Introduction
This Guide is here to help you upgrade your Late 2008 2.0Ghz Aluminum Unibody Macbook to have a Backlit keyboard! (without buying an entire new topcase!) Keyboards can be purchased off ebay for less than $75.
What you need
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Lift the hard drive by its pull tab enough to grab and remove the retaining bracket.
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Lift the hard drive out of the chassis, minding the cable attaching it to the computer.
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Remove the hard drive from its cable by pulling the cable connector straight away from the drive.
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Remove the following three screws securing the fan to the upper case:
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Two 5 mm Phillips screws.
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One 7 mm Phillips screw.
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Using the flat end of a spudger, pry the subwoofer connector straight up off the logic board.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the hard drive cable connector straight up off the logic board.
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Peel the hard drive cable from the adhesive securing it to the upper case, and maneuver the plastic retaining block out of the upper case.
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Peel back the small piece of black tape covering the right speaker cable.
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Use the tip of a spudger to pry the right speaker up off the adhesive securing it to the upper case.
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Lift the subwoofer and right speaker assembly out of the upper case.
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Use the tip of a spudger to flip up the locking lever to release the IR sensor ribbon cable from its socket.
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Pull the IR sensor ribbon cable straight away from the logic board.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the trackpad connector straight up off the logic board.
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Using the tip of a spudger, flip up the keyboard ribbon cable retaining flap.
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Pull the keyboard ribbon cable straight out of its socket.
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Remove the two 5 mm Phillips screws securing the keyboard flex bracket to the upper case.
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Lift the keyboard flex bracket out of the upper case.
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Remove the single Phillips screw securing the battery cable cover to the upper case.
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Remove the battery cable cover from the upper case.
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Use a spudger to pry the battery level indicator cable connector straight up off the logic board.
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Remove the two 4mm Phillips screws securing the bottom case clip to the upper case.
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Lift the bottom case clip out of the upper case.
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Remove the following five screws securing the logic board to the upper case:
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Four 3 mm Phillips screws.
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One 3.5 mm Phillips screw.
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Remove the two 7 mm Phillips screws securing the DC-in board to the upper case.
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Lift the logic board from its left edge and pull it out of the upper case.
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Remove the following screws securing the battery connector cover to the upper case:
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One 2.5 mm Phillips screw.
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Two 1.5 mm Phillips screws.
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Lift the battery connector cover out of the upper case.
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De-route the battery connector cable through the gap in the upper case and remove it from the computer.
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Now that you have removed the display (only required if a new top case is used to replace the keyboard), logic board, optical drive, and various other components from the upper case (or top case) You should have something that looks like this!
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We are ready to begin!
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1st you'll notice the large black piece of plastic over the back of the keyboard.
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you will need to use a spudger or a small straight edge screw driver to carefully unstick the the edges of the plastic from the upper case.
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Be careful not to tear the plastic as it is very thin!
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Now you will see a large clear plastic wafer stuck to the back of the keyboard.
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You can remove this easily buy peeling it up slowly.
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After you do this, remove the power button by pressing on the power button from the top of the upper case. The power button and a small metal ring (spring) will come out.
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Now you have all probably noticed the horde of tiny black screws that cover the back of your keyboard... Yup! You guessed it! Time to take 'em out!
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Now that you have removed all of the screws you can gently press on the face side of the keyboard and it will come right out. If you have removed ALL the screws!
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Here is a pic of the top case without its keyboard! hope you're not winded yet! We're only half way there!
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