Error 6 when trying to revive firmware

So. I have a machine on my bench right now that is not powering off. Came in for “powering off randomly for no reason.” Got it on my bench, won’t power on. Gets trackpad haptics, but nothing else. Seems like it’s looping, the trackpad haptics seem to come and go (USB C ammeter confirms this, gets to 20V and pulls maybe 50mA and then drops back to 0. So I put it in DFU, which it does just fine, and attempt to revive firmware and I get this error.

”Couldn’t complete the operation . (Error AMRestoreErrorDomain 6 – Failed to handle message type StatusMsg (Operation failed)) [AMRestoreErrorDomain – 0x6 (6)] “

I’m 99% sure this machine has T2 or SSD damage due the fact that there was a screw that had come loose (the screw in the lower right corner of the board) and I found stuck to a bit of sticker overhang on the right side of the shield over T2 and the PMIC. And the SSD stuff is right in the path between the screw hole and that shield. Plus there are a few test points near where I found the screw which go straight to T2 and the backlight fuse is also right there. So who knows what ungodly havoc this screw wreaked.

Didn’t see anything obviously damaged and I work for an AASP, plus this machine has AppleCare+ on it so no pulling off the sticker over T2. But this customer indicated questionable backup status (she may not care, but I hate telling people I can’t get data) and the Apple method I might normally use to try and access data, is down for an indeterminate amount of time, so I wanted to cover all my bases before I tell her we need to mail out.

So on the off chance this screw didn’t murder this board, if anyone had any light to be shed on this error in particular that would be much appreciated.

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Does the screws have a home (missing somewhere)?

If you don't see where it came from its a spare screw that was not caught during construction.

Sorry haven't seen this problem - What's the odds!

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@danj Yes, the screw was the one that holds the logic board to the top case, near the bottom right corner of the board. This isn't the first time this unit has been serviced, it was previously liquid damaged and had the logic board replaced, so I'm sure the last person who was here just didn't tighten that screw enough. It's something I see every so often, exclusively on previously serviced units.

I found a post at the Rossman forums where someone had an extremely similar issue, with a different T2 board, but didn't follow up with the resolution, or if they ever found one. I suspect there's nothing *I* can do, this was mostly a Hail Mary/ I want to know what that error means so I can file it in my brain for next time.

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@flannelist Did you find a solution to this? I have a laptop in the exact same condition with the same error code on attempted revival, but what caused the "bricking" was a software update not hardware related (that I'm aware). Would like to know if it is impossible to get any data out of it and or try get a revival - the Apple tool which is back up is unable to recover the data too.

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@campbellm I did not, I ended up sending this out since it had Apple Care+ on it and they replaced the board (+ touch ID) and the trackpad. And she had data backed up so it was fine.

You're sure it was software? Like a software update was installed and then it wouldn't boot sort of thing? Have you looked at the internals?

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