Introduction
Use this guide to replace a broken Bluetooth board.
Tools
Parts
No parts required.
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Stick a suction cup near each of the two top corners of the glass panel.
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If your suction cups refuse to stick, try cleaning both the glass panel and the suction cup with a mild solvent.
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Gently lift the glass panel perpendicular to the face of the LCD enough to clear the steel mounting pins attached along the underside of the top edge of the glass panel.
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Pull the glass panel away from the lower edge of the iMac and carefully set it aside.
What's the best product to clean the face of the LCD?
Microfiber Cloth
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Remove the eight 8 mm T10 Torx screws securing the display to the outer case.
8 vis, pas 2
On reassembly, it is REALLY HARD to align those screws, because of the field of the strong magnets that hold the glass cover on. I'm sure there's a trick to it, but I'd love to know what it is for future reference.
A short piece of small gauge vinyl tubing that fits tightly over the head of the T-10 driver leaving an 8th of an inch or so in which to insert the screw to engage the head will hold the screw long enough to keep it away from the magnet and get it going in the hole.
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Slightly lift the top edge of the display out of the outer case.
When putting the display back I have resistance from the foam elements (on the top end where the iSight is) and have to press down really hard. Is that okay?
Well, stupid me put the 3.5" to 2.5" cage the wrong side up. ;)
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Pull the vertical sync ribbon cable out of its socket on the LED driver board near the top left corner of your iMac.
Reassembly of this part was the closest I came to disaster on this project. I tried inserting the connector a few times without success, and when I looked it it the leads, which are fragile, were all mangled. I smoothed them out by hand as best I could and and reinserted, very carefully this time. The trick is that the tip of the connector should be pointed somewhat upwards when reconnecting.
I was pretty sure that when I was done, I would reboot but have no display; but fortunately, everything worked.
So let’s say someone wanted to suck some of the dust off the back of the display before reassembly. Let’s just say that. Someone would likely suck this forsaken cable up into the vacuum tube then, wouldn’t they? They might. And if it were to oscillate in a rushing torrent of air, it might get munged? It might.
Here’s how you overcome such a disaster:
1) cut the end fresh, as close to the end as you can while cutting off any frayed end.
2) abrade the end gently, repeatedly, along the connector wire axis. I used emory paper. Your goal is to expose the copper conductors in the last 1/4” of the fragile evil wire.
3) Tape a small stiff cardstock to the back of the end of the connector. This is essential to press the connector wires into the connector.
4) Gently insert, taking special caution to not peel the copper off of the connector.
5) Tape that connector down deftly, without letting it move a millimeter and securing it for all time.
I just leave it connected. After disconnecting the other cables, there is enough slack to lay the display on its backside if you’re working on a flat surface.
I have replaced the hdd in this model about 8-10 times - I have never had to disconnect any cables other than the sata and temp sensor cables on the hdd. I just prop the lcd up with an egg carton (or something about 3 inches high that is soft and light) and access the hdd that way. The only thing I ever have trouble with are is putting the LCD screws back in around the magnets - but I have pretty much perfected that with a sissor/ tweezer tool.
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Rotate the display out of the outer case enough to disconnect the LED backlight power cable from the LED driver board.
I found it easier to very slightly lift the front edge of the black connector with a small spudger, then gently pulling away towards the bottom of the iMac. Pressing felt a little crude and didn’t work for me.
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Squeeze the two display data cable connector arms together to unlock it from its socket on the logic board.
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Pull the display data cable connector away from its socket on the logic board.
Aperte as duas exibição do conector do cabo de dados braços juntos para desbloqueá-lo de seu soquete na placa lógica.
Il vaut mieux déconnecter la partie du côté écran en premier (sous l'autocollant noir)
Je suis d’accord. C’est plus facile. Merci mon ami
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Disconnect the LCD thermal sensor cable connector from its socket on the logic board.
This is important regarding the fan running full speed
Is there a way to test the power supply to see if it's dead?
Achtung! Dieser Stecker kann sehr fest sitzen, hier hilft ein guter Fingernagel um den Stecker abwechselnd rechts und links zu Hebeln
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Carefully pull the display toward the top edge of your iMac and lift it out of the outer case, minding any cables that may get caught.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the Bluetooth antenna cable connector up off the Bluetooth board.
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Remove the single 6.6 mm T8 Torx screw securing the Bluetooth board to the outer case.
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Disconnect the Bluetooth cable by pulling its connector away from the socket on the Bluetooth board.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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One other person completed this guide.
One Comment
Seriously this is so incomplete! What about the cable that connects the Bluetooth to the logic board!?!??? Like this is so half way explanatory!
imac 2544 2.5 core i5 i touched the motherboard to supply and it spark now it is not powering
please tell me the directions
thanks witting for answering .
tahir - Reply
Im sorry to say, If it sparked when you touched it your motherboard s now fried. You need a new one.
Robert Wacker -
Very easy to lift the glass out. Don't jerk too hard.
kctipton - Reply
Success replacing the stock ST31000528AS with a STBD3000100 (Dead 1TB to new 3TB, both Seagate). First try. Using another Mac and a quality Firewire 800 cable, I formatted it using Target Disk mode, 2 partitions (defaults, except I made the first one bigger than the second). To the second, smaller one, I copied a bootable Install OS X Mavericks partition. Tried to boot. It booted, and I installed; nary a glitch. (Running the Installer over Firewire would have been faster, but I didn't want to reboot this machine.)
See part 2 below...
Matthew Elvey - Reply
(Part 2:)
I SKIPPED steps 6, 7 AND 8! Instead, after doing Step 5, I noticed I then had enough room and cable length to access the screws in Step 11 if I lifted the LCD up an inch or so, rotated it about 20-30 degrees clockwise and moved it a couple inches toward the base, and put it down. After removing them (Step 11), I propped up the LCD (with a spare spudger) and had enough room to do Steps 12, 13, and 14 without much difficulty. Felt safer/less work and risk than not skipping steps 6-8. No risk of the damage Ersan and Michael caused performing Step 7!
Matthew Elvey -
I just edited that step to add a note about the shortcut.
Matthew Elvey -
What the ???
Geoff Wacker has REJECTED my edit: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/history/ste...
I wonder why. What's the deal, Geoff? I mean I'd understand if I suggested folks didn't need the suction cups, as that could cut into iFixit's income stream, but what's wrong with suggesting that a few steps aren't needed? It worked for me; the EMC 2389 I fixed is humming along with a new 3TB HD I installed while skipping those steps.
Matthew Elvey -
I did not have to remove a single cable! After undoing the torx screws from the sides, I was able to rotate the LCD out of the way enough to reach all the screws holding in the ODD bracket. One of them was a bit challenging to get to, but I never felt that I was risking the cables by leaving them connected. Also, it wasn't totally clear, but you have to actually remove the ODD itself from the ODD bracket - 4 torx screws. The SDD mounts into the hard drive enclosure, then the enclosure is screwed into the bracket. Those holes (enclosure <-> Bracket) did not line up correctly for me, and I had to go with only three of them connected in the end. Seems to work fine.
cdansmith1 - Reply
Another comment on DATA & LCD Temp. Sensor cables: I had to remove the vertical sync, and the backlight cable, however, if you have an assistant or/can carefully rotate the screen clockwise/and then have it held up about 5" to 6" at a slight angle, you do not need to remove LCD data cable or LCD thermal cable, however - IMPORTANT: you must have a second pair of hands/or way to securely prop up the LCD. Also, don't rotate too much, since then you will pull out LCD data cable, and it renders the whole exercise moot, or can damage the cable or connector.
MaximBorzov - Reply
You don't need suction cups. The screen, held by magnets, can simply be pried off using a very thin blade such as a screw driver and fingers.
Deepsurvival - Reply
That's a bad idea. using a metal tool to pry off glass is likely to end with an expensive broken front glass.
Suction cups are common. Find a couple and do it the safe way. I use some cheap ones that came with iPhone repair kit.
max damage -
Hello, I just need to replace a slightly cracked screen on my iMac. Where is it best to place the suction cups? Thanks in advance
michelemiller0 - Reply
No need for suction cups, I just stuck my nails (short like guys usually have) between the top part of the screen and body, and it came off easily. I've never done it before, so it seems to be very easy.
Nikolas Lintulaakso - Reply
Nails worked for me too
Rob Dale - Reply
Just completed the replacement of the optical drive with an SSD using an OWC Data Doubler kit. Attempted to remove the optical drive without disconnecting any cables but found it a bit fiddly to orient the screen for good access. I bit the bullet and disconnected them and found the process less daunting than I imagined. Reconnecting them was similarly straightforward if you're careful.
Tip: you can skip the step for removing the optical drive thermal sensor connector from the motherboard. Still need to remove the sensor from the optical drive but you can leave that hanging and reattach it to the SSD later.
osienna - Reply
I have an odd question -- I want to remove the polarizer from the LCD. With some monitors this is trivial, others not so much. My question is whether it is bonded to the Liquid crystal, or whether it's loose, or cutting it with a razor blade would remove it. Obviously I'd like to know before I go to the trouble of dismantling the thing... Thanks. Paul
Paul Kwiat - Reply
I use Garmin GPS suction cup. Work very well
jc3Dcx - Reply
I’ve just successfully installed a 1TB SSD in place of my optical drive thanks to the information here- thank you to everyone who has contributed!
3 comments- the procedure described here seems to vary between HD replacement and dual HD/optical drive replacement. This can be confusing at times.
Expect there to be minor differences between the layout described and what you find when you open up your iMac. There are also, surprisingly, differences between the HD enclosure description, and the article provided by ifixit.
I was able to replace the DVD/HD enclosure single-handedly without fully removing the LCD, or deconnecting any of the cables (steps 5-11). It’s a bit cramped, and fiddly, but I was not happy removing any of the cables despite watching videos, etc., since they all seemed to involve applying more force than I was comfortable with. A more detailed description of how to release them might have helped, but even here, there may be minor variations even within the 2389 model.
Good luck!
ivan birks - Reply