! But no IMEI, as I was doing top board only.

Re-sandwiched it & restored one more time & we're fixed!

Too bad I don't have the iCloud info yet, so waiting on that. But all indicators point to a fully working phone

The lesson here is.. check DCPS (Dt880) consumption for any abnormal current draw, before jumping straight to NAND 😂

Interested? Want to learn more about the community?

Learn more first
What else you may like…
Videos
Posts
Which Thermal Cam Do You Have?

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! ...

00:00:12
If you do consoles, you need this.

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 👇👇

00:00:03
Finally back to editing 😮‍💨

Working on a new full length YouTube video right now, and it’s a good one.

iPhone 14 Pro Max – Water Damaged Data Recovery

This board was a tricky one with corroded caps & ICs and had a bunch of issues going on.

Not your typical “replace a part and it works” type of job.

I go through the full process step-by-step:

  • diagnosing the faults

  • finding the shorts

  • clearing the corrosion

  • and getting it stable enough to recover the data

Still editing it, but it should be posted soon ✅

If you’re into board level repair or want to learn how to troubleshoot stuff like this, keep an eye out.

Video link will be in the comments when it’s live.

post photo preview
Samsung S22 Ultra – “No Fix” turned into Data Recovered

This phone came in after another data recovery tech already attempted it and called it a no fix.
They even wrote “NO FIX” on the back of the phone.

The board had some water damage, and they tried running it through an ultrasonic cleaner, but it didn’t resolve anything.

What really bothered me was the CPU.
They scratched it for some reason (completely unnecessary), and it also showed signs of overheating.

At that point, I didn’t bother chasing partial fixes.

I decided to go straight for a full CPU swap to recover the data.

CPU swap was successful ✅
Phone booted.
Data is intact.

In this pic, I’m backing up the customer’s Inkpad notes.

Another reminder that “no fix” doesn’t always mean no data 😌

post photo preview
Shop Upgrade!

Got 2 new workbenches built out at my shop!

One is a larger & more robust shipping bench, where we do all the packing/shipping. So all the boxes, packing material like bubble wrap & packing paper, etc will be on there.

Then there's the actual workbench where I plan on hiring another associate to help us with handling all the shipping tasks & device intakes.

Was this a good investment??

post photo preview
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals