iMac G5 17" Model A1144 Optical Drive Replacement

Geschrieben von: Walter Galan

Kommentare: 14

iMac G5 17" Model A1144 Optical Drive Replacement

Schwierigkeitsgrad

Moderate

Schritte

Zeitaufwand

Keine Schätzung

Einleitung

Replace your broken optical drive to keep those disks spinning.

Werkzeuge

Ersatzteile

12.7 mm PATA 8x SuperDrive (UJ-875)

Schritt 1

Before you work on the computer, unplug the computer and press the power button for 20-30 seconds to drain the stored energy in the power supply.
Loosen the two Phillips screws securing the access door to your iMac.
These screws are captive in the access door.

Schritt 3

Remove the three T8 Torx screws securing the front bezel to the rear panel.

Schritt 4

Orient the iMac face-up, on its backside.
Use your thumbs to press both RAM arms in past the front bezel for enough clearance to lift it off the rear case.

Schritt 5

While holding the RAM arms in with your thumbs, lift the lower edge of the front bezel enough to clear the rear case.

Schritt 6

Re-orient your iMac so it sits upright on the stand.
Insert a plastic card up into the corner of the air vent slot at the top of the rear case.
Push the card toward the top of the iMac to release the front bezel latch.
Pull the front bezel away from the rear case.
Repeat this process for the other side of the front bezel.
It may be necessary to apply several layers of duct tape to the top of the access card to aid in releasing the latches.
If the bezel refuses to release, try pressing the lower edge back onto the rear case and repeat this opening process.

Using a strongish magnet will grab and release the latches.

darkstar448 -

Zitat von darkstar448:

Using a strongish magnet will grab and release the latches.

Are you sure it's safe to do this? How close is the hard drive, won't magnets interfere with it?

Sarah -

It's almost certainly fine. Modern hard drives are very resistant to magnetic fields.

zschroeder6212 - 03/08/16

Schritt 7

Lay your iMac stand-side down on a table.
Lift the front bezel from its lower edge and rotate it away from the rest of your iMac, minding the RAM arms that may get caught.
Lay the front bezel above the rest of the iMac.

Schritt 8

If necessary, remove the piece of kapton tape wrapped around the microphone and camera cables.

Schritt 9

Disconnect both the camera and microphone cables.

Schritt 10

Peel back the aluminum EMI shield up off the lower three edges of the rear case.
It is not necessary to peel the EMI shield off the display.
We found it helpful to tape the EMI shield up against the display to keep it out of the way.

Schritt 11

Remove the two 5 mm T6 Torx screws securing the display data cable to the logic board.
Using its attached black tab, pull the display data cable connector up off the logic board.

Schritt 12

Pull the inverter cable connector up off its socket on the logic board.

Schritt 13

Peel back the aluminum EMI tape from the two vertical edges of the display.
During reassembly, it is helpful to use several small strips of tape to hold the EMI shielding along the left and right edges of the display footprint out of the way before lowering the display into the rear case of your iMac.

Schritt 14

Remove the four recessed coarse-thread 7.5 mm T10 Torx screws securing the display to the rear case.
These screws are recessed, so a thin screwdriver such as this is essential for removal. Bit drivers tend to be too short for this application.

No problem taking those screws off, HUGE problem trying to put them back in. Reassembling this step is a lot more complicated. Those 4 screws are impossible to reinstall if you don't have a magnetized screwdriver, which I don't.

Javier Lopez -

I used some 'chapstik' on my t10 driver and it held the screws long enough to insert them.

aquarianknows - 02/02/16

Zitat von javier:

No problem taking those screws off, HUGE problem trying to put them back in. Reassembling this step is a lot more complicated. Those 4 screws are impossible to reinstall if you don't have a magnetized screwdriver, which I don't.

Since I could not get a hold on a nice magnetized T10, I inverted the whole unit and worked upside down to avoid lost screws inside an iMac.

Javier Lopez -

Zitat von javier:

Since I could not get a hold on a nice magnetized T10, I inverted the whole unit and worked upside down to avoid lost screws inside an iMac.

Great, now my problem is to find a new cable that connects the panel to LB.

I'm from Italy and nobody has got it .

Please help me

Thanks for all

Carlo

Lars -

I found a group of wires not mentioned on the instructions along the underside of the display at the right. They were connected to something at the right bottom of the display near the white plastic piece. I am unable to raise the display more than a couple of inches at this side of it and am wondering what do do.

modorange -

The group of wires on the right side of the display is the inverter. Seems like a few steps were omitted, so I'll try to fill in the gaps. Use the T10 to remove the right speaker. It's the big white plastic squarish thing on the bottom right side of the iMac. It pulls stright up and you can either disconnect it or just leave it hanging. This should release the inverter cable from hanging up the right side of the display (it did for me, even disconnecting the inverter didn't help as the cable was under the speaker, the inverter doesn't need to be disconnected but it might be helpful to disentangle things and it's an easy one to take apart). The other step missing is to remove the perforated tape at the top of the LCD from the LCD, otherwise you can't really remove it. I found a spudger helpful for this task.

I know it's a couple years since the OP posted, but hope this helps someone.

Cheers

Jeff Kamis

maccentric -

I've found that 'coating' the tip of the screwdriver with glue from a glue-stick will help to keep the screws from coming off of a non-magnetized driver.

Henry in StL -

Schritt 15

Lift the display from its lower edge and pull it toward yourself to peel it off the EMI shield attached to its top edge.
Be mindful of any cables that may get caught during removal.

Schritt 16

Remove the T10 Torx screw securing the optical drive flex cable mounting bracket to the logic board.
Remove the flex cable mounting bracket.

Schritt 17

Lift the optical drive flex cable connector straight up off the logic board.
This ribbon cable is thin and easily torn. Use caution.

Schritt 18

Move the SATA data cable away from the edge of the optical drive.

Schritt 19

Disconnect the optical drive thermal sensor.

Alternatively unstick the sensor from the drive, and leave it connected to the cable.

Trevor Hayes -

Schritt 20

Apple's "engineers" didn't learn much about deflection and material stiffness when they went to "college", so this optical drive is particularly difficult to remove because the bracket flexes too much. The next few steps require some patience and a good amount of force.
Insert the flat end of a spudger into the gap between the optical drive and its bracket until it contacts the chassis.
Grab the spudger as close to the surface of the optical drive as you can, then depress the release tab with your thumb while pulling toward yourself.
The wedge shape of the spudger may cause it to slip out of the gap toward yourself. Be sure to press the spudger in toward the rear case while squeezing the release tab.

I think the 10-year-old jab at "Apple’s ‘Engineers’” is pretty bad taste and unnecessary. Someone made a mistake. Nobody sat around at a board meeting drooling stupidly and saying “euyh we shudl just put stickbar in plastic make latch difficult to open euhh”. So I opt to remove the 15-year-old-kid level commentary from the beginning of this step to clean it up :)

Matt Falcon - 28/12/19

Schritt 21

Remove the two T10 Torx screws from the side of the optical drive.
It's a good idea to lay your iMac flat on a table before removing these screws to avoid them falling behind the logic board.

Removal of these screws can wait until the entire bracket assembly is out of the chassis. Remove the screws when you remove the bracket from the drive, step 23.

Trevor Hayes -

Schritt 22

Use the flat end of a spudger to press the bottom edge of the lower optical drive bracket release tab toward the lower edge of the iMac.
The optical drive should now be free from the rear case.
Maneuver the optical drive out of the rear case, minding the two plastic pins molded into the rear case near the open end of the optical drive that can break off.

Schritt 23

Remove the two T10 Torx screws from the side of your optical drive.

Schritt 24

Push the two optical drive bracket tabs out of their slots in the top of the optical drive.

Schritt 25

Using the tip of a spudger, press the optical drive bracket tab out of its slot on the side of the optical drive.

Schritt 26

Use the tip of a spudger to push the optical drive bracket tabs out of their slots on the bottom of the optical drive.

Schritt 27

Pull the optical drive bracket toward the open end of the optical drive to free it from the optical drive.
Set the bracket aside.

Schritt 28

Remove the two T6 Torx screws securing the optical drive flex cable to the optical drive.

Schritt 29

Insert the flat end of a spudger into the gap between the optical drive flex cable connector and the optical drive.
Twist the spudger to separate the connector from the optical drive.
Repeat this process for both sides of the connector.

Schritt 30

Pull the optical drive flex cable connector away from the optical drive.

Schritt 31

Use a spudger to pry the optical drive thermal sensor off the optical drive.
Don't forget to transfer this to your new drive.

Schritt 32

Use the flat end of a spudger to remove the small piece of EMI foam from the underside of the optical drive.
Don't forget to transfer this to your new drive.
Your optical drive is now completely stripped. If you have a disk or anything else stuck inside your optical drive, we have a guide to fix it.

Abschluss

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Tinte & Feder

Walter Galan

685540 Reputation

Ein Kommentar

Excellent information that is timely for me because I need to replace my hard disk. Do you recall the name of the hard disk you used to replace the original, just quickly?

fnf mod

blanda luciano -