This fell off my mac mini; is it important?

[Raffi]

Hello,

I was replacing a hard drive in my mac mini (A1347) this morning, had some trouble removing the fan cable from its socket on the main board; didn't think it was a problem until this little guy fell out and said hello:

He's kinda cute, right? I've named him "Squarez" ... I can't see something that small being important, until I found this:

I quickly realized the problem; a misnomer; "Demon Child" is more appropriate as I suspect my problems are just getting started.

I'm not sure what to do, so I've itemized my options:

1) pretend it didn't happen.
2) use Scotch Tape
3) use Krazy Glue (probably more effective)
4) get repaired at local service center
5) send to Apple (ugh)
6) sell on ebay; blame postal service for breakage (this is cruel, but effective)
8) collect more Demon Children, create rhinestone/hipster t-shirt, sell on Etsy


Seriously, is this repairable with a soldering gun? I don't plan on doing it myself, but what could repairs cost? ($$)

UPDATE
Did a quick power test, heard the chime, but fan was running fast and loud; quickly turned off.

 

[harryb2448]

Apparantly not as the thread is blank!

 

[Raffi]

Apparantly not as the thread is blank!

I don't get it; what happened to the contents?

 

[cradom]

The grammar nazis deleted it because Harry misspelled apparently.
j/k

 

[Raffi]

The grammar nazis deleted it because Harry misspelled apparently.
j/k

Can I delete the original post? This was a total waste of time; I can understand if a mod chose to put the post on hold or delete, but not notifying the author or providing reason as to why is beyond frustrating.

 

[chscag]

I'm not sure what happened with this thread. Our apologies to the OP if the thread was sent into Limbo for a spell. Apparently our resident exorcist was not available at the time to cast out the demons that had entered it. They have now been cast out and the thread has once more appeared.

Disclaimer: We are not responsible for any demon activity which occurs in these forums.

;P;P;P

 

[vansmith]

I apologize - I'm not sure why your post keeps going into moderation. I'll keep an eye on it to ensure that it stays live.

 

[johnodd4]

you could try to solder it yourself but with such a small connection your kinda screwed

 

[dtravis7]

At one time I could solder that with a VERY fine point Weller iron but even with Magnifiers I probably could not today due to not seeing small things that well!

I am sure someone could solder that though. It's a resistor from the looks of it. Since it right at the Fan connector that is probably why the fan is out of control.

I doubt Apple would fix something like that but want to replace the whole board.

I have many times fixed systems with one resistor that size that came off.

How I USED to do it was careful melt some solder on each pad without getting it to hot and destroying the pad, then lay the resistor on top and on each end heat it and push it down and take off the heat till it got solid.

 

[pigoo3]

It does appear that with a very small soldering iron...a very steady hand...and a lot of care to not let heat buildup (damaging surrounding components)...it may be possible to fix this. Otherwise...a replacement logic board may be required.

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

It does appear that with a very small soldering iron...a very steady hand...and a lot of care to not let heat buildup (damaging surrounding components)...it may be possible to fix this. Otherwise...a replacement logic board may be required.

- Nick

Agree Nick. Thus my post. The method I used when I could see better always worked with those small resistors for me.

If it meant a new board, I would get out my 20x magnifier and suspend it above the board and give it a try even today! Better than a new board!

 

[pigoo3]

Just had an idea. Here's a glue/epoxy product (or other products similar to it) that's supposed to be thermally stable and electrically conductive. So maybe it would be possible to glue this piece back on if soldering is not a possibility:

Silver Conductive Epoxy: 10 Mins. Working Time / High Conductivity | MG Chemicals

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

That is cool. Thanks for that Nick!

 

[Raffi]

I'm not sure what happened with this thread. Our apologies to the OP if the thread was sent into Limbo for a spell. Apparently our resident exorcist was not available at the time to cast out the demons that had entered it. They have now been cast out and the thread has once more appeared.

Disclaimer: We are not responsible for any demon activity which occurs in these forums.

;P;P;P

Thank you, looks ok now!

 

[Raffi]

Just had an idea. Here's a glue/epoxy product (or other products similar to it) that's supposed to be thermally stable and electrically conductive. So maybe it would be possible to glue this piece back on if soldering is not a possibility:

Silver Conductive Epoxy: 10 Mins. Working Time / High Conductivity | MG Chemicals

- Nick

Ahhh, the Krazy Glue option, now THIS looks promising!
It's worth a shot, and it's safe.

thanks, Nick!

Best
Raffi

 

[pigoo3]

Ahhh, the Krazy Glue option, now THIS looks promising!

Ha ha...yes...sort of a "Krazy Glue" option!lol

- Nick

 

[Raffi]

Ha ha...yes...sort of a "Krazy Glue" option!lol

- Nick

It's gonna work! If not, I'll dump the whole bottle of silver on the board, something's gotta make contact!

 

[dtravis7]

I was hoping you would post a picture of the part laying on the board by where it connects so I could see the relative size compared to the other parts there.

The smaller the part the harder it is to solder back at least for me.

 

[ankhseeker]

That is a surface mount resistor. I usually get a volunteer to hold them in place with a toothpick while I solder them back in. Otherwise they tend to stick to the soldering tip. Obviously important though since the fan runs high now. Definitely a young person job with a steady hand and good eyes!

 

[Raffi]

I was hoping you would post a picture of the part laying on the board by where it connects so I could see the relative size compared to the other parts there.

The smaller the part the harder it is to solder back at least for me.

It's definitely the right size,