Help! I seem to have broken my Intel Mac Mini

[roysters]

Wanted to install more ram. So, I took it apart...

Everything went fine, managed to take the main cover off fairly easily. Then I unscrewed the 4 main screws. When I lifted the top (hard drive and DVD drive secion) that orange, flexible cable ripped off the board...

The machine boots and everythig spins except the there is no display

 

[robbieduncan]

You have probably broken the connection to the display header. Unless you can reconnect everything EXACTLY as it was you are out of luck. That's probably why Apple do not list RAM as a user installable part.

 

[roysters]

After further investigation it seems that it's the ribbon cable running from the audio riser card to the interconnect card.

Think im going to cry

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

That sucks but man you ripped it off the MB. Would you say it was a super fragile connection or did you just give it a yank without looking? This is why anyone shouldnt go prying around, did you take any static precautions? Anyways this new design bites, I would rather have a 1.6 G4 in it with a real gpu. Sucks, maybe you can tell apple and they will send you a sympathy refurb because of your.....................skills. its worth a shot.

 

[roysters]

Yes, it is fragile. But it does not directly connect to the motherboard, it connects to the interconnect card.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

Then perhaps this part can be replaced, I see a call to Apple in your future.

 

[mrgreen4242]

Ug. That SUCKS. Apple really needed to redesign the mini so there was a user accessible RAM slot on the bottom behind a little removable panel, like a laptop.

To have a computer you couldn't add RAM to in 2005/6 is pretty lame in my opinion. Non-replaceable CPU and GPU are OK, and moderately difficult HDD and optical drive are at least forgivable, but they should have just inverted the lay out in the mini.

Put the main board upside down on the inside roof, the optical drive right below that, then the HDD below that and a riser or something to stick the RAM out all the way to the bottom of the case. Then they could have had a plate on the bottom with a few screws and easily had access to the RAM and the HDD.

Ah well, hope this turns out OK for you.

 

[GoCubsGo]

That does suck, however with all of the documentation that you can find on the web in under 10 minutes about the insides to a mac mini, I would have read that first. If you google it I bet you'll find a review about the mac mini insides and right there is a note about ripping off that ribbon cable. I only know this because I just found the site myself on google.

Nonetheless, the ram slot being behind a steel plate like on a notebook is a perfect idea that should be adopted by apple asap!

 

[Keebler]

ya but...

i feel sorry for you..i really do b/c you're probably really excited b/c i know I would be, but if they listed it as something non-user replaceable or whatever the techie term is, then you probably shoudn't have touched it

sounds like you'll have to call apple and get it fixed. pretty hard trying to deny that you did it

doh.

 

[mduser63]

Did the cable itself actually rip, or did the connector on the board just pull out? If it's the connector that pulled out, you might be able to plug it back in. However, sometimes the connectors on a flex cable can be difficult to connect. If you're not comfortable working with it, you might try to find a friend that's good with that sort of thing to help you.

Of course, if the cable itself is broken, it's going to be very difficult to fix.

 

[Sly]

Those cables are actually quite tough, I doubt you ripped it, you probably just pulled it off the board. I've not seen the layout of the new Mini, but you should be able to re-connect it by lifting the cable jam on top of the connector (don't even think about using a screw driver, cocktail sticks work ok if you don't have a dental pick) push the cable right in, then push the jam down hard. Give the cable a gentle pull to make sure it is connected. Good luck

 

[stevep]

Why don't you post a picture of the cable and the corresponding connection. That way people would be able to advise you better. As Sly says, it might not be quite the disaster you first thought (if you're lucky).

 

[designed]

I'd imagine it isn't a one-shot "make it or break it" connector. I'm with Sly on this, dismantling my PlayStation 2 taught me (oh the initial shock) about those cables and connectors and I'm fairly confident you can put it back together.

But snap some pictures, then we'll all be much wiser.