Mac mini Mid 2010 Antenna Plate Replacement

Step 1

Place your thumbs in the depressions cut into the bottom cover.
Rotate the bottom cover counter-clockwise until the white dot painted on the bottom cover is aligned with the ring inscribed on the outer case.

Step 2

Tilt the mini enough to allow the bottom cover to fall away from the outer case.
Remove the bottom cover and set it aside.

Step 3

Remove the two 11.3 mm T6 Torx screws securing the fan to the logic board near the antenna plate.

There are actually 3 T6 screws securing the fan. The third screw is out of the screenshot, just below the RAM.

inferno10 -

Nope, that third screw is actually just a post that the rubber grommet attached to the fan body slips over. Step 4 shows how the fan comes off of it. When you go to remove the fan, you simply remove the two screws closest to the antenna plate and then lift the fan off this post. The screw you are talking about is removed in Step 14 and does not need to be removed until this point.

Andrew Bookholt -

Successful install completed, but I had some trouble getting the fan reinstalled. When I removed the fan from the "Step 14" post, the rubber piece stayed on the post. When attempting to reinstall the fan, it was impossible to get the loop to go back over that rubber piece. So, I had to remove the post (again), and with the help of the spudger and some patience, worked it through. Then installed the fan using the 2 screws and the post. I think it may have saved some time and trouble if I just removed all 3 in the first place, leaving the post in the fan.

meag -

On mine I needed to remove the 26 mm T6 Torx standoff during this step rather than step 12

philipashlock - 29/06/14

on my mid-2011 mac mini, that 3rd T6 post/screw had to be removed to get the fan out. It goes right through a hole in the fan housing. No way the grommet is slipping over anything without wreaking major havoc.

Derek Shaw - 11/11/15

On my mid-2010 mac mini, also removed the 26 mm T6 Torx standoff during this step instead of step 12. Having completed the steps, it appears my hard drive is from mid 2011, so maybe the production line for mine had changed.

jstraath - 14/12/17

Step 4

Lift the ear of the fan nearest the RAM up off the standoff secured to the outer case.
If the fan doesn't separate from the standoff screw with a moderate amount of force, you can use a T6 Torx driver to simply remove this screw.

Pulling on the ear didn't do anything, so I removed the whole screw at this step. The screw stayed fixed on the fan and I didn't have to remove it at the step where you remove the logic board screws.

Probably I didn't want to use too much force .. but it worked

Alexander Kogler -

This is the approach I used. no way was the "ear" pulling over the head of the standoff without breaking something. The standoff simply unscrewed from whatever is under the logic board and stayed with the fan assembly. WAY safe

Derek Shaw - 15/11/15

Loosen the fan standoff from the motherboard using a T6 driver.

bobcloninger -

When I pulled the fan ear off the standoff the rubber grommet stayed on the standoff. That's fine, but it makes it difficult to put the fan ear back on during reassembly. So I just pulled the rubber grommet off the standoff and put it into the hole in the fan ear. Then I was able to push the fan ear onto the standoff with out trouble during reassembly.

Dave Hein - 18/10/14

Step 5

Lift the fan out of the mini for enough clearance to access its connector.
Carefully pull the fan cables upward to lift the fan connector up out of its socket on the logic board.
Remove the fan.

Be careful here, this is not a simple action. Pulling on the wires risks them coming out of the sockets of the connector that attaches to the pins on the board. I had to use an Xacto knife to push on the end of the connector to push it off the pins rather than pull.

Brian - 19/04/19

Actually, just sliding a spudger under the wires and edging upwards is the easiest way to disconnect this connector - and most others, too.

Aleks Gekht - 10/11/19

Step 6

Remove the single 3.5 mm T6 Torx screw securing the cowling to the heat sink.

This is a screw into the head of another screw below it that holds the main board. When I took out the fan, the top screw AND the longer 26 mm screw came out together so when I was putting my mini back together I thought for a moment I had lost a screw.

info -

Step 7

Lift the cowling from the end nearest the antenna plate.
Rotate the cowling away from the outer case and remove it from the mini.

This is wrong step. If you need remove this out, it would be better to pull out logic board, and remember to remove cables attached on it before pull out.

Lin Adison - 15/09/17

Step 8

Remove the following screws securing the antenna plate to the mini:
Two 6.6 mm T8 or T9 Torx screws
Two 5.0 mm T8 Torx or 2.0 mm Hex screws (either will work)

The red circled screws are T9 in my Mac mini (not T8).

Sven Harmstorf -

ditto here - the 6.6 mm screws that anchor to the HD (now SSD) are T9

Derek Shaw - 15/11/15

I have tried several times but I have been unable to get all four holes to line up when replacing the antenna plate. I can get the two closer to the center of the mini just fine but no matter how I align the plate, one of the screws closer to the edge of the mini will be so far out of alignment that I cannot get the screw to go in. I had to leave one screw uninstalled. The plate is not distorted in any way. It is installed the same way it was before I removed, as far as I can tell. I am baffled! Has anyone been through this?

GalvanicMacPro - 12/07/14

Galvanic, it pops in.

bkbkbk - 16/07/14

I had a really hard time with this. I was able to resolve it though: secure the other three screws first. Then I pushed my precision screwdriver into the hole and levered the wayward tab into position: it wedged in with an audible snap sound! Then I was able to fasten the final screw.

Aaron Vegh - 24/01/15

I have trouble with this step every time I repair one of these minis. Aaron, your tip worked perfectly for me, thanks. -Anne

DA IT Department - 10/09/15

The antenna plate assembly is a tongue and groove type. The plate has a "groove" and the rim of the outer case is the "lip". You have to slide it in and align the parts ant it fits perfectly .

jvilella - 14/01/16

To solve this, just pick on the plate on the semi circle side and with the tool "open" just slighter the space where the semicircle have to fit

Pedro - 10/04/16

Had the same problem - the reason was the replacement drive I used - it is thinner than the original one. So I could not get the far side of the drive correctly into the holes for the notches mounted on the drive; that is - the drive was always a little bit too far to the center of the mac case. Everything works fine until you try to install all four screws.

I found a simple solution: I attached some adhesive tape temporarily to the drive cover. By pulling on the tape while pushing the drive in its space the notches slipped into their holes. After this installing the antenna was no problem any more.

Erwin Sommerauer - 11/06/16

I had a similar problem with getting the antenna cover to fit back into place. I tried putting 3 screws back in and levering the 4th, but it did not work in my case. Finally, with three screws in place,, I carefully placed a thin pair of forceps into one of the holes in the cover and levered the entire cover upwards. That worked for me.

Don - 13/12/15

Pulling up on the cover worked for me too. I found that the best place to pull up on the cover is at about "true north" in the picture ... near the black dot used to indicate lid-is-closed. I did it before installing any screws and all four screws went in fine.

Fred Cat - 18/11/16

As others have noted, the hardest part of the whole process is getting the holes lined up in reassembly. I ended up stripping one of the short screws, but it fits well enough to engage the slots in the circular plastic cover. If you leave a short screw out, I don't know how the bottom cover would fit securely. I would carefully note how the antenna cover fits while you remove it. The longer screws go into the actual hard drive, so I think alignment of the hard drive is part of the problem.

Steve Dollar - 02/10/16

I had same problem..! U tried EVERTHING, and what worked PERFECT for me, and with very little effort is what "x10target" described here (scroll about half way down): Difficulty in re-installing Antenna Plate

Mikey Marvel - 11/10/16

To replace the antenna plate, you need to patiently align the sides of the antenna and slide it in. I had similar problems as described above but, instead of using force, I resorted to patience. The plate's fit is very snug, just a little bit off the straight line and it won't sit properly. And when it sits, it really sits tight, you don't even need to hold it in place while screwing the screws back in.

Eric Schneider - 22/02/17

In the “arch” of the plate is sort of a tongue & groove that fits over & under the lip of the body. I used Kelly Forceps to coax everything back together.

tom - 02/09/18

After replacing the HDD with an SSD, I found that one of the front locating screws didn’t fit back in (no corresponding screw hole on the new drive caddy). I also found it hard to fit the antenna plate back in the slot, but found that removing one of the rubber “feet” (where there was no longer a corresponding screw hole on the disk) helped a lot, as did gently folding back the edge of the antenna plate. Refitting this was definitely the hardest part of the process - excellent instructions!

Tim Cutting - 01/05/19

After completing the whole operation, impossible to screw the two T8 5mm (orange ones) screws back in place. The plate sit properly, but the screws just wobble, even with full force when trying. I can’t close the backplate. Anybody had the same issue?

Pierre Prézelin - 02/04/21

BEFORE putting any screws in, you have to get the antenna place to “snap” intot he Aluminum chassis first. Once that is snapped in, the screw holes all line up nicely.

I installed an SSD, which is thinner than the original HDD, so the two recessed screws don’t reach it… Going to just leave them taped into their holes. I’m hoping that will not affect antenna function too much (It will remove some potential grounding to the HDD).

Demis John -

Step 9

Slightly lift the antenna plate from the end closest to the RAM.
Carefully pull the antenna plate straight away from the circular rim of the outer case.
Do not remove the antenna plate yet. It is still attached to the AirPort/ Bluetooth board.

When I tried to do step 9 and disconnect these connectors, I found that not only the cable/connector but the receptacle tore off the logic board -- momentary panic! This happened to both connectors.

Left on the logic board were two tiny fragile gold pins (per connector). Fortunately they were pretty straight, and upon re-assembly, I was able to gently slot the receptacles back into the tiny pins. Upon reassembly, everything's working fine (no crazy fan noise) so I guess I got lucky...maybe VERY lucky. :)

Thanks iFixIt for a fantastic guide. I've got a replacement drive in there and it's definitely going to extend the life of my Mini for another season.

David Das - 03/01/15

Step 10

Use the tip of a spudger to carefully pry the antenna connector up off the AirPort/Bluetooth board.

I broke the connector on the bluetooth board when trying to remove the antenna when I tried to replace the hard drive. Currently, the exact replacement bluetooth board 607-6509A is very hard to find or otherwise, expensive. Instead, I was able to use a cheap replacement that can be found on eBay: Apple Macbook Unibody A1342 Airport Bluetooth Module 607-6771A. There is a black plastic sheath at the back of the 607-6771A. Just cut out the part that cover the 2 holes, you are good to go.

millicurie77 - 06/06/15

Good info, thanks

maccentric - 14/06/15

Hmmm just broke the port as well; it is tricky and sticky even after the port came off …

Choat - 20/12/17

Thanks for the info; my port just broke here as well :( It is sticky and port connector is so fragile!

Choat - 20/12/17

it’s so painful ! almost all the time is spend to try to put this ridiculous connector. my last mini mac is a server, and use ethernet not the wifi so i gave up after 1 hour .

admin - 25/06/18

It would be nice if there was a close up pic of the different connectors. Then, one would know how the connectors attach. In this case, this connector is kinda like an old “F” plug. Used Kelly Forceps to pull straight up. Came off and went back on. No sweat.

tom - 02/09/18

Tom, it was bear trying to put this “F” connector back on. There’s a torx screw right where the connector should lay down, and it appears to put it in a bind making it difficult to seat. I’ll try to post a picture of mine.,

Kirk Carver -

2nd time I did this step (due to breaking the HD heat sensor board the 1st time - see all the comments below!) I didn’t disconnect the airport antenna, since it was so difficult for me to re-plug back in (took ~5 minutes of trying); very hard to line up properly. Instead, I carefully flipped the cover over and to the side, pushing down on the connector to keep it from unplugging. (Since I already had put in a 7mm SSD the 1st time around, the antenna wire also wasn’t in the way when pulling it out.) I recommend trying this due to 3 comments above who broke theirs.

amiller770 - 17/01/20

I left it plugged in and flipped it over to tape it to the chassis.

chris warren - 03/04/21

Reconnecting the antenna connector to the Airport/Bluetooth board was the second most difficult step for me. It was not just the reverse step of using the spudger to disconnect the connector.

Marc -

Step 11

Remove the antenna plate from the mini.

When you replace the antenna plate, it can be tricky. The curved edge of it actually slots both over and under the edge of the case. If it doesn’t seem to fit properly, the edges of the cut perforations may be slightly squashed. Tweak them with a small screwdriver and it will suddenly seat properly.

Ben G - 08/03/18

This is as far as I needed to go. The only connection I needed to remove was the fan (I probably could have left that connected and just moved it out of my way). I was able to set the antenna to the side without disconnecting it. I was able to pull the hard drive out after step 11. I did not disconnect the temp sensor from the board. I removed the tape holding the sensor wire to the side of the hard drive and then removed the sensor from the hard drive and moved it out of my way. It has to be pulled off the hard drive anyway, so better to do it this way then messing with connection on logic board. When replacing the hard drive, reapply the sensor to the end of the hard drive with a very small amount of clear silicone and a piece of black electrical tape to hold it into place while the silicone sets up. Not having to disconnect all the wires from the logic board is the way to go. Stop at step 11 and go straight to step 17.

Kevin Ginther - 06/09/19

Excellent advice, Kevin…I did the same and HDD came out no problem…Thank you for the pointer.

Jurgen - 06/03/21

If you look at the edge of the antenna plate near the Mac mini body, you'll see a groove where the metal from the unibody fits. I found that if you turn the mini around so the antenna plate is closest to you and us the pointy end of a spudger to lift and place the antenna plate, you can get this groove to fit properly and the screws pop into place.

rothgar -