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I was replacing a screen on my Macbook (Penryn) and while removing the inverter cable from the motherboard, the socket came off. The plastic was very brittle. Is there any way to solder the socket back on? Currently, I put everything back together (not including the inverter cable socket) and it will not power on. Does the inverter cable need to be plugged into the motherboard in order for the Macbook to power on? Thank you!
The inverter cable does not need to be plugged in for the board to power on. The board is fixable by someone with the right skills and equipment. I would take the board and socket to a local TV repair shop to have them solder the socket/header back on or replace it and inspect the components directly in front of it for damage (or behind it depending on how you are looking at the board). They will have all the skills and tools to do this work. The traces leading to the socket are extremely small and fragile. There may only be one shot at repairing this without air wires. I use a stereo microscope powered to about 30x to see with for soldering things like this and use about 60x to inspect the solder joint after the work is done. TV repair shops usually charge a reasonable fee for this type of work and certainly cheaper than the Apple logic board repair services. If you are planning on just using an external monitor with the board and not repairing it, I would inspect the board with a jeweler’s loupe to make sure none of the 4 traces that lead to the socket ripped up with it are touching anything else. Good luck!
did you find anyone to solder it back on? I have the same problem. The socket came off.
