TLDR and main question in bold below. I have a MBP 13" mid 2012 with interesting spill damage. I can only boot the computer with the wifi card disconnected, if I connect the wifi module the computer reboots once I log in or manually activate wifi with networksetup over SSH and ethernet. With ethernet connected the reboot usually takes anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or two. I can run prime95 a whole night without problems if both ethernet cable and wifi card disconnected. These reboots happen also on OpenSuse Tumbleweed, with one addition: the reboot with the wifi card only happens if I install the firmware for the wifi card, without firmware everything is fine (and of course the wifi is not working). I can also see the device in lspci on linux then. I have also drawn close to 500mA measured out of the 3.3V wifi connector with a resistor with no reboot. Pressing semi lightly on the smc influences the detection of the battery. I have heated up the smc with a hot air station which let the computer detect the battery reliable now, but I guess there are some corroded pads that won't take the solder without completely removing, reballing and resoldering the smc. The current readings in iStat are funky, not sure if that is inteded, but it reads 0.04V GPU VCore and only 2.4A cpu current while running prime95 http://imgur.com/a/oF28K I am not sure if iStat is reliable on a working MBP though, maybe it converts the current to the dc in voltage - then the readings would indeed fit.
Has anyone had such an experience? Could my guess of SMC contact problems be plausible? Are there any other things I coud try to diagnose the core of the problem? Is resoldering the SMC my best option?
TLDR: MBP works fine with ethernet cable and wifi card disconnected, but reboots suddenly otherwise.
Has anyone had such an experience? Could my guess of SMC contact problems be plausible? Are there any other things I coud try to diagnose the core of the problem? Is resoldering the SMC my best option?
TLDR: MBP works fine with ethernet cable and wifi card disconnected, but reboots suddenly otherwise.