MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Microphone

My Problem

I noticed my microphone stopped working with Skype and after searching the web for a software fix, I decided to take the machine to the Apple store. The nice folks at Apple informed me that my machine did not have Apple Care but they could fix it for $100 plus parts provided the issue was just the microphone. If the problem were on the logic board though, it would not be worth fixing. Of course they would not know until they attempted the repair. A bit of googling lead me to ifixit.

My Fix

Fortunately I have a set of micro screw drivers and Torx drivers so no investment beyond the microphone cable was necessary. The repair went very well and the instructions were awesome.

My Advice

The video data connector can be tricky. Be gentle. When reinserting the logic board. Be sure you have ALL of the ribbon cables ABOVE the board. I missed a few and had to remove the screws to get them out from under the board. Get a can of air before you do this. Since this is a fairly extensive teardown, might at well do some cleaning while you're in there. My fan is running less now that the heat sink is clean and there is better airflow. The screw head for the battery is funky. I did not have a driver tip for this but faked it with a small standard screw driver. Not something to do if the unit is still under Apple Care though.