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Adding a Lost Home Button to an iPad 2020

iPad 2020 with a Missing Home Button

The title of this post may suggest that only the home button was replaced on this particular iPad, but in truth this is only half the story. The previous screen had shattered into tiny pieces having been dropped, and upon unpicking the old screen with the combination of a heat gun and some tweezers, unfortunately I discovered the home button ribbon had been cut too.

I fitted the new screen, or to give it the correct name – the Digitizer, a week or so ago, and ordered the replacement button. It was now time to fit it.

Half of the work was already done as I hadn’t glued down the new Digitizer just yet I position the new button and ran the ribbon carefully along the inside, folding it in the correct place to reach the connector, and attached it. I used super strong super glue to hold the button clamp in place, and also gently applied some glue around the edge of the button to secure it in place.

Having tested to ensure there was a satisfying ‘press and click’ when the button was touched, I left the glue to set overnight, before returning the next day to glue the Digitzer and use clamps to hold it in place all day why the adhesive set.

It was lovely to see the iPad switch on again and be useful once again. This iPad will now go off back to a Secondary School in Hartlepool ready to be used once again.

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Formatting a Hard Drive Using ‘Command Prompt’ and ‘Manage’ on Windows

Command Prompt and Diskpart Usage

Have you ever connected a Hard Drive to your Windows computer, wanted to format it but couldn’t get access to certain partitions to remove them? This guide will show you how to fully format your hard drive so that you can use all of the available space.

To start with, connect your hard drive to your Windows computer (at the time of writing this guide both Windows 10 and Windows 11 are supported).

Once connected wait for it to initialise and be visible in the File Explorer > This PC section as a separate disk. Once it appears you are ready to format it.

  1. In File Explorer right click on This PC and select Manage. On Windows 11 you will need to right click, select Show More Options, and then Select Manage.
  2. Open the Disk Management section and identify which hard drive listed is the one you want to delete. This is usually Disk 1 or Disk 2, but may be numbered differently depending on how many other disk drives you have attached to your computer.
  3. Once identified, open the Windows menu and type in ‘cmd’. This will display Command Prompt.
  4. Right click on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator, confirming any additional prompts that may appear.
  5. In Command Prompt type in ‘diskpart’, and then press Enter.
  6. Next type in ‘list disk’, and press Enter. A list of the attached hard drives will be shown. Note the hard drive you want to format.
  7. Depending on the name of the hard drive type in ‘select disk x’. Replace the x with the number associated with your hard drive. Press Enter.
  8. You should see a single line of text that states which hard drive is currently selected. Enter ‘clean’ and press Enter. This will fully wipe the Hard Drive of any lingering partitions that cannot be otherwise deleted.
  9. Close Command Prompt, and head back to the Manage > Disk Management section.
  10. Right click on the hard drive label on the left-hand side, and select Initialise at the top of the menu. Follow the prompts that appear, accepting the default options by selecting Next until your hard drive is reactivated. This should only take a few moments.
  11. Once ready for use again, right click on the black-lined main area of Disk Management for that disk, and select ‘New Simple Volume’. Again follow the prompts by selecting Next, accepting the defaults, and allow your computer to format the hard drive ready for use.
  12. Once the drive is formatted you now have a fully functioning blank hard drive, with all space available, ready to use as you see fit.

This is perfect for reusing old hard drives out of other computers that are no longer need.

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The Liquid Damaged MacBook Pro – Still Broken

Kris, the Tech Restorer, shrugging off that the MacBook Pro is still faulty

For the first post from Tech Restorer we were hoping to give you some exciting news about a MacBook Pro that needed a new logic board. Alas, this wasn’t to be, as the replacement logic board was also faulty, and had no power going to it.

The MacBook Pro in question is a 2020 model with an M1 Processor, Model A2338. It unfortunately has suffered liquid damage to the original logic board, with the sensors indicating the presence of liquid.

I am optimistic that the MacBook Pro can be fixed at some point in the very near future, but for now the replacement board has been returned, and I shall continue the quest to find a functional replacement.

For now I have refitted the original logic back into the MacBook, and even though it only works intermittently it is at least back in its original conditional when it first came to me to be repaired.

I am optimistic this MacBook will rise once again!