MacBook Pro 15" Retina Display Mitte 2012 I/O Board austauschen

It took about 40 minutes due to an extreme measure of caution but I did it! The only real difficulty was reattaching the screen to the base (yes you have to pry the hinges open) and re-connecting the camera wires. After a few tries the camera wires finally came together. I'm hating Apple for all it's frailty and magical screws but I love ifixit!

Simple guide, but it solved my problem. Was wondering why the top two screws weren't going all the way down. Hadn't realized they were 0.7mm shorter.

Much easier than expected. Sounds like several people had trouble with the backlight. It is possible that they damaged something by not first making sure to power down the computer completely with the “Shut Down” command. This should be step 1 before removing the back cover screws. Also as noted all the back cover screws are Apple Pentelope #5 bit, but 2 of the screws are shorter than the others. This bit is is hard to find in most stores. Buy it on line along with the Tork #5 and #8. 11/21/2017

Not sure if this has been listed.

PRO TIPS from a non-pro:

1 - Keep screws separated and labeled by step # and size.

2 - Be very careful to get screws in properly threaded, its VERY easy to strip the ccrew holes and screws. Especially the case. Not that it happened to me…

3 - It was impossible for me to get all the adhesive off the case from under battery, it left a lot on w/o issue (yet).

4 - Make sure you have Aluminium Foil before starting!

5 - Upgrade the SSD or HDD while your in there!

Success. I needed to replace the right speaker. I thought I was ready at step 22 (you are able to replace the left speaker at this point… but but the right) To replace the right I continued thru step 29 but didn’t completely remove the motherboard. I just lifted it enough to remove and replace the right speaker cable.

Read all of the comments and solved many problems. Thanks to I-fixit, Walter Galen and all who posted comments.

Will Brecht - 03/02/2019

2/2

3 the you tube video dude was lucky not to have his two Central batteries adhered . Mine were stuck fast.

4 don't forget about the two small T 5 screws to the left and right of the battery head board, just below the main battery connector.

5 the Track Pad sits behind the two central batteries. The batteries are adhered to a flat plate that protects the Track Pad which is pretty resilient. You can do the cheese wire trick without cutting through anything you shouldn't. However be careful if you're using a spudger or other tool between the two centre batteries at the top of the T. This is where the Track Pad connector (its very flat and exposed) to the motherboard.

6 seems obvious when it's written , but you will need the adhesive remover if you are interested in removing the adhesive. It's a work out.

I just completed this successfully. The guide was great, and I recommend reading each of the steps’ comments, too. It is possible to cut out a majority of the steps outlined here if you’d rather not dismantle most of your laptop. As I’m a novice and this was the first difficult fix I’d ever tried, the idea of taking so many things apart — including removing the logic board — was a little scary. Everyone calculates risk and reward differently, but for me, the risk of removing the logic board for the reward of being able to remove the battery packs with adhesive remover was too great, so I opted to only do steps 1–4, 42–53 and removed the battery with one of the cards from iFixit’s kit. If you go this route, expect it to be a little frustrating & slow going — it took me around 20–30 minutes of slowly chipping away at the adhesive with only the card. There are other techniques out there (wire, fishing line, etc.) and I’d advise looking into them. Keep track of screws: tape, draw out diagrams, label them, etc.

I only removed the 10 screws and the back panel, the 5 speaker’s screws (without removing the speakers), and the two battery screws, and managed to remove the battery package without undoing anything else. I used a member card (credit card type) to loosen the adhesives under the batteries.

To remove the rest of the glue, I soaked it with something called Label Off from Biltema (Nordic). Finally, I used methylated spirit (rødsprit) to clean it all up and let it dry for 5 minutes before assembling the new battery pack.

I have now replaced the battery and the dc-in board, and I still can’t get the battery to charge. I also bought a new magsafe power adapter. It appears all cables are connected, and the computer runs fine on the battery (until it runs out of juice, then I will be at a complete loss). No clue what to try next. Any suggestions? Thanks!

You should more clear explain that it is possible to skip the steps 5-35 in the beginning explanation text.

( I lost many time to remove parts and there is also more risk to destroy some connectors ?‍♂️)

Like many others here, I completed the battery replacement by skipping steps 5-52 and instead removing the battery cells with the “cheese cutter” method. I made my cutter from 20# braided monofilament tied to two 4” wooden dowels (3/8” diameter). I carefully applied 97% isopropyl alcohol to the taut mono with a small artist’s brush. I took my sweet time cutting through the glue, but all in all not too difficult, just tedious. I was super careful and mindful of the fire and explosion hazard, and took necessary precautions. One thing to be careful of using the cheese cutter method is to be sure the mono is is really under the cell package and not just in front of it before sawing away. There are some tight spaces that make this tricky. Once the battery was out I used the iFixit acetone to clean up the glue leftover by carefully applying drops on the strips and letting capillary action take over. After waiting about five minutes, the glue strips could be picked up with the supplied tweezers.

Hallo Leute, hab das Akku eben erfolgreich bei meinem MacBook getauscht ohne alles vorher auszubauen. WICHTIG: kein ACETON zum Kleber lösen verwenden! Sonst gehen die Lautsprecher kaputt! Auch kein Orangenpower oder ähnliches! Man nehme sich ein dünnes hochzugfestes Nylonband (oder Zahnseide geht auch) und schneide damit die alten Klebepads sägebandmäßig los.

Also:

In der Hoffnung mich so klar wie möglich auszudrücken war das Folgende meine Vorgehensweise:

1. Deckel ab, Achtung die Schrauben mittig unterm Bildschirm sind kürzer!

2. Akkustecker trennen und vorsichtig umbiegen

3. die 2 Schrauben, die die Batterie in der Nähe des Steckers halten losschrauben

4. nun mit zugfestem Band die Akkus rausschneiden

die im Fix-Kit beigelegten Spatel können dabei unterstützen

die übrigbleibenden Klebereste können einfach mit einem der Plastikwerkzeuge abgemacht werden: erst ein bisschen mit einem Spatel vorarbeiten, sodass man es mit seinen Fingen greifen kann, dann langsam und Richtung weg vom Logikboard vorsichtig abziehen.

Was dann noch an Kleberesten übrigbleibt, kann wegen mir auch bleiben. Sonst mit 1-2 Tropfen Lösemittel auf ein Microfasertuch geduldig nach und nach wegwischen. Und Wirklich nur WENIGE TROPFEN verwenden! Sonst gehen die Lautsprecher wohlmöglich kaputt.

5. Mithilfe von Druckluft (2-3 bar! nur) nun sämtlichen Staub vorsichtig rausblasen. VORSICHT: Die Lüfter dürfen sich dabei nicht drehen! Die erzeugen sonst Spannung und grillen wohlmöglich das Logikboard!

6. Neues Akku (Folien dabei vom Akku entfernen) reinsetzen und gleich an die Schraubenlöcher ausrichten.

7. Die 2 Schrauben für die Batterie reinschrauben und mit Gefühl anziehen.

Die packs einzeln auf ihren richtigen Sitz hin prüfen

8. Wenn alles sauber ist und alles richtig sitzt, dann den Batteriestecker wieder auf das Logikboard stecken

9. Deckel drauf. Der Deckel muss von alleine, ohne Schrauben richtig in seiner Ausfräsung liegen. Steht irgendeine Ecke hoch, ist darunter was verkehrt.

10. Deckel festschrauben. ACHTUNG: 2 Schrauben sind kürzer auf der Seite des Bildschirms!

Missverständnisse kann ich nicht ausschließen. Darum folgt ihr dieser Anleitung bitte nur auf eigenes Risiko. Ich übernehme keine Haftung für Schäden! Viel Erfolg!

Hi guys, just successfully replaced the battery on my MacBook without removing everything first. IMPORTANT: do not use ACETON to loosen the glue! Otherwise, the speakers will be broken! Also no orange power or similar! Take a thin high-tensile nylon tape (or dental floss also works) and cut the old adhesive pads loose. Similarly as with a saw tape.

So:

Hoping to express myself as clearly as possible, the following was my procedure:

1. remove the lid, beware that the screws in the center under the screen are shorter!

2. disconnect the battery connector and carefully bend it over

3. unscrew the 2 screws that hold the battery near the plug

4. now cut out the batteries with tension-proof tape

the spatulas included in the fix-kit can help you to do this

the remaining glue can be easily removed with one of the plastic tools: first work a little bit with a spatula so that you can grip it with your fingers, then slowly and carefully pull it off in a direction away from the logic board.

Whatever glue remains can stay because of me. Otherwise, patiently wipe away little by little with 1-2 drops of solvent on a microfiber cloth. And really only use FEW DROPS! Otherwise, the speakers may break.

Now carefully blow out all dust with compressed air (2-3 bar! only). CAUTION: The fans must not rotate! Otherwise, they will generate voltage and possibly fry the logic board!

Insert the new battery ( thereby remove the foils from the battery) and align it to the screw holes. 7.

Screw in the 2 screws for the battery and tighten them with feeling.

Check the packs individually for proper fit

8. if everything is clean and everything fits correctly, put the battery connector back on the logic board.

9. put the lid on. The cover must lie correctly in its groove by itself, without screws. If any corner is sticking up, there is something wrong underneath.

10. screw the cover. ATTENTION: 2 screws are shorter on the side of the screen!

I cannot exclude misunderstandings. Therefore, please follow these instructions only at your own risk. I assume no liability for damages! Good luck!

Another vote for skipping step 34 after step 4. When I tried to reinstall the new battery, I couldn't get the two step 34 screw holes lined up and still be able to connect the battery cable, so I just left them out. Also, one of the bottom cover screws went AWOL.

I think that anyone with a badly swollen battery can skip to 34 because the battery has already done a lot of the work. I doubt that I used more than a dozen drops of remover, if that. A bit of patience and careful work with dental floss did the trick. Maybe 30-40 minutes to get the old battery out and another 10 to peel off the remaining adhesive.

Like most have suggested here, definitely read through all of these comments! I learned valuable tips from other commenters above that made this repair easy. Also like many others here, I opted to skips the majority of steps, and instead focused on steps 1-4, 36-53. When removing the small screws from the back plate, make sure to keep them organized and away from the computer. Because they are slightly magnetic, one of the tiny top middle screws magnetized to the MagSafe charger port my my Mac and I spent 20 minutes thinking it fell on the floor.

I had a nylon thread handy to get some of the packs started. Even with applying the adhesive remover, I found the plastic card iFixit provides was not always strong enough to get the pack started. Cheese cutter method was all it needed to get started!

Make sure to elevate your Mac when applying the remover in whatever direction you want the remover to run. Make sure to test new battery before committing to the new adhesive in case it is faulty!

Good luck!

At step 9, when reinstalling the io board cable, make sure it is the correct way round as in the photo, it fits the wrong way round as well, which results in the MacBook not starting at all. It took me hours to find my mistake...

This is just a suggestion or two to help those that might be doing this for the first time.

1. Separate your screws by the component they came from, i.e. cover screws altogether, fan screws altogether etc. I used PostIt notes turned upside down and put the screws head down to hold them in place and then marked what they were and where they came from.

2. If you have enough work space put the component next to the screws that were removed. Then you have everything located for an easy reinstall.

If you are following this how-to because liquid/coffee splashed in through the back vents, WAIT UNTIL THE END to clean any liquid spills on the bottom panel. Use them as your map for cleaning and QA guide for checking until you are finished with your cleanup of logic board and other items.

There are a couple of small rectangular magnets (~ 1/2” long) that are sitting in pockets near the battery warning label. (One is visible in the Step 3 pic.) One of these left its pocket and was stuck to the bottom cover when I lifted it.

There is another connector here on mine, just to the left and up above the text on the battery sticker. It is an empty ZIPF socket on all these photos.

I successfully followed all the instructions and all the steps in this guide. I installed the new battery successfully. However, looking back at the process now, I have no idea why I had to take out the memory, air card, speakers, fans, and motherboard to change the battery. None of that was necessary. I did it, and it worked out for me, but honestly, if you just want the battery out, do what Chris and Laurence said above me. Go straight to step 34.

Having broken a connector on a logic board in the past, I worried about all the steps. But I understand the disaster that can occur if cleaning fluid contacts the logic board. Weighing costs and benefits, I also did not remove the logic board. I loosened up the speakers (since only two screws could be removed) to give me space to slide the cards under the battery cells. Using the two cards, sometimes sliding one over the other, I was able to remove the battery in 15- 20 minutes. Removing the remaining adhesive was VERY tedious. Eventually I settled on CAREFULLY applying small amounts of remover with the syringe and using the spudger (both pointy and broad ends) to scrape the remainders off. I cleaned the residual with Q-tips dipped in remover (buy a big box of Q-tips), refastened the speakers, installed the new battery, closed the case and voila.

I too found the need to completely teardown the laptop onerous and risky. I’m not certified in anything hardware but I’ve been doing my own repairs for a while. I watched the video referenced above and read the comments there. With some changes, here is what I did, which worked perfectly and minimized the risk, for a whole additional $3 in parts, just myself and in under an hour:

1. Go to hardware store and get 2 4” bolts ($1 each) and a coil of 20 gauage galvanized wire.

2. Wrap one end of the wire a few times around one bolt, then tie it off with a knot. Do the same with the other bolt, leaving about 10” of wire between the two.

3. Follow steps 1-4 in this guide

4. Slip the wire under one of the outer batteries (use a card or spudger to help get the wire underneath

5. Grip both bolts with one hand and rock them back and forth, pulling the wire under the battery, using your other hand to hold the case. This should take about 2 seconds (seriously). Repeat for other outer batteries

(continued)

i just got my Kit and started the procedure, i decided to try if i can get the bulged batteries out with a fishing line, which worked fine. No need to use any solvent and even not too much force was needed to get the line under the batteries. I was able to remove the batteries in about 5min, used another 10min to clean the case from the residue, and put in the new battery. All togehter about 20min of work. I´m very happy with the result, Macbook stays now back on its feet, closes correctly and trackpad works as expected.

Also departed from procedure immediately after STEP # 4 as per JOEL’s recommendation …used a small chunk of fishing line and it worked sans solvent…easily ! Spudger worked quite well to initially position the string /line & the ifixit ( ‘credit’ ) cards were nice for final dislodging of each battery segment from the last bits of residual gooey adhesive , AFTER working the fishing line back & forth down the length of the battery as much as possible. With the old battery out of the way, I used a razor blade to clean out the remaining bits of adhesive gunk. ( Decided NOT to use solvent here, either.) Took me every bit of 1-hour.

One thing that helped ,too, was a cheap pair of cotton gloves coated on the palm side w/ latex. This kept my fingers comfortable from the pressure of the fishing line & allowed more of a range of force …since I wasn’t wincing from saw-cutting myself !

I skipped steps 5-33. These steps are completely unnecessary. I used the back of a flat tweezers to separate the battery from the case.

so the only reason they are taking all the stuff off before the battery is because of the solvent?

I used cards and dental floss and just took the battery out … It was a pain in the butt but i got it out with out using the solvent remover solution.

I skipped steps from 5 to 33 and directlychanged the battery (before disassembling all). Worked fine.

Thanks guys for all the tips. I followed the pragmatic way of cutting short and really taking battery out only. Thanks to the cards it worked well and none of the liquid made it to any other part of the computer. Put some efforts in to properly clean the remaining glue after battery was out - but looked good and this message comes from the old mid 2012 15” Retina modell - but with the new battery in - and all is fine. I am happy - thanks to the short cut encouragement.

Also skipped steps from 5 to 32. I used the supplied cards and a piece of string, i.e. braided nylon twine, (thickness 24). and used supplied acetone sparingly, mostly to the middle section. It took one and a half hours and another half hour or so for removing the leftover goo. It was demanding but not challenging, just take it slow and steady.

Learnt a lot from former comments. Also skipped steps from 5 to 54. Used fishing line to cut through adjective by myself easily, but needed to put on glove to protect hands. I didnt order full package, so used nail polish remover and eraser to clean the base. Looks good and all is fine! Thanks to the short cut method!

If you decide to skip to Step 34 or 52 or whatever, at least take note of Step 50. This is the only place I saw reference to the thin metal plate protecting the trackpad. I also skipped to just pulling out the batteries, but this plate came out with the them. I had to carefully pry it off the old batteries, reinstall it, and clean the adhesive residue off it.

Also, YMMV, but I did not bother with delicately removing the old batteries with fishing line, loosening with solvent, or whatever. They’re going in the trash (ahem, recycling) anyway, so I pried them out with a screwdriver, using the neighboring cell as a fulcrum. 98% of the adhesive remained with the batteries, leaving very little residue in the case.

I also forwent the many steps to protect components from the isopropyl alcohol. Blocking the back of the computer up an inch or so meant that any spill would run down and away from the logic board, which actually helped loosen the adhesive. I felt that disconnecting so many parts was a greater risk with no real benefit so long as care was employed in the use of the alcohol. Using some twine in a sawing motion behind each battery got through the adhesive without trauma. The entire repair was actually very simple and fast. The toolkit is excellent and well worth buying from iFixit. The machine is now working really well again. Worth fitting a new SSD now.

Info for assembly: you have place it from top into to connector - watch out for the guidegroove/pimple .

Not horizontal from battery side (as it seems my first try)

Success! I ordered the whole kit and thought I would do all these steps below. But instead I just unplugged the battery and skipped all the steps up to step 36. For getting loose the old glued in battery I used waxed dental floss, it is strong and easily available. I strung it around two wood pieces and wired it around the underside of the batteries, then slowly pulled it downwards till the end. This worked quite well and after 10 minutes all the 6 batteries were free. Now the ‘fun’ part, cleaning up the old adhesive strips. I used the little bottle of alcohol from the kit but found this not the best cleaning solution. Be warned, dont forget that in this position, directly under your downpressing fingers there is the glass trackpad and the display!! I really was scared to break them during this cleaning process. Because of this I switched to LIGHTER FLUID , which is stronger and the process quickly proceeded. Thanks ifixit for your great support.

I had to replace my replacement battery ... luckily the ifixit adhesive isnt that overpowered ... ehem ... I just pulled the old one out softly ... used the plastic card, some force ... and build the hopefully-this-time-lasting-longer-than-4-month-new-battery in ... it saved my evening.

I just finished doing my second battery replacement on one of these. If you're replacing a battery that came from iFixit you can skip straight to step 34 and use cards/spudgers/guitar picks to remove the batteries. The adhesive on the iFixit batteries isn't nearly as tenacious as the original Apple adhesive (though it's plenty to keep the battery stable) and it was easy to pop the battery segments out with a spudger and peel up most of the excess adhesive strips. What little was left came off easily by putting small amounts of the solvent on paper towel and rubbing - no need to pour any amount of solvent into the case.

The order of the cables doesn't seem to matter when re-attaching. It also might be helpful to unscrew and eject the airport card. Having it free can give you a better angle.

After reading so many reviews on ifixit and other sites regarding the difficulty of replacing my MacBook Pro retina screen assembly, I was a bit nervous. Using this walk through made it super easy. Thank you so much for taking the time to create it!

travismlive is right, you do not need to remove these cables or the airport card. Just remove the I/O board cable, undo the screws, and detach the antenna cables from the fan where they are glued with a spudger. Unlock the ZIF-socket and the you can wriggle the fan out. Probably saved my airport card, thanks travismlive!

I only successfully reattached 1 of the 3 AirPort cables, I just taped the other two. But the AirPort seems to work fine. Do these also have anything to do with Bluetooth though? I do seem to have trouble with Bluetooth after this operation. In any case, it was worth it... I replaced the screen with a new Apple screen for less than 1/2 the Apple Store wanted! Thanks!

Would soldering them back in place be better than taping? I certainly don't want spare solder on my motherboard, so I figure that'd be a last resort only if I lose AirPort connectivity.

Assembly is a nightmare. If rightmost cable is not connected, BT will not work.

the hardest step is reconnecting the airport antenna cables. just have patience< and use tweezers, spluger and a q-tip.

The three cables have different lengths. The longest should to the farthest pin, medium to middle, short to nearest.

Also, having the right tools will make the job really easy. I used a spudger similar to the one recommended on this web site. But i had ordered a complete kit from amazon.com. I did not have any problem removing or re-attaching the pins.

tweezers to hold the cable and the flat part of the spudger to push down on the connectors is the easiest way to re-assemble

Use leverage with tip of a spudger, it’s not that difficult to pry the cables.

When you reassemble, use a tweezers to put the connector on the right position and push it down with a finger on the other hand.

Grab the neck of the cable when using a tweezers.

Several of the people above mentioned not disconnecting these three wires. You must remove and replace these if you are replacing the entire display which is what these instructions are about. This is the most difficult step as others have noted. Just be careful and make sure you have the cable level before you start pushing down.

If you are not replacing the display case assembly, you can opt to leave all 3 connectors attached and remove the Airport card with them connected. You will need to carefully manage the card and attached cables so as not to damage them(masking tape) as you proceed with disassembly/reassembly. Step 6 will need to be done carefully (camera cable connector). I did it after step 8. I took a picture of routed cables as well before I removed them from channel.

Reassembling: What makes this so hard? From all appearances I’m just pressing a squat sleeve-and-pin connector down onto the female counterpart. It appears to be circular and therefore not needing to be oriented radially in any particular angle. It doesn’t look hard at all! Does anyone understand what the subtlety is that causes everyone so much grief?

Reassembling: as so many as commented, this is incredibly hard - and inexplicably so. From all appearances I’m just pressing a squat sleeve-and-pin connector down onto the female counterpart. It doesn’t look hard at all! But I couldn’t do it.

Here’s what seems to have worked for me: with my left fingertip on the cable holding the connector directly above the female, I used the spudger to press down the flat back of the connector, initially at the top and then sliding along toward the neck. I used normal pressure, and voila, when I lifted the spudger away the wretched wire didn’t spring up again. It was like it wanted to be rocked, or stroked, once, from top to neck, rather than pressed straight down.

I skipped to step 34. Just pushed up the speakers so that they don’t touch the body.

Can anyone help me? I would like to replace my speakers. Which steps can i skip?

I have completed replacing my speakers and this step was not needed at all.

I just completed the full screen assembly replacement with 90% success I guess. Like many others noted, this was the hardest step, and one them (leftmost) was extra hard, but I eventually got them all back in. However, I don’t have 5G wifi anymore. 2.4 g works fine, bluetooth works fine, and the screen, camera, and mic are all perfectly functioning. I just can’t connect to 5G wifi. Is there a fix for this?

Putting these 3 cables back was a lot of work. I bent the outer side of the middle cable, but was able to fix it with fine tweezers from the repair kit.

I did a screen replacement recently using this guide and the disassembly/assembly was fine - very good instructions. But when I turned on the machine there was a very fine flickering, snow-like interference, especially noticeable on black backgrounds. I assumed it was a faulty replacement screen and continued to use it. Recently, I had to change out the battery so I dissasembled the screen again to see if reconnecting it would fix the problem. Now it is perfect. I think the problem was that the left-most (shortest) airport cable connector was touching the black screw next to it on the board and shorting out. Be careful to position this connector well away from that screw.

I found placing the spunger under the part of the connectors AWAY FROM THE WIRE (top and/or side depending on which of the three you’re finessing), and then rocking them gently from side to side pops them out gently.

I read the note above and managed to fold the card out of the way. I’d put it in a paper envelope to stop it touching anything as it flaps around. The bag also stops static build up and reminds you it’s there ! The wires on mine were held down with two strips of tape, the pointed spudger? pushed along the length of the wires widened the tape loop when I pushed firmly but carefully. Once widened, tweezers can open it fully .

I skipped the step of removing the airport antenna cables and removed the airport card with the cables since so many users said it was extremely hard to get the airport cables back on properly. By skipping the airport cable removal I save a lot of potential headaches and performing this task was not any more difficult to do.

I skipped steps 5 - 40 and removed the old battery with the plastic card and a palette-knife after heating the adhesive strips cautiously with a hair dryer. After that removing the adhesive strips with the solvent was by far the most time consuming part.

so what happens if you damage 1 of the 3 connectors because you didn’t read all the comments first? Does it work at all or just diminished wifi reception?

Can someone at ifixit update the main instruction page to advise removing the airport card instead of the super fragile cables?

YOU DONT NEED ANY OF THIS!

it is SO stupidly risky to remove all this. Who the HECK wrote this guide?!? Thank God I checked on youtube and found guys who did NOTHING of these steps and simply removed the battery in under 1 h.

Steps 5-33 are not really needed if you are careful with the speakers, not to spill the fluid onto them. It saves a lot of time and potential dangerous operations. I did it without any problem.

Please be extremely careful, I just ripped out one of the sockets for the cables. I fixed it with Tesa until I can buy a new Airport-Card.

BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WITH THIS STEP both when disconnecting the cable connection points and while doing the reconnection. I damaged the J2 connector (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are working just fine, though) while trying to reconnect it to the AirPort card. I’ll suggest, as others have here as well, to not disconnect the cables and just have them connected to the card the entire time as this is, IMHO, a completely unnecessary step to take while doing this whole procedure.

Well, this is the step that (just through reading these comments) I decided NOT to fix my right speaker. Anytime I have to remove these delicate Airport and Camera wires and connections, I get very nervous. (I've done it before, successfully, on a MacMini [ugh; never again!] - just to replace the two slow HD with SSDs! What a hassle!

I'll just my headphones or computer speakers through the headphone jack.

I'm an amateur, so what do I know - but to replace a battery I skipped this step, and all other steps until step 36, I've no idea why they include all these other steps for battery replacement. Literally all steps from 5 - 35 aren't needed.

Why do I have to remove the airport antennas?

Hi! Camera flex cable is from MBP Retina Mid 2012 & Early 2013. Not Late 2013 :) Edit it please.

Push on the little wings, from right to left.

This is the hardest part of disassembly! Arguable hardest part of re-assembly too, other than the airport cables

The instruction is not clear to me at all. Frankly the comments mentioning things make me uneasy about proceeding further.

The wing closed to the edge of the chassis is completely stuck. I’ve worked on it for an hour. The other wing moves freely. I’m not sure what to do now.

The connector is very tight - I couldn’t even see the join between cable end and the socket and couldn’t see the “ears” on the end of the socket. And, of course, pulling didn’t help. I eventually used tweezers to start things off, gripping on the metal of the socket right where the invisible join was. What a delight to have the join open enough to see! After that, it was easy.

Thank You Jerryl - The tweezers did the trick. They want to pop out so you can use your other hand to apply slight downward pressure to keep them in place. Work both ends of the tweezers gently back and forth and you should start to see the gap get bigger.

I used tweezers and the spudger. Take the point of the spudger and push on one side of the “dog ear” while supporting the other side with the closed tweezers on the cable side of the dog ear. (Could use a second spudger) work one side the move to the other repeatedly until the connection disconnects.

This is allows You to push and support simultaneously and minimize the chance damaging the connector.

Removed cover (Step 7). Released adhesive. Pulled directly out of socket to the left.

Pushing out of this connector is ill advised, as no mechanical ledge to push.

The late 2013 Macbook connector is slightly different to the picture, I used tweezers to loosen up first and when the joint appeared used the flat edge of the spludger to push the connector using the gap. Don't rush push this from each side gently till it comes out.

I found this step to be difficult due to the picture and instructions being incorrect for MacBook Late 2013. Unfortunately, I damaged the pins during this step and my camera no longer works. :^( Please update this step.

@xtstoll I looked at two separate Late 2013 units today, and both are indistinguishable from what’s shown in the instructions. Are you sure you’re working on the right model? A photo of what this cable looks like on your laptop would be helpful.

A MAGNIFYING GLASS really helps on this. The cable’s sheathing may need to be pushed back a tad to find a place to get leverace to work the pin out.

DO FIRST

STEP 7 : Untight the rubber heat sink cover on the right fan.

Lift the cover and flip it back so that you can access the cables underneath.

STEP 8 : Carefully de-route the cables from the plastic cable guide.

So you can easily disconnect the connector.

Tweezers saved me on this one! Take your time and keep trying (gently) if you're still struggling

gently set pointed tweezers at the ears on either side and walk it back toward the fan

I have jewellers glasses and they were so helpful. Without them I would have broken plenty of bits. I really recommend getting some magnification for this job, some of the bits are sooooo small!

I have a late 2013, and using the tweezers to gently create a gap worked excellently. I used the tip of the spudger to push it out the rest of the way, alternating right and left on the edge exposed by the gap, pushing gently even when it wasn’t apparent there was any movement.

The way I did it took less than a minute. Ensure the AirPort card is not in place on the board. Get a pair of tweezers to squeeze the ends of the cables into each holder on the card. Apply pressure on the back of the card and the cable end at the same time. If it works, the cables will swivel easily in their slots. Then put the AirPort cable into the board.

I did it in less than a minute. Used a pair of tweezers. First thing is to take out the AirPort card from the slot. Hold it in one hand while using the tweezers to squeeze each of the cable ends into their sockets. Ensure that you are squeezing the back of the card at the same time as you are clipping in the cable ends. You will see that each cable end will swivel around and not come out of their sockets.

As per other comments, recommend referring to steps 7 and 10 before attempting step 6.
I found it helpful to remove the airport card first, then use tweezers to gently pull cable 0.5 m from socket, then use pointy end of "spudger" to push connector out of socket.

I just did this and there are no silver lever handles. The connectors just pop off when you pry on them.

While putting back the I/O cable, I assumed that it just connects back in place with pressure, kind of like Velcro. I just pushed the one on the left down first as instructed, and, while doing so, folded down the tiny wire lever under the padding (As someone stated earlier, the wire lever isn’t on all models) along with it. It seem to go back in place fairly easily if you’re careful to align the two sides (the part under the cable with the part on the logic board). A a novice, I think this warrants being addressed in more detail. Kinda had to do this intuitively.

Yes, lift about 5-10 degrees first, then pull out. If you do not release the adhesive, it may be stuck in place and you could damage the card trying to pull it out.

I will add to what others have said about lifting the card lightly using a spudger to get the adhesive to let go of the board. Otherwise the card may get damaged.

Yes. LIFT up slightly on one end to clear retaining pin before tugging.

Yes. Slight lift to release adhesive and then pull out.

Highly recommend attaching to your new logic board right away.

I don't see why this is necessary just to remove the logic board...

I found it helpful to use the flat end of a "spudger" to gently lift airport card from the main board prior to unplugging.

I don’t know why, but I could pull the connector out & in without flipping up the flap. And fans are working flawlessly.

Can anyone advise what to do if the ZIF socket pulls up from the logic board? I was gentle with it, but it pulled up anyway. The fan and ribbon are fine, but I’m worried this will require an expensive logic board repair.

To really see which part of the ZIF socket has to be lifted up you should compare the pictures of step 10 and of step 12, preferably in its original size.

Then you can see that the inner part of the ZIF has to be moved up, away from the batteries.

I managed to broke the side, thought this was pulling on sides mechanism to release, not just upwards. Luckily I managed to attach it and the fan is working.

Incredibly poor instructions!!! Thanks to the incorrect wording, I have just ruined the fan connector. There is NO lever. The cable gently slid out, after I borked it. I’m done with IFIXIT and the $@$*!& information. How about a little video clip inserted here. You guys can do better!

Can anyone share how to put the retaining flap back onto the connector? Has anyone’s fan worked without it? My hinged retaining flap just slid off and it's extremely difficult to place it back on.

I found it easier to slide the flat end of the spudger tool in from the left side of the cable, near the 90 degree bend.

There’s no need to take off all this stuff. I’ve just disconnected the battery, used the glue remover and a dental floss to pull off the battery ✌?

These instructions are pretty lacking for this step. In my case, for both the left and right fans, I did not need to flip up a retaining flap. I did not need to remove the airport card as I could sneak the ribbon cable out from underneath the airport card. There was a tiny bit of adhesive on the ribbon cable. Once that was worked free, I could slide the ribbon cable out of the connector (toward the screen hinge).

To all those who complain about the quality of instructions given here, I find them so simple and clear, if you have problems following them you should be letting a repair shop or Apple do the repairs.

I can recommend, after lifting ZIF clip, gently slide cable out of socket using "spudger" and/or need nose pliers.

I destroyed it. Now when the ZIP socket is off the board. Will I have chance to repair with a new or go on only with one fan function. It is so tiny to soldering that I guess the contact legs will connect together and cause a short circuit

I was able to stop at this step and jump ahead to removing the battery. I did this based on the fact that the batteries were extremely swollen and I could see that the adhesive strips below were already separated from the bottom quite a bit. In retrospect my wife had complained that the computer ran very hot in the vicinity of the batteries (not sure why) but that heat apparently diminished the adhesive properties and allowed me to slowly pry the cells up while using a spudger to push between the case and batteries. Saved twenty some odd steps by doing it that way. If the batteries weren’t swollen I could not have done it this way. NOTE: When ordering just the battery adhesive remover is NOT included. I did not order it because I have acetone here and felt I did not need the iFixit remover.

The inner spacers on both fans that appear to have been SMT'd to the logic board fell off. I used a light adhesive to put them back but be cautious not to drop them if yours detach also.