"This is not a huge deal. I just accomplished this feat in less than 30 minutes with a $30 investment in a micro solder tip for my iron and 0.015"" solder. You just have to have a little confidence and a little patience.
If your fan connector breaks off, DO NOT PANIC! You do not need a professional. If you're looking for help on this site, then most likely, you have done small repairs before. So, here is what I did, and I believe if you found this column, you can probably do it to.
1. Take the bottom cover off your Macbook Pro.
2. Using a set of helping hands, I clipped the edge of the fan connector in the tip of the alligator clips, and positioned them directly where I needed the fan connector on the board. If you have a decent set and play around with the positioning this should not be a huge deal.
3. Make sure you have a solder iron with a micro solder tip attached. This will look like a bent tip that comes to a needle point. They can be found at radio shack, that is where I bought mine this morning.
4. You need 0.015"" solder. I would not attempt this with anything larger due to the solder wanting to ""jump connectors"" when heated.
5. With the fan connector in place, soldering iron heated up, 0.015"" solder in hand; lightly touch the 0.015"" solder with the iron just enough to solder the connection, YOU ONLY NEED A TINY DOT! Now, that you have a tiny dot on the tip of your iron, and the fan connector in place, LIGHTLY touch the first connector pin, rubbing in a vertical motion. you will see the solder start to coat the pin and make the connection to the board.
6. Now repeat three more times.
NOTES:
1. MAKE SURE YOU ONLY SOLDER 1 PIN AT A TIME AND DO NOT TOUCH OTHER PINS WHEN SOLDERING! This can accidentally bridge your connector pins and your fan will not work properly!!!!
2. I drank a double shot of expresso prior, HUGE MISTAKE!!! My hands were shaking the entire time, aside from the coffee, I was scared shitless! I still managed to pull it off with shaky hands, so, this should not be a big deal.
3. TAKE YOUR TIME. This was an easy fix. If you don't rush, you should be fine. Feel free to write me if you'd like to see pictures, and a video of my fans working after the repair.
4. This will save you $700 or more for a logic board replacement.
David, it all will depend on what the connector looks like and what the traces on the logic board look like. The one thing that will need to be done for sure, it will have to be soldered back to the logic board. Not an easy job and it will need to be done with the right tools and the right skilled person.
You don't HAVE to solder it. I just used a little tip of instant adhesive (superglue) and everything is working for over 2 years now. Just use a really tiny tip of glue and be sure to only use the adhesive on the non metal parts of the socket and the logic board. The glue I would recommend is made of cyanoacrylate and has a super thin surface once dried. If you are lucky, the connectors are hold together enough so that the power can run through again. Be VERY careful with this glue because it dries almost instantly and is extremely sticky. Don't spill it on your fingers or other parts of your body.
"Success! If you are a n00b or have never soldered, read this!
I have never soldered before, but after accidentally popping off the speaker and subwoofer connection (almost identical to the fan connector) I needed to fix it.
Notes: You will need a fine tipped soldering iron.
I don't have ""helping hands"" so I placed the connector where I needed it, then used thin long strips of electrical tape to hold it in place during soldering. (running from some of the connection cables to the top of the fan)
Someone posted that if you don't have the right size solder you should use flecks chipped off of the solder you do have. I did this. I made tiny tiny shavings, placed them, and then soldered. This alone didn't work.
I had to go back in and hold the solder / iron near the pin (not touching), I put some solder on the iron, then carefully tapped the iron to the pin. The solder jumped to the pin just fine and it worked! Because I only soldered the front four pins, I cut a tiny strip of electrical tape and used my spudger to stick it to the inside back of the connector running onto the logic board. Now that sucker is locked in and perfect. Breathe, be careful, and good luck! (watch some how-to-solder vids on youtube to build confidence)"
