How to fix an iPhone CPU - Full Transfer for Data Recovery

It is great to want to learn microsoldering, but you DO NOT PRACTICE ON CUSTOMER DATA JOBS. A shop in Florida (who I shall not name), decided to try their luck on this water damaged iPhone 12 pro max. They were unable to split the sandwich and they overheated the CPU. When this customer called me, she was desperate and crying because she wanted her baby photos so badly. When I told her that the last shop overheated the CPU and potentially killed her board, she was devastated. I very much hate having my customers cry.

The worst part about it is that this would have been an extremely easy job had it not been touched by an amateur board tech.

It is even likely that this was THE 5G ANTENNA and didn't even really need board work.
This is why it is so important to learn how to properly diagnose, rather then just going straight to your worst assumption. I often preach diagnosis over CPU swaps, etc. But that also applies to simpler things like board splits, especially if you are an amateur.

There are a lot of resources for learning microsoldering nowadays. That has its benefits but also its drawbacks. In many ways, it has given the false assumption that anyone can do microsoldering when I don't really believe that is the case. It takes a particular type of person to really become a master at microsoldering. It is also not a quick or easy thing to do.

People think that if they spend $2k+ going to a week long course, and then another $2k buying equipment then they have everything they need to do the work. That is not the case.

YOU NEED PRACTICE.

Some people have only a few hours under their belt before they start taking customer jobs. Some people have 30 or 40 and think that is good enough.

Conservatively, I would say I solder about 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. Some weeks it is much more, but there have been times it is less. That is 20 hours a week. But that is every week for the last 7 years. That is 1000 hours a year, or 7000 hours over the last 7 years.

When people ask how I know what to do, or why I don't mess stuff up, it is because I have put in that time. So again I will say:

YOU NEED PRACTICE.

I bought my own water damaged devices and painstakingly tried to figure out what I was doing for an entire year before I ever touched customer devices. That is because I didn't want to ruin other people's property.

Anyways, sorry for the long rant. It is just sad to know that many wannabe techs ruin boards when they should have had the foresight to know that it is not as easy a pros make it look.

In this video, I fix the mistake of the last technician with a CPU swap and I secure the data for this grateful customer.

Thanks for reading 🙂