broken macbook pro A1502 (1 Viewer)

[paulmars]

It wont start and not sure how to fix.

Ive fixed many Desktops and a few laptops, but never an apple. This is my g/fs and she insists that she needs to bring it to official apple repair store. She dont have the money and wont anytime soon, so every few weeks she tries to turn it on and is bummed all day when it fails to boot. She says the SSD is soldered in, so we cant take it out to read it on another computer and she says no matter what, if u open it, no apple store will even consider repairing it, cuz it's an apple corporate policy that all authorized repair stores need to comply. Is this true?

Looking online I see that it looks like the SSD is plug in and we can buy external devices to read her files from another computer. id like confirmation on this.

Also any things that I might try (with her permission of course) to isolate what might be wrong.

She bought it used. She says its a 2016 model. It worked fine for a few years. Its been thru several moves and she is not very careful with her stuff. So, it might have been dropped or banged around. She insists that she never has liquids near it cuz she ruined a laptop years ago with spilt soda. Months ago when she turned it on, it started to boot, then shut down. She tried again and the next two times it did the same. Since then it wont even start to boot. It's totally dead. She has it plugged into the wall power outlet when she tries.

Any ideas?

tks,
paul

 

[David Norman]

Hard to say, but probably you'll need more information. There are a bunch of different MBP A1502 models though I'm not seeing any of lists showing them with a soldered Hard Drive. I also don't think the A1502 was a 2016 production model though it was still being made into early maybe mid 2015, so sold well into 2016 adn beyond. Maybe the serial number or registration at Apple might give you the full specs. I don;t think soldered hard drives started on the MBP until the 4th gen models

If it's not even trying to boot up, my guess is it's not the Hard Drive -- could be the power supply or the power connector isn't functioning properly so it's not getting power directly from AC or power to charge the battery. The boot then shut down quickly and eventually not even trying to boot sure sounds like a dead battery/no power. When you attach the AC are their any lights on anywhere telling you there is power getting to the unit?

I'll assume the simplest fix would be a bad connector/power cord, but I'm guessing you've tried a different power cord already -- I'm 95% sure this model was still using the MagSafe or MS2 connector which I've known a ton of folks have bad MagSafe units (frayed cords, broken wires inside the adapter, etc)

I used to be the low tech Fix-it guy at my office and got pretty good at repairing PC, hard drive replacements, motherboard exchanges (mostly desktops), replacing a few monitor screens and even powersupplys on laptops, a LOT OF software de-virusing/malware usually from Husbands/teenagers watching/downloading XXX and picking up all sorts of garbage. Apple's I wouldn't touch unless they were older and even then I hesitated to do much of anything. After 2013-2015 I wouldn't even look at one since even opening them became a major ordeal with so many non replaceable parts, glued in batteries, adn eventually soldering everything directly to the mainboard.

 

[Thomas Newton]

A teardown of a 15" 2016 rMBP showed that the flash was soldered in. And the Other World Computing site doesn't show any internal SSD upgrades for 2016 rMBPs. So the SSD would appear to be soldered in on this model.

 

[David Norman]

A teardown of a 15" 2016 rMBP showed that the flash was soldered in. And the Other World Computing site doesn't show any internal SSD upgrades for 2016 rMBPs. So the SSD would appear to be soldered in on this model.

True, but the A1502 doesn't appear to be a 2016 model -- making a few assumptions including that the 2 sites I checked were correct. Everymac.com lists the A1520 specs as a late 2013-early 2015 model with 9 spec variants, but were produced through mid 2017. As I read the specs, the RAM and Battery may be non upgradeable (at least not without major effort), but the HDD could be upgraded after build even by the end user

I would still think even with a dead Hard Drive that it would at least attempt to boot or power on. I don't know Macs well at all, but I think there should be some sort of Power Light or Keyboard light when the AC is connected.

More information is probably needed, but if it's not a Power Cord/Connector issue in normal times I'd think a quick trip to Apple would be the easiest first step though I'm not 100% sure they do anything for free.

 

[Clinton McClure]

MacBook Pros have a battery power indicator button on the outside of the chassis. Press the button and a series of small green lights come on to indicate the battery charge level. No lights = no charge.

Macbooks do not have a power indicator or keyboard light when plugged in. The older models like mine (Mid-2012) have a power light on the MagSafe charger plug to indicate DC voltage is present at the plug itself.

An A1502 is a 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina from Late 2013, mid 2014, and early 2015.

It was around this time that RAM and / or SSDs began to be soldered in place, although I can’t tell if it is without knowing the exact model.

To find exactly what model it is, find the serial number printed on the underside of the Mac, near the regulatory markings. You can then enter that serial number on Apple’s Check Coverage Page https://checkcoverage.apple.com/ to find your model.

 

[David Norman]

I hope paulmars comes back with an update just out of curiosity though it took a couple weeks before the first response so he may have gone elsewhere

I can see the same post made on a couple other forums in mid March (avs and an apple forum) with the same info and username with a handful of similar suggestions as here, but no followup posts or a resolution

 

[Thomas Newton]

An A1502 is a 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina from Late 2013, mid 2014, and early 2015.

It was around this time that RAM and / or SSDs began to be soldered in place, although I can’t tell if it is without knowing the exact model.

RAM is soldered into all Retina MacBook Pros, beginning with the very first ones in 2012.

If this is a pre-2016 rMBP, it may be possible to get upgrade SSDs from OWC, implying that the one in there is removable. I believe that for 2016+ rMRPs you would be looking at a soldered-in SSD or a SSD of a type for which no third-party replacement is available.