hi there I'm Kyle with iFixit and this
is Jessa Jones from iPad rehab and she
is teaching me how to do board level
repairs on very small electronics
yes very small so thank you so much for
being here I have never repaired
anything this small so we have we have
an iPad here and there's been a number
of things wrong with it but there's a
particular problem with it right now
that we're going to attempt to solve
right yes this is the classic iPad Mini
back weight problem it's actually more
common in the iPad Mini original this is
an iPad Mini retina but we do see it in
the retina and and I like how repairs
sometimes cut can tell you a story you
know like they have like a little bit of
a history and so I was reading the note
this is an actual customer repair and it
came in and it said you know this this
iPad Mini has no backlight so there's no
light on the LCD screen and and so this
this is the LCD yes and there's a cable
here yep and to that cable has both data
and backlight on that cable right yes
okay and so what we're looking at here
is what there's a number of connectors
on this board and I'll use my tweezers
here and we can look so they here's one
connector that's the LCD connector and
then this is the backlight guy that if
there's a digitizer connector okay
that's it and that's the digitizer
connector for the screen you know so
this is this this is a screen you know
and I love this this whole story because
if you look at this screen this is what
was sent in by the customer you know hey
this is not working the digitizer
connector was replaced and now the back
lights not working and you can guess
that this if you look at this digitizer
it has some sort of like signs of low
quality so as I'm looking at it there's
kind of cheap plastic on there right
like Yousaf is clearly not the standard
adhesive it's kind of bubbling around
here now one of your kind of big things
to sort of notice in the iPad Mini is
when it has a silver border on the
digitizer that is sort of by definition
high copy because the the original
digitizer
are all copper-colored and so when it
doesn't have copper-colored it is at
best high copy maybe it's fine you know
but but I copy is what the Chinese
manufacturers call theirs are the best
what they think is their best
replication so this is an aftermarket
part right yes it's not original quality
right and then down here you can see
there's this this is the home flex and
it should have see these little gold
pads it should have little SMD
components on the Flex itself and
they're missing
okay that's sort of another kind of so
we got an aftermarket part but somebody
was installing it on here and in the
process it looks like this connector
here got mashed a little bit and then
this connector has been replaced already
yes okay so this connector got mashed is
what they're telling us on the story
it's been replaced yes but then that
replacement didn't fix the issue right
because it was probably the low-quality
digitizer to begin with so you know and
that's why I said I said before we
started I I sent the guys downstairs to
get the I fix it digitizer just for
comparison seal has the okay obviously
you already know this but so you can see
that that's really what I've done like
some like comparisons by ordering a
bunch of these and from different
suppliers and I've always been impressed
but that the iFixit one does have the
copper and it has the SMD components on
the home flex well we spend a lot more
on our parts I'm always shocked
sometimes we'll see people selling parts
right like they'll sell this part for
less than we're paying for it right and
of course that's including their margin
and everything but it's it's just there
are much lower quality parts out there
yes okay so we're going to learn to fix
this today so so things that happen to
this was first they got a bad digitizer
they kept debugging it and so that
killed this connector connector and so
someone else has soldered a new
connector onto the board so then we're
looking a little bit closer and we're
kind of examining through the board and
we can see there's your SIM card and
then working away over here so as you
look at this under the microscope you
can see we have all of these shiny happy
parts and over so we've got all these
shiny happy parts and then you'll notice
this part here that looks cinched and so
what is that that is the ipad mini
backlight filter okay
and
the you know iPad Mini backlight filter
is really sensitive to a current spike
and a current spike is something that
happens when the relatively high voltage
line of the LCD itself powering the LCD
backlight when that's shorted to ground
that will cause this sort of like you
know burst of high current and that will
will burn the backlight filter like like
it has here and so that that happens
when if you kind of go back to the LCD
connector itself you know that happens
if you have the battery right there the
battery connected while you're doing
work yeah and then if you look at this
connector itself the batteries not
connected now so we can kind of use a
metal tool you know but if you were to
imagine what it would take to sort of
short this thing to ground not a heck of
a lot of these end brackets here that's
ground and then the hot pin is shown oh
right on the end so that's why we're
always recommending I mean the first
thing we try to do when you get inside
these things is disconnect the battery
absolutely no power unless you're
working on you know what I do this is
like totally totally like unconventional
I I use metal tools all the time and you
know what using metal tools makes you it
forces you to make sure super fast it is
I'll disconnect my battery you know
because you know yeah it's metal tools
with a battery connector sure you know
right so you know I'm with you okay so
so we're learning Kenan by visual
diagnosis and we're talking about an
iPad here but these principles could
apply to any kind of electronic those
yes absolutely yeah so when you're at
this scale we're talking extraordinarily
small components these are placed on
this board by a robot in the first place
but we're going to go in and do a repair
and the robot couldn't do this repair
you really need a person to get in here
and do this so we're going to track down
the part again there you go
okay so this is our this is our part and
let me zoom in with the microscope and
this is we've got our fancy we've got
our fancy zoom microscope here so we can
do this all right so so Kyle I will be
honest this is a challenging repair here
let me hold out your hand okay I'm going
to put into it the the new piece
that is so tiny I mean I'm showing you
this on the microscope and it looks
completely obvious hearing how are you
ready yes still is it there it is Wow ha
ha ha this is like the size of the head
of a pin like the head of a sewing pen
yeah or small and here's a pin yeah I
mean this is smaller than the tip of a
soldering iron by far yeah so this this
level of repair I mean this is this is
like the size of maybe three or four
grains of sand it's incredibly tiny yeah
and you could not with your naked eyes
you could not look at this board and see
that this part was damaged but if you
have a microscope you can get on here
and look at it yeah okay so we've got
the replacement part we're going to
store it over here where I'll be safe
right so we got a grain of rice and just
to show you how small this filter is
this is a grain of rice with the filter
next to it and it is so extraordinarily
tiny this grain of rice is 50 times the
size of this component right so now you
know ideally let's say that this this
one's really burned you know but let's
say that we were replacing a similar
component like one of these where you
can see the nice shiny you know solder
pads mm-hmm
you would pretty readily be able to use
the hot tweezers some flux some tin
solder melts and solder on there to sort
of lift that off that would be pretty
straightforward okay and that's sort of
that was actually the repair I intended
yet to kind of do here today but um you
know we're just gonna return it
practical yeah okay
so we'll end it this is this will be a
functional board when we're done
hopefully yeah okay um
so the problem is that this one has
experienced such a big insult that in my
experience when it looks like that when
it's so like blackened it has had so
much heat that it actually welds the
component boiler we've had okay so that
they can't be separated and if you can't
separate it I apply for us it's gonna
rip the panel as well right and so
that's probably that's probably
unavoidable in this situation you know
so that's my guess is what's going to
happen so so if that happens yes
well would it be possible to put the new
part on if it happens it really won't be
feasible to place the new component okay
so we'll have to go with Plan B which is
really you know this is sort of a
roadway where the bridge is washed out
and so instead we're going to have to
kind of you know find another way to
restore continuity okay you know and so
maybe just bypass the component we could
bypass the filter is cleaning the power
you don't have to have the filter Geist
makes things better right but it's
repair so I mean this is this is like
bypassing the circuit breaker in your
house a little bit look you can do it a
little bit of a quarter in the circuit
breaker kind of okay all right so we
were going to try the replace this
component and if we can great yeah now
this is full disclosure I have never
done this before I am absolutely
petrified this is the smallest thing
I've ever worked on I don't even think I
can normally hold my hands still so I'm
going to be using tweezers and then I've
got these other tweezers to try to hold
my hand still yeah so I'm going to use
both tweezers so I can kind of create a
tripod with my hands okay you'll be
using these tweezers oh those are hot
these are hot tweezers and embrace them
with my handy anti-static iPad yep all
right I fix it tweezers okay so you can
practice that and then let me know when
we want to put some heat and flux and
stuff on there and get cracking
now you might turn the board to be
comfortable for the angle of your hand
and then look through the microscope at
it so you might want to like turn the
board you know it's actually okay
because I can okay yeah alright so that
would be your goal then let's stop okay
you want me to heat you up I'll let me
I'm just practicing here okay because I
don't want to heat the stuff around it
so how much do it because if I contact
this with the southern iron is that
going to it's not going to be the end of
the world no okay all right ready oh
yeah sure let's do this let's do this
okay so we're gonna heat this up okay so
this up so let me make sure that we've
got this on the right channel so we've
got this is a kind of a fancy jaco
soldering iron you
and then use your Hani wheezes yeah so
both of them are kind of acting in
soldering irons you can pinch well now
you're going to you can go ahead and put
some flux on your component okay
hold on to these okay so let me have
flux flux helps everything the tip of
this needle is so big relevant education
like consume the whole thing with the
needle this is crazy I have never seen
anything as small okay right now you're
gonna kind of condition these a little
bit you know clean clean clean and then
and then get a bunch some touch some
solder clean it again a couple of sort
of like get them you know any oxidation
that's sort of collected on here okay
and then we're gonna so as you get
oxidation on there that's not going to
conduct heat very well factly okay so
we'll get a little bit more on there
stabby stab and the smoke coming up
that's flux that's built into this other
yeah so the solder itself isn't burning
off it's the flux it's the flux okay so
are we looking good I think we'll touch
it again so that there's a little bit of
solder on there like there that because
solder melts other side are really well
okay so on the inside of them like
you're yep exactly
all right now go ahead and go for your
compartment before that stuff burns off
too bad
here's your other tweezers if you want
to grab them with your Ian okay all
right here he goes
that looks good so just sort of like
massage it around a little bit all right
you got one side off so it looks like
you saved the pad I thought would pull
off but I'm not sure so okay all right
so keep using the hot tweezers because
it's still so on there and just don't
kick that thing out of there it's here
yep that's it grab it yay all right pull
it away you know you can ditch it in
there wow this is crazy
well I want it Oh examine it yeah on the
side here yeah no no no you can look at
all right let me sit sir I cannot
believe that I did that that was amazing
so it's in the blob right in the blob of
the saw there on that you can use the
other tweezers to pull it off if you
want to look at it which is something
you have to do a lot when you
inadvertently lift a component off and
then you have to like find it in the
blob of solder is like examining a
booger okay all right so I've got some
crazy little tiny part off of the board
yes on my hot tweezers yes all right so
now we're gonna ditch it and exactly
okay okay now let's investigate the
board and this is really the question of
whether or not I could the pad that I
thought would come off did not come off
and I'm not sure about the other pad
okay so we're gonna go back to where my
all my flux is here yep
and I want to know what is left in the
aftermath okay my mad five-second
soldering sorry okay so it sure looks
like art so there's a blob aside and
good pad there so one so that's a pad
there yes and then the other pad came
off let's zoom you out a little bit I
think the other pad has has come off
yeah it should be a shiny blob just like
the other pad but instead what we can
see is the the pad is sort of a landing
for a tiny wire the trace that's in the
circuit board and so you can see the end
of the torn trace right right there yes
okay so is it possible I mean we can't
really put any pad down so is it
possible to attach something to that
trace right so you know it's this is
again like practical and feasible this
is an iPad
it's an iPad Mini and it is you know we
could you know go order and get a new
pad and use a special heat-resistant
epoxy and attach a new pad in order to
replace the filter but it's not really
you know necessary you know in this
situation the right repair is to just
restore continuity from the Tres look to
the pad because the filter is acting as
a power filter so it's cleaning up the
signal right but our kind of theory
right is that it's probably not
completely necessary right and in
practice you know I mean because you
know the repair I mean there's designing
it the perfect way where you're making
millions of them and there's getting the
one that you have working exactly right
so we have back here our oscilloscope we
could actually take a look at the signal
after we do this and find out is it
dramatically worse than it was before
if we had another one to compare it to
right because I kind of get a feeling of
okay maybe that that can be enough okay
we'll see if we have time
well so quit her off laughter all right
so I mean what I need to jump this trace
that's like whether we're talking this
is like a tenth of a millimeter that
that trace is making the component look
huge
okay you know so if the grain of rice
dwarf the component the trace is a
fraction of that you know means I mean
this cameras visitor the microscope is
on max magnification here and it's still
one of the smallest things on here okay
so how do I get a wire that time okay so
that's a good question you know how is
sourcing wire and the practical answer
is well there's some right here on the
table so copper braid which comes as
sort of like a big kind of you know
multiply rope you can just cut this with
some cutters and try to cut it like
microscopic size all right okay I cut it
like sighs you may be 50 microns okay I
want 50 micron that's got it right so
just sort of let that free down and then
pick one okay so I have some
extraordinarily fine like basically copy
readings yeah you can't see I mean this
is smaller than any you know I bright
hair you would plug it's like a little
like a baby ants leg so I got one it's
about the size of a baby ants LaHaye
on the tip and I mean it's just sticking
to the tip I can't even grab it right
and let me
rather than here so you can see okay so
is it still there that yeah it's still
there it might be a little too short
okay let's get another so this chip here
what's with this that is just you know
part of whatever the history of this of
this iPad is so this chip is just
missing a corner it's missing a corner
you know that's an inductor and it's
probably it doesn't mind about that you
know because if you if you take those
apart like I've you know kind of mash
those up before that is a coil of wire
that sort of enmeshed in you know this
gritty substance that sort of surrounds
it and kind of you know protects it so I
don't think it's going to really care
about its missing corner okay so that
wire looks like it's about the right
length okay that might be a little short
to work with you might find it easier to
get one about a shade longer just
because it's a it's a real challenge
when you're using heat to solder it down
on one side on something incredibly tiny
and then solder it down on the other
side without lifting the first side so
if it's a little bit longer we can
actually kind of cut it down to size
after you solder it how about this wire
that's good that looks good okay so I
have a wire here that is a bit like a
shepherd's crook maybe that'll make it
easier to solder to maybe okay so that's
about what I want to do I want to get it
right there so what you want to do now
is get another cold regular tweezer like
this one and get it off of that tweezer
and on to like kind of get it into that
gummy flux there which will sort of act
like a little bit like a glue and so
position it so your goal is to really
start with the tiny trace connection and
you know I will be honest this is a
challenging repair this is not something
that's your day one you know welcome to
my croissant please do a micro jumper
you know this is this is tough but this
is my first repair and I am dauntless
yes so we're gonna do it yes okay so but
now my concern here is that I feel like
see this is touch of this component here
it's a valid concern of however you know
once you
solder it and actually make a solder
connection onto that torn trace you'll
be able to wiggle off that end so that's
exactly where we wanted them because
we've got connecting to the copper on
one side right and on the other side
it's on the pad right no it's going to
want to stick to the two these tweezers
okay so you're gonna so it's important
to get these tweezers prepped yes and so
you really just kind of want to hold it
down on the one side with your other
tweezers and then just use one of these
to just kind of touch it and flow flow
that I'm not sure that you know that
there's enough like tin on your leg torn
trace in order to make a connection
right now so let's put a little solder
on that iron on the iron okay take a
little bit here okay now you can kind of
get in there and start rooting around my
guess is that that little that that
braid is going to kind of fly away and
that's okay
maybe there maybe now your flux is kind
of as it gets sort of gummy like that
that's sort of you know assists you
because you're trying there that's good
ok one side that break the you might
have you might be sort of moved over in
a way that now it's soldered in the
middle of that braid it seems like
that's exactly what good practice okay
now take this opportunity to tin your
other trace because that like if you get
that tin then it'll quickly make a nice
joint add a little bit of solder to this
yes
all right so try to work on your trace
and get that prepped so get that so that
it looks shiny to your eyes um in the
microscope put more solder that looks
good yep that looks good I would
recommend touching that other pad
getting rid of that braid and getting a
new braid and trying again okay now it's
on the tip so go ahead and sing that off
so attempt one alright so I tried to put
the wire on the first pad good they're
doing well and I got the wire on there
but I got it stuck in the middle of it
so that didn't work so then I went over
and I put 10 on the other pad right and
now we're gonna try another wire yes so
fortunately you know when you get copper
might be expensive but every size it
doesn't cost that much and just waste it
okay so I have another incredibly tiny
common wire so try to start with the
little side first by putting hold down
the big pad with the tweezers and then
try to heat and connect the hardest
thing will be that little connection so
if you can get that done then then
you'll have a lot more chance to be able
to finish it up by by connecting the
bigger pad use two tweezers okay here
and kind of like you know
okay so a little bit of solder
and use tweezers to hold down the on the
like big side this is really good
oh that could be it that's okay okay
alright I think that I think it could be
okay so now you can if it is tacked down
on the little side with the regular
tweezers you should be able to just kind
of move it to the center of where you
want it to be oh did it move on that
side yeah okay alright that's fine okay
so we're going to try again yeah you're
doing well you have good stability you
have you know good positioning you know
I think that I think that I have high
hopes here it's there it's just like
it's not alright you why don't we switch
it to the micro pencil sure okay sure
yeah I let's don't feel like I'm getting
enough heat three exact to that nuts and
I was going to say that like you know we
could file those tips because you know
it's like the the solder is going to
want to go where the heat is or the ten
if I don't lock these together can I do
it that way you can it might be too big
give it a shot
I got cellar all over the wire now okay
tin and it's definitely down on the one
side so now all you have to do is make
that die in connection micro pencil
might help you that might be good
you might be good like try it chat test
for movement no moving could be good
could be so we're gonna clean you up get
all that gummy flux out of there okay
and so I uh is this the greatest moment
in your life it's very interesting this
is this is big okay so I when I was
trying to put solar on one side of it
and what ended up happening was the
solder went in through the tip covered
the entire wire and then soldered the
side I was trying to do last at first
right and then I was able to get the
other side
yes yeah okay so this is tinting really
does help you know right and so that the
the flux has kind of gummed up swim
Yanis isopropyl alcohol here yes and you
can see I do have a joint there it's
yeah yeah yeah I'm afraid of pressure
oh I'm afraid I don't wonder is that
yeah I mean this yeah I can see I can
see why gentle so gentle just buff the
fairy wing ever so slightly alright so I
got this war installed but I don't know
if it's good yet right so let's use the
multimeter to test yes so tell me where
I need to connect the multimeter to okay
so if you know your your joint is good
we're gonna go from the other side of
that diode so where the lines are hmm
okay there so there yes so that should
have continuity across the filter to
there if it's good and if the pins that
I soldered to that multiviewer okay
hey all right Wow let's so let's let's
go with what's just assumed okay because
we did have continuity from ride leg
through the connector so we think we've
got it working yes okay so let's let's
fire it up
so um you know the the flux that might
still be on there we might want to clean
that a little bit more like ultimately
but right now it should not be
conductive so we don't have to worry
about that the alcohol has evaporated so
in order for an iPad Mini to come to
full display it needs to have a
digitizer connected and the LCD okay so
I have an LCD here and I have a better
digitizer so we have the digitizer that
came with which is shoddy and maybe was
the result of this whole problem and
we're chipping that we're skipping at
we're going to this is the LCD that came
with it and a iFixit digitizer right so
okay you can plug this in very carefully
that goes there and then the LCD will be
and now I'm like I have connected these
cables hundreds of times in my life but
now I'm like I kind of want a microscope
to see if I'm doing it well right
especially because I've probably fixed
that one of those connectors a hundred
times in my life from from meatheads
like well from repair people that are
just like you know I mean if that
thing's just a you know kind of good
it's when I connect that first and then
connect the battery yes battery last I
always struggle with these connectors to
know when I feel like I've got it
solidly seated and mashing it it can
just be off a little bit and you have to
apply force to get it on there and then
it's off by a tenth of a millimeter you
don't realize instead of nicely pressing
it in there right mashing it and then
you're sending out for my croissant ring
and then he rolled okay all right now
we'll go ahead and connect the battery
itself and we're flip it over flip it
over okay and our power button is on
sides on the top top I'll even know hold
one one thousand acres two one thousand
three one thousand times I don't know
any we might have to prompt it to boot
with a charger it doesn't want to come
on well let's prompt it to boot with a
church or so grab the the lightning cord
there all right I've got power cord here
we're gonna Jack it in
okay so if we don't see an apple then we
have a couple possibilities what are
they
one is I screwed up well yeah I don't
think that's I don't think it's that two
is the battery doesn't have enough juice
to pilot it's still power here there but
yeah but that's a good idea
three is bad LCD okay which is very very
reasonable possibility for is not not in
this is this is cool for iPad Mini this
is an iPad Mini retina a lot of parts
people fail to appreciate the difference
between iPad Mini retina and iPad Mini
original LCD so this is a retina LCD
because the connector is right there
okay original is on the side so that's
sort of like you know it's the wrong one
it's sort of the the other choice um it
seems like we've got the right part yep
and then the other the other sort of
real possibility here is um well you try
connecting McCamey try connecting again
just to make sure I'm not I'm not very
good at plug in cables them that's okay
it's on my list of skills in my that
I've acquired in my life plugging flux
connectors incorrectly the first time
has never been strong to the mine now
the other possibility that is a
reasonable possibility is diode failure
especially when the filter looks that
bad that the diode itself has been
compromised in which case we kind of
also have to replace the diode alright
but we can well we will record an ending
to this video now hey what so I can my
croissant but I can't plug a cable in I
told you about all right well you know
that's that you got the hard thing done
no you went to hit zero sir for reasons
it could fail in gross incompetence by
the cable plug er was not rare for okay
so look we've got an apple on this thing
yeah so we took a board that was
completely toast yes with that wasn't
powering up at all you had so this was a
dead ipad yeah and there was a
microscopic component smaller than a
grain of rice
that had failed you couldn't tell it was
dead by looking at it with your naked
eye but you get under the microscope and
we can see that it had blown out it
right right so we decided it yeah in the
process of desoldering it we broke the
board further so we hold one of the pads
off right it's not and that's not your
fault it's welded on there because that
was so because I fried it well done on
the board okay so we pull that component
off and now the board is is going to be
too difficult to put a new component on
right so we were able to understand a
little bit of what this component was
doing that it was a filter it wasn't
critical for the operational device
right we bypass it with an incredibly
small wire right yeah
powered on and it works yeah yeah good
job that's amazing lassic problem iPad
Mini backlight you know if it the right
repair if you've got both pads is to
place a new component and those
components are you know I know they're
going to be available in the iFixit
parts store soon and it's the right
thing to do is to replace it but the
sequins are gone you know so this is
effectively a zero cost repair obviously
we have a lot of equipment right but I
just used a tiny tiny piece of copper
yeah to repair this don't need a new
board don't yes yes this is amazing and
this is this kind of repair is going to
be more more important in the future as
you have things like activation lock
where you have a board that you know you
have to repair that board or you have a
touchscreen or you have a touch sensor
that is cryptographically signed to the
board yes
so repairing these devices might not be
as simple as swapping a board you have
actually repaired the board it's right
right or even now like the the actual
touch ID if you tear it you can put it
back together I mean how is it different
really a tiny super repair torn flex is
not a different repair than what you
just did you know and I think it's great
though because I know I was was I spent
some time before before you got in here
today going up geez that's really burnt
that's gonna put tip tara pad off i
don't want to subject kyle to that
that's really mean for his life and oh
my christmas my very first vain you know
it's just gonna you know that's gonna be
really too tough but i'm i'm really
proud of you you know that is that is
good work and
like the message that it sends that you
know here's Kyle who has not just a
whole lot of micro saturon and he was
able to do a complex mini backlight you
know level 3 repair so you know good job
well so I feel a little bit better about
myself now but I still I mean I feel
like I am at the beginning of this
journey so we're going to continue this
this video series with some more
diagnosis yeah in the next video all
right well fantastic thank you so much
for watching this has been a huge
learning experience for me I hope it was
a good learning experience for you and
stay tuned online fixes we continue our
micro soldering series