Someone Destroyed EVERY PORT on this Mac Mini...

[@poorlydrawnstickman1660]

The way they destroyed it makes me feel like it was a developer unit or something…. As if they wanted to hit the bare minimum to clear “destructed” status for tax reasons…

[@gmcnewlook]

That kind of makes sense

[@MrEdes7]

Intentionally destroying something should just make your stuff non tax deductible, we are creating so much waste from this behavior.

[@ABaumstumpf]

@@MrEdes7 "Intentionally destroying something should just make your stuff non tax deductible" There are many reasons why you would WANT to destroy the hardware, often it even is a requirement. But this here is just slightly damaged.

[@MrEdes7]

@@ABaumstumpf ok then they just can't deduct taxes on that expense, if security is important to them then they can just pay for it.

[@Slay1337pl]

@@ABaumstumpf Such as? You know, considering it's a company that prouds itself on it's eco approach and recycling.

[@simonsaman]

Apple: Destroy those prototypes! grind them and make them unusable! dosdude1: Hold my beer

[@bennaambo2716]

well keep in mind apple and all other Tech companies are obligated by law to destroy any prototypes after the validation is finished

[@JamesTK]

@@bennaambo2716all the SOC’s should have been drilled then at the minimum before sending for recycling…

[@Look_What_You_Did]

@@JamesTK Nope.

[@ranjitmandal1612]

🫣

[@UwU-235]

@@bennaambo2716they arent required to destroy them. They destroy them because they often times have capabilities beyond what the model they sell does that could be dangerous and security risk like console dev kits. Its more to stop them from floating around and being exploited for nefarious reasons.

[@kippie80]

Looks like the work of an apple authorized repair facility.

[@MrPnew1]

some of the Genie-Arses finest work 🤣

[@HalfOgre0520]

Seems legit. 🤣

[@themysteriousspeeddemon]

💯 What I'd think, they care not for their customers' satisfaction so much as their wallets.

[@Ojref1]

all the holes destroyed gave it away

[@Kane0123]

Isn’t this related to the thing where people were not permitted to resell so they would break the device to enable selling as parts only?

[@jackgerberuae]

No need to damage them. Just leave an AppleID signed in, then the thing is fűcked anyway

[@chuongtsunami]

real

[@_..-.._..-.._]

GSX

[@reinekewf7987]

are you sure about that? there are ways around, fairly easy ways you can google in 10 min

[@tonysolar284]

@@reinekewf7987 🤫

[@ILikePizza950]

I dont get it?

[@ultraviolettp3446]

You are such a treasure being able to resource and repurpose e-waste parts so that broken hardware may live again. That box of intentionally destroyed boards must have thousands of dollars worth of donor parts just waiting to be tapped. You are a good man for being financially "green".

[@megatronskneecap]

I wouldn't class an M2 logic board as "e-waste parts" at all.

[@Look_What_You_Did]

Hope you find sobriety.

[@G-TagLuke]

@@megatronskneecap I would

[@Mac84]

Great repair! Very resourceful using those DTK boards. 👍

[@rockpie.iso.tar.bz2]

Holy poo it's Mac84

[@harryroesser2763]

Holy cow it's the guy himself mac84

[@RinoaL]

Wow, I had considered buying this very mac mini on ebay, and had even sent the seller a low-ball offer. Then I saw somebody bought it and was kinda like "Well I don't quite have the repair hardware to fix that so that's kinda a bullet dodged" that is so funny!

[@davoid96]

There’s a special place in hell for people who destroy perfectly good electronics.

[@Kepler_2258]

its cause they dont want ordinary people to get "free" electronics from the trash so they destroy them, its nothing but Greed

[@DerekDavis213]

But Mac Minis are not very good, even brand new out of the box.

[@adammoss5284]

@@Kepler_2258 I agree I try to leave stuff in a resurrectable state whether someone does or not doesn't matter. I've not removed their choice.

[@4GuitarTrance]

There's a special place in hell for Apple Execs who decide to solder everything to the motherboard (oh, excuse me, Apple... I meant the "Logic board") thereby forcing people to purchase completely new Macs when literally ANYTHING goes bad. That is, unless you're DosDude1! I'm almost ready to go back to Windows solely because of Apple's "hardware fascism"! 😛 I can build my own comps again, use whatever components I wish to use, and I don't have to pay Apple for ridiculously expensive, mediocre-quality RAM! It took Steve Jobs to pull Apple out of their near-extinction in the mid-to-late 90's by reversing their boneheaded proprietary Mac offerings, and even allowing customers to install Windows natively on their Macs if they chose to do so. But here we go again... Apple's back to their proprietary ways and forcing people to purchase new comps ASAP. I wish I had this guy's skills... because I love the Mac OS. Love for the Mac OS is about the ONLY love I have left for what has become Apple and the Cupertino "Reality Extortion Theory"! Official End of RANT! 🤘 Love the vids, DosDude1!

[@SapphicCode]

I worked as an intern for a company, and one of my tasks was destroying hard drives. They told me that taking a flathead screwdriver and ripping the board sufficed. Given that we're now in the era of soldered-on SSDs, this is probably the same assignment I had ten years ago.

[@askhowiknow5527]

But this technique doesn’t work… This is done to make it unusable so that it can’t be resold except for parts

[@SapphicCode]

@@askhowiknow5527 well... yeah. The hard drives were encrypted and wiped. I'm guessing it was only done to belay the superstition that wiped media is not truly wiped. The Mac here was wiped too.

[@lukedavis436]

Where I used to work I couldn't take anything from E-waste, I still did but I pulled the hard drives so they couldn't pull the "Data Breach" Card

[@JoducusKwak]

makes sense, the method to make to "destroy" data does not need to be actually effective it just needs to be legally "effective" and that means as long as the common guy from the street cant get at it thats enough

[@PlumGurly]

@@SapphicCode -- It seems they should allow just removing and destroying the NAND array or whatever. Then there is no chance of recovering data, and the drives can be recycled without a data breach. Virgin storage chips could then be installed.

[@MikeStavola]

Reminds me of something. Found a guy who was throwing away a G3 imac that had similar damage. He said he needed to destroy it because of HIPPA laws. The thing still booted.

[@soundspark]

If he spelled it that way then he was probably a fake doctor...

[@PlumGurly]

Generally, it is the hard drives they want destroyed. I don't see why a x3 or x7 wipe wouldn't be enough. But bureaucrats.

[@nathanharrellyoutube]

It could have been owned by the state they destroy their devices when they get new ones

[@psirvent8]

@@PlumGurly x3 and x7 wipes take literal days to be done.

[@_..-.._..-.._]

Heat is a much quicker hard drive wiper. Personally, an induction stovetop or induction bolt heater looped around the case works quite well.

[@TheOriginalCollectorA1303]

The damage is definitely unusual, but what’s more strange is that this isn’t even an old machine. How often do they need to upgrade to new Macs if this was from a company? It’s unfortunate to see that damage on a new Mac but at least it wasn’t completely destroyed. Great repair!

[@keneshindev]

that's because it's a developer transition kit

[@memediatek]

​@@keneshindev It's an m2

[@pap3rw8]

My guess is it was a surplus unit from an industry with tons of funding and a requirement that all electronics be "destroyed" before disposal. Government/military contracting, etc.

[@TheOriginalCollectorA1303]

I know about the DTK units, very cool system. I was talking about the M2 Mac.

[@TheOriginalCollectorA1303]

That makes sense, definitely seems like it had to be done in order to meet requirements of some kind.

[@flubba86]

I'm so surprised, shocked, that they are using through-hole components for these ports. I didn't even know they made thru-hole USBC ports. Every other repair video I've seen the last few years (Xboxes, PS5, Laptops) all use surface mount ports, which of course increases the chances of breaking the port off the pads. I see the downside of using thru-hole parts is the ends of the legs act as antennas with the very high frequency signals, thats why they need the RF shields on the back of the pins.

[@ozzelot3349]

They do. We use them in a (small run) product, perhaps someone decided they'd be easier to hand solder. Idk who that someone was, but they clearly didn't know of drag soldering.

[@chaos.corner]

I do hobby electronics and I often seek out through-hole for USB because they're always getting ripped off otherwise and fine SMT is a PITA to do manually with my setup..

[@chuckm.9744]

Watching you dismantle and reassemble logic boards, I/O ports, etc. is like watching a neurosurgeon at work. I sit and watch in total amazement as you work your magic. Thanks for taking the time to do these videos.

[@Otakunopodcast]

Could be it came from an institution with some seriously anal retentive security policies. A place where I once worked literally epoxied shut just about every port on any computer that they provisioned. Yes, modern OS's these days have user profile level controls that can lock out stuff like USB port usage, etc. Even so, some companies still insist on physically locking things down. I've never personally seen anyone go medieval on ports with a drill or whatever like in this machine, but I'm sure it happens.

[@Oyashiro_Chama]

Governments typically will do this too, but newer systems have a lockdown system that is software/account based.

[@Dave102693]

@@Oyashiro_ChamaiCloud lock lol

[@99domini99]

I know the Dutch police literally shreds every retired device. While a lot of those are laptops that can have their storage devices removed, they just toss all of them in a shredder. Literally millions of euros worth of e-waste. Perfectly good laptops, computers, tablets of maybe a few years old shredded to pieces. We should regulate the crap out of practices like this. All of us regular citizens are borderline bullied into being more aware of our waste, then government facilities come in with their “rules for thee but not for me” bullcrap.

[@Oyashiro_Chama]

@Dave102693 no, active directory it's enterprise wide.

[@soundspark]

@Oyashiro_Chama AD doesn't control the hardware however; the closest thing to that would be using AD to deploy BitLocker so you can't boot into an alternate OS and copy off data without having access to the BitLocker recovery key database.

[@onkeltucka1174]

I‘ve seen these damaged ports on amazon return devices that went to liquidation pallets.

[@mi16t]

Apple touts how environmentally friendly they are meanwhile, look at that MASSIVE box of DTK DRILLED boards... Environment friendly is giving used hardware a second life, not this. Look at how the ports are designed not to be replaced! Dosdude is performing miracles. Crapple strikes again.

[@Cybernetic_Systems]

Awesome work Colin! Btw I highly recommend getting a good vacuum desoldering gun, it’s the cleanest ands fastest way to clear solder from through holes.

[@SteveNeighbor]

Yes - desoldering thru-holes... this is what Solda-Pult was invented for.

[@Cybernetic_Systems]

@@SteveNeighbor TBH, those things are worse than useless

[@SteveNeighbor]

@@Cybernetic_Systems To each his own. I still swear by a Solda-Pult for desoldering 30+ years after I first used one. (But yeah, there are lots of crappy desoldering tools, and there is a wrong way to use even the best tool.)

[@Mane01mlp18]

i think companies should pay a fine for having electronics with damaged ports, cus now its just e-waste

[@jomarieadlawan4176]

Low melt solder plus desoldering gun could have been great to that port replacement method. And that bit warping on USB-A ports could have been avoided. But still a great save on poor devices! Kudos! 😊

[@JorgeTamezPhoto]

I don't think the usb ports were warped, I think that shape follows the curvature of the housing, no?

[@Levent_Ergun]

@@JorgeTamezPhoto yeah I dont think so either, didnt even think there was anything wrong with the end result until I checked the comments.

[@mikepxg6406]

NAH !!!

[@crashoverride328]

Low melt is key.

[@gmcoding74]

Desoldering through -hole components is quite easy with the proper tools. You need to get yourself a desoldering iron that has a vacuum to suck the solder off the lead and out of the hole at the same time. As someone who used to teach soldering and rework of boards, this video gave me anxiety.

[@fusseldieb]

Yep, a vacuum pump helps a lot when doing such work.

[@SteveNeighbor]

Or a $20 Solda-Pult

[@PlumGurly]

The hot air with a soldering iron is what you need to do on some early boards too, like an IBM PC, for instance. They have ground planes inside the layers, and they act as heat sinks. So you'd need the hot air to heat up the ground plane and then the soldering iron gets the other layers.

[@jroar123]

These used units are purposely damaged to prevent resale. However, they still manage to get to places like eBay from China. Often if it sounds too good to be true.............

[@r4n85]

I work in schools. Kids would do this.

[@kyle-t]

As a man who loves to collect old tech products, it's a huge pain to see those things happen.

[@ricahrdb]

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe a young child with a screwdriver (or something like that) got to work here.

[@levifrunk1488]

I used to go to school. I trust you

[@danielsimpkins9662]

A desoldering iron would make cleaning out those ports super easy. I flood fill the lead free solder with leaded till it’s blobbed out on both sides. Then I’ll put the desoldering gun on the solder then watch it melt on the opposite side, then hit the button. Instantly sucks all the solder through the holes. Way easier than wicking.

[@PhilXavierSierraJones]

I wonder what's the point of drilling holes on the logic board apart from rendering it useless and polluting the earth because the only destination they're going to go to is the landfill or incinerator eventually. Really stupid. Just remove the memory chips, no need to freaking drill into the CPU!

[@bigtitmaster]

The ones with holes are usually prototypes, they don’t have to pay tax on them if it’s destroyed. Blame money

[@mojave5661]

that's the point. they're supposed to be unsalvageable, because were never meant to reach the general public

[@Dave102693]

Modern hardware is supposed to be e-waste, either to save user info being stolen all the way to many governments and super security companies destroying all used hardware to prevent top secret info from getting out. Greenwashing e waste is just hilarious

[@PeetHobby]

They often do this to make repairs uneconomical. Some companies have strange recycling policies, hoping their products won't end up on the second-hand market. But that doesn't always work, like in this case, they still ended up on the second-hand market. 😁

[@BPlayReview]

wtf they destroyed a Mac mini M2? the utter scums. well done restoring it to great use.

[@rllynohappiness]

Intentionally damaging electronics like this is due to the state of electronics recycling, and in turn so that electronics recyclers can meet requirements set out by our institutions. I don't quite remember the specifics, but they outline that for such electronics like Apple computers to meet recycling standards they can't just be factory reset even through a full wipe of the system drives out of supposed fear that the data on the devices will be recovered and privacy breached, and seeing as they can't be replaced given that they're soldered, so-on and so-forth. So what electronics recyclers do is they intentionally damage electronics so that yes, they meet recycling standards, but it's at the cost of second-hand usability because this is now ultimately e-waste unless some of its components are used for repairs, which even then inevitably not every board component is going to be used, let alone can they be used, not even mentioning the loss of the board itself... You can also see this, as covered by Louis Rossmann somewhere on this app, where Macbook motherboards are also snapped in half where the SSDs' lines connect it to the rest of the system in order to meet recycling requirements.

[@rlima81]

Awesome video! Your soldering skills are awesome!

[@jgplayz]

my guess is it's stolen and they damage it so people don't ask why they are selling a $1000+ item for $200

[@larko2933]

that doesn’t make any sense? why wouldn’t they just leave it perfect and sell it a bit less than market value? they would make way more than 200$

[@Anvilshock]

Meh, nothing of value was lost. It's like taking bolt cutters to a diamond ring. It's a fashion accessory. Could have purchased a lot of way more capable hardware, but decided to throw bucketloads of money at something just because came in some off-white, fruit-label desk ornament.

[@Mmouse_]

Not a fan of apple products, at all and I'll never own one, but... These types of repair are interesting to watch... Weird sub for me but you've got it.

[@LiuWoods]

Why did someone do that to that poor Mac Mini?

[@SmashCatRandom]

Probably wasn't a good idea to plug it in, as the damaged ports could have shorted power to data pins...

[@unbelievable833]

Might be Apple RMA devices. Apple way of preventing user repair

[@Denvermorgan2000]

I had an iPhone that was RMA it was supposed to be destroyed but my boss gave it to me and I repaired it he said he just couldn't destroy it.

[@Quicksilveraus]

Dude i though was hoarder of agp cards to cross flash for g4 power macs have about 50 of them , after seeing that box of logic boards zomfg hoarder dude

[@davidgordon9180]

Brilliant! So, with SOC it seems the only way to ensure on-board drive data can’t be recovered or scavenged by third parties is to effectively destroy a whole good machine. Wow! Love to know where sustainability fits in with this. That’s progress alright.

[@gleb.salmanov]

No, this isn't the only way. There's also the way Google does it with Android Verified Boot and their Pixel phones. You can set your own key with which the system image is signed, and only the correctly signed system image is loaded by the SoC. Thus, you establish a root of trust that originates with the user, and everything becomes completely replaceable by the user. From the OS to the flash memory. It's a crying shame that nobody but Google follows the standard properly for Android phones, and that there's no similar standard for PCs/laptops, at least as far as I'm aware. The secure boot nonsense on PCs/laptops seems to be a theatre more than a real good security measure.

[@toseltreps1101]

Apple Authorized Unrepair

[@Andy_Panda]

Re: the mangled ports. My guess is spiteful girlfriend...

[@epicfaction]

Her: "We dont spend enough time together!!, Him: sorry, you know i gotta get this code done.... (later... he crawls into bed at 5:30 am to pass out as she's just getting up) 12:00 PM he goes back to his office to work... computer is acting funny... keyboard wont work, usb drive is missing and the network isnt connected.... she pokes her head in... "What's the matter?" him: "my computer is acting up and i cant get anything done", her: "guess you have time to spend with me now"

[@IlBiggo]

I once had to replace a 27" iMac's display that had been literally pulverized by the owner's GF. With a hammer. She also tried to destroy a professional camera by dropping it in the toilet and flushing a few times o_O

[@v3xx3r]

Probably taken from a dumpster with a bunch of other computers.

[@gleb.salmanov]

I've previously had success with desoldering combined 4 ethernet port thingies from routers with a soldering iron, without melting the little plastic tabs. You just get a really big copper soldering iron that outputs like 50-100w of heat (they're dirt cheap), put a big solder blob on there, kind of haul it around the pins with the soldering iron, and it eventually just falls off if you're quick enough. The little components in between the pins can probably be removed either with a small hot air nozzle or with the same kind of quick soldering iron application (preferably not the 50-100w one), where you heat up one end, then quickly go to the other and pull with your tweezers.

[@gleb.salmanov]

You can also probably do the same for resoldering the new ports to the board. Instead of wicking the old solder, just leave it there, and let the new port kind of penetrate it with the help of the heat from the 50-100w soldering iron.

[@nvxp]

Looks like someone took a Phillips head screwdriver to those ports. 😢

[@gjvdspam]

Time for a Hakko FR-301 desolder gun? I know I want one :) And o man, that graveyard... Good you find use of them. Edit: awesome result

[@king_james_official]

holy shit macs turn on that fast??? my windows 10 pc running on a decent cpu takes at least twice the time and is super laggy for the first 10 seconds after logon

[@dosdude1]

@@king_james_official Yeah, Apple Silicon Macs boot insanely fast.

[@PhuketMyMac]

@dosdude1 I am in the need for a PMIC of an M1 MacMini. Hard to come by that chip alone. Would be great if you could share the source of how to buy those DTK boards or similar M1 MacMini donor boards. Thanks!

[@dosdude1]

The PMICs on the DTK boards are not the same as what's used on M1 systems. However, the PMICs on all regular M1 machines (not M1 Pro/Max/etc.) are all the same, so you can get one off an M1 MacBook Pro or MacBook Air as well.

[@PhuketMyMac]

@@dosdude1 I've tried one from an M1 Air and even though it's starting (I can hear the chime) I get no display. I was told the PMIC on a MacMini is different hence why I get a partial working state. Are you certain here are the same please?

[@jmpiv4]

Well, it could be an attempt to lower costs on importing. Back in the day we would take expensive cars cut them in half and import them as scrap to avoid excessive taxes and fees for imports.

[@jackgerberuae]

And thanks to you and your mates in the pc industry, they now decided to solder the components to prevent this type of monkey business. 😅 You rewelded the cars back into one again?

[@EasyMac308]

Seems like the kind of thing you'd find in schools by bored kids.

[@richardgray7832]

I think it might be a way to discourage people from buying stuff to be able to repair them so some sort of anti-repair because if they see reports they’re less likely to want to try and fix it

[@mediocreape]

you really are increadbly talanted, thanks for putting these videos out, i cant imagine how much work went into getting it all done.

[@phipli]

@Dosdude1- I wonder if it is the commercial "destroy the hard disk" where they have heard that you can read data from hard disks after deleting. Because they can't remove the disk, they're just trying to make it not possible to use. I really don't like the "remove all hard disk" attitude - it's a nightmare with machines with harder to replace drives - scsi or early drive styles.

[@markd.9538]

There is an easy solution: mandate that all storage components in electronic devices must be user removable and user replaceable. It can be done, it just takes the political will to write and enact the laws.

[@lukedavis436]

Or if it works boot into a tool like DLC and Run HDTunePro, it's the greatest for Data destruction next to DVAN

[@Eremon1]

Genuis Hit-squads G3 and G7 have been dispatched. ETA: Uhhmmm. Standby. Looks like they've all stopped for vegan smoothies, it's gonna be a while.

[@RobertFixit]

because they can’t pull out the storage, so this is their way of “destroying data”

[@fearbot69]

I've gotten a few enterprise systems like this, it's some person thinking they can save company money to earn a potential bonus by not using a known reliable secure destruction service. Because in their mind: Ports unusable = computer unusable

[@JamesColeman]

I'm wondering why you don't own a de-soldering pump with all this kind of work you do. It helps a lot with working on through hole components.

[@madgaming6667]

Whenever someone says that apple is green Show them the drilled dtk box

[@mi16t]

My thoughts and sentiments exactly

[@Lampe2020]

6:02 Well, Apple really knows how to make stuff extra hard to repair…

[@digadigado]

my initial guess is school kids

[@osliverpool]

I found that a friend of mine did the same with the ports on his old iMac that had failed (and he removed and destroyed the memory cards), because he thought it would prevent anyone being able to access his data.

[@charlesm.1638]

WOW!!! Someone was not happy. Good job. Apple would have most definitely rejected the repair.

[@marcusroth2428]

Your soldering skills are amazing! Watching you bring old hardware back to life is inspiring. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and helping the community improve our own repair skills!

[@drfrancintosh]

How did you check the serial number for activation locking?

[@CollynPlayz]

Most mac casings have the serial number on them and if not the seller likely included the num in the listing

[@drfrancintosh]

@@CollynPlayz i knew that - but what website lets you know if it was activation locked? I remember that apple used to offer that, but turned it off... because privacy.

[@Nathan15038]

The crazy part was I got one like this from the job I worked at let’s just say it “fell off a truck”. but at the end of the day all the ports worked, like everything worked fine. The only thing was the heat sink had like something jammed into it and it’s all messed up, but that’s only like a small part of it other than that it has dings and scratches everywhere, but I just use it as an extra computer that I mine on because I already have a MacBook Pro and a windows desktop PC. It also is a really nice looking desk piece, but I can’t wait to find more that fell off a truck, I did have to do a lot of troubleshooting and figuring out how to reset it and jailbreak it but otherwise it worked perfectly fine.😊😅

[@UpandDownRacing]

SMD ports defect to easily, through hole soldered ports are the correct way.

[@coladict]

You can check if an iDevice is locked by the cloud just from the serial number? I've considered buying a used iPhone, but knowing it might be locked is my biggest fear that I'll get scammed.

[@kozad86]

I see several folks are chalking the damage up to a dev looking to write it off, but I just feel that these were in a public space and vandalized there by the same type of a-hole who'd use one of those USB killer tools on PCs just to be cruel.

[@hal970fx]

One of the VPs at a company I worked at would just shut the lid of his macbook pro on a pencil or a bolt every time a model refresh happened. Just a thought.

[@apple_unlocking_services3004]

plz get a larger surface iron tip it will be day & night difference and do not show the serial number on camera , we can easily turn it to be iCloud on remotely from sn😁

[@rartolak]

Owner was just looking for the screwdriver port in the dark

[@RWBHere]

Nice job! Now imagine how much it would cost if you paid someone to repair it for you. The intentional damage was clearly done to try to ensure that the presumably brand new Mini would never be used, and that any purchaser would be wasting their money. Someone doesn't like Apple users. And they didn't expect dosdude to find it, and say, 'Hold my solder!'

[@xxDrain]

Is it like companies throwing stuff away but making sure employees won't just take those things home? If it's working, just let them take it home ffs. The planet is finite.

[@JoseAlba87]

Surprise it's not serialized 😅

[@81formann]

For desoldering i often add some BiSnAg solder flux paste. Lowers the melting point significantly, and even more if lead is added to the mix or Bi-45% BiPbSn 45/35/20 is used . You can get away with just using a pre heating plate @ 100-110c. Makes cleanup very easy and surrounding components are safer. Wont even melt the plastic. The Mini was probably from dumpster diving. Most of the electronic stores and EE repair shops do this when items are discarded for what ever reason. Insurance companies and manufacturers often requires the item to be visibly FUBAR. Sometimes the end user is asked to provide picture proof that the item has been smashed, power cord cut etc.

[@matthewtrow5698]

Impressive fix, but the thing is, for the average person, this is an impossible fix. And to get this fixed by even the kindest of third party "fixers" - firstly, how many people have dosdude1 level knowledge? Not many. Secondly, what's the average hourly salary rate in the USA? - about $30? I could be wrong, but the work done here looks like it may be around 5 hours? If you could find a person or company to fix this for you, surely you would be looking at $250 and more? This is pure conjecture, but I guess if you know a friendly dosdude1 type person, your $200 eBay purchase and subsequent fix could land you a perfectly usable m2 mac mini for $400 to $450? Maybe a bit more if you wanted it to look like new, as that would require a spare back "panel" So, refurbished price territory.

[@rchltmedia]

if this not prototype/DTK Mac Mini, why people DARE to destroy it? there is no personal info inside that mac mini.

[@lemagreengreen]

Looks to me like someone jammed a flatblade screwdriver in each and twisted it. Have seen some crazy damage to USB and HDMI ports before, usually from people dropping the device while its plugged in or in rare cases forcing the wrong plug in but it doesn't look like this.

[@ulawan5]

This has nothing to do with the video, but your voice is SHOCKINGLY similar to my brother's. You have completely different speech patterns and speak nothing alike, but it kept giving me whiplash. Fabulous work though! Thank you for fixing something so small but so important to a machine!

[@ramubalakrishnan1614]

Dear Mr. dosdude1 Great Morning... Is it possible to upgrade the A1311 21.5" Late 2009 unit? There isn't a gpu card slot on this unit...can we add solder the card bracket holder so we can slot the card in it and to put a 512GB card or 1GB card on this unit... is that even possible please advice Mr. dosdude1... Thanks

[@savagepro9060]

Apple🍎 : “Let’s see that DosDude1 guy fix THIS! Hahahahahahahaaaaaa” DosDude1: “Hold my Teddy 🍺 “

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

Honestly I’m just realizing how pitiful the port arrangement is in the modern Mac minis. They should share the layout with the 2012 Mac Mini but replace the FireWire and thunderbolt 1 with two thunderbolt 3.

[@DrLamalama]

Could also be from some public school / library / somewhere where some douche goes a round with a screwdriver destroying things for no reason. Edit: Doesn't make sense in this case. It has a fresh install. Its just purposeful vandalism of a perfectly good device.

[@ohioplayer-bl9em]

It couldn’t be done as a mistake. Working in IT for a decade I would have to disagree. People are animals. They shut pens in laptops breaking the screen. They return laptops with sticky gunk and hair all over it. I have had spaghetti inside keyboards. USB devices jammed into the Ethernet port, Broken cases, printers with paper jammed into the tray so uneven and overfilled it breaks the paper hold clips. Endless stories i could tell.

[@thephoenixking1086]

If you are going to damage something like this on purpose, wouldn't it be better to first iCloud lock it, scratch offensive symbols onto the metal casing, then drill holes through the casing and important areas on the motherboard, thus making it completely worthless?? - In this case, it means nothing is worth anything, you cannot sell the case since it has offensive stuff on it, you cannot sell the Motherboard since it is damaged and none of it can be repaired since it has holes drilled through important areas and it was iCloud locked anyways, thus making the ENTIRE thing worthless, not even good for "Spares or Repairs". In the case of this, they clearly wanted to damage it yet did the bare minimum, the whole motherboard aswell as case are completely fine other than the ports.

[@klawfer]

Good luck on 100k!!

[@dh2032]

still dont under stand apple use black only PCB's, yes looks fancy? but it's not apple any clear cases for product, they did the coloured jelly moulded first iMac's not sure, am al most seitan, the regular green, and brown coloured,? but not like any one for there user is ever going see the mat black PCB's are they only ever the tech engine's that need fix them, and being blank, having very little writing or marking of what anything is? as rhere proto type borads that make even less sence there tech working new machine must have look at the all the time? and no one works at apple, we can world this still, horrable work with?

[@jroar123]

This is NOT something you and I can do. It takes the knowledge and the donor board.

[@runejonassen3893]

I have seen this kind of behavior from IT departments when discarding end-of-life equipment. End of life in this case means end of warranty. To make the hardware essentially worthless to anyone trying to salvage them for a second life.

[@NZSpides]

Get yourself a Desoldering station. Yest they are expensive, but they make desoldering an absolutely a breeze. You need one that uses an air compressor to provide a vacuum. I used one for years and they make the desoldering of large arrays of pins like this so simple.

[@fgregerfeaxcwfeffece]

That looks like someone went through them with a screwdriver. And the reasons in the comments seem most plausible. Even though in my experience bigger companies with trainees and interns usually let them disassemble them and let them grind up everything that stores data with a hammer. In other words: This still makes sense in Apple logic.

[@kryzboisdead]

its probably becouse some offices have thease macs and they are getting rid of it so they destroy the ports so noone will use it

[@TheRepeatloader]

some companies deliberately damage computers to prevent employees from taking them home when they have been upgraded. (sad they dont just let employees have those) but i iknow of one company that would to that.

[@brookerobertson2951]

100K 👏👏👏

[@dosdude1]

@@brookerobertson2951 Thanks!

Perhaps it was a warranty repair that an owner didn't want to pay for and didn't want to pickup, and so the Apple authorized shop broke it intentionally to destroy its value for malice and then tossed it in the trash. Some enterprising individual then went dumpster diving to salvage gear like this.

[@kaulbachskave]

They clearly used a drill bit until it hit and chewed up the inside of the connectors, same as how some hard drives are mangled by drilling through into the platters. Likely for insurance reasons to buy newer equipment but have the originals not have resale value

[@Wannes_]

Is there really any need for these parts to be so hard to remove ? You don't see that on PC motherboards Looks like Apple deliberately make their Macs hard (ie uneconomical) to repair

[@joeanon1415]

That looks like angry girlfriend damage to me.

[@schrodingerscat1863]

These have been fished out of a skip after being put out of use by a company. You have to do this as a company when you get rid of old gear or you end up paying tax on the residual value. Essentially these machines have been stolen from a waste disposal.

[@rossrobots5160]

I'm surprised someone so skilled at repair wouldn't recognize soldering iron damage instantly. it looks like they tried to melt the ports by poking the hot soldering iron into them for a few seconds each

[@CNormanHocker]

I had something like this happen to my Mac Studio. They had to replace the entire Logic Board. I think it can be mechanical issue.

[@LucifersKrampus]

Kids... I have been repairing laptops and computers for eighteen years and this is child's work.