MacBook Unibody Model A1278 Left Speaker Replacement

Schritt 1

With the case closed, place the Unibody top-side down on a flat surface.
Depress the grooved side of the access door release latch enough to grab the free end. Lift the release latch until it is vertical.

This is not a a1278 unibody MacBook Pro. A1278 MacBooks backs are one solid metal piece not two separate pieces. This guide is for a different MacBook Pro.

Brad Burgeson - 25/10/18

This guide isn’t for a pro; it’s a MacBook unibody.

Nicholas - 19/09/19

So, it turns out that Apple used the model code A1278 for quite a few different Mac models, including both Pro and non-Pro versions! This guide is for the non-Pro Macbooks. There’s also one for the Pro models with the same A1278 identifier.

tempelmann - 11/11/20

Schritt 2

The access door should now be raised enough to lift it up and out of the Unibody.

Schritt 3

Be sure the access door release latch is vertical before proceeding.
Grab the white plastic tab and pull the battery up and out of the Unibody.

Great tutorial ! great step !

Leo Etcheverry - 12/07/15

Even though it’s specifically stated, you have to make sure the access door latch is vertical or the battery won’t be removable.

Henry Kim - 11/01/19

Schritt 4

Remove the following eight screws securing the lower case to the chassis:
One 3 mm Phillips screw.
Three 13.5 mm Phillips screws.
Four 3.5 mm Phillips screws.

On my model, it seemed the top-left was 3.5mm and the bottom 4 were 3 mm.

Jim -

Make sure you have a good quality Phillips screwdriver. Mine had removable tips and had a small play at the connection. As a result I didn't have a good feel and damaged my screws (those securing the fan and the top left in step 23). Game over for me installing new thermal paste...

Be very carefull with your screws! Especially those on the inside.

Nickolas Michelinakis - 08/05/16

You can get away with a Phillips #00 for many of the screws involved but the 4 at the bottom case split are likely to strip if you don’t use a JIS #00 or, in a pinch, a Phillips #000.

Bill Cole - 25/09/17

I used the Phillips #00 tip from my Pro Tech Toolkit, and it worked well enough. But yes, maybe #000 might have been better on the lower row of screws. Note to myself: Always read the comments first.

Les Kitchen -

When replacing these screws, the order to replace them in is as follows:

1, Top left

2. Top right

3. Top center-left

4. Top center-right

5. Bottom center-right

6. Bottom center-left

7. Bottom right

8. Bottom left

I hope this information is helpful.

facebook - 20/08/19

I followed my usual process of putting in all the screws loosely, then tightening them gradually in distributed pattern, to help ensure that the panel settles in place evenly. But maybe some orders are better.

Les Kitchen -

Schritt 5

Using both hands, lift and remove the lower case off the upper case.

Thanks for the guide!

It's implicit in the two photos, but worth mentioning because it blocked my progress in this step for a bit: You have to put the release latch back into its horizontal, closed position before you can lift off the lower-case panel.

Les Kitchen -

Schritt 6

Remove the four 10.3 mm Phillips screws securing the mid wall to the upper case.

Schritt 7

Lift the mid wall out of the upper case.

Schritt 8

Use a spudger to pry the fan connector straight up off the logic board.
It is useful to twist the spudger axially from beneath the fan cable wires to release the connector.
The fan socket and the fan connector can be seen in the second and third pictures. Be careful not to break the plastic fan socket off the logic board as you use your spudger to lift the fan connector straight up and out of its socket. The layout of the logic board shown in the second picture may look slightly different than your machine but the fan socket is the same.

Is there anyway to solder the fan socket back on to the mother board? It broke off :(

Emily - 20/01/15

Solder back to the mother board!

Clodoaldo Castro - 26/08/16

Me too!!! WHAT NOW?

christopher butera - 01/07/15

solder back to the mother board

Clodoaldo Castro - 26/08/16

It helped me a lot to look at the closeup pictures of the fan connector socket on the motherboard and the fan connector itself. Then I could figure out where to apply the axial rotating pressure with the plastic "spudger" (a trimmed old credit card). Needed more force to remove the 7-year old connection than I felt comfortable with. The pic's helped with the leverage point to use - just past and under the fan wires BUT not on the board itself.

Excellent guide! Moved fan from MB to MBP and installed new fan in old MB.

Nusayr Azam - 13/06/16

Schritt 9

Remove the following three screws securing the fan to the upper case:
Two 5 mm Phillips screws.
One 7 mm Phillips screw.
The longer of the three screws belongs in the upper left corner of the fan.

Screws were locktited and I have stripped head of right one while trying to remove it…

Oleg Krotov - 08/04/18

same issue as Oleg. have tried multiple screwdrivers and they won’t budge.

Ujjawal Manocha -

Schritt 10

Lift the fan out of the upper case.

One of the screw was messed up. How can I remove it ?

sebmeunier - 20/06/14

I ended up removing the three screws holding down the black gasket that the fan is attached to on the left hand side in the photo. Remove the two screws holding the speaker assembly. then you can remove the 3 screws running vertically down. One is on top of the dvd drive holding it down to the black chassis. dvd drive comes out as well, i followed the specific guide to get that out. Doing this let me flip the mobo out along with the fan, luckily the heatfin is separate from the fan.

Ujjawal Manocha -

Two of my screws did not want to come out when I used Philips #00 and it damaged the screw so now I don't know if I will manage to get it out. What can I do?

emilyjeanette89 - 29/09/15

Don't know about ruined screw head removal, but for future reference: Place the tool lightly on screw head & rotate axially 'til the tool drops into the screw head for a comfortable, firm fit, before applying pressure & torque for screw removal. If the tool does not drop in the screw head for the comfortable, snug fit, you may have the wrong tool or the wrong size. Try a different size 'til U get the right fit before applying pressure & torque to remove the screw. It can save you grief from a ruined screw head.

Loy Lum - 29/09/16

Schritt 11

In the next few steps, you will disconnect the highlighted cables which connect the logic board to the upper case.
Each connector is different, so the following steps will show you how disconnect each in detail.

Schritt 12

Remove the single Phillips screw securing the battery cable cover to the upper case.
Remove the battery cable cover from the upper case.

Schritt 13

Use a spudger to pry the battery level indicator cable connector straight up off the logic board.

Schritt 14

Disconnect the battery cable connector by pulling it straight away from the logic board.
If you cannot grasp the cable with your fingers, a spudger and tweezers may be helpful for removal.

had to lever the plug out horizontally one edge at a time to disconnect it. The connector is what connects the battery to the mother board

justbecos -

Schritt 15

Using the tip of a spudger, flip up the keyboard ribbon cable retaining flap.
Pull the keyboard ribbon cable straight out of its socket.
If the smaller connector at the right side of the keyboard ribbon cable is populated by another small black ribbon cable, remove it in a similar way to the above.

Which of the keyboard connection pins do i have to circuit to power on the macbook?

madfur -

When replacing the keyboard ribbon, place a rubber band between the ribbon and your spudger to get the traction for a good connection.

bkbkbk -

Trying to get this back in can be really difficult. But it works, just try and try again very patiently. After putting down the retaining flap again, pull a little bit to make sure the ribbon cable is all the way in and fixed.

Udo Schmitz -

to remove and put back the ribbon cable in its slot I use a piece of scotch tape. Easier to remove or insert the cable in the slot.

lemerise -

Awesome - thanx!!!

19quiz76 - 24/09/14

Genious :-)!

Igor - 24/02/15

My late 2008 Macbook 5,1 2.4GHz also had the tiny ribbon plug besides the keyboard ribbon plug polpulated as well (keyboard backlight?) - I missed it blindly following the guide but it made its presence clear when I lifted up the PCB - lucky I was not moving hastily severing the tiny ribbon!

So I added a comment at step 15 as in the guide this tiny plug is clearly not populated in contrast to my Macbook.

Kudos to the author - this guide clearly helped me a lot saving me a lot of time and head scratching.

By the way, minimal thermal paste was found on both CPU and GPU (the original reason I dissasembled my old Macbook) and after I put enough of this thermal transfering stuff on them the Macbook started working much-much cooler after years of hot operation that I thought were due to heavier OSX versions - should have done it 4-5 years ago!

MiKa - 14/02/16

What temp was your Macbook's CPU running at? I have cleaned out exhaust radiator thing, would it be worth redoing my thermal paste as well?

Jake - 07/04/16

@beefmangta With a machine of that age assuming the thermal paste has never been replaced, it is absolutely worth replacing. Certain aftermarket pastes such as Arctic MX-4 (which is available on Amazon) also tend to perform better than stock pastes in many cases.

Bagel -

I accidently cut the tiny cable labeled 21 on the right hand side of the cable highlighted in the photo. It’s for the keyboard backlight. It’s gone obviously but the comp still works without it connected

Ujjawal Manocha -

Schritt 16

Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the trackpad connector straight up off the logic board.

Schritt 17

Use the tip of a spudger to flip up the locking lever to release the IR sensor ribbon cable from its socket.
Use the tip of a spudger to pull the IR sensor ribbon cable straight away from the logic board.

Schritt 18

Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the hard drive cable connector straight up off the logic board.

Schritt 19

Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the optical drive cable connector straight up off the logic board.

Schritt 20

Disconnect the display data cable by pulling the male end straight away from its socket.

Schritt 21

Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the subwoofer cable connector straight up off the logic board.

This will easily break, resulting in snapped pins. Will cause right speaker to not function if you don't solder them back on. I don't know how to prevent this from happening, I did just as described in step #21. I even went in from the side as shown in the photo, but probably should have gone in from opposite (RH side in photo) as that's where the pins are.

19quiz76 - 24/09/14

Broke mine too. With the black foam pad cover and the photo it was impossible to see how this lifted up without ripping out the socket.

Nikolaos Giannopoulos - 12/04/20

My advice for this step is to remove the black foam pad covering the connector so you can see it better (put the pad back on the connector later). The way I removed the connector was by lifting upwards with the wires.

Bagel -

Schritt 22

Grab the plastic pull tab secured to the display data cable lock and rotate it toward the DC-in side of the computer.
Pull the display data cable connector straight away from its socket.

Schritt 23

Remove the following two screws securing the display data cable bracket to the upper case:
One 7mm Phillips screw.
One 5mm Phillips screw.
Remove the two 7 mm Phillips screws from the DC-in board.
Lift the display data cable bracket out of the upper case.

This step appears to be redundant, but is actually necessary to enable removal of the microphone (later, in step 26).

This step should be clarified, because it otherwise seems un-necessary. Moving step 26 to be after this step would fix the continuity problem.

Russell Newman - 15/10/14

Schritt 24

If present, remove the two 4mm Phillips screws securing the bottom case clip to the upper case.
Lift the bottom case clip out of the upper case.

I don't have this piece on my MacBook built in early 2009.

apa -

Schritt 25

Remove the two 5mm Phillips screws securing the keyboard flex bracket to the upper case.
Lift the keyboard flex bracket out of the upper case.

When re-assembling everything, it is much easier to perform steps 15 & 16 before performing step 25!

Neil 9797 -

Definitly!! Step 15 is basicially impossible with Step 25 and Step 7 (if you have to reseat the keyboard ribbon cable like I did [Step 15]) in place. Mine presented as dead, thankfully the battery indicator and magsafe worked. But when I reseated the keyboard cable (Step 15) I wasn't convinced so when the power butten did nothing I took a deep breath and went back in. And success was had on the second attempt (psew!).

Nick Campbell - 14/12/14

Schritt 26

Use the tip of a spudger to release the microphone from the upper case.

Schritt 27

Remove the following five screws securing the logic board to the upper case:
Four 3mm Phillips screws.
One 3.5mm Phillips screw.
Lift the logic board from its left edge and pull it out of the upper case.

On my MacBook, the screw nearest the optical drive is 5mm long.

When replacing the logic board, route the DC-In cable around the front side of the aluminum post.

David Kilbridge -

When re-assembling everything, before performing step 27, it is very useful to perform part of step 23 *first*. Specifically:

- carefully replace the small DC-in boardand secure with the two 7 mm Phillips screws (step 23 yellow)

The small DC-in board is *much* easier to set in place and screw in if you do it before screwing the logic board back in place.

Neil 9797 -

Thanks for the headups! Binya Binya Pollywog! BaBahLouuu BabaLou!!

14vs35 - 31/01/16

Correction about length of screws. The picture implies that the 3.5mm screw (orange) is the one on the right, nearest the USB ports etc. In fact it is the one on the left, nearest the fan.

Neil 9797 -

Can anyone help me on this step, I damaged the head of the screw it is the screw near to the fan and the screw near to memory the rest of the screw I managed to get it off I'm so screwed :( any help is much appreciated. Thanks

John - 13/04/15

Pay particular attention to the routing of the wires from the DC input board to the logic board relative to the wiring for the microphone and the post that supports the right-hand side of the display data cable bracket; route them improperly and you won't be able to get the data cable bracket back into place. Unfortunately the photos don't capture this detail. I also found it easier to position the microphone before fully inserting the logic board, otherwise the leads wanted to torque it about 80 degrees to the plane of the case and no amount of prodding with a spudger could coax it into position.

chris - 10/07/15