Apple Silicon Soldered SSD Upgrade Thread

[dosdude1]

hi, I am now one step further I think. attached is the new log. again, I tried it with several cables and the dfu usb port directly at the magsafe port. I tried it with uploading 15.6.1 and 26.0.0 both the same. now before he "shuts down" I see at least for like 30 second the apple logo an an empty "status" bar under. Maybe you have another idea? the tip with the soldered cable from force dfu and release after like 4 seconds was already much better.

I uploaded also a short with the blinking of the normal charger. That’s the problem I have pretty similar with 5v-20v.

Failing during NAND firmware update, either NANDs are not blank, NANDs are not compatible, or there is some nearby component that was knocked off the board during your NAND removal and installation process.

 

[Bradonis]

Okay, that sounds not that good. Original there was sdmvgklk2 128gb nand installed, maybe there incompatible? Now it’s k5a5 installed

 

[Rickyandika]

Okay, that sounds not that good. Original there was sdmvgklk2 128gb nand installed, maybe there incompatible? Now it’s k5a5 installed

have you find the solution, im facing the exact same issue but on m4 pro 16”. used HN3T3D, same error 4042. but i dont have anything on display. just stay black the entire process i have double checked no missing components, will try to put the orignal nand back to test

 

[Bradonis]

Hi, actually yee 4042. was gone, when i entered dfu via force cpu and 1.2v as dosdude said.
I still have the problem with my MacBook Air m3. With the daughter board attached it is staying at 5V. Without it the MacBook goes to 20V but can’t get it via the pins into dfu.

 

[Rickyandika]

Yeah i tried using the pins to enter dfu. Before jumping the usb c would bootloop. After jumping it stays at 20v but it does not enter dfu mode. I have to use the keyboard command to enter dfu mode but once restore start, it stays there loading until error 4042 shows up

EDIT:
i installed the original NAND and it boot up straight away, so now i know the board isnt damage. the thing is after installing the original NAND, i tried to dfu restore it, and the same error appeared...

im only able to enter dfu mode via keyboard, shorting the pin (sv100 pin number 4 to rv120 pin 2) doesnt work at all(stuck at 20v), and im sure i short the correct pin.
anybody have experience this before?

 

[Bradonis]

pretty shure thats the wrong one.

check this testpad.



or check Part UF710 also have SOC_Foce DFu and 1.2V

 

[Rickyandika]

they all connect to sv100, its the same line. but i have tried going into dfu from the test point you provided, still teh same. stuck ad 20v. im guessing something wrong with my SN USB controller

 

[ersvltan]

Hey folks. After watching several videos about upgrading on YouTube and reading through this thread I've got couple of (might be dumb) questions.

I am planning to upgrade my Macbook Pro 16inch m3 Pro, and as I understood I need to install 4x K5A8 chips. Luckily I have spare boards (my old ipad and iphone) to experiment with removal first.

1. Does the order of the chips matter? Like the specific positions? Some sellers on Aliexpress sell by piece...
2. Somewhere in the beginning of the thread, dosdude1 said that if you pull out the pads together with the nand chip, then the motherboard is useless at this point. But later on he posted that actually it is very possible to recover the pads using soldering iron, and it is not that complicated. Also he said that if you damage solder mask badly enough it is also not recoverable, but then in the video with Linus Tech, he mentioned that we could use the solder mask to repair the damage. Does it mean that we have one problem less?
3. I've read that using underfill material around the chips does not make sense. Is it still safe to leave it as it is, will there be problems if, for example, the laptop falls or gets hot?
4. I've read that I don't need to do anything other than replacing original chips to 4tb(4x K5A8 1tb), so no additinal capasitors or other elements. Is it correct?

Thanks everyone for keeping this thread active and helpful responses!

 

[Bradonis]

1. not if they are empty, my seller sold me some crap, but looked like new, found another one. lets see. otherwise they should be marked according to position
2. yeah can be repaired with solderballs, a mini copper pad (can get it from ali) and some UV board solder mask
3. there's no problem with falling. maybe more with water damage.
4. correct.

 

[Bradonis]

they all connect to sv100, its the same line. but i have tried going into dfu from the test point you provided, still teh same. stuck ad 20v. im guessing something wrong with my SN USB controller

i think it can be also a problem because of empty nands. but thats just a guess. make shure nothing gets hot over 50°C. otherwise your nands are not soldered correctly

 

[Bradonis]

Hi there, I exchanged now the Nands on the 16" M3 MacBook Pro. I got a new behavior, but it doesn't got really better. does anybody have an idea, what could be the next problem?

Best regards Bradonis

 

[Sauve Mon Mac]

Hi there, I exchanged now the Nands on the 16" M3 MacBook Pro. I got a new behavior, but it doesn't got really better. does anybody have an idea, what could be the next problem?

Best regards Bradonis

What reference are you soldering on it ? Have you checked the Nand with P15?

 

[Bradonis]

Hi, im not shure what you mean with what reference… it’s k5a5 nand, but it looks like, I got one faulty one again….
I checked now with thermal camera, and one Nand is getting „hotter“ then all the rest. And the small Un400 is pulsing.
Checked the 2.5V rail and it’s not stable… going between 1V and 2.5

 

[Rickyandika]

just a quick update, the new M5 Macbook Pro uses new nand architecture, S6E(like on some 17 pro models), previously was S5E. it still requires 2 set of identical nand. these are the nands that they use
K8A7:256 (2 of these= 512GB)
K8A8:512 (2 of these= 1TB)
K8A9:1tb (2 of these= 2TB)
K8B2 2TB (2 of these= 4TB)
And of course the NAND themselve are crazy expensive because they are very new and in high demand due to the 17 line up

 

[Sauve Mon Mac]

just a quick update, the new M5 Macbook Pro uses new nand architecture, S6E(like on some 17 pro models), previously was S5E. it still requires 2 set of identical nand. these are the nands that they use
K8A7:256 (2 of these= 512GB)
K8A8:512 (2 of these= 1TB)
K8A9:1tb (2 of these= 2TB)
K8B2 2TB (2 of these= 4TB)
And of course the NAND themselve are crazy expensive because they are very new and in high demand due to the 17 line up

Thanks for the info !

 

[Sauve Mon Mac]

Hi, im not shure what you mean with what reference… it’s k5a5 nand, but it looks like, I got one faulty one again….
I checked now with thermal camera, and one Nand is getting „hotter“ then all the rest. And the small Un400 is pulsing.
Checked the 2.5V rail and it’s not stable… going between 1V and 2.5

Don’t you have LB Tool programmer or JCID P15 ? You check the nands before soldering (« bound to the general state ») and if good it should work. (With good soldering and no knocked up components)

 

[Bradonis]

Unfortunately I don’t have a p15…
I just wanted to upgrade my two Mac’s and forget it for the next 10 years 🙈

 

[Bradonis]

i have soldered now the original Nands. same behavior. I think the problem will be the pulsing 2.5V Rail. but I am not shure, where to go on a troubleshoot. the rail is like 2-3 seconds on 2.5v than "Break down" to 0.3V (round about) at the same time the USBC voltage meter? restarts again. When booting with (control, option, right shift and power button) the Mac will be charged ist stable 65W at 20V. otherwise its "restarting"....

 

[Renithk]

I'm working on an Apple MacBook M2, model A2779.

The board initially had an Audio IC short. After removing the shorted capacitor/IC, the laptop now goes into a boot loop, and I'm observing voltage fluctuation from 5V to -20V

I suspect this might be a NAND firmware issue.

Does anyone have the K5A4 NAND firmware dump or can confirm if this issue is firmware-related?

Any guidance or shared experience would be appreciated

 

[r3lyts]

Im looking at doing this for MacBook Air m4 but I have a broken m1 I'm going to practice on first. From what I've seen, I'm going to need two K6B2 Nand chips to upgrade to 2TB for the m4 which looks to be close $400 for just the chips on aliexpress. Is that about how much I should expect for just the Nand chips or am I looking in the wrong place? After watching this video, around 8:20, he says he spent around $500 for 8 1tb Nand chips which comes to about $60-$70 per Nand so I'm curious if maybe prices have gone up since then or if prices vary by chip that much?

 

[dosdude1]

Im looking at doing this for MacBook Air m4 but I have a broken m1 I'm going to practice on first. From what I've seen, I'm going to need two K6B2 Nand chips to upgrade to 2TB for the m4 which looks to be close $400 for just the chips on aliexpress. Is that about how much I should expect for just the Nand chips or am I looking in the wrong place? After watching this video, around 8:20, he says he spent around $500 for 8 1tb Nand chips which comes to about $60-$70 per Nand so I'm curious if maybe prices have gone up since then or if prices vary by chip that much?

Prices have definitely gone up unfortunately, but for the M4 MacBook Air, K6B2 are not compatible. You need K8A5 (note, NOT K5A8) for that model.

 

[Sauve Mon Mac]

i have soldered now the original Nands. same behavior. I think the problem will be the pulsing 2.5V Rail. but I am not shure, where to go on a troubleshoot. the rail is like 2-3 seconds on 2.5v than "Break down" to 0.3V (round about) at the same time the USBC voltage meter? restarts again. When booting with (control, option, right shift and power button) the Mac will be charged ist stable 65W at 20V. otherwise its "restarting"....

Are you sure you put it in DFU mode ? Bootlooping is observed when Mac is not in DFU mode, otherwise you have stable voltage and no amperage.

I'm working on an Apple MacBook M2, model A2779.

The board initially had an Audio IC short. After removing the shorted capacitor/IC, the laptop now goes into a boot loop, and I'm observing voltage fluctuation from 5V to -20V

I suspect this might be a NAND firmware issue.

Does anyone have the K5A4 NAND firmware dump or can confirm if this issue is firmware-related?

Any guidance or shared experience would be appreciated

Have you soldered a good Audio IC back to the board ? It is needed for the Mac to boot.
If yes, try revive with DFU mode