MacBook Air Models A1237 and A1304 Upper Case Replacement
Put a smile on your face and replace your upper case.
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Remove ten Phillips screws securing the lower case to the MacBook Air:
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Six 2.8 mm screws
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Two 3.8 mm screws
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Two 5.4 mm screws
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Lift the battery out of the Air.
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Charge it to 100%, and then keep charging it for at least 2 more hours. Then, unplug and use it normally to drain the battery. When you see the low battery warning, save your work, and keep your laptop on until it goes to sleep due to low battery. Wait at least 5 hours, then charge your laptop uninterrupted to 100%.
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If you notice any unusual behavior or problems after installing your new battery, you may need to reset your MacBook's SMC.
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Disconnect the port hatch ribbon cable from the logic board by pulling it straight up by its black pull tab.
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Pull the audio out ribbon cable off the adhesive securing it to the upper case.
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Use a spudger to pry the audio out ribbon cable connector board off the hard drive bracket.
I skipped the step (6c) of prying the audio out ribbon cable connector board off the hard drive bracket (& disconnecting it), since it doesn't come off real easily, and I didn't want to damage it. It only requires a little more care when removing the HD from it's bracket if you skip step 6c.
amiller770 - 답글
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Disconnect the audio out cable from its socket on the port hatch ribbon cable.
Agreed, I encountered no issues when I skipped this on a Rev.B model.
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Use a spudger to pry the hard drive cable connector up off the logic board.
Reversing step 8 is where I ran into trouble. The replacement fan I had was slightly thicker than the original and caused the ZIF cable to work its way out of the tenuous connection it had to the SSD, resulting in a "?" missing boot drive error upon startup. Took me three tries to get it right! The difficulty is to get the drive connector to the logic board to reach and seat without pulling the other end out of the drive.
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Remove the four Phillips screws securing the hard drive assembly to the upper case:
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Two 4.7 mm screws.
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Two 3.9 mm screws.
Longer screws on top.
Two 3.9 mm Phillips screws.
Two 4.7 mm Phillips screws.
There is a cable glued to the diskframe that must be loosened with a spudger before you can remove the frame.
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Use the tip of a spudger to pull the fan cable connector straight away from its connector on the logic board.
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One 5.9 mm Phillips screw.
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Two 1.9 mm Phillips screws.
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One 1.9 mm Phillips screw.
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One 5.0 mm Phillips screw
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Five 1.9 mm Philips screws.
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One 2.5 mm Phillips screw.
I have replaced several Logic boards at this point on the A1304 model, and realized that I did not need to remove the heatsink (Steps 14 through 17). You need to remove the screws around the fan, and disconnect the microphone cable (step 19). Of course if your replacement logic board doesn't include a heatsink, you need to take it off.
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Lift the heat sink up off the logic board.
I removed the fan at this point as well. Disconnect the small connector from the fan to the logic board and lift out the fan. Good time to blow off the dust!
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Remove the two following screws securing the AirPort/Bluetooth board bracket to the upper case:
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One 4.7 mm Phillips.
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One 3.9 mm Phillips.
The plastic Airport/Bluetooth bracket provides additional resistance and the 3.9 mm screw is easily stripped. Remove carefully.
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Remove the two Phillips screws securing the speaker assembly to the upper case.
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Use the pointed end of a spudger to flip up the retaining flap on the trackpad control cable socket.
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Peel the trackpad control cable off the adhesive securing it to the upper case.
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Pull the trackpad control cable out of its socket.
I noticed on the unit that I just replaced that the trackpad control cable socket location had been moved. The unit I was replacing had it more offset to the right from what is indicated in this picture and had an angled ribbon cable like the airport one. It would be a big help to include a part number for the straight one as illustrated, or make a note that some "wiggling" will be needed to make the other work. (The offset isn't huge and you can make it work with the angled cable.)
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Remove the two Phillips screws securing the DC-In board to the upper case.
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Lift the DC-In board out of the upper case.
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Upper case remains.
You forgot some things ... like maybe to remove the display from the topcase? Or the wifi/bluetooth antennas? Also, some advice on thermal paste would be nice, like if you think one needs to replace it completely, or if just putting it back together is fine. (fine for me after a quick test, no apparent overheating.) Though I also cleared out lots of dust, so airflow should be better anyway.
step21의 인용문:
You forgot some things ... like maybe to remove the display from the topcase? Or the wifi/bluetooth antennas? Also, some advice on thermal paste would be nice, like if you think one needs to replace it completely, or if just putting it back together is fine. (fine for me after a quick test, no apparent overheating.) Though I also cleared out lots of dust, so airflow should be better anyway.
Thanks for being an extra set of watchful eyes. We have no idea why, but a server glitch prevented the Display pre-requisite guide (which includes the Bluetooth/Wi-Fi wires) from being displayed. We re-added the page and everything looks fine now.
We also added a link to the thermal paste guide on Step 17. This should enable other users to properly apply thermal paste once they're ready to put the heat sink back on.
Thanks again!
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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댓글 5개
Although my upper case installation went perfect and my macbook Air never operated better all of the sudden my mouse pad , the part that clicks somehow started to respond slow and now takes more tan one or two clicks to register but I do not think it's your fault. If you have any suggestions on how to make it work better it would be appreciated, maybe If I tried to clean it out with isopropyl alcohol to clean it, it might help.
Kind Regards, It was fun fixing my macbook air.
Also It would have helpful to have a few extra small screws as I stripped one in the display to top case connection.
I would say 2 things. First, you will need the exact match of the model (for example A1237) plus the rest of the product specific (exact year of make). For example my model is A1237 but the upper case I bought didn't quite match especially the locations of the inner screws. I could not fit 6No screws back in when reassembling together. Without these screws the macbook air was put together and working ok but if you have a choice you want to get the exact match product. Secondly, screws. Some screws just won't come off. First thing you need a good screwdriver to unscrew a very tight and some are forced into position when assembled in factory. If you cannot take them out, take it to a computer guru who has the right hand. Seriously. I had problem with 3No screws they just won't come off. I forced it and damaged the screws. Luckily a specialist helped me to unscrew them and he told me that it's a known problem on macbook air. Other than that the replacement of the upper case was pleasantly done.
These intructions worked great. I ended up not taking off the cooling fan and then heat sink which saved a lot of time and I think reduced the risk of me screwing something up. Thanks!!!!1
