SMC Issue on MBP 13 - Hardware Troubleshooting Guide

[dellxps15]

Macbook Ram slot repair broken damaged ram tray holder

i cant make a video, because i've already done the work, and think a picture set is enought to understand how to repair ram slot. hope someone enjoy that as i have seen nothing about a possible repair on the internet except to change the whole motherboard.

i tried desolder the slot with my bga rework station, but was not able to remove it. after feeling lost, i found that way to repair and make ram slot holder strong as never modified. (before that was thinking to glue the new little plastic holder , but fixing that way is dangerous, but if well made is stronger because hold with 2 screw).

part one of the picture:

 

[nicoar10]

Good job...

 

[madyam62110]

thanks

sorry i zipped it twice....

thanks for this brd

 

[Wilkinrobe]

Hi all, have just purchased a water damaged late 2013 MBP retina 13".

It turns on and runs perfectly, however battery wont charge. shows X in the tool bar and gives no info in system info.

Have torn down the logic board and cleaned with isopropyl alc. most of the corrosion was on battery logic board and near battery connector on main logic board.

When plugged in the magsafe glows green then turns to amber after a couple of seconds as per normal.

the logic board puts out ~13volts to the battery when plugged in however when testing the + & Gnd between the battery logic board and cels, there is only 3.7volts(same as when the magsafe is unplugged).

I have also tried getting the 3.7 volts to show at the main logic board connector by connecting the GND and DET terminals when testing, however get 0v. which leads me to believe the DET function may be shot? or is 3.7v too low to even allow the battery to open?

With the main logic board outputting 13v, Is it to conclude that the fault is with the battery circuit and/or cells or are my tests inconclusive?

Any tips/help would be appreciated! fairly new to this so please feel free to let me know if i have done something wrong or missed anything!

 

[Dadioh]

Hi all, have just purchased a water damaged late 2013 MBP retina 13".

It turns on and runs perfectly, however battery wont charge. shows X in the tool bar and gives no info in system info.

Have torn down the logic board and cleaned with isopropyl alc. most of the corrosion was on battery logic board and near battery connector on main logic board.

When plugged in the magsafe glows green then turns to amber after a couple of seconds as per normal.

the logic board puts out ~13volts to the battery when plugged in however when testing the + & Gnd between the battery logic board and cels, there is only 3.7volts(same as when the magsafe is unplugged).

I have also tried getting the 3.7 volts to show at the main logic board connector by connecting the GND and DET terminals when testing, however get 0v. which leads me to believe the DET function may be shot? or is 3.7v too low to even allow the battery to open?

With the main logic board outputting 13v, Is it to conclude that the fault is with the battery circuit and/or cells or are my tests inconclusive?

Any tips/help would be appreciated! fairly new to this so please feel free to let me know if i have done something wrong or missed anything!

There is a FET that is used to control the charging voltage to the battery. It is controlled by the ISL6259 charger. I haven't worked on retina before so I can't point you to the precise location. If the FET is not being turned on then you will see the residual voyage on the battery at the terminals. You need to troubleshoot the charger circuit to find out why it is not turning on the FET.

edit: noticed you said there is an X in the operating system. This means it is not detecting battery. That means that the I2C communications from the battery to the charger is not working. Those 2 lines should measure ~3V. They have some pull-up resistors on them. Check to see if those are OK.

Also, I assume you have tried another battery. Possible your battery is just shot.

 

[dellxps15]

tnx for reply, but this is the 3rd u7000 i change in this laptop....

ill go for the forth hoping this time all will be ok...

ps: i've measured all u7000 pins:

here they are: with battery only and only with magsafe on the right

pin number:

1: 6.5v 0v
2: 0v 16.20
3: 0v 6v
4: 1.88v 5v
5: 0v 0.72v
6: 1.87v 3.38v
7: 0v 0v
8: 0v 0.03v
9: 0v 0.02v
10: 1.88v 3.88v
11: 1.88v 3.88v
12: 1.88v 3.88v
13: 0.12v 3.38v
14: 0v 0v
15: 0v 0.03v
16: 4.74v oscillate from 15v to 9volt
17: 11.71v 15.94v
18: 11.59v 15.82v
19: 0v 5v
20: 0v ? (too hard to read with my multimeter pencil too big )
21: 0v 0v
22: 0v 0v
23: 11.72v 15.94v
24: 11.71v 15.82v
25: 11.19v 13.98v
26: 9.6v 15.95v
27: 11.71v 15.96v
28: 11.71v 15.96v


is it true that i have to change another u7000?

PS: some tiems ago i had to change 2 capacimeters because lost them while working on u7000 desolder : C7026 and C7002.

edit: tooked a a1342 mainboard and with only magsafe on F7040 i have 12.5v as u say....

Edit2: i see on the schematic that on q7030 and on q7035 i have reported in schematic that they can carry 18v max so 16v on that pins should be rok ?

PS: yesterday, before change u7000, i see q7035 was shorted again (yes changed one some times ago), so changed it again and then changed u7000. today i spot a 0402 resistor (probably a fly one) touching c7000 and c7001 (both on ground side....)

on q7055 too i have only 16v.

are the 12.5 volt output from u7000 directly at a certain pin number, or u7000 vout 16v and then with some capacitors and resistor we get the 12.5 volt ?

i have changed again another u7000, and now voltage is 1.5 volt output. tryed replace it 2 times and voltage pass from 1.5 to 16v again and then 1.5v again.

cant figure out why this is happening.

 

[Wilkinrobe]

There is a FET that is used to control the charging voltage to the battery. It is controlled by the ISL6259 charger. I haven't worked on retina before so I can't point you to the precise location. If the FET is not being turned on then you will see the residual voyage on the battery at the terminals. You need to troubleshoot the charger circuit to find out why it is not turning on the FET.

edit: noticed you said there is an X in the operating system. This means it is not detecting battery. That means that the I2C communications from the battery to the charger is not working. Those 2 lines should measure ~3V. They have some pull-up resistors on them. Check to see if those are OK.

Also, I assume you have tried another battery. Possible your battery is just shot.

Hi Dadioh thanks for the quick reply. With the magsafe plugged in i see 13v between the positive and gnd of the battery terminal on the logic board. this falls to 0v when the magsafe is unplugged. wouldnt this indicate that the ISL6259 is doing its job correctly?

I will check those 2 I2C 3v lines and get back to you on those.

Am not able to try another battery as there are no 3rd party batteries available for this model yet. Thats why im doing the troubleshooting; to isolate this issue to either the logic board or the battery. if its merely a bad battery ill happily pay apple to replace it.

Thanks again!

 

[PwrPlay]

Hi Dadioh thanks for the quick reply. With the magsafe plugged in i see 13v between the positive and gnd of the battery terminal on the logic board. this falls to 0v when the magsafe is unplugged. wouldnt this indicate that the ISL6259 is doing its job correctly?

I will check those 2 I2C 3v lines and get back to you on those.

Am not able to try another battery as there are no 3rd party batteries available for this model yet. Thats why im doing the troubleshooting; to isolate this issue to either the logic board or the battery. if its merely a bad battery ill happily pay apple to replace it.

Thanks again!

I had a Macbook that started displaying an 'X' in the battery area after I went on vacation for a week and came back and discovered I forgot to plug it in while gone. It seems the battery drained to such a level that it would no longer charge and was no longer recognized when installed.

I spent weeks trying every tip and trick I could find to revive, but nothing worked.

Ultimately, I went to the Apple store and had them try one of their batteries and it immediately worked.

From all the reading I did it seems common for Apple batteries to exhibit this behavior if left uncharged for a number of days. I want to say mine only had like 400 recharging cycles.

 

[simonsi]

I...it seems common for Apple batteries to exhibit this behavior if left uncharged for a number of days....

Completely flattening and leaving uncharged for a period is not good for many battery technologies.

If it flattened after a week and had time to damage itself then I'd suspect it was already quite deteriorated and this pushed it over the edge. A good-condition battery would have lasted longer than a week in sleep and probably have been more forgiving.

 

[danandmary]

A1278 820-3115 No Power at all after major stuff up

Hi All,

I was replacing an EFI chip on this unit and forgot to remove the battery (long story, but so stupid I know). As I was re-tinning, I think I shorted 2 of the EFI pins (not sure which). The board started for a few seconds, fan began spinning then stopped. I then removed the battery connector and continued to replace the EFI chip. Now I get no power at all.

Syptoms :
Magsafe - dull flashing orange. If I disconnect then reconnect the magsafe, sometimes I get no light at all on Magsafe
No power on battery or magsafe
Chip in attached picture feels quite hot when battery connected.

Basically It appears the board is completely dead.

Im a complete noob at debugging these units. Can anyone point me in the right direction. Happy to supply further pics if needed.

Thx
Dan

 

[chigwelldave]

Hi Dadioh thanks for the quick reply. With the magsafe plugged in i see 13v between the positive and gnd of the battery terminal on the logic board. this falls to 0v when the magsafe is unplugged. wouldnt this indicate that the ISL6259 is doing its job correctly?

I will check those 2 I2C 3v lines and get back to you on those.

Am not able to try another battery as there are no 3rd party batteries available for this model yet. Thats why im doing the troubleshooting; to isolate this issue to either the logic board or the battery. if its merely a bad battery ill happily pay apple to replace it.

Thanks again!

Have you tried disconnecting the BIL? This is on the same I2C bus and can cause communication problems between the SMC, battery and charger.

Regards,

Chigwelldave

----------

Hi All,

I was replacing an EFI chip on this unit and forgot to remove the battery (long story, but so stupid I know). As I was re-tinning, I think I shorted 2 of the EFI pins (not sure which). The board started for a few seconds, fan began spinning then stopped. I then removed the battery connector and continued to replace the EFI chip. Now I get no power at all.

Syptoms :
Magsafe - dull flashing orange. If I disconnect then reconnect the magsafe, sometimes I get no light at all on Magsafe
No power on battery or magsafe
Chip in attached picture feels quite hot when battery connected.

Basically It appears the board is completely dead.

Im a complete noob at debugging these units. Can anyone point me in the right direction. Happy to supply further pics if needed.

Thx
Dan

Check your G3Hot - this should have been the only active power rail when switched off. Nothing will work without this and it is easy to check and fairly easy to troubleshoot.

Regards,

Chigwelldave.

 

[ZZZAC]

Hi all, have just purchased a water damaged late 2013 MBP retina 13".

It turns on and runs perfectly, however battery wont charge. shows X in the tool bar and gives no info in system info.

Have torn down the logic board and cleaned with isopropyl alc. most of the corrosion was on battery logic board and near battery connector on main logic board.

When plugged in the magsafe glows green then turns to amber after a couple of seconds as per normal.

the logic board puts out ~13volts to the battery when plugged in however when testing the + & Gnd between the battery logic board and cels, there is only 3.7volts(same as when the magsafe is unplugged).

I have also tried getting the 3.7 volts to show at the main logic board connector by connecting the GND and DET terminals when testing, however get 0v. which leads me to believe the DET function may be shot? or is 3.7v too low to even allow the battery to open?

With the main logic board outputting 13v, Is it to conclude that the fault is with the battery circuit and/or cells or are my tests inconclusive?

Any tips/help would be appreciated! fairly new to this so please feel free to let me know if i have done something wrong or missed anything!

I have the same. I noticed a vented cell in the battery (slightly swollen compared to the rest.) they sell battery's on aliexpress (yeah mines a 2012 13" retina)
3.7 from the battery is wrong and suggests the cells are damaged.
Funnily enough mine blew after i cleaned the liquid damage up, I think its to do with the battery connector, if you clean those pads and short them out you can blow cells i suppose.
Im still waiting for my new battery to arrive, i will update you when it does
Oh and there painfull to remove, so much prying due to all the glue.

----------

Hi guys. I have a logic board here thats had me stumped for days.

It has 12v, its fan spins up, for one moment i get voltages, and then it shuts down.
Ive compared the coils to a working board (inductor resistance to ground) and havent noticed anything but the resistance on the cpu voltage coils seems about 10 ohms lower than the other board, im not sure if this is okay.

This baord was surge damaged aparently, and was plugged into ethernet, i have already resolved a big short circuit across the 3.3v rail but i still get the same symtoms.
Any help or ideas would be awesome.
Cheers

 

[ZZZAC]

ive got another wierd one i cant be bothered to think about at the moment
It has power from magsefe.
it has power from battery
recognises both in operating system

Power light goes off when battery preset and doesnt charge battery.
Only powers on if you hold the power button for 5 seconds or more.
previously had no problem charging but left to run and all of a sudden it wont charge and the green lgith goes out when the battery is present.

It wont Boot to ASD it hangs whilst loading the video controller.

The fact that it seems to have detiriated and stopped chaging the battery aswell as the fact that it refuses to load ASD on the video controller suggests a dead MCP.
Anyone got any idea what else could cause the symtoms?

 

[danandmary]

Have you tried disconnecting the BIL? This is on the same I2C bus and can cause communication problems between the SMC, battery and charger.

Regards,

Chigwelldave

----------



Check your G3Hot - this should have been the only active power rail when switched off. Nothing will work without this and it is easy to check and fairly easy to troubleshoot.

Regards,

Chigwelldave.

THanks for the advice. Will try. I've purchased some brd files and schematics. No idea where the G3Hot is on this. Feel free to chirp in if anyone knows.

I'll get back to you with some notes.
BTW. I have a good board which is exactly the same. I might use that as a reference when taking measurements to make things easier.

Thanks again.

Regards
Dan

 

[dellxps15]

why on a macbook pro core duo a1278, on q7085 on pin 4 (CHGR_AGATE) i have 5.5volt while on another similar macbook i have 16v on pin4 ?

 

[Dadioh]

why on a macbook pro core duo a1278, on q7085 on pin 4 (CHGR_AGATE) i have 5.5volt while on another similar macbook i have 16v on pin4 ?

Pin 4 is the gate of that FET. It is pulled down to 5v to turn on the FET and allow voltage to the output of the charger. If it has 16v on the gate then That FET will be off and you won't get power to the output. Are both of your MacBooks charging ok? I suspect the 16v one is not.

 

[dellxps15]

Pin 4 is the gate of that FET. It is pulled down to 5v to turn on the FET and allow voltage to the output of the charger. If it has 16v on the gate then That FET will be off and you won't get power to the output. Are both of your MacBooks charging ok? I suspect the 16v one is not.

hi dadioh, tnx for reply. well the 16v one is a macbook ive bought described as no backlight. after changing the bl fuse i see it got display and didnt think it could get any other problem (not even described ). im going to check if it charge . ps: if it doesnt charge, is some resistor or i have another macbook with a fighting u7000 ?

can u look in the other post i made about u7000 ?

edit: this one is not a macbook pro but a macbook unibody. 820-2327 . q7000 (if it's same location of q7085 of macbook pro)

edit2: i found this here going read it. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1122338/

 

[Sheridansystems]

820-2530 charging but not running off battery

Those two capacitors are on the 5V power to the USB ports. I assume your USB ports are dead but unrelated to non-charging issue.

The center pin on the battery connector is battery detection and it should read 0V as you have measured. However, measure the pins to either side of that. Those are the i2c bus pins for the battery and should read around 3V. If not then you are not getting communications between the battery and the SMC.

Im only getting 171mv from The i2c bus pin furthest right from the RAM slots. What would I check next to work back toward the SMC?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Dadioh]

Im only getting 171mv from The i2c bus pin furthest right from the RAM slots. What would I check next to work back toward the SMC?
Thanks in advance.

That would be the problem then. Something on that bus is not allowing it to be pulled up to 3.4V. See schematic excerpts below. If you are lucky it is one of those components. If not, it could be the ISL6258 charger IC or, worse, the SMC.

 

[Sheridansystems]

That would be the problem then. Something on that bus is not allowing it to be pulled up to 3.4V. See schematic excerpts below. If you are lucky it is one of those components. If not, it could be the ISL6258 charger IC or, worse, the SMC.

Newbie question, how can I match up the components locations on the board to the schematic titles and numbers?
Thank you for the help

 

[dellxps15]

Newbie question, how can I match up the components locations on the board to the schematic titles and numbers?
Thank you for the help

you need a file .brd and board viewer program (that run under windows)

PS: im going to buy a microscope

 

[Sheridansystems]

you need a file .brd and board viewer program (that run under windows)

PS: im going to buy a microscope

I've looked for the k24.brd file, to no avail. I even tried contacting board viewer software companies but even there software will not open any k24.brd files posted on the forum. I tried Candence and Eagle. Im willing to purchase the software if I can find the files. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance

 

[triplelucky]

Landrex viewer

 

[dellxps15]

i've looked for the k24.brd file, to no avail. I even tried contacting board viewer software companies but even there software will not open any k24.brd files posted on the forum. I tried candence and eagle. Im willing to purchase the software if i can find the files. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance

820-2530?

after extracting this,
rename .zip to .brd (if missing.brd extention) and use board viewer.exe

 

[chigwelldave]

820-2530?

after extracting this,
rename .zip to .brd (if missing.brd extention) and use board viewer.exe

If you don't have a windows machine, the board viewer runs under wine on Mac and Linux.

----------

THanks for the advice. Will try. I've purchased some brd files and schematics. No idea where the G3Hot is on this. Feel free to chirp in if anyone knows.

I'll get back to you with some notes.
BTW. I have a good board which is exactly the same. I might use that as a reference when taking measurements to make things easier.

Thanks again.

Regards
Dan

Hi Dan,

What's the board type (820-xxxx)?

Chigwelldave