Device came in water damaged after a previous repair attempt by another technician.
Board had scraped areas near the battery connector, unnecessary UV mask around multiple components, and incomplete inspection (main CPU shield was never removed).
Initial checks:
VPH power and VBAT lines not shorted
1V8 rail was hard shorted
Troubleshooting process:
Removed shields that were never taken off during the previous attempt
Removed charging IC due to questionable solder work
Removed a nearby IC that was still corroded underneath
Used DCPS + thermal camera to inject voltage and attempt to locate the short
Continued inspection and testing until no further progress could be made
At that point, proceeded with a full CPU swap:
CPU, RAM, UFS, and EEPROM transplanted to a known good board
Device booted and data was successfully recovered.
Full breakdown is up on YouTube. Link in the comments below
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 👇👇
I got this S23 Ultra in for data recovery and some other tech already worked on it.
But this is what I found
They scraped a whole section of the board
Doesn't make any sense why
Plus, a ton of UV mask on the components next to the FPC lol
WHYYY??
I recorded the data job on this one, so i'll be posting it soon! Let me know if you want to see it in the comments below!
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:
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diagnosing the faults
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finding the shorts
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clearing the corrosion
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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.
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 😌
