Introduction
Removing the display on an iMac Intel 27" Retina 5K requires cutting through the adhesive around the perimeter of the screen. After the adhesive is cut, it cannot be used to re-seal the display in place, so you'll need to apply a new set of adhesive strips.
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If you are re-using your existing display, you must also remove the old adhesive from the back of the display.
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Peel off the old strips of adhesive using tweezers or your fingers. Start at the bottom and peel upward towards the top of the device.
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After all the old adhesive is removed, carefully clean the area under the adhesive with 90% (or greater) isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free cloth. Wipe in one direction, not back and forth.
I've done this on several iMacs now, but today I noticed another layer of thin black plastic stuck to the back of the display.
It was really tough to remove and left a lot of clear, sticky goop under it.
It's really thin, but it was strong enough to hold the screen in place by itself - I reconnected the display cables and tested before pulling the backing off the new adhesive strips - and it stuck together!
I had to pry it apart again and it actually ripped my new glue strips in 2 or 3 places. I was able to still use them, but it did not go as smoothly as other iMacs I've upgraded. Everything was fine in the end, but I left some blue painters tape on the top of the screen overnight so the glue strips will set up without the screen falling off - just to be on the safe side.
Does anyone know if this last layer of black plastic on the screen should be removed or left in place when replacing the glue strips?
That Black layer of plastic should not be removed. I found that on some segments, upon peeling back old adhesive remnants, the thin black plastic layer would also begin to peel off. STOP and cut off what has been removed, separate the black plastic strip from the adhesive remnant you are peeling off. The continue removing remnants.
Are you sure that you’re not supposed to pull the black backing all the way off? I removed all the black strips before getting to this step.
IMHO: The rubbing alcohol is clutch for this step. There’s plenty of residue after pulling up the old adhesive and the 99% Isopropyl Alcohol really took the tacky remnants off.
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With the spudger still poking through the hole in the adhesive strip, push the spudger tip into the corresponding hole in the frame of the iMac.
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Using the hole and spudger to anchor the position of the adhesive strip, line the strip up against the right edge, gently pull down against the spudger to ensure the strip is taut, and stick it onto the frame.
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Work your way around the perimeter of the iMac, adding three more adhesive strips in the same manner.
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Working counter-clockwise from strip 13, place:
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strip 12 on the top right
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strip 11 on the top left
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strip 16 on the left vertical
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On the iMac Intel 27" Retina 5K Display, strip 12's blue tabs will not line up with the top antenna in the same way as the regular model. This is perfectly acceptable and won't impact the performance of the strips or antenna.
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Grasp the red film pull tab on the 14 adhesive strip and pull to remove the backing from the strip.
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Align the strip on the bottom edge of the rear enclosure, directly to the right of the middle screw on that edge.
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Run your finger along the length of the adhesive strip to ensure it is straight and unwrinkled, pressing down as you go to adhere the strip to the iMac.
Using iFixIt’s adhesive strips, i cannot strip off the white backing. Pulling on the tab pulls the wrong backing off, the black backing. I can:t figure a way to do this correctly!
Same with mine, but carefully using a razor blade to separate the white side from the adhesive, leaving the clear side attached, then remove the white side and place accordingly.
Phill -
The video shows the correct method - attach these strips to the back of the screen rather than the iMac itself.
The Video can be found at macsales.com support site. Here’s the link:
https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos...
got to 07:48
The instructions at this step need to be re-written. The Bullet point that says “Align the strip on the bottom edge of the rear enclosure” is misleading. Strips 14 and 15 are to be Placed on the Bottom Back Edge of the Display! Also note that the way these strips have been manufactured they are a bit funky. They will be placed with the DARK SIDE up, but the film covering the adhesive on these is tough to get properly separated, fortunately I had not cut my nails recently, so I was able to finally get it off after several minutes.
I did this step according to this written guide, and honestly the result was not good, plus it is much harder to put the display back on when the 14 and 15 strip adhesive is attached onto the computer.
The video (also from ifixit) shows the correct way, putting strip 14 and 15 on the LCD itself. Have done it like this on a previous iMac I had and the results were much more pleasing.
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Repeat the previous step for the 15 adhesive strip, placing it along the left half of the bottom of edge of the iMac.
You've really got to pay particular attention to exactly where to stick these - especially the short right-angle part as it doesn't go on the back of the glass as you might expect but actually over part of the edge of the LCD. It's also really difficult to remove and reposition the stickers since they will stretch when pulling them off.
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If you've already verified that your iMac is working correctly and are ready to seal it up, skip to Step 16.
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Gently insert the display data connector into its socket on the logic board. Be sure to press it straight into the socket, and insert it completely.
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Flip the display data connector lock down onto the socket.
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Insert the display power connector into its socket on the logic board.
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14 Comments
yes .it works
Does this work with iMac 27 2017?
Used these guides to replace the cpu and ssd’s in my 2015 iMac 27”. Super easy! And yes with a late 2015 model, the cpu is replaceable with a regular Skylake cpu. I bought a 3.2 i5 model and replaced with a 6700K ! And yes these also take 64GB of DDR3. For the PCIE SSD you can get an adapter off of ebay…look for m.2 to iMac adapter…since they’re cheap I recommend getting like 2-3 and figuring out which one works best with your m.2 ssd. So yeah, you can get a 1TB m.2 AND a 1TB 2.5” ssd in this and have a nice little box for peanuts.
Friends! This manual and accessories are compatible with the iMac 27 5K 2017?
Hi,
I done all of the above on my 2017 27inch iMac and now my microphone won’t work, when I tap the enclosure it reacts but it doesn’t hear my voice commands. Maybe the adhesive tape got stuck on the microphone somehow. where is the microphone located exactly? Help please……
Best regards, Henk
I have the same problem. Were you able to fix it?
ottimo complimenti per i dettagli
guida superlativa e precisa grazie del vostro aiuto
I did it! Be very careful when you place the tape at the bottom of the screen. The screen can fall off! Also important to keep the imac standing and not laying on it’s back because it will make it hard to remove the bottom adhesives.
After following to the letter, the screen came off and went back on just fine. 5 days later (while setting in a cool environment) the screen just came unstuck and fell out sometime during the night, Of course it tore the two cables badly in addition to the antenna wires that must have gotten in the way somehow. Took most all day, but was able to the wifi and bluetooth wires back in place and the power cable (4 connector) plug back in. The hardest part was the ribbon cable. With high magnification hood on, was finally able to get it back in it’s socket. Had to tape it down to the rest of the board so it would stay. Used new sealant strips, then CLAMPED with spring clamps (around 12 of um) then laid it flat, screen up, then put it near a baseboard heater for two hours. Temp gun was around 100* all around it. Hopefully that won’t happen again!!
Excellent write up. Also, the detailed photos were super helpful in seeing the alignment.
The only hiccup I had was trying to remove the final tabs from strip 15 and 14 while the glass was blue taped down. I had to lift the weight of the glass panel off of the tab strips before they came off. Aside from that, a very smooth install, and very quality product. Thanks!
I found that using a couple of paperbacks (one larger than the other) performed the same function - taller one placed to the rear of the stand and the other one in front accommodated the curvature perfectly.
robinsnaddon - Reply