[SOLVED] Broke Laptop's WiFi Antenna Port

I have a nice soldering station and have tried soldering a few times with poor results. Need someone to teach me how to use it in-person.
 
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ALWAYS use a plastic pry tool to disconnect those cables. You can use one to help you reconnect them too if you've got fat fingers like me.

That being said, modern computer grade laptops are absolute sh*t. When I get a computer in that's going to be expensive to fix (like, in your case, the screen needs to be replaced), I try to get my client out of here with a business class laptop instead. You could have gotten them out of there with an HP Elitebook x360 G2 or even a G3 for the same price as the screen on that piece of crap laptop.

I always tell my clients what garbage their computers are (assuming it's true, of course) and make sure they realize that the chances of me damaging something is quite high because the build quality is so bad on these modern consumer grade laptops. If they want to move forward with an expensive repair on a piece of junk laptop, that's their choice, but I want to make sure they make an informed decision.
 
sapphirescales said:
the chances of me damaging something is quite high because the build quality is so bad on these modern consumer grade laptops.
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Sorry, but if you can't successfully repair almost anything, even on a consumer grade laptop, without breaking something else then that says a lot more about your skill set, or lack thereof, than the build quality (which, while not business-class, neither is it "touch it and it breaks.")

The consumer grade machine is my bread and butter, and I can't remember the last time I broke something (that wasn't already broken, mind you) during a tear down and reassembly, no matter why I was doing it.
 
@Appletax

I have no idea why that response makes you sad. I will allow @Diggs or others who, like myself, deal an awful lot more with residential clients and consumer grade computers to comment further.

I stand behind what I said, because it's my direct experience over a period of almost 15 years doing this as a paying gig and much longer if you count when I was doing this for friends and relatives as a kindness.

I have never had consumer grade computers "just falling apart" with the slightest touch or somewhat aggressive prying (with the correct tools). The shells do (and did) flex more, but that's about it. And now, with the juggernaut toward "thin and light" in all sectors, that's evening things out an awful lot. Thin and light does mean, relative to the "tanks of old," flimsy by comparison. But even those can be successfully repaired without breakage. I've never seen anything come close to the flimsiness of the screen bezel on the Dell G15 Ryzen I just recently repaired, but even that came off (and went back on) without a hitch if the service manual instructions were followed.
 
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Your a better man than I am. It’s almost impossible to open a cheap laptop without breaking a tab. I tell clients that I might have to hot glue the chassis before I will work on it. Most of them are so cheap that any repairs are often more than the value of the unit.
 
nlinecomputers said:
Your a better man than I am. It’s almost impossible to open a cheap laptop without breaking a tab. I tell clients that I might have to hot glue the chassis before I will work on it. Most of them are so cheap that any repairs are often more than the value of the unit.
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I break tabs all the time and it makes me CRAZY o_O Does not matter that I am careful.
 
Appletax said:
I break tabs all the time
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Let me make clear, it's not as though I've never broken a tab, perhaps two, but it's been occasional and not based on consumer grade versus business class. It seems to be a lot more about how the unit was treated by its owner (based upon looks - which I find a pretty reliable indicator).

But a single broken tab isn't a disaster. Most often no one would even know if you didn't tell them.
 
I check system with client with me initially - do a rattle test..hmmm I hear a pinata surprise in there. Make sure to check hinges, as may look ok but once once dissembles the bottom parts always seem to disintegrate.
 
I felt so bad about this so I sent him some money in the mail to go towards the repair :)

In the future, I may try mini pliers to pull the antenna cables up rather than prying at an angle.
 
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