Blown Capacitor Repair Options
I apologize if this has been covered. I imagine it has but I couldn’t find the exact answers.
Basically, my late 2016 MBP w/ touchbar stopped charging. I went to use it one day and it was completely dead. No lights, no sounds, no touchpad feedback, nothing. So i went though the normal troubleshooting steps, tried all the USB-C ports, swapped for known good USB-C cables, known good 61W charger… still nothing. Tried resetting the SMC, nothing.
So, I made a genius appointment for later today and I was ready to take it in. I figured I would take the back cover off before I take it in just to confirm there is nothing unexpected that would make me look like an idiot (like liquid damage or something I was unaware of). Well, I didn’t find any liquid or other damage but I did find the problem. I found a blown 16v/33uF tantalum capacitor near the power management circuitry.
Now, my question is… should i still take this into the apple store for repair? Do the tech’s in store touch this type of repair or would they automatically send it back to the mothership for repair? I am confident that I could replace that cap but there are a couple of reason’s why I am hesitant.
- I don’t have that style or size of surface mount cap on hand. I would need to source a new one and I haven’t been able to find that exact model online at the usual suspects (digikey, mouser, etc). The part is a “NeoCapacitor” from Kemet which I would prefer to match if possible to try to get close to the ESR rating and performance characteristics. I also don’t have a schematic for this board but I would assume the blown cap is the same part # as the adjacent unit NEs CN7 but I’m not 100% certain.
- Since this is a MBP with soldered on SSD, I don’t want apple to receive the unit, say there is too much wrong with it, and then send me back a wiped unit. The data loss isn’t the end of the world to me but I would prefer to avoid it. The cost of repair also isn’t the end of the world, but I would prefer to avoid it also, if possible.
- Something caused the capacitor to blow. I would guess it was some type of power surge/static discharge, etc. but i don’t know for sure. I would assume the apple techs would be able to run diagnostics to determine if all of the other circuitry is functioning properly. I don’t want to replace the cap and have it still not work and then have apple not want to touch it because there was already a repair attempted.
What do you guys think? Is it still worth taking it into the genius appointment that I have scheduled for today? Thanks for your help!
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Apple has a tool to backup your drive!
When you go make sure you've asked them to do this first! You'll need to bring in a USB-C drive with your system thats large enough.
Dan tarafından
Good advice. I’ll take it in and let them look at it. Should I even mention my amateur diagnosis? Or just let the lemming behind the counter go through their script and then send it away? I don’t know what their stance is about taking the rear cover off (especially on a model like this where nothing is serviceable, not even SSD or RAM) It would probably just give them a reason to assume that I caused this and try to charge me more.
sublimanized tarafından
I've found being a bit dull and asking good leading questions will get you further ;-}
I would even use words like that 'wire thingy' 'that AC bebop' and 'no whoosh' for the sound of the system starting ;-}
Thats if you can get away with it. I'm over 60 and it works for me! And I'm a EE!
Dan tarafından