MacBook Pro A2442 No Power – Logic Board Repair Summary
MacBook Pro A2442 No Power that was completely dead. The customer had already taken the device to the local Apple Store. Unsurprisingly, they declined, hoping for a more cost-effective solution. So the laptop ended up on our ReformTech.
Table of Contents
Initial Diagnosis
Upon pressing the power button, there was zero response — not even fan spin or backlight flicker. We connected the USB-C charger and noted that it negotiated 5V and drew only around 20mA of current. That’s a clear sign the system wasn’t even reaching the basic power-on sequence. We decided to open it up and dig deeper.
Inside the MacBook Pro A2442 No Power
Opening the laptop revealed that someone had already been inside. We began measuring around the board and noticed something odd: 6 ohms across some key capacitors on the main power rail (PPVBAT_G3H) — a suspiciously low resistance, pointing toward a likely short.
We pulled up the boardview and schematic (thanks to a quick find on our Discord), and started tracing. The low resistance appeared to be on a line fed directly from the main power rail — a potential dead short on PPBUS_G3H.
Power Injection and Thermal Tracing
Using a power supply, we injected 1V with a current limit of 2A into the shorted rail. The board instantly drew the full 2A — confirming a dead short somewhere on the board. Surprisingly, nothing visibly heated up — not the typical telltale sign of a shorted component.
After raising the voltage and applying alcohol to help spot heat sources, we finally noticed localized bubbling around a power management IC. Initially, we suspected the chip was faulty, so we desoldered it — but the short persisted. That told us the chip wasn’t the issue.
Deeper Investigation: Short on Back of the Board
It was time to pull the board out entirely — a tedious but necessary step. After about half an hour of careful disassembly, we inspected the underside and found our culprit: a visibly burned capacitor that had blown apart. It looked as if it had been taking way more current than it could handle and had catastrophically failed.
The Hidden Enemy: Burnt Internal Layer
We desoldered the damaged capacitor and soldered in a suitable replacement rated for 13V+. However, even after replacing the cap, the board still drew 2A — something was still wrong. Further investigation revealed a burned internal layer in the logic board’s power rail, likely damaged by prolonged high current through the now-exploded capacitor.
Using a scalpel and careful precision, we cut away the damaged trace, isolating the shorted internal layer. This resolved the issue — no more short, and the power rail now showed proper resistance and voltage.
Final Reassembly and Testing
With the short fixed and the original IC reinstalled, we reassembled the machine. Upon connecting the charger, the board negotiated 20V and started drawing 300-500mA. The MacBook powered on and displayed an image on the screen — a successful repair!
Battery charging was confirmed at 19.2V with nearly 4A — close to 100W charging — and the machine was stable during multiple power cycles. We also confirmed proper sleep/wake behavior, screen output, and verified thermal performance.
Conclusion
This repair highlights why Apple often quotes high repair prices — not due to parts, but due to the complexity and time required for these kinds of logic board issues. A single shorted capacitor led to a burned internal trace, which required not only precise diagnostic skills but also micro-soldering and board surgery to resolve.
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