[mojo423]

I bought a Mac Mini about a year and a half ago. One day I am working on it and the screen has a trasparent blue message saying I need a reboot with four other languages below it. I turn it off and BAM! It never boots again. The screen stays black but I can hear the CD, hard drive, and or fans running. The front has a solid light. I decide to bring the thing into an apple repair place. They tell me the logic board is bad and something is wrong with the RAM. They also told me the RAM battery was put in backwards. RAM battery!? Is that like my ball bearings in my muffler need to be replaced? I bought this machine 1.5 years ago. The warranty is gone. $750 to repair a machine I bought for $500. I can't believe this. I bought an Iphone about the same time. The battery that lasted a day and a half now only lasts about two hours. Apple has such high quality ratings because people like me get blamed for breaking the system instead of their product being crap. Thats right, it was my fault the logic board died since I opened the box a year ago to replace the RAM. I've been working in the computer hardware industry for years. I don't think I will ever buy another Apple product again after this.

[indigoimac]

If you claim to be that familiar with the industry you'd be able to troubleshoot the machine yourself... it's not that different from a pc.

That said -- what you experienced was a kernal panic and it sounds like that was a result of a hardware failure. I would investigate the RAM first -- what brand did you buy? Most have a lifetime warranty -- many even have advance replacement. There is a super remote chance that the ram crapped out also damaging the logic board... I'd be surprised though.

Also, the battery they are referring to is the PRAM battery or clock battery in PC land... I'm skeptical that it was installed backwards, but I suppose it's possible -- they're watching batteries so easily replacement / fix anyway.

Try also booting off the install disks and see how far you get.

[mojo423]

I guess should have read the instructions on how to take the system apart. It seems I broke everything while dis-assembling. The system was dead before I broke stuff. I replaced the RAM a long time ago myself and didn't have a problem then. I'll stick with the bigger systems from now on. Here is the diagnosis from the repair place. Yeah I work in PC Hardware Software but I was lazy and it cost $35.00 to find out what was wrong.

" This machine has been damaged from being improperly dis-assembled.
Memory battery (EFI CELL was flipped around backwards so both terminals were touching "positive" effectively shorting the entire board on startup. (EFI was shorting).
Hard drive had been removed, out of order, damaging the interconnect board. (sata connector torn off.)
The upper RAM slot is damaged on the main logic board. will not start with slot 0 installed. goes solid status and stays there.
Board still runs but only one RAM slot, no way to hook up hard drive. (or ROM or Audio, these all connect to the interconnect board) the sata header has been torn off the interconnect board.)

Mini requires: interconnect board, main logic board, 2X 1gb ram."

I know I broke this stuff after I tried trouble shooting. I think this thing is a POS. I barely touched this stuff and the entire thing fell apart. I can't believe I broke the interconnect board. The RAM slot broken is BS too. What a crock. You would think I was ripping things out and forcing things into the machine. Oh well.

[moonmonkey]

Mines been running 24/7 for 5 years.
Then again I didn't open it up and break it.

[mojo423]

Good for you. Let me reiterate the system died before I took it apart.

[ibook_steve]

I'm very confused by the order of events here. This is what I'm gathering:

1) You bought the mini.
2) You opened it up to replace RAM.
3) It worked fine for a year and a half.
4) It suddenly dies.
5) Instead of software and external troubleshooting, you open it again yourself and break things in the process.
6) You take it in for repair and they tell you there's internal damage.

Assuming this was a new machine and not a refurb when you bought it and you were the only person to open it, it would seem that you are the one who damaged it and the repair estimate is correct. Why on earth are you complaining about expensive repairs and blaming Apple when the need for those repairs was entirely your fault? There are many troubleshooting steps you could have gone through before ripping it open again (which you could have asked about here), but you chose to reopen the case and rip the machine apart.

I'm sorry your machine is broken now, but there's no excuse for blaming Apple or complaining about an expensive repair when the damage was all your fault.

Sorry, but this is the truth.

Steve

[turtle777]

^ Good summary, Steve.

-t

[mojo423]

Interconnect board is my fault, yes. I broke the sata connector to the hard drive which took very little pressure to snap off. The RAM slot going bad and the logic board going to crap is not my fault. Step 5. on your list was impossible because when I turned it on after the kernel panick it did nothing except hang on a black screen, no post and no chime. Common sense says it was a hardware issue. Read my post before you go say stuff like that.
I looked online and the logic board and interconnect board cost about $240. Really, $750 to fix? This is made by FoxCon. They also supply the parts to Dell and HP that I know of.

[reader50]

If you are handy with a soldering iron, you may be able to fix/replace the SATA connector. Pictures would be helpful. If it's broken plastic, superglue might be enough. There's normally no movement internally, so anything that makes it work again is good.

Having both battery contacts shorted to each other may not damage the motherboard. A stone-dead battery does that already. And the RAM module is more likely to be bad than the slot.

I'd suggest reassembling / low-tech fixing with the case open, then try to boot. Then reassemble if the problems can be worked around.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by mojo423 

Interconnect board is my fault, yes. I broke the sata connector to the hard drive which took very little pressure to snap off. The RAM slot going bad and the logic board going to crap is not my fault. Step 5. on your list was impossible because when I turned it on after the kernel panick it did nothing except hang on a black screen, no post and no chime. Common sense says it was a hardware issue. Read my post before you go say stuff like that.
I looked online and the logic board and interconnect board cost about $240. Really, $750 to fix? This is made by FoxCon. They also supply the parts to Dell and HP that I know of.

So where is this $750 coming from if the part is $240?

[Waragainstsleep]

The interconnect board is much cheaper than the logic board. I would get a new one of those. Double check Apple's findings for the RAM slot, check it for any sign of damage or obstruction. If they were right about it, then just get a 2 or 4GB module for the good slot. You'll barely notice any difference.
Maybe follow a guide at iFixit this time.

[l008com]

Originally Posted by reader50 

If you are handy with a soldering iron, you may be able to fix/replace the SATA connector. Pictures would be helpful. If it's broken plastic, superglue might be enough. There's normally no movement internally, so anything that makes it work again is good.

Having both battery contacts shorted to each other may not damage the motherboard. A stone-dead battery does that already. And the RAM module is more likely to be bad than the slot.

I'd suggest reassembling / low-tech fixing with the case open, then try to boot. Then reassemble if the problems can be worked around.

Why do all that when it's so much less work to just troll around?

[sek929]

Not trying to jump down this guy's throat or anything...but

"Apple has such high quality ratings because people like me get blamed for breaking the system instead of their product being crap. Thats right, it was my fault the logic board died since I opened the box a year ago to replace the RAM. I've been working in the computer hardware industry for years. I don't think I will ever buy another Apple product again after this."

Apple has high ratings because their machines consistently outlast their cheaper PC counterparts. However, this does not mean that they are without lemons, lemons exist in any product, any company. Apple is not immune to defects in production.

It certainly wasn't your fault for replacing the RAM, but it certainly is your fault for ripping open a very delicate and complicated Mini-PC without knowing what you are doing. I'd think working in the PC hardware industry for years would have taught you to use manuals. Maybe it was already busted, but now it is certainly busted.

As for never buying an Apple product again, that's your call my friend. I've bought nothing but Macs and they have all performed admirably, and some still do to this very day.

I know car analogies are over-used, but anyways.

You buy a BMW, you change your own oil. One year later it fails to start or show any signs of life. You take apart the BMW without knowing what you are doing and wreck many internal components. Then you blame BMW for a shoddy product and swear to never buy one again.