5V Dead, No Boot - MacBook Air 13" 2019 A1932, 820-01521

In this case study, we have a MacBook Air 13" 2019 A1932 model (board number 820-01521) which is not booting or showing any signs of life at all. Connecting a USB C ammeter, the MacBook is pulling in 5V 0.05A on both USB C ports, instead of the usual 20V required for boot.

Disassembling the MacBook and removing the logic board, we can see there was no visual liquid damage to the device, and visually it looked clean. On closer inspection under a microscope, we could see U3000 (PI3USB32324) had a hole in it, and was burnt.

Firstly, we removed U3000, and could see 4 solder pads on the logic board had been completely destroyed as well, pin 15, 16, 18 and 19; meaning 4 wires had to be run from the PI3USB32 chip to D3090, D3091, D3092 and D3093, in order to repair these damaged pads and traces. U3000 acts as USB C support on these models, dealing with USB devices plugged into a USB C port.

Removing each diode and soldering a wire to the relevant pad of U3000, we then used UV solder mask to secure these wires in place. Once secured, we replaced each diode we removed, and then soldered a new PI3USB32 chip with hot air.

After cleaning up, we tested this and could see that the MacBook was now pulling the correct 20V and was booting up correctly, however the furthest USB C port was not charging the device, and was not reading USB devices. The non-working port was linked to U3200, the CD3215C00Z chip responsible for handling charging and data from this port, and replacing this managed to get the device fully working again. We successfully fixed their logic board (820-01521) which was dead and only taking in 5V.

There was no liquid damage to cause this issue, but this problem was likely caused by a powered 3rd party accessory (like a USB hub), which has sent 20V down the data lines, blowing these traces and U3000/PI3USB32. This also damaged the U3200/CD3215C00Z chip, again, likely due to a 3rd party powered accessory, which is very common. To prevent this issue in future, we recommended the customer only use genuine accessories, stays away from powered USB hubs and made sure they were using a genuine charger, in case this was the cause.

If you have a similar issue with your MacBook Air A1932, we offer a free diagnostic service where we can check your device out and find out why it is not turning on, and only drawing 5V from the charger.