Inspection:

For obvious faults like broken screens or a battery replacement I will quote over the phone and let you know if I have stock so when you drop it off I can get to work and return it to you with minimum delay.

For less obvious issues, like a MacBook that wont start, I need to inspect the device so I can give you an accurate fixed price quote.

Repair:

I like to start repairing a MacBook immediately after inspection rather than putting it back on the shelf as I wait for a customer to accept my fixed price “No fix No fee” quote. It saves me having to re-familiarize myself with the problem at a later time.

Sometimes the inspection can give me strong clues as to how long the repair will take. If it is a simple problem like a faulty and cheaply replaceable part that I have in stock then it may take less than an hour.

If I have traced the fault to the logic board then repair has the potential to become much more complicated and time consuming. There are a few hundred components on a logic board and failure of many of them can cause a MacBook not to start!

MacBook logic board repair is more like brain surgery than anything else. It is performed under a stereo microscope with miniature tooling. I have to find the microscopic parts that are stopping your MacBook start. To make it work I have to understand the circuitry and fix the fault. Apple, on the other hand, just like to throw the old brain out along with the memories and put in a new one! That takes them 10 days whereas I often fix a logic board the same day.

However, some faults can be difficult to find. Logic boards are very complicated and Apple don’t provide the repair community with circuit diagrams or the software that their custom chips run. The fact that Apple don’t even offer component level repair themselves – just highly priced logic board replacement, confirms that Apple are well on their way to declaring MacBooks as disposable commodity items that should simply be replaced rather repaired. Given that they admit that manufacture of one MacBook produces 150kg of greenhouse gases that is reckless behaviour.

If it takes longer than expected …

Most logic board microelectronic repairs take 2 – 4 hours. After 5+ hours of effort most repairers might say, for their own convenience, that the logic board is not fixable – this allows them to get on with easier repairs and keep making money. I wont say a logic board cannot be repaired unless it really can’t. If you need the data repair of the logic board is the only way to get the data back unless it can be removed another way.

The only models that make data recovery easy are:

iMacs pre 2017, all MacBoooks pre 2015 and models A1706 and A1707.

If the board’s fault is unrelated to the data storage chips then your data is most likely sitting there very safely. I just need to fox somethng to allow the board to boot.

If I’ve had your MacBook longer than one week then its probably in this class. \|its waiting till I get some more time to look at it. I have put it to one side in order to remain sane and repair other logic boards. I will revisit it after a while or when I get a fresh idea on the myriad of approaches that can be taken to repair such a complex device. I don’t give up on a logic board unless I’m sure the data desired is lost.

After these few days or at any stage if there is no important data on the board then I will always offer to replace the board as an alternative to repair if I think it will be quicker.

I don’t mind you emailing to ask and after a couple of weeks I dont mind if you want to take it somewhere else. It will need reassembly as I store MacBooks in a disassembled state which is another 30minutes of work and for this reason once its been returned I can’t take it back.

Why Data Recovery from a MacBook is not as simple as PCs

With all recent MacBooks the data is on chips soldered to the logic board rather than attached via a pluggable SSD. Blame Apple for that one. The only way to get your data is repair of the board.

Why do I need to know what the data is?

I like to know to help me determine the urgency. If its family photos I know you just want them back and a time delay doesn’t really matter. I recently had some spare time and mended the logic board of somebody who had opted for replacement logic board 6 months ago. I took their faulty logic board in exchange and promised to return their data FOC should I ever repair it. I did and they were very happy!

But if its valuable business data that is of no use after 2 weeks I need to know to apply timely effort and know when to stop. I only charge for the desired results.