I got an iPhone 15 Pro mailed in from New Hampshire for Data Recovery. The front & back were smashed pretty bad.
Took the phone apart & found the bottom board was dented pretty bad
Separated the sandwich to just the top board only and found I had a short before prompt to boot. Tracked it down to a shorted C4222 on PP_VDD_SNS_BPIC
Removed the bad cap & I still had a short. Found the next short on C3499 on VDD MAIN
After that, no shorts before prompt to boot. So I thought that was it...
Well I was wrong. There was a 700mA short after prompt to boot.
Looking at the board under the thermal camera.. heat was coming from the NAND. Although the NAND looked in very good condition with no signs of physical damage. See first pic.
So I decided to remove the NAND to check further.
Without NAND, no short. It would just boot to DFU mode
Closer inspection of the NAND, I found there was a small crack running along the side wall.
When the NAND is cracked, it's GAME OVER. There's no way to recover data from a case like this.
The customer was very hopeful that we could recover their data, but unfortunately, it wasn't possible in this case
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 👇👇
This one came in as a no power data recovery job. Customer said it died overnight, no prior damage, and Apple told them the board was done and data wasn’t recoverable.
Physically, the phone looks clean. No bends, no cracks, nothing obvious. I’m honestly not sure how the board ended up cracked, there’s no visible external damage that would typically cause this.
Here’s what I found 👇
Initial testing:
- Able to boot with minimal setup (board + screen + battery + charge port)
- Stuck at 5V, very low current draw (not charging)
- No touch response
- Boot current draw looked normal
Direction I took:
- Focused on the touch issue first (since no touch = no data access)
- Using an LCD aftermarket screen:
- Got image
- Still no touch
- OEM/OLED behavior pointed toward a board-level display/touch issue
What I found:
- While removing the shield over the display IC… found a board crack
- Several display connector pins reading OL (open line)
- Traces route from connector → PMIC / display IC ...
This is an iPad 10 that came in for No Image/No Backlight.
Within seconds of removing the shield, I saw the problem.
Can you? I'll post the close up shot later today in the comments 👀
I’m thinking about adding another perk for the paid members here in the community: private repair livestreams where we work through repairs and troubleshooting together.
The idea would be to do members-only livestreams where I could:
• Work on real board-level repairs live
• Walk through my troubleshooting process
• Interpret panic logs together
• Answer repair questions from members
• Talk through CPU swaps, tools, and techniques
• Explain why certain failures happen
It would basically be a more interactive way to learn, where you could ask questions while the repair is happening.
Before I start scheduling these, I want to gauge interest.
If you are a free follower:
👍 Please like this post if livestreams like this would interest you.
If you are a paid member:
💬 Please comment below if you'd like to see this and how often you'd want them (weekly, monthly, etc.).
If enough people are interested, I’ll start planning the first livestream. 🔧📱
