Chosen Solution
I am working on converting my old macbook into a SFF desktop to use for media and I need a way to turn it on without the keyboard. The keyboard is stuffed (It had coke spilled through it), the retention arm is broken to hold the cable in also, I tried soldering on another power button onto the power on pads with a resistor (cant remember what resistance I read somewhere) but it didn’t work so I took the button I made off and now there is only 1 power on pad visible the other one is just gone and wont jump start with just a piece of wire like it did before. Does anyone know of another way that I can turn it on? Would a keyboard with a power button work?
Schematics show that pin5 (right to left) shorted to ground on keyboard connector of the logic board should allow you to simulate the on/off keyboard button. However, on these schematics of A1342 I found some other mistakes before, therefore don’t blame me if anything goes wrong =;)
No need to access the connector this model has power pads! There are a few versions of this logic board so your pads maybe vertical but are in the same location. You need to do a momentary short across the pads. I would start there otherwise you’ll need a replacement keyboard to replace your damaged one.
