MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 AirPort/Bluetooth Board Replacement

Written By: Andrew Bookholt
  • Comments: 52
MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 AirPort/Bluetooth Board Replacement

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

17

Time Required

20 - 30 minutes

Introduction

Use this guide to replace a broken AirPort/Bluetooth board.

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    • Remove the following ten screws:

    • Three 14.4 mm Phillips #00 screws

    • Three 3.5 mm Phillips #00 screws

    • Four 3.5 mm shouldered Phillips #00 screws

    • When replacing the small screws, align them perpendicular to the slight curvature of the case (they don't go straight down).

    How much weight can I save by removing the optical drive?

    gunes314 -

    You can save a lot of weight if lets say your installing a solid state drive or putting in a second hard drive but if you know that you use the CD/DVD disc drive a lot then you might just want to leave the drive alone.

    Marshall WahlstromHelgren -

    Tip: Use one of those weekday pill holders to have a cheep way to store screws you remove and each day of the week can be for different sizes or parts. It has been handy to have (much less expensive than the magnetic mat.

    Robert Wacker -

    Hello, where can I buy the screws I need in case I lose one of them?

    taylornya -

    iFixit sells a kit: MacBook Pro Unibody Lower Case Screw Set

    Darrell Johnson -

    I have one stripped screw... How opening without drill it?! Any suggestions please?

    rodrigosady -

    I also stripped a couple screws. I wasn’t able to open it up without drilling. After drilling the heads and removing the cover it was easy to hacksaw the tip and unscrew with a standard driver.

    Michael Wilkens -

    We have a guide for that!

    How to Remove a Stripped Screw

    Sam Omiotek -

    My top tip - make sure you buy good quality Phillips screwdrivers and a magnetic holder. Cheap screwdrivers won’t get the screws undone safely. Without a magnetic holder you have no chance of getting the tiny crews in and out safely.

    jeremyyoung -

    A good Phillips 00 is your friend here. Also, when reinserting the screws, gently start anticlockwise and you wil feel a click at the start of the thread. This tells you you’re in the right place and less likely to cross-thread through force in the wrong place.

    Iain Boyd -

    I feel like these are 000 screws. Amazon sales describe them as such and my 000 screwdriver fits better

    cam2000deluxe -

    Before ordering a new Trackpad remove the existing battery and try clicking the Trackpad. If it clicks OK with the battery out the source of problem is likely a swollen battery, which should to be replaced even if it still works to some degree. From the side of the battery you will likely see the soft part of the battery bulging beyond the hard case.

    Patrick Langvardt -

    That’s absolutely correct as I can testify. With the battery removed I also adjusted the T6 set screw that adjusts the sensitivity of the trackpad click, evidently someone had cranked mine down tighter than the factory setting.

    Gary Register -

    Le quatrième paragraphe dans les instructions en français n’est pas correct : ce ne sont pas les 2 petites vis, mais les 7 petites vis qui sont inclinées. Et les 3 grandes sont bien verticales.

    Degeorges -

    Bonjour ! Merci de votre observation. J’ai corrigé la traduction. iFixit étant un wiki, n’hésitez pas à modifiez si vous remarquez une erreur :) Encore merci de votre attention et à bientôt !

    Claire Miesch -

    Tip: if you have a magnetic screw mat or similar, lay the macbook over the mat to make sure it catches any screws that may decide to fall of and hide under your table

    Moritz -

    Funny, it's not her hands that are doing the close ups. :)

    Cinemated Man -

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    • Use your fingers to pry the lower case away from the body of the MacBook near the vent.

    • Remove the lower case.

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    • Use the edge of a spudger to pry the battery connector upwards from its socket on the logic board.

    • It is useful to pry upward on both short sides of the connector to "walk" it out of its socket. Be careful with the corners of the connectors, they can be easily broken off.

    Is this step of removing the battery connector required?

    manodh -

    yes - as with disassembly of any electronic component you have to remove any power source. You don't want to accidentally turn the Mac on

    khull -

    Prying the battery connector off does not take much force. I did exactly what the guide suggested (walked it off back and forth) with the spudger without any problems. Just be very gentle, much like with anything inside laptops, they are very fragile and need to be worked with carefully. A+ instructions, battery replacement was a success.

    aekinaka -

    Be patient on disconnecting this one. It worked for me step by step, little by little.

    Phil Wagner -

    I used the nails of thumb and pointer finger simultaneously - worked pretty fine

    Reinhard Kaune -

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    • Bend the battery cable slightly away from its socket on the logic board so it does not accidentally connect itself while you work.

    I put some tape between the connector and socket while working on the drive.

    Stephen Smith -

    That's a good tip

    Anrothan -

    Great tip, I did that too

    Ahmed Mahran -

    One other note: The screw heads fit flush with the curvature of the case -- which means that they aren't exactly horizontal. In other words, they aren't perpendicular to the table that the computer is resting on. Don't try to force them straight in vertically, because you'll risk cross-threading them. (nearly ruined one screw hole myself!)

    lelandjordon -

    On my MacBook Pro, the connector seems to be an integral part of the battery.

    Jerry South -

    I suspect it’s just like the special screwdriver required for seatbelts on cars – to discourage regular consumers from attempting repairs. Of course, this only encourages consumers to use the wrong tool to attempt to repairs

    colleenthompson -

    Dissambling my MacBookPro Premium Mid 2012 (i5-3210M 2.5Ghz) was easily, Careful with the screws, use screwdriver fitting exactly with the screws, you damage them very fast. Work very exactly, relaxed with time, consentration, good Tools and with feelings in your hands. Disconnect the Akku was easy if you take care, remove it to be safe, Two screws more, more space to work & haven`t to think about damaging someting. Apple use diffrent screws, you should have many difffrent scewdrivers. It is also good to clean everything inside, With time everything gets very dusty & dirty, don`t forget the sides and little fittings at the case. Use a pinsel, alcohol, soft peace stuff, it will look like new. If you have knowledge & experience, you can paint it in any colour or airbrushing for individualizing. You can also just polish it with a soft Politure (Sonax car Polish No1, NOT with wax or take an other light Politure you familiar & can do the job, A Laptop should serviced once a year, keeping it good working over years

    Stefan Lindner -

    First thing i do is open & cleanig everything inside,specially the cooling & fan, renew the thermal paste with an high quality product. Install the Nain System, clean up Bloatware and other unnecessary things, install standard software for daily use, additional change system components against better one (Edge to Firefox, Windows Media Player to VLC , an Office Suite and configuring everything for Data Protection, Privacy- & Indentety Protection, install Drivers from the component Manufactur (incedible effect, disable limitations, more functions, work better & faster, increasing performance, additional change the WiFi & Bluetooth Card to a better one a UMTS WWAN to an LTE Card, increase RAM with two Dual-Channel working SODIMMs, Use M2 or 2,5" SSD if no M2 Slot aviable) as System- and Software iDrive, a FAT32 formatted 32GB Partition to be safe of metaviruses comes with harmless downloads, and a big 2,5 HDD to store the user data. What does you guys think about this? Old Computer become a new life,

    Stefan Lindner -

    I livein Austria, near Vienna, if someone needs help or anything else, i would be glad to help. I always searching old or broken devices to bring them to new live. I also searching for spare parts, specilly a Bottom & Side Case and a 256GB or higher NGFF Storage Card for a Sony Vaio Tab 11 SVT1144HE (2014), some 14,1" Displays for a HP Probook 440G5 (2016), Elitebook MT 43 Mobile Thin Client, (2011), Dell Vostro 3460 (2012) Lenovo Thinkpad T440s (2014), and a Logic Board for an Lenovo Ideapad 330-15ARR (2017, damaged by Water i think) and a Logic Bord for an Alienware 17R4 with i7-6870HX & Nvidia 1080 (2018, CPU dead, maybe there is a repair Guide or workaround to bring it back to Life). I need always 8GB or 16GB DDR3 and DDR4 RAM Storage (perfectly two ident one for Dual-Channel use for Laptops, M2 SATA 6GB/s and NVMe PCIe SSDs 500GB or more and 2,5"SSD or HDD with 1TB or more and 3,5" HDD with 4GB or above. If you have some of this or other useful parts and doesn`t need them, please make me an offer, maybe

    2

    Stefan Lindner -

    an change something you need. This is not a Business what i do, it`s more a Hobby with challenging new Excercices.. Thats the best Point. Plase forgive me as a Newbie this very long Post in the wrong Section, but if you are start writing you cannot stop.... But now i have to come to an end and would be happy if someone wants to get in contact. My E-Mail is: udontknowme@gmx.at (the adress name is just a notice against Big Data and for Privacy Protection!

    Stefan Lindner -

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    • Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the AirPort/Bluetooth ribbon cable connector up from its socket on the logic board.

    N.B! Thank you very much all you here on iFixit! Some IMPORTANT notes. Be very careful BEFORE prying the connectors up and down. They are very fragile and the picture could actually be seen as showing a bending loading in their weakest direction, AROUND its slender axis. The connector is slender and inserted on the logic board, so the gentle "walking" up and down should be done ALONG their slender direction and WITHOUT touching the adjacent connectors. If bending is done around its axis the soldering comes apart and the cable is done and gone. Just happened. These flat cables are one of the weakest design spots in my experience. They are a major time, money and geist consuming reason for malfunction like Wi-Fi connection problems, HDD, SSD not found internally but externally from USB issues et al being found on different forums. Thanks again and again.

    Greg -

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    • Carefully pull the camera cable out of its socket on the logic board.

    • Pull the cable parallel to the face of the logic board. Pulling it upward may damage the logic board or the cable itself.

    Be extremely careful on step 6 with late 2011 model unibody macbooks! The cable is connected very tightly to the board and has a great chance of ripping if you just pull the cable.

    Tim Rauls -

    My cable is broken, have the part number or code to buy?

    VÍCTOR RIFFO -

    I found there was plenty of length in the camera cable (as it goes around two sides of the optical drive) so does not need to be disconnected - just ease it out of the slot alongside the drive and lay it diagonally across.

    Nic Blinston -

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    • Carefully move the AirPort/Bluetooth ribbon cable out of the way as you peel the camera cable off the adhesive securing it to the subwoofer and the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket.

    • De-route the camera cable out from under the retaining finger molded into the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket.

    Take a few phone close-ups of this corner of your system prior to disassembly. Extra photos really help during reassembly.

    airshack -

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    • Use the tip of a spudger to pry the antenna connector closest to the logic board up from its socket on the AirPort/Bluetooth board.

    • De-route the antenna cable from under the finger molded into the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket.

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    • Using the method described in the last step, disconnect the remaining three antenna connectors.

    • De-route their cables from the slots cut in the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket.

    I found re-attaching these antennae connectors the trickiest bit by far as they appear very delicate and seating them correctly was fiddly. In the end lighting them from the side with a small torch helped to check their position before gently pushing them down. The first one made a clicking sound as it connected, the other two went on silently. MBP wifi working perfectly now. I’m fairly sure that was at least £100 of labour had I taken it in for repair so thanks ifixit for saving me money and for the warm glow of accomplishment!

    Andrew -

    Actually, on my repair attempt, one antenna cable broke (on the image the bottom right one in the red square), I’m not sure whether it broke already before or was morbid somehow. Fact is. suddenly I had this cable in my fingers, and was sure I completely broke the macbook and need to find a new display now.

    But as it turned out: the Mac is still fully working, including WIFI, BT, Camera etc. So apart from my huge relief, I want to address that these cables may break easily at their connection with the display. And that one antenna might be not mandatory for WIFI to work.

    huedrant -

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    • Remove the following five screws:

    • Two 10.3 mm Phillips screws

    • Two 3.1 mm Phillips screws

    • One 5 mm Phillips screw

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    • Pull the AirPort/Bluetooth assembly and the Subwoofer upward near the center of the side of the optical drive until they clear each other.

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    • Remove the AirPort/Bluetooth assembly, minding the fragile antenna contact near the corner of the upper case.

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    • Peel back the piece of EMI tape covering the AirPort/Bluetooth cable connector.

    once you peel the emi tape off it you might not be able to put it back on

    Francisco Cortes -

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    • Use the tip of a spudger to lift the AirPort/Bluetooth cable connector out of its socket on the AirPort/Bluetooth board.

    • Remove the AirPort/Bluetooth cable.

    Hi, any one know the name or the number part of the female connector of the flex cable? (the one on the card)

    Carlo Barrak -

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    • Continue peeling the EMI tape off the bottom of the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket and remove it from the assembly.

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    • Remove the three 3 mm Phillips screws securing the AirPort/Bluetooth board to its bracket.

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    • Remove the AirPort/Bluetooth board from its bracket.

    • Be careful not to damage the pink thermal pad attached to the bracket.

    Why doesn't the replacement bracket come with a thermal pad, or maybe I didn't see a hint to buy one too?

    Ralf Häuser -

    Why doesn't the bracket come with a thermal pad or a hint to buy one?

    Ralf Häuser -

Conclusion

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

Author

Andrew Bookholt

578096 Reputation

9 comments

If you change your bluetooth card, its MAC address will change. Since pairing is done by MAC, you will need to re-pair all devices.

Oliver Humpage -

My Wifi failed, "no hardware found", but the Bluetooth still worked. I replaced the board, but still no dice. Turns out it was the cable. Lesson learned: try the cheaper part first! Not a total loss, now I have Bluetooth 4.

Michael Schwern -

hi there. Where did you get the cable. I'm looking everywhere, but I only see cables with 3 antenna connectors (but I see 4 connectors on the board) & they all have the isight wire (which i need as well).

Also did you find a good tutorial on how to replace the wire rather than the board?

any help here extremely appreciated!

Joshua Rosen -

Hello,

I was able to complete this repair in less than 40 minutes, thanks to the author and his easy-to-follow guide!

Regarding Step 10 - I found it easier to use a Phillips #000 screwdriver (instead of the recommended #00 size) for the two “orange” 3.1 mm Phillips screws, as it did not slide off the tiny screw heads like the larger-sized screwdriver would.

Robert Sebastian Soyka -

This is an amazingly succinct and clear at of instructions! My Hat is of to you!

I discovered that the flat wifi cable was not properly plugged in, so I plugged it back in and went no further! Yea it worked!

heartsingingsoul -

I added this note already in step 7, but want to make more visible for those that might encounter a broken cable:

Actually, on my repair attempt, one antenna cable broke (on the image the bottom right one in the red square in #7), I’m not sure whether it broke already before or was morbid somehow. Fact is: suddenly I had this cable in my fingers, and was sure I completely broke the macbook and need to find a new display now.

But as it turned out: the Mac is still fully working, including WIFI, BT, Camera etc. So apart from my huge relief, I want to address that these cables may break easily at their connection with the display. And that one antenna might be not mandatory for WIFI to work.

huedrant -

thanks - which one broke for you - I broke 2 and still have bluetooth and can connect to wifi but cannot surf on wifi - on ethernet till I can find a replacement - I also broke my isight cable trying to remove it from the logic board

Joshua Rosen -

While replacing the Airport/Bluetooth card, I broke the airport cable. The little connector piece is still connected to the logic board and I cannot take it off. Is there any solution?

LeRenardRouge -

did you figure it out. I suppose you tried tweezers. They pop right off. I broke two wires removing the right under/super drive tweeter. such a bummer. And I cannot find a full dongle of the isight cable with the 4 antenna connectors (I am only seeing ones with 3 antenna connectors)!

lmk if you found the bundle, where was that?

Joshua Rosen -