Chosen Solution
I just took apart everything in my Late 2015 27" iMac in order to install a bigger PCIe SSD. I accidentally broke off the socket that secures the Airport Board onto the Logic Board. See pictures: https://imgur.com/a/gwVgHol . It doesn’t look like the Airport Board was damaged, or any of the metal on the Logic Board, but the plastic broke off from the Logic Board and the socket. It all still fits together, so I tried putting it back together, and my Wi-Fi is not working. My iMac is not reading the WiFi part of the Airport card. Bluetooth works fine. What can I do? Does it need to be soldered back on or does the Logic Board need to be replaced? Thank you. Logic Board:
Socket Piece that broke off:
I can get the socket pretty tight on the Logic Board, without tape or soldering or glue or anything. The metal pins are a little bent to hold it into the Logic Board tighter. I then use polyimide tape to make sure it’s secure. The bluetooth works but the WiFi part is still not recognized by my machine:
On top of that, I also just noticed that there is a poor contact or frayed wire connected to the Airport card as well:
You’ll need to get a replacement socket part and solder it on. You’ll need to have the correct tools and have good soldering skills. Many people don’t! I just finished fixing a logic board where someone had messed it up.
That why G-d created ethernet cables and ethernet ports, to bypass airport cards and give you faster access to the internet. It’s not a perfect solution but close.
