I made it

My Problem

My trackpad had begun to malfunction. I had exhausted all of the software and system solutions, and it was time to try a replacement.

My Fix

I successfully changed the trackpad, but managed to break an electrical connector for a fan on the motherboard, which caused no end of grief getting it re-soldered to the board. The T6 screwdriver was not what I had hoped either -- I was looking for a fancy star-shapped head and it was really just a conventional philips head.

My Advice

Be very ginger with these parts - feel around before you decided to make a decisive pull. This was the first step and I failed to probe to understand how the connector was connected. I yanked too soon.