hardwaremacbook prothunderbolt
The Thunderbolt port on my trusty several-year-old MacBook Pro is failing. To connect an external display, I now have to wiggle the cable around, then pull it out a few millimeters until the contacts are lined up just right. It's only a matter of time before the port breaks entirely.
Everything else about the machine is in great shape. Is this a "replace the entire motherboard" problem, or is there a better/faster/cheaper solution?
Thunderbolt is different than other connectors in that there are two 10 Gbps signals multiplexed on one physical connector/cable assembly. The DisplayPort signal will go down the chain of devices uninterrupted so the full DP bandwidth will get to the monitor that will ultimately end up at the end of the device chain. Of course new display hardware could be released to add a hub / further Thunderbolt connections - but existing DP monitors should work as described.
All the rest of the devices will share in the PCIe bandwidth - sort of like how existing system boards have multiple PCI slots operating at full speed. Until vendors start shipping real devices with hubs and connectors - we are limited to speculation and browsing the engineering/marketing materials released by Intel and Apple.
From what I've read, the initial devices will be like FireWire devices - two Thunderbolt ports per device - one to the computer and one for the next device to connect down the chain. The bi-directional, hot-pluggable, dual-channel cables with substantial bus power means the best aspects of FireWire could be commonplace as a much more powerful standard for years to come.
The MagSafe board is a very easy repair for someone who has patience and a small amount of training fixing any computer at all. The MacBook Pro aren't as fidgety to repair as the iMac and MacBook Air (where I would say you should be a skilled technician with official training materials available to work on them reliably).
You're looking to replace this with a handful of screws turned.
Go to iFixit.com and look up the repair guide and parts list for the DC in board and you will know if you have the skills to find the right part, the right tools and the right manual to undertake this work. Otherwise, pay a local technician to do the job/source the parts/give you what they feel is a good guarantee. As for the adapter, buy a new or used one on the aftermarket or from Apple. When the cord is crushed and frayed, it is designed to fail in a way that won't cause a fire hazard. I wouldn't mess with that end of things or with repairing the transformer itself.
Best Answer
For that Mac, the thunderbolt port is a part of the motherboard (on the left, 3rd from the top):
So unless you're able to source the parts, perform a package exchange that clearly is a machine solder and then test things, the most economical repair would be to exchange the whole motherboard. As long as there is no physical damage inside, this would be a flat rate repair ($280) for Apple and probably cheaper than buying a logic board used. The flat rate repair would fix anything else wrong with the Mac. But, if you're up to reflow that part and do advanced soldering - there are lots of people that can attempt this repair even though it's not a trivial one.