Hi guys.
I have a customer's Late 2018 Mac Mini in for a ripped fan connector after the customer tried upgrading his RAM.
Some pretty hefty damage occurred because the connector was ripped off entirely including all 6 pads for the fan connector. The connector on the end of the fan itself was also completely ripped off exposing all 6 wires. There is also an exploded component with what appears to be a resistor or filter. Not sure? (See pic). macOS also doesn't boot. Apple logo comes on screen and then moves to the question mark folder. Cannot boot from USB or Recovery partition. Any attempts to boot into another mode/keyboard combination/PRAM or SMC reset/external drive makes the Mac move to Internet Recovery which it tries, but then fails with error -1008F.
I tried rebuilding the pads and replacing the connector - no luck. Fan does a half spin every few seconds endlessly. So then I tried removing the connector I just soldered in place and directly soldering all 6 wires straight to their respective pads. No luck. Same deal. Half a fan spin every couple of seconds.
So I thought perhaps the customer damaged the fan itself in addition to everything else. So, I ordered a new one and repeated the same process above. No luck. Same deal. Half a fan spin every couple of seconds.
So then I did some probing on the pads where the connector once was. I took some notes and put together a picture to help explain it. (see pic)
I did take a normal 12v PC fan, cut the connector off, solder it's positive wire to 12v and it's negative to ground and it does spin normally. I even went as far as making a "Frankenstein fan" from the original fan casing and a PC fan motor/blades but it doesn't adequately keep the Mac Mini cool. It overheats and artifacts appear on the screen after a few minutes.
I even tried using my modded fan in addition to this user's mod:
https://egpu.io/forums/psu-cables/2x...zor-x-fan-mod/ (See Mod #1)
This did allow the Mac Mini to stay on longer before it overheated, but ultimately it wouldn't do the job either. After seeing a diagram of the design of it's cooling system, it's easier to see why.
Diagram of airflow design for the Mac Mini cooling system
I cannot find a pinout of the 2018 mac mini fan to know what wires/pins are for what. All I know is the 12v pin/wire. If I had this pinout, things might be a bit easier. I've tried experimenting with a bench power supply and the wires of the fan to determine what is ground/etc, but no combination of checking these wires makes the fan spin outside of the Mini. Only when soldered to the board will it show a small glimmer of life with that half spin.
Knowing that there are no schematics available for the 2018 Mac Mini (at least from my attempted searching), nor is there a lot of repair information out there, I am running out of ideas. If someone has a pinout of the fan/connector or better yet, a schematic, that would be awesome. If someone can guide me in the right direction, that would be equally awesome.
If someone owns a A1993 Late 2018 Mac Mini and could take some measurements of their own fan connector and that component that blew up, that would be helpful even, because without all of this, I'm sort of lost now. Even if I manage to get the fan working properly again, I still have the issue with macOS not booting and not allowing me to boot from anything to reinstall it or even Internet recovery. Ugh.
Hopefully I have explained everything well enough. If you have any questions or would like some pictures/measurements, just ask.
Thanks.
(Attached picture below illustrates the damage I have determined)
I have a customer's Late 2018 Mac Mini in for a ripped fan connector after the customer tried upgrading his RAM.
Some pretty hefty damage occurred because the connector was ripped off entirely including all 6 pads for the fan connector. The connector on the end of the fan itself was also completely ripped off exposing all 6 wires. There is also an exploded component with what appears to be a resistor or filter. Not sure? (See pic). macOS also doesn't boot. Apple logo comes on screen and then moves to the question mark folder. Cannot boot from USB or Recovery partition. Any attempts to boot into another mode/keyboard combination/PRAM or SMC reset/external drive makes the Mac move to Internet Recovery which it tries, but then fails with error -1008F.
I tried rebuilding the pads and replacing the connector - no luck. Fan does a half spin every few seconds endlessly. So then I tried removing the connector I just soldered in place and directly soldering all 6 wires straight to their respective pads. No luck. Same deal. Half a fan spin every couple of seconds.
So I thought perhaps the customer damaged the fan itself in addition to everything else. So, I ordered a new one and repeated the same process above. No luck. Same deal. Half a fan spin every couple of seconds.
So then I did some probing on the pads where the connector once was. I took some notes and put together a picture to help explain it. (see pic)
I did take a normal 12v PC fan, cut the connector off, solder it's positive wire to 12v and it's negative to ground and it does spin normally. I even went as far as making a "Frankenstein fan" from the original fan casing and a PC fan motor/blades but it doesn't adequately keep the Mac Mini cool. It overheats and artifacts appear on the screen after a few minutes.
I even tried using my modded fan in addition to this user's mod:
https://egpu.io/forums/psu-cables/2x...zor-x-fan-mod/ (See Mod #1)
This did allow the Mac Mini to stay on longer before it overheated, but ultimately it wouldn't do the job either. After seeing a diagram of the design of it's cooling system, it's easier to see why.
Diagram of airflow design for the Mac Mini cooling system
I cannot find a pinout of the 2018 mac mini fan to know what wires/pins are for what. All I know is the 12v pin/wire. If I had this pinout, things might be a bit easier. I've tried experimenting with a bench power supply and the wires of the fan to determine what is ground/etc, but no combination of checking these wires makes the fan spin outside of the Mini. Only when soldered to the board will it show a small glimmer of life with that half spin.
Knowing that there are no schematics available for the 2018 Mac Mini (at least from my attempted searching), nor is there a lot of repair information out there, I am running out of ideas. If someone has a pinout of the fan/connector or better yet, a schematic, that would be awesome. If someone can guide me in the right direction, that would be equally awesome.
If someone owns a A1993 Late 2018 Mac Mini and could take some measurements of their own fan connector and that component that blew up, that would be helpful even, because without all of this, I'm sort of lost now. Even if I manage to get the fan working properly again, I still have the issue with macOS not booting and not allowing me to boot from anything to reinstall it or even Internet recovery. Ugh.
Hopefully I have explained everything well enough. If you have any questions or would like some pictures/measurements, just ask.
Thanks.
(Attached picture below illustrates the damage I have determined)
Attached Files
Comment