⟐ Answer accepted July 06, 2024 at 10:21 MST

I am repairing an iPad Pro 12.9" 4th Gen for a customer of mine. She originally needed a screen replacement, (entire LCD was internally shattered, but not the digitizer. ) Now, I am entering week 2 with this tablet after investigating numerous problems that arose since I opened this device.

The client confirmed she had taken this device to only to 1 other repair shop in it's lifetime. This shop had the device for a couple of hourse and returned it to her as 'unfixable'. She ended up choosing my business because, "Don't pick the phony; Better Call Tony!" (Well, actually she chose me due to reviews. But I digress...)

The problem with the 1st shop handling this tablet is that it seems like they broke the front facing camera AND they broke the I/O Cables that house the light sensors and upper mic on the screen.

Now, I discovered the camera was dead after I put on the new display, and I knew that swapping it would kill Face ID, but should still let the camera work as a functional camera in and of itself (selfies, videos, etc.)

After installing a new Pulled-Unit camera from MobileSentrix, I have a non-responsive front camera and nothing but a blurred preview window of the last thing the rear camera sees whenever I tap to swap cameras.

W H A T .

Note, sometimes the camera app glitches, with no camera (front/back) working until I reset the device. I've tried connecting each part of the camera cables one by one to test, and I'm still running up short. (Also, test cameras and front io cables connected, but no success either.)

So, does anybody have an idea as to how I can save this client's front facing camera to at least serve as simply being a camera? (FaceID is dead, and she is ok with it. I already explained it to her in detail about how these repairs kill that feature, typically.)

Thanks for the help and God Bless.

Tony

⟐ Answered October 02, 2022 at 8:34 MST

⟐ Commented August 21, 2024 at 10:41 MST

⟐ Commented October 02, 2022 at 7:32 MST

I had it in to an Apple authorized shop, they plugged in their tester and got nothing “static” on the line. Since my warranty is out I’d be looking at just replacing with a new model, $1500 baseline where I am.

I’ve done some phone work, replacing batteries, screens, cameras etc. but those issues are pretty self evident on what to fix. Any tips on trouble shooting this issue, be it checking over the charge port and cables, logic board, and battery?

Thanks for any support.

*****Edit*****

I’ve opened it up and the USB port seems fine, now I want to confirm the battery before completely gutting the thing. I found these 2 spots on the battery connector cable (blue arrows in picture), would this be the proper spot to check voltage? If so I got 0.01v across them which would seem the battery is shot for some reason. If someone has a better way to check the battery without first removing it I’d be happy to hear it.

final edit

I followed tear down procedures to remove the logic board to get direct access to the battery, I got 3.8v off that, so assumed it was a logic board issue. Had a third party tech check that out but found no faults, he reattached the screen and charge port and it booted like normal and everything seemed fine. I took it home, reassembled everything and everything runs fine except a few small lines of damaged pixels from being too forceful with the screen.

TLDR: took it apart and chased the gremlins out.

Big shout out to @flannelist for their input and advice, check the comments.

⟐ Commented December 11, 2023 at 9:09 MST

⟐ Answer accepted July 27, 2022 at 3:22 MST

⟐ Commented November 04, 2021 at 5:02 MST

⟐ Answered January 24, 2021 at 1:38 MST

Damaged ambient light sensor on iPad Pro 12.9" 4th Gen during screen swap

Question:

I am replacing the screen on my iPad Pro 12.9" 4th Gen. While transferring the original sensor assembly to the new screen (part IF323-036-2), I accidentally damaged one of the two ambient light sensors. Will the iPad still function correctly with only one working sensor? I'm concerned about how this will affect Auto-Brightness, True Tone, and Face ID. Has anyone encountered this before and can offer any advice?

Ya so I ended up finding another one just like mine for sale that was dropped very hard and the screen smashed.

I am wondering if they all have the same logic board motherboard A21 something inside of them. what would need to be swapped to make it a clean imei again. the new broken one has iCloud unlocked for sure.

Mine is a cellular version and the other one is not. are they different?

⟐ Answered April 18, 2025 at 3:01 MST

⟐ Answer edited August 18, 2023 at 8:59 MST

I just can not get behind the purpose of laminating and I would like to know if it is necessary, as I just know that these laminating machines are very expensive.

I’ve done a few repairs of Apple watches, iPhones and iPads but all of them had broken LCDs or the Digitizer was not glued to the LCD so they were fairly easy to change.

Thanks for your replies!

⟐ Answered August 10, 2023 at 18:25 MST

⟐ Answered December 27, 2022 at 20:19 MST

⟐ Answered February 04, 2021 at 2:07 MST

So I stupidly dropped my ipad in some water... didn't think anything of it but put it in a bag of rice (did not realise this doesnt do anything), then just let it dry naturally. I left it for a couple of days, and then tried turning it on, and now the screen is black but still responsive with the occassionaly flicker of light. I have since managed to turn it off.

So my question is, do I try and repair it? Don't know how much assurance can be given with water damaged electronics, but something would be better than nothing before I drop £200 on the replacement kit.

Your advise is much appreciated! Thanks!

⟐ Answered November 10, 2025 at 14:54 MST

I have an iPad Pro 12.9 256GB (4th gen). About 16 months ago, I spilt coffee in my backpack and damaged my iPad. At that time, I immediately took apart the iPad and cleaned everything with high quality alcohol and let it dry for about a week. It honestly seemed like there wasn’t too much coffee inside of the device - so I had hope. However, when I finally turned it on, the screen was black. When I connected it to a monitor, the device still functioned and the touch screen/audio worked fine. After some research, I considered buying a replacement screen at that time but with them being ~$300 CAD and a chance of the water damage leading to the device becoming more damaged as time went on, I decided not to buy one in the off chance that eventually the iPad would go kaputt. Instead, I just cried and bit the bullet on a new iPad.

Fast forward to a year and a bit later (now), I am now finished university and have some free time to re-visit the device. Now when turning on, I can see a faint image of screen in addition to a few black bars going across the screen, suggesting the backlight is toast but also some potential LCD damage? Additionally, the Face ID camera fails and prompts an error. Once again, the audio works, the battery doesn’t get hot with extended use, and there seems to be no other issues.

Therefore, my question comes down to whether this can be fixed by replacing the LCD assembly, whether it is likely that the damage remains in the logic board, or if it’s not worth it at all to spend the money trying to fix it. Additionally, I already have a new iPad, so I have nothing to lose experimenting. I would love to spend the time learning how to repair devices and would consider purchasing a soldering kit if that can potentially solve the issue.

Best case scenario, I can keep this broken iPad as my new Netflix machine and sell my newer one for $1500! Win-win! Worst case scenario, I’m left off where I started.

Once again, thanks for reading!

⟐ Answered September 30, 2025 at 21:56 MST

⟐ Answered June 19, 2025 at 17:46 MST

⟐ Answer accepted March 18, 2024 at 6:28 MST

This is the iPad Pro 12.9-inch 4th generation model.

The connection to the computer via USB-C port is not working. My computer doesn't detect the ipad at all. (The same goes for ipad recovery mode.)

Currently, iPad is not a matter of computer trust because it has completed a factory reset.

I've also replaced the cable, but it's the same as the A to C cable or the C to C cable.

The symptoms are the same when I try on another computer (both Windows Desktop/laptop and macbook air M1)

Eventually, I disassembled the iPad and replaced the dock flex cable, but the symptoms didn't change. And I checked the logic board with a multimeter, but I couldn't check the short circuit/abnormal heat in components such as capacitors.(I have not yet checked the metal shielded part.)

Surprisingly, all other features are normal. There is no abnormal power off / panic full crash and the battery works well.

1. PD Charge - OK. Charging speed is also normal.

2. External Storage Connection - OK

3. External Monitor Mirrors - OK

4. USB-C Hub Connection - OK

I don't know the cause...Is it a failure of the USB IC?

⟐ Answered March 13, 2024 at 1:33 MST

I tried to replace my display cause I accidentally damaged it. While replacing the display, I noticed that there was more internal damage than just the outer display. My iPad won't boot anymore. The backlight isn't working and there is no image at all. While starting the iPad, there is a short sound like a coil, probably from the burned part that I marked. Any ideas?

⟐ Commented February 05, 2024 at 10:14 MST