Man... you have the hands of a surgeon, the patience of Job, and the bravery of a tightrope walker! If I HAD the knowledge and those skills I would be afraid of ruining the board and components! Those are some skills you have there, my friend! BRAVO! Love the vids. 👍
These are hands down my favorite kinds of videos to watch on TH-cam. I really enjoy seeing the in-depth upgrading of something that initially didn't have the best specs change to something better.
i have thought the same he really did that very well he also fixes 8600m gt macbook logic boards that have failed with the g84-603-a2 gpu chip I do own such an revised gpu laptop
This is a very well done repair. I find it interesting too that the board was able to boot with one of the NAND chips missing, I would have thought that the absence of one or the other would cause it to not POST.
You are amazing 👍 I feel bad just using my Mac Mini m1 knowing one day the storage could die, thinking about it writing all the time when using Logic Pro and this is what it will take to get it back 😢 enough to just use Reaper on the PC! same with my iPad but at least that’s almost cheap enough to replace!
Very likely masses of them It's not just M Mini's It's any Mac with a Tx processor If you buy one online and it's locked, who's going to give you their iCloud pasword to unlock it ? You'd have access to their whole account !
@@Wannes_ The iCloud account holder can remove the activation lock from their account without having the machine in front of them and without giving you their details. However if it was stolen, that's definitely not going to happen, and if it was e-wasted, it probably isn't going to happen.
Do you have tried to implement maybe 64GB RAM into a iPad? To test, if a iPad could handle that? If yes. maybe this could be a hint, that a iPad could handle a "small macOS version" ...
Don't need 64GB for that, it absolutely could technically handle a regular macOS install purely by its hardware specifications as is (think of all the older MacBooks with only 4 or 8GB RAM running macOS), but that would mean competition with their own laptop market
Hey dude, I quite enjoy your videos. I am hoping to refine my skills and be at that level one day. I was wondering if you have ever tinkered with an Apple TV. Specifically the 4k Apple TVs that brick with updates and have no physical usb port to restore them. Would be great to find a solution for those.
There is something that just feels wrong about doing a dfu restore with a mac mini.. lol I get how it works but after years doing it the old way on Mac's and only using dfu mode with iPhones and ipads..
Common sense would’ve been to remove the melted connector first and keep it aside safe, then at the end solder that to the one missing it… just saying. Good work and well done!👍
How did he align the second nand so perfectly? For the fist one he had the goo that was removed to go on. I assume you can't be off more than a fraction of a millimeter. I think I would have needed to make some sort of L-shaped ridge to get it right. Or at least draw a pencil outline.
Capillary action is an amazing thing. If you look it up, you’ll be amazed how soldering components and capillary action go hand in hand to make a perfect solder. You see the process in action with the first NAND falling into place after being heated up. Science is pretty sweet!
@@learnitalready thanks! I had a hunch it would be that, although I had forgotten it was called capillary action. To me it is called the water vs mercury thing :) Cohesive / adhesive if I remember it right. So solder loves to be in the right spot. Got it! Thank you.
@@OscarTroya Assuming you currently have 2TB or less installed, you’ll need to source a second NAND module in order to achieve an 8TB upgrade. They can be hard to find, but a friend of mine is working on a custom one, and expects to be done with it in a few months. I can indeed do the upgrade for you once the second NAND module is sourced.
A few reasons... A, the chips needed can't be bought anywhere, B, actually removing the chips from the SoC is practically impossible, due to the bonding material used (not the same as normal underfill), and C, the RAM config data is likely fused into SoC, and cannot be changed. So unfortunately, the RAM cannot be upgraded.
Hi Collin, I suspect that somewhere on the motherboard of the mac mini M1 and M2, there are soldering points very close to the original SSD, which can accept the connection of an NVMe SSD adapter. Here's a suggestion, do you accept the challenge?
You said in the video you think you know what the tiny BGA chip is. Would you please say what you think it is? Purely curiosity, not because I need it. I don't own an M series device.
Now I'm so curious which one of Action Retro's projects this was from - did he mention this broken board in any of his videos? Or is this technically "behind the scenes" content? 😂
@@dosdude1I thought it looked familiar! Good to know that there are power button pads exposed on the top - should help other people trying the same build. Thanks for the video ✌️
You mentioned easier to use power button pins on the other side. Do you maybe have some source showing them? Using mini with a KVM would be great if soldering to the actual power button wasn't needed.
I'm guessing adding higher ram would be the same process. I would have offered him that since 16gb is fine but 8gb is to low if you are wanting to use the machine to its protentional.
I did something similar on an iPhone years ago. I seem to remember having to read the old nand and program the new one with things like the serial and Bluetooth Mac. Why didn't you have to do that here? Is this process unique to the iPhone? Thanks for posting these videos
dosdude1 I have a question please. The other day I saw your video where you swapped 8th worth of storage into a mac studio (the takeaway was that you MUST use a new chip so that the DMG more can set it up) does that go for the macmini as well where you simply need to swap a new chip?
Last time I checked most people don't store their macmini logic boards in their back pockets :D Underfill is basically unnecessary on stationary computers.
this is very much useful video even i have mac mini m2 and want to upgrade as well. Can you suggest me the website for finding nand storage online on cheaper for my mac mini
The scariest part about these Macs for me is how hard it is to bootstrap one from bare metal. With Windows/Linux/whatever, it's just a matter of plugging in external storage, CD, DVD, Floppy, whatever... This thing is a brick unless you have another system and a bunch of uncommon software to reload it.
Is it possible for a setup like Collin's to be able to physically upgrade/swap RAM chips? If so, is the only thing holding an upgrade like that back the complete lack of documentation for what kind of resistors to change for it to register properly?
Where to get those original SSD chips from Crucial, Samsung or SK Hynix? I have something in my life: Never ever use flux paste onto any PCB, otherwise the guarantee is invalid. Why does everybody use flux on those modern boards?😮
@@sir.fender6034I thought it was alibaba, I remember that using preexisting nands with crap on them failed (hence why that mac studio upgrade was a bust) vs fresh unused nands
@@dosdude1 Thank you very much for the info. I am just trying to find the prices for the NANDs and LPDDRX5-7500 RAM to see how much would they cost versus just normal fast DDR5 memory.
if you're actually interested in a mac, just buy used or refurbished. the storage upgrades are a scam when buying new but they're much more reasonable after a few years
Wouldn't matter, they are paying to get it fixed. But yes, it looks like they tampered with it. If you can't fix it yourself, take it to someone who knows how to do it (what I always do).
Do you think it would be possible to mount an M2 mac mini board into a 2018 mac mini enclosure? I can't handle the silver of the current enclosure. Like they say, once you go black... Anyway, great job repairing and upgrading this unit, I'm sure Sean will get some good use out of it.
Yes, should be possible, though the board couldn’t be screwed into the chassis and the two rear fan screws couldn’t be used. You’d also need to transfer the power LED assembly from the original chassis into the 2018 chassis, along with the power supply.
@@dosdude1 Awesome! I probably won't try it on my working 2018 mini or a brand new M2, so I'll go looking for second-hand models to try out the swap on. Thanks!
![ILLSLICK - WINTER IS COMING [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dwTMeM1zIhQ/mqdefault.jpg)
This modern Mac Mini can't handle Action Retro's "shenanigans" 😂
He called his soldering "janky" in the iMac G4 video - sometimes jank do be killing boards 🙃
More like crimes against humanity
Action Retro can’t handle an orgasm without shame and guilt 🫃🏻 such soy
Dude has such a good “radio voice” for narration
So video didn’t kill the radio star after all.
just admit it you pleasure yourself to his voice
asmr king
@@TinCole yes........
@@mai-deum3731 real
mad skills. solder surgeon.
He even looks like Shaun from Good Doctor 😂
Man... you have the hands of a surgeon, the patience of Job, and the bravery of a tightrope walker! If I HAD the knowledge and those skills I would be afraid of ruining the board and components!
Those are some skills you have there, my friend!
BRAVO! Love the vids. 👍
Apple is watching you! Great video!
These are the most harmless things Apple can see))
Of course the Mac chime is too iconic
These are hands down my favorite kinds of videos to watch on TH-cam. I really enjoy seeing the in-depth upgrading of something that initially didn't have the best specs change to something better.
You make that look so easy. Amazing work!
getting rid of the "ESG" solder is always a good idea lead leads to good results :P
The wizard does it again
Bravo! You did a great job aligning those BGA chips while there was no outline to guide you.
i have thought the same he really did that very well he also fixes 8600m gt macbook logic boards that have failed with the g84-603-a2 gpu chip I do own such an revised gpu laptop
This is a very well done repair. I find it interesting too that the board was able to boot with one of the NAND chips missing, I would have thought that the absence of one or the other would cause it to not POST.
All of my jank laid bare 😂😅
Hey, at least it wasn’t hard to fix haha.
Can't wait to see the followup video from your side!
You are amazing 👍 I feel bad just using my Mac Mini m1 knowing one day the storage could die, thinking about it writing all the time when using Logic Pro and this is what it will take to get it back 😢 enough to just use Reaper on the PC! same with my iPad but at least that’s almost cheap enough to replace!
I wish I had your tools and talent. Love watching your vids. Thanks!!
Icloud lock for a mac mini is insane. Good for sales though. How many of these are gonna go to a landfill while being perfectly functional.
Very likely masses of them
It's not just M Mini's
It's any Mac with a Tx processor
If you buy one online and it's locked, who's going to give you their iCloud pasword to unlock it ?
You'd have access to their whole account !
@@Wannes_ The iCloud account holder can remove the activation lock from their account without having the machine in front of them and without giving you their details. However if it was stolen, that's definitely not going to happen, and if it was e-wasted, it probably isn't going to happen.
Well saved!👍👍
I'm surprised that you did not upgrade the ram., as well.
Apple: you can't upgrade these machines.
Dosdude1: hold my stencil.
Well done Collin
I just started watching the video, but I already know you will do an amazing job as always!!! Keep it going!! Cheers!! 🍾 🥂
Do you have tried to implement maybe 64GB RAM into a iPad? To test, if a iPad could handle that? If yes. maybe this could be a hint, that a iPad could handle a "small macOS version" ...
Don't need 64GB for that, it absolutely could technically handle a regular macOS install purely by its hardware specifications as is (think of all the older MacBooks with only 4 or 8GB RAM running macOS), but that would mean competition with their own laptop market
@@resneptacleHis idea is a good experiment never the less
M1 ipad could handle macOS just fine, it's just Apple saying no
물론입니다! 질문을 영어로 번역해드리겠습니다:
"Wow, that looks great! Where did you get the 2TB NAND?"
I love it. You toke a big bite out of corporate America. That little memory would have cost $1000’s.
The DFU mode is handy I was not aware that was possible in my recent Macbook Air repair video where I installed the OS via USB on a broken screen. 😅
Hey dude, I quite enjoy your videos. I am hoping to refine my skills and be at that level one day. I was wondering if you have ever tinkered with an Apple TV. Specifically the 4k Apple TVs that brick with updates and have no physical usb port to restore them. Would be great to find a solution for those.
This is insane, thank you for your work! Keep it up
I believe when IC's have 4 pins onm the bottom it's not enough to count as being a BGA-package but rather a WLCSP (Wafer-Level Chip-scale-package) :)
Would have loved to see HDD speed test before and after.
There is something that just feels wrong about doing a dfu restore with a mac mini.. lol I get how it works but after years doing it the old way on Mac's and only using dfu mode with iPhones and ipads..
As a fellow repairer of Sean's (mis)adventures, yours was way more impressive!
Common sense would’ve been to remove the melted connector first and keep it aside safe, then at the end solder that to the one missing it… just saying.
Good work and well done!👍
If I didn't have over 100 of those connectors on-hand to use... I would have saved it.
How do you stop all of those passives on the reverse from just dropping off into that grate underneath?
6 views in 1 minute, bro fell off
jk love your videos haha the Dev Transitioning Kit was the most impressive i’ve seen in a while
Impressive repair!
Man, I want to learn how to do this. This seems so cool to learn.
Great stuff, too bad it only has "16gb of equivalent windows ram". Thank you apple for your generosity!!
How did he align the second nand so perfectly? For the fist one he had the goo that was removed to go on. I assume you can't be off more than a fraction of a millimeter. I think I would have needed to make some sort of L-shaped ridge to get it right. Or at least draw a pencil outline.
That was my thought as well, without outline he aligned them perfectly
Capillary action is an amazing thing. If you look it up, you’ll be amazed how soldering components and capillary action go hand in hand to make a perfect solder. You see the process in action with the first NAND falling into place after being heated up. Science is pretty sweet!
@@learnitalready thanks! I had a hunch it would be that, although I had forgotten it was called capillary action. To me it is called the water vs mercury thing :) Cohesive / adhesive if I remember it right. So solder loves to be in the right spot. Got it! Thank you.
Man, It'd be nice to have schematics for these boards and a way to obtain the Intercell power chips for macbooks
I have a M2 Mac Mini that has a fan that's making a very concerning grinding noise.
Good work on this one Dude. Is there any hope for the same upgrade for Mac Studios?
Yep, doable on Mac Studio as well. Up to 8TB with two of those removable NAND modules.
@@dosdude1 would looooove to have this done on my Mac Studio.
@@OscarTroya Assuming you currently have 2TB or less installed, you’ll need to source a second NAND module in order to achieve an 8TB upgrade. They can be hard to find, but a friend of mine is working on a custom one, and expects to be done with it in a few months. I can indeed do the upgrade for you once the second NAND module is sourced.
Good mythical morning
Hope this is possible to do on my m3 pro MacBook pro it's the 512gb version its fine for now but would like to upgrade it when its out of warranty
The 2TB bga315 nands appear to be super scarce. Plenty of 1TB nands to be had on aliexpress, though.
Out of curiosity, other than impracticality, difficulty and possible parts, what stops you from doing a ram upgrade?
A few reasons... A, the chips needed can't be bought anywhere, B, actually removing the chips from the SoC is practically impossible, due to the bonding material used (not the same as normal underfill), and C, the RAM config data is likely fused into SoC, and cannot be changed. So unfortunately, the RAM cannot be upgraded.
Dude, you rock!!
Well done sir !
Hi Collin, I suspect that somewhere on the motherboard of the mac mini M1 and M2, there are soldering points very close to the original SSD, which can accept the connection of an NVMe SSD adapter. Here's a suggestion, do you accept the challenge?
Doh, no silkscreen to line-up the chips. I would 3D print a guide to line up with the pads and have a border you can draw around.
Good vid and fun to watch
can u do more like these?
You said in the video you think you know what the tiny BGA chip is. Would you please say what you think it is? Purely curiosity, not because I need it. I don't own an M series device.
As always great job! nice.
Any suggestions for aftermarket internal speakers for 2012 macbook pro 15"?
The number of passives on the Apple devices seem so crazy to me. Do they use more than other computer makers? Why?
Can I organize a tour a-la Europe! MacGyver was yesterday!
Now I'm so curious which one of Action Retro's projects this was from - did he mention this broken board in any of his videos? Or is this technically "behind the scenes" content? 😂
I think this was used in the JuicyCrumb 20" iMac G4 mod video.
@@dosdude1I thought it looked familiar! Good to know that there are power button pads exposed on the top - should help other people trying the same build. Thanks for the video ✌️
How come you didn't upgrade the memory at the same time? I assume it is soldered on motherboard like storage.
Could you have avoided melting that connector if you put a piece of foil shiny side up over it?
Cool, next you should do the ssd upgrade on an iPad Pro.
You mentioned easier to use power button pins on the other side. Do you maybe have some source showing them? Using mini with a KVM would be great if soldering to the actual power button wasn't needed.
If you look at the board on the side closest to where the power supply sits, it's the two pads closest to the rear ports of the board.
Maybe a weird/stupid question but is it also possible to use both of the chips in a raid1 like configuration?
I'm guessing adding higher ram would be the same process. I would have offered him that since 16gb is fine but 8gb is to low if you are wanting to use the machine to its protentional.
Great job!
hello, how much do you charge for this?
Is there a reason why NAND can't be a socketed chip? I Googled this question but not a lot came back
I did something similar on an iPhone years ago. I seem to remember having to read the old nand and program the new one with things like the serial and Bluetooth Mac. Why didn't you have to do that here? Is this process unique to the iPhone? Thanks for posting these videos
Pretty sure you don't need to do that on a blank NAND as restoring the firmware in DFU will automatically program them.
Can you convert it to DC 12V? and maybe add a battery instead of the power supply
Yeah, the power supply in these is nothing more than a 12V power supply. So as long as you can supply it 12v, it’ll work.
Awesome
nice projekt :)
what is the price of fixing such mac problem ? and what is the price of upgrading ?
Do you think you could handle upgrading ram on those Apple M chips?
dosdude1 I have a question please. The other day I saw your video where you swapped 8th worth of storage into a mac studio (the takeaway was that you MUST use a new chip so that the DMG more can set it up) does that go for the macmini as well where you simply need to swap a new chip?
May I know, what is the max ram and max storage upgrade that can be done on a Macbook Air M1?
What is "flux" ? Is it used to isolate the soldered balls?
20:22 there's no concern that they might have issues in the future without any underfill?
Last time I checked most people don't store their macmini logic boards in their back pockets :D Underfill is basically unnecessary on stationary computers.
How about ram upgrade for this machine? and damn that's cool!
this channel is crzy❤
this is very much useful video even i have mac mini m2 and want to upgrade as well. Can you suggest me the website for finding nand storage online on cheaper for my mac mini
How do you know when the pads are perfectly aligned to heat them up if you can't see the position of them? You just go for it or...?
The scariest part about these Macs for me is how hard it is to bootstrap one from bare metal. With Windows/Linux/whatever, it's just a matter of plugging in external storage, CD, DVD, Floppy, whatever... This thing is a brick unless you have another system and a bunch of uncommon software to reload it.
Is it possible for a setup like Collin's to be able to physically upgrade/swap RAM chips?
If so, is the only thing holding an upgrade like that back the complete lack of documentation for what kind of resistors to change for it to register properly?
How much can charge to do to terabytes on a microprof 2020 and m1
Apple
Too bad those ram chips on the SOC can't be replaced. 😞
Where to get those original SSD chips from Crucial, Samsung or SK Hynix? I have something in my life: Never ever use flux paste onto any PCB, otherwise the guarantee is invalid. Why does everybody use flux on those modern boards?😮
Where are you getting the compatible NAND chips?
He is getting them from donor boards off EBay and recycling centers
@@sir.fender6034I thought it was alibaba, I remember that using preexisting nands with crap on them failed (hence why that mac studio upgrade was a bust) vs fresh unused nands
Thank you. You are master at this.
Is it possible to know the price of the NANDs that you installed? Or at least where the price can be found. Thanks
Price is around $130 for the two NANDs.
@@dosdude1 Thank you very much for the info.
I am just trying to find the prices for the NANDs and LPDDRX5-7500 RAM to see how much would they cost versus just normal fast DDR5 memory.
God imagine having to go through this much of a struggle to upgrade storage, this is one of the reasons I am never buying a Mac personally.
Yeah I have an old 4.1 cMP that I had for 15 years, it’s probably the last fully upgradable computer from mac lol.
i would buy slightly older one
if you're actually interested in a mac, just buy used or refurbished. the storage upgrades are a scam when buying new but they're much more reasonable after a few years
So to be clear, the M2 mini did not work because the owner broke it by tampering with the board and not due to a manufacturing defect?
Wouldn't matter, they are paying to get it fixed. But yes, it looks like they tampered with it.
If you can't fix it yourself, take it to someone who knows how to do it (what I always do).
He took the board and put it into a g4 imac, so yeah you might say he tampered with the board.
How long until you figure out how to upgrade the RAM on the SoC?
Do you offer this SSD upgrade for MacBook Air M1 in your repair shop?
Do you think it would be possible to mount an M2 mac mini board into a 2018 mac mini enclosure? I can't handle the silver of the current enclosure. Like they say, once you go black...
Anyway, great job repairing and upgrading this unit, I'm sure Sean will get some good use out of it.
Yes, should be possible, though the board couldn’t be screwed into the chassis and the two rear fan screws couldn’t be used. You’d also need to transfer the power LED assembly from the original chassis into the 2018 chassis, along with the power supply.
@@dosdude1 Awesome! I probably won't try it on my working 2018 mini or a brand new M2, so I'll go looking for second-hand models to try out the swap on. Thanks!
Off-topic question does the antiglare display on a 15 inch MacBook Pro work on the late 2008 15 inch MacBook Pro
i guess it doesnt let you cooy the old drive data over to the new chips?
Can you upgrade RAM as well?
Is it possible to upgrade the RAM this way too?
8gb and 2 tb is like Honda civic engine and Ferrari body
Well done i wish you could upgrade the memory on my MacBook m2 air
You cant upgrade the ram because it's built into the m2 processor
Nice!
i was wondering is pga mod possible on 2008 macbook a1181
this is so cool
What's the maximum ram you can install in a Macbook air 2011 (A3070)?