Sheldon Carpenter

The thermal sensor connection is more of a pain than it seems. It's a cramped area and it's not clear when it's properly plugged in during reassembly. It may *feel* like it's in, but then pops free at the slightest touch. I guarantee that if as soon as you start up, fans running max speed instantly is the indication this is the issue. If you're ok with that, then fine, but otherwise, you'll have to pull it apart again.

Note: SERIOUSLY:

- Disconnect the temp sensor from the iMac

- Lift up the screen from the RIGHT side (as if the iMac were standing up, facing you) to a vertical position

- Peel back the tape on the back of the LCD to expose the power supply connection

- Pull the connection from the LCD

- Attachment is the reverse

MUCH easier

Completed the repair in about an hour with the bare-bones iFixit screen replacement. It really helped to have a good tool set, good light and a magnifying hood and a great guide.

• I also used an old diaper-like cloth to work on. This has saved my bacon countless times as it keeps little screws and bits from bouncing off into oblivion, while making it really easy to spot them.

• The screen I had was utterly fractured. Several layers of packing tape were necessary, and even then the glass wanted to separate from the digitizer when pulling it up. It came up from the middle and I just used a spudger to work it up.

• I did not have the iOpener. I used a hair dryer and got the whole screen fairly warm. Everything detached easily.

• Be sure the frame where the screen fits is clean. I used a spudger holding the phone upside-down to scrape out the crud. I also smoothed out a big ding in the frame with a metal spudger, very carefully scraping and pushing it out. The new screen went in like butter.

When you reassemble the cables, you can align them with the sockets using the tip of your finger. A spudger or tweezers are way too clunky and is actually far more difficult. When the cable aligns with the socket, give it a firm push with your finger tip and you should be able to feel it click into place. This is actually a pretty tight mechanical fit and is fairly hard to dislodge.

I gotta say, reassembling this assembly it very fiddly and painstaking. There are lots of little parts that need to fit into other little parts while engaging yet other little parts. Seriously, and exploded diagram of all these little parts would be helpful! I took my time, used a very bright light and a magnifying hood while disassembling and reassembling and it really helped.

When you get the old screen off, check the frame edge where the digitizer rests. Mine was caked with gunk that had accumulated there from use. I gently used the tip of a spudger while holding the phone upside-down-ish and scraped out the gunk. Holding it upside-down kept the gunk from falling into the phone.

It seems like a couple of these steps are reassembly steps? I wish they would label them as such. This step and step 10 are for reassembly, and it's confusing.

Be very careful not to bend the screw tabs on the top case the perimeter screws attach to. Bending them causes them to quickly fatigue and potentially break off. When reassembling the top case, be sure the tabs are all *inside* the case before reseating it. If you get resistance, pull the case back up, check the tabs and reseat the top case again.

There is black tape holding the fan to the exhaust fins. Use a razor knife to cut this tape at the seam between the exhaust and the fins.

When replacing the new fan use 1.5cm Kapton tape to seal the fan to the housing. DO NOT USE ELECTRICAL TAPE. Electrical tape's adhesive composition is not suitable for the high-temp environment of the inside of a MacBook.

Alternatively the tape can be carefully peeled back from the fan and reused, but it gets a bit stretched out.

The adhesive on a couple of MacBook Pros I've worked on were far from mild. Perhaps age makes the adhesive more aggressive, but be careful pulling it up. I worked mine from both ends.