My Problem

Had two 17" MacBook Pros, yeah, I know, an embarrassment of riches. The working one was in a beat up case that was overheating pretty badly. The non working one was pristine, but isn't that the way things go.

My Fix

Following iFixit's step-by-step guide was a no-brainer. I read and reread many times before popping the first screw. I knew I needed thermal paste so I placed an order. While shopping around I found a few more items that I needed more than the paste! If you need to tackle a job with more than four screws of various sizes I highly recommend a Magnetic Project Mat. This was a major lifesaver in trying to keep 6.5mm, 7.2mm and 7.6mm screws separate!

So all the screw were out. All the cables were unplugged. Thermal paste removed. Parts cleaned. New paste applied. Screws back in place, cables replugged. Hey, where's that other cable? Under the logic board? Repeat step 1-8. Make sure all cables are out of the way now.

Battery in place. Power applied. Prayer said. Button pushed. And the chimes are heard the Apple logo is seen and there is great rejoicing.

Next job: find out what's wrong with the bad logic board. Yeah, when I get time.

My Advice

GET THE MAGNETIC PROJECT MAT! That's all I can say. It's a dry erase board with a grid. Drop your screws on the mat - they're not going anywhere. With the handy marking pen give them a pertinent description like: 6.5mm T6 or little logic board screws.

Oh, and the spudger. Don't forget the spudger. It does so many things like fish wires from beneath logic boards. I now wear it behind my ear daily.

My Problem

The keys were not working.

My Fix

The repair went perfect and I completed my repairs in about 2 hours. My Macbook air works as good as new now, thanks to the repair instructions on your website.

Kind Regards

My Advice

The hardest part of the repair was trying not to strip the tiny screws. Sorry I did not take any photos during the repair process.

My Problem

Replaced power jack on a notebook PC. Cracking case on notebooks without scraping or snap clip damage. Not to drop screws that require teardown to get back.

My Fix

Repair sucess . Perfect sizes for all screws. No broken tabs or screw driver gouges on surfaces.

My Advice

Buy the bigger kits if you can swing it. Don't drop screws on floor.

My Problem

I discovered that my video card was going bad. So I ordered a new one and the tools to do the job.

My Fix

Actually I have not yet fixed it, because the flickering lines have disappeared. However, I am told that they will reappear sometime. So I am prepared when that happens again to now do the repair.

My Advice

Prepare to fix what needs fixing, and do it right.

My Problem

The right speaker had blown on my computer suddenly and was buzzing quite badly.

My Fix

I am well experienced with repairing MAC computers and had all the necessary tools so the repair went as expected. It took the better part of an hour to complete the repair and get the machine back together. Only one screw was a bit difficult to remove but the repair went very well otherwise.

My Advice

Best advice - Print off the directions and tape the screws to the papers exactly as you remove them. This makes for a no confusion repair and an easy way to put them back in exactly the same hole they came out of. Certainly invest in a spudger if you don't have one. Make yourself a good work area. Plenty of light and a safe and static free place to place the components when they are removed. Use a tweezers to take out the tiny screws. You don't want them to get lost under a board or to cross a connection or blow a circuit.

I probably ought to have had a bit of extra orange tape for this repair as the tape did not want to lay back down after years of holding tight. Instructions on applying the thermal paste would have been nice attached as an optional step to the repair. I simply didn't think of looking it up prior to the repair.

My Problem

Last year I upgraded the memory on my iMac 20" Mid 2007 from 1GB to 4GB using Crucial Memory. There was a handy software tool to order just the RAM the iMac required. This year I wanted to upgrade the CPU. GPU, and hard drive. I replaced the Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 (2.0 GHz, 4 MB L2 cache, Merom core) with the Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 (2.8GHz, 4 MB L2 cache, Merom core). I replaced the ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT (128 MB) with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro (256 MB). Also, I replaced the 250 GB HDD with a Crucial m4 128 GB SSD, because most of my data is stored on external hard drives. I upgraded the iMac, because at five years old it needed the fix!

My Fix

Very well. I mainly followed the guide for installing a heat sink here: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+i.... I also used the guide for using Arctic Silver Thermal Paste. I took my time; overall, it took 6 hours from start to finish. Then...I formatted my SSD, reinstalled OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.2, and restored a recent Time Machine backup.

My Advice

Read about your old components and new ones. Make sure everything will be compatible.

Read guides on iFixit. Read other person's stories on iFixit and other message boards. Once I read many stories, I realized I was not alone and should not be scared to try this myself!

Take your time during the disassembly and reassembly of your machine.

Take breaks. :-)

When taking out the Torx screws, I placed them on a sheet of paper and labelled the various sizes. This allowed me to keep track of the screws and to easily identify them.

My Problem

A good friend of mine asked me to replace the logic board in his Mac. I have done numerous electronic repairs over the years; Stereos, Xboxes, Automotive ECUs, Key FOBs, Telephones, Doorbell Units, etc...but I never dealt much with computer repair. Mainly because there was never much demand for it.

My Fix

I came across a repair guide on iFixit for the exact model. It makes repairs much easier to see the step by step process. The more I dove into the repair I noticed a bunch of tools needed that I did not have. My eyes lit up; "I get to buy tools...!" After making a small list of what was needed my search began. Well, it did not last long as I found ALL the tools, and much much more, right here. The tools arrived in the mail ahead of schedule and the repair last about 15 minutes. minus the cost of the logic board my friend was out 2 Samuel Adams Octoberfest and a 8oz steak. There were no complaints from me and his PC is up and running again.

My Advice

This is a hard question. I "stumbled" across this website through a Google search. With the pletora of information on here I am surprised I never found this site before. The niche of this site seems tied to high level consumer electronics were as I deal more in the Automotive world. I guess my advice is more of a "Thank you..."

My Problem

MacBook Pro had been overheated at some point in the past.

My Fix

Followed the directions.Went great.Noticed that originally there was excessive thermal paste applied.I don't know if the computer was overheated previously caused the paste to run,but I found a lot of paste on the chips.

My Advice

Be care full,follow instructions,and don't be in a hurry!

My Problem

Theorized faulty solder connections within ATI graphics chip need to be resoldered.

My Fix

Baking it in the oven at 375 for 8 minutes worked perfectly. My laptop works better than before with the new thermal paste and fresh OS install.

My Advice

Remember to shield components you do not want the heat to radiate to. Also, remove the metal clips on the top edge of the logic board before baking in the oven. If you do not, heat will concentrate there (if it's not shielded) and melt the plastic mounting area.

My Problem

My 20" iMac G5 has been shutting down after seconds, or minutes, or many minutes. Advice that seemed most consistent with symptoms was over heating -- also seemed to happen on days when it was 100+ F outside (though this is inside). Never saw the red LED indicating over heating, but then it always had the back on when it shut down. Recommendation to clean out fans and replace heat sink compound, thus the parts order.

My Fix

I vacuumed out and blew out the fans, though I saw no dirt/dust/crud accumulation. I found a guide for getting to the heat sink, but for a different version of the 20" iMac G5 (pictures don't the same). If the disassembly (47 steps) is the same for my model, I don't want to go there; at least one wire is likely to break in all that disassembly and reassembly.

I did find the OmniCleanz very effective, on my Mac Book and large TV.

The iMac is holding in there so far, have added a fan to move more air to the room corner behind it.

Since my backup LaCie hard drive appears to have failed (maybe a new power supply), my plan is to order a replacement large hard drive to capture what's on the internal hard drive, and prepare for a new iMac, which will also let me get past 10.5.8. This is cover all bases approach, just haven't decided what to do with the G5 if it hangs in there.

My Advice

My experience with my apparently failed LaCie hard drive says don't buy a single, relatively unique, interface -- my Mac Book doesn't have a firewire port.

I again have suffered though terminology and designations, e.g., model numbers. Commercial electronics seem to have too many numbers to describe them, and literature and commentary often are arbitrary in choosing what designation to use. E.g., the "Axxxx" designation distinguishing my version of 20" iMac G5 from at least one other doesn't show up on my "About This MAC".