Cracked IHS On Macbook Pro Logic Board

jamman1125 · 10 Jan 2019 at 15:15

Hi all,

Ive made an account here to ask for some advice on this very specific problem. Ive been doing some searching and cant find a case the same as mine so im hoping someone with some good CPU knowledge can help out.

So I took my mac into a local repair shop a few weeks ago to get repaired, but they gave it a go and said the repair is not viable for the amout of time it would take to fix it. As it was a short on the Logic board and they had already swapped out a few components. So i decide to buy a new logic board and fit it myself.

I took delivery of a new logic board today to fit it, and when i got my old logic board out, i see there is a crack in what i think is the IHS, exposing the actual DIE on the CPU. Now i know for a fact before i took the mac in, it didn't have this problem. I find it rather strange as to how that could have happened? My only guess is that it could have cracked from extreme heat whilst they were reflowing the board or changing out other components?

I can almost bet they will try to blame the damage on myself whilst i was installing the new logic board, but have i got grounds to say there is no way i could inflict that damage without applying heat or extreme force to the CPU?

Thanks in advance for your insight.

Cheers!

PiKe · 10 Jan 2019 at 15:20

Impossible to prove anything.

jamman1125 · 10 Jan 2019 at 15:21

I have photos of the board before it went into them

Firestar_3x · 10 Jan 2019 at 15:21

PiKe said:
Impossible to prove anything.

As above.

PiKe · 10 Jan 2019 at 15:22

jamman1125 said:
I have photos of the board before it went into them

Of the IHS?

jamman1125 · 10 Jan 2019 at 15:23

Yes it clearly shows its intact without the crack.

LePhuronn · 10 Jan 2019 at 15:33

jamman1125 said:
Yes it clearly shows its intact without the crack.

But you could've cracked it after the pictures but before taking it to them, and you didn't take pictures immediately after you got it back. Unless you have a timestamp on the photos that cannot be forged combined with an invoice or receipt from the local shop with the date on it to define a timeline it's all too tenuous and hearsay.

Plus where exactly is the complaint, objectively speaking? You made the decision to purchase a new logic board unaware of any IHS faults, therefore you cannot argue your decision was influenced by any damage. It was only by virtue of you acting on your purchase decision did you discover the damage. But where exactly have you lost out in this? You had already committed to purchasing a new logic board because the previous one was faulty.

Annoying? Hell yeah. Actionable? No.

jamman1125 · 10 Jan 2019 at 15:41

My main thoughts were that I would almost have an inability to inflict such damage on the board without having equipment that they own. I understand its almost impossible for me to prove it was them that caused the damage because it isnt damage that could be clearly seen upon receiving the item back from them.

My complaint is that this de values the logic board as a part for spares or repairs significantly, without the cpu damage i could have sold it for around £180, with the damage its anyones guess.

Distracted · 10 Jan 2019 at 21:09

How does one crack a copper IHS?

Phixsator · 12 Jan 2019 at 09:39

They first swap out components and then conclude that the time it would take would be to great? that seems backwards and sound fishy. A proper diagnosis of the board before working on it would have told whether or not it was worth the time/money as i'm sure they know how long things usually takes to repair.

MaXxBoulton · 12 Jan 2019 at 10:20

jamman1125 said:
Yes it clearly shows its intact without the crack.

could we see before and after photos please

Fire_fly · 12 Jan 2019 at 13:02

Distracted said:
How does one crack a copper IHS?

I'm also intrigued by this

@jamman1125 you going to post any photos as these would quite useful

StarShock · 12 Jan 2019 at 16:13

I don't think its the IHS. pretty sure all the MacBooks have bga cpus with direct die cooling so no IHS. would need to see a picture as its could be the actual CPU that's cracked

Grandmaster Fap! · 12 Jan 2019 at 16:26

I would have thought the only way metal will crack is going from extreme heat to extreme cold or visa versa, surely heating up the IHS will just make it softer not brittle? Even with extreme force i would expect the substrate to bend but not crack an IHS.

MaXxBoulton · 12 Jan 2019 at 16:35

its a macbook i think he means the die not the ihs, but the tech would have booted it in front of him...

jamman1125 · 12 Jan 2019 at 18:09

Starshock is right, I looked on the Intel website the other day and realised it is the CPU DIE.
I took it into him the other day, and he was as shocked as I was to see it. As an investigation into how it happened, he got another board with a similar chip and tried to smash it, but it just wouldn't crack not matter how hard he jabbed it. The only way we got it to crack was to heat it up before, then smash it hard. I'll put up a photo in a minute.

MaXxBoulton · 12 Jan 2019 at 18:14

when you got it fixed didn't they boot the system in front of you?
also the die is very east to damage is you miss-mount a cooler, over torque the fittings

VaderDSL · 12 Jan 2019 at 18:14

The heatisnks on them are quite flimsy/thin, but I wonder if it's possible to crack it with uneven pressure from either bending the board or removing/installing the heatsink.

Distracted · 12 Jan 2019 at 18:21

If it is the die, then over tightening the screws on the cooler can crack it.

This would probably be easier than attacking it with blunt/sharp objects since it is a different kind of stress.

I would say, if it was fine before they had it and the die was cracked afterwards then they damaged it when putting the cooler back on. There's no other reasonable explaination.

jamman1125 · 12 Jan 2019 at 18:24

Here's a photo, if it's worked