Louis Richard

First one on apple machines

As the title suggests, this marks my first experience working on an Apple machine, apart from the occasional encounter with an iPhone 4 from years ago.
Interestingly, this particular machine was handed to me by my dad, labeled as "not working." However, to my surprise, it functioned perfectly fine—at least initially.

Soon, I encountered a peculiar issue: whenever pressure was applied near the I/O Board connector, the computer would instantly crash.
This problem persisted even when the computer was placed on a flat surface.
In an attempt to address this issue, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Armed with a drill and a file, I carved a hole in the bottom cover where the connector is located (see img-3).

Unfortunately, this makeshift fix proved to be short-lived, and the issue worsened over time. Eventually, even with the I/O board disconnected and the computer opened up, the problem persisted sporadically.
My current hypothesis is that at least one of the memory modules is faulty, leading to kernel panics with slight movement.

In 2024, after loosing many auctions to get another laptop, I ordered a new logic board along with a few tools on AliExpress and took it upon myself to replace the faulty board.
This ended up costing me more than one of these second hand but you can't really put a price on a new experience.