PSA: I fixed a dead 2018 MacBook Air by heating the board in my oven

I had this MacBook Air come in last month, no power at all, just dead. The usual checks showed a short on the main 3.3V rail. I figured it was a bad capacitor or chip, but my thermal camera was out for repair. Out of ideas, I remembered an old forum post about using an oven to reflow boards, which I always thought was a crazy last resort. I took the logic board out, put it on a rack in my kitchen oven at 385 degrees for exactly 8 minutes, then let it cool slowly. When I put it back together, it booted right up. I know this is a total hack and could easily ruin other parts, but the customer was ready to trash it anyway. It's been running fine for 3 weeks now. Has anyone else ever tried something this extreme that actually worked out?

3 comments

3 Comments

terryk2818d ago

That's a wild fix, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Glad it worked out for you.

river32018d ago

What exactly did you have to fix?

the_stella16d ago

Honestly used to believe you should never mess with factory settings. But my old car's AC died last summer and the official fix was way too expensive. Found a forum post about jumping two wires on the relay, gave it a shot just to get cold air again. Been working perfectly for eight months now. Sometimes the hacky solution is the only one that makes sense, you know? Changed my whole view on what a "real" fix even is.