My Problem

Question mark at startup. No hard drive found by Disk Utility.

My Fix

Smoothly, but no speaker audio after rebuild. Need to open it back up and check the cables.

My Advice

double check your connections before putting it back together! Really easy overall. Great guide.

My Problem

Hard disks are expensive these days and I had a spare SSD. I wanted to replace my PowerMac G4 which held the time machine backups and I needed an iTunes server for the Apple TV and to sync the iDevices wirelessly. So I took the cheapest mini which is like 100 times faster than the G4 I guess and installed the RAM and Disks I have.

My Fix

I wasn't very comfortable doing this, I didn't want to mess up my shiny mini, but it all went good. I was astonished at how they managed to cram in those parts while keeping it relatively simple to maintain.

My Advice

It's VERY important to insert the upper hard drive very precisely, otherwise you can't install the antenna plate. The antenna cable is very fragile, don't insert it before you got the drive right!

My Problem

My son spilled coffee that got into his Optical Drive. I replaced the Optical Drive Bezel

My Fix

Went fine.

My Advice

Just follow the good advice from your site.

My Problem

I picked up a used first-gen Macbook Air, spending $460 for a beautiful ultraportable with passable tech specs. I immediately noticed two issues: high heat and a slow hard drive. My MBA put out around 80° C when idling, 100° C under load, and the fan churned constantly at 6200 RPM. Boot times were around two and a half minutes, and even when the OS X desktop finally appeared, another 60 seconds elapsed before my login items were loaded. Something had to be done.

My Fix

The repair process was quick and easy, thanks to expert repair guides published by iFixIt. I found the video teardown especially helpful; MJ's glowing tresses provided me with the confidence I needed to take apart an Apple notebook.

Once everything was disassembled, I was shocked to find that someone on the Foxconn assembly line had applied a entire tube of cheap thermal paste to the exposed dies. The goop had run well off the edge, and all of it had physically deteriorated quite a bit under the high heat. I cleaned everything up, reapplied an appropriate amount of Arctic Silver, installed a 128 GB Sabertooth ZF SSD, and sealed her up. Presto!

My Advice

My system is lightning fast now and actually feels brand new; complete boot in under a minute and idles around 50° C @ 1800 RPM. Any owners of the A1237 should very seriously consider performing a similar repair; I am absolutely loving this laptop now that it's cool enough to put on my lap!

For me, the proper tools made all the difference. In particular, I highly recommend the pro magnetic pickup tool, the Petzl LED headlamp, and the plastic sorting tray. There's a ton of extremely small screws inside the Air, and dealing with them is far easier when you've made the appropriate prep steps.

My Problem

My wife's screen on her iPhone 3GS was damaged and she was going to upgrade to a 4S. I figured I'd replace my dock connector with hers since my 3GS WiFi reception was all but dead. Your YouTube videos and the Installing iPhone 3GS Dock Connector Guides were VERY helpful.

My Fix

I'm NOT a repair guy. Once I tried to fix the sink and we ended up calling a tow truck! But I went over and over the process in my head; I made notes from your guide and even drew out on piece of paper exactly where I would attach each screw (with tape) as I took it out. I spent just a couple bucks on a Spudger and a Suction Cup, and I figured I was ready to go.

My Advice

I'm just about to unscrw the case when I realize that step three of about 17 steps is remove the display assembly. So instead of putting her dock connector on my phone, I put my display assembly on her phone. It works swell and took only a few minutes. Now we both have new phones, but mine didn't cost over $300.

My Problem

The optic drive was dead on a used Macbook pro that I purchased

My Fix

The repair went easy. I followed the guide to the "T".

My Advice

Better eyes or more light would have been helpful with the small screws.

My Problem

In possession of two Powerbook G4's; my dear old friend (DOF for short) and my daughter's unit (DU for short), both of which gave up at the same time. DOF gives the meltdown message in an assortment of languages to shut down now if you open more than one browser page and the DU is a simple gray screen. As the DU is rather banged up and her super drive kaput I determined to take her logic board and upgrade memory and HD to an SSD making my DOF a mighty soul again.

My Fix

Alas. As I approached the final stretch of removing DU's HD so I could be sure that the logic board was fully functional before doing that entire switch out, I stripped the 2 phillips head screws that keep the HD frame onto the unit. Unless some miracle occurs to release them I will have to drill them out and forgo testing the logic board and just go for broke on it. I'm taking a sabbatical on it until I can work up the courage to accept possibly murdering the logic board while drilling out the screws.

My Advice

Make certain your micro screw drivers are in no way compromised (stripped) and the correct fit. Although it worked on all other screws without incident, these screws were especially tight (reasons known only to God and Apple) and I couldn't get the proper tork on them.