Mac Pro 2009-2012 Case Replacement

Written By: remitouch

Comments: 20

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

1 hour

Introduction

If your Mac Pro has a scratched or damaged case, here is a tutorial to completely replace it.

Anyone can do it, but the disassembly and reassembly are very long steps. Patience is the key to success.

Tools

Un tournevis cruciforme

Parts

Mac Pro 2009-2012 Case

Step 1

To open the Mac Pro, you'll have to lift the clip on the back of the case
Leave the clip open during the entire disassembly!

Step 2

Lift the flap to put it in the unlocked position, the panel should separate from the box without forcing.

Step 3

Then to remove the hard drives, pull them towards you with a bit of force.

Step 4

Pull the DVD drives towards you, just like the hard drives.

Step 5

Press both latches to unlock the bracket and then pull it towards you.
You shouldn't need to apply much force.

Step 6

Remove the 6 or 8 pin connector from your graphics card.
This step is optional, it will depend on the graphics card of your Mac Pro

Step 7

On the power supply there is a button, press it to move the power supply to the left (see picture)
Then pull the graphics card towards you to take it out of the box
This step is optional depending on the GPU of your Mac Pro

That is not the power supply but rather just a fan shroud. It is important to move that back to release any PCIE cards that have the rear locking tab as it also moves the metal bat shown on the right side of the picture to release the lock from the tabs.

Kevin Youngblood -

Hello, the cable between the grey block and GPU is my GPU alimentation (mini 8-pins), so for unplug this alimentation, you need to move the fan shroud

Please read the whole tutorial, just after this step, I explain how to unplug this cable

remitouch - 08/07/22

Step 8

Disconnect the PCI-e cables from the motherboard
This step is optional depending on your Mac Pro

Step 9

With a screwdriver unscrew the two screws that hold the fan bracket to the board
Pull the fan towards you

Step 10

Behind the fan bracket there are 2 SATA cables, a 4 pin mini power supply and a 4 pin fan

Step 11

With a H2.5 screwdriver, unscrew the screws on the bottom of the bracket (photo 2)
With a Phillips screwdriver, unscrew the screws on the bottom of the case (photo 3)

The bottom screws are H2.5

John Zheng - 11/09/20

corrected, thk

remitouch - 24/04/21

Step 12

Remove the clip at the top of the fan
Pull on the top of the fan a bit.

Step 13

Similar to the top remove the clip at the bottom and pull out the fan.

Where tf os the clip at the bottom???????

Dan man5000 - 01/03/21

It is only necessary to move both fans about 1 cm towards the centre of the computer box. You then need to disconnect the plugs for both fans the the loudspeaker in order to slide out the cpu unit. Do not attempt to remove the fans!

frank booy - 06/04/21

Step 14

Disconnect the 2 x 4pin fan cables and the 1 x 2 pin speaker cable
Do not forget this step or you risk damaging your connectors on the motherboard and make unusable fans and speaker!

Wtf hot the !&&* do you get those out. There like stuck

Dan man5000 - 01/03/21

- You need to disconnect/seperate the retaining catch on the motherboard connecting shroud from the retaining clip on the cable connector.

- To help do this, you can Very Lightly use a spudger/prying tool or cut some piece of scrap recycled plastic off a bottle to slide between the two on the top side of the connector, parallel to the motherboard.

- Once you have to two interlocking halves held apart, then you may be able to

* wiggle the connector off

* use a small flat headed screw driver or similar tool to Again Lightly help start to push from between the motherboard and cable connectors

* and/or, Gently use a hobby plyers or large tweezers to lightly grab the cable connector from the short edges for a better grip while wiggling

- If this still doesn’t make sense, then you might try searching for images of “motherboard cable connector retaining clip” or some such.

Hope that helps.

Chris Alby - 10/04/21

Step 15

Pull the CPU support towards you
Do not use force during this step,It it does not come out easily ensure the fans are not blocking the exit.

Step 16

Remove the ribbon that connects the motherboard to the expansion card (USB, Jack, Power Off etc.)
Attention, it is necessary to remove the cable carefully so as not to bend the pins which are in the connector of the motherboard!

Step 17

Unscrew the 6 screws that hold the card in place.
Be careful to unplug the power cable on the card !!

Step 18

unscrew the two screws and remove the cover

Step 19

Push on both knobs to remove the power connector
Do not use force, if you are struggling ensure you are squeezing the clips adequately.

Step 20

Unscrew the 4 screws that hold in the power supply

The 4 screws used here require a 2mm Hex bit. You do not need to unscrew the Phillips screws to remove the power supply.

tabbypears4 -

Step 21

Pull the power supply towards you.
Be sure to pull the connector forward and watch the cables

Step 22

Unclip the bluetooth antenna

Step 23

Unscrew the 10 screws holding in the motherboard

Step 24

Follow the steps in reverse to resemble.

Great instructions.

Easy to follow

Andrew Schmetterling - 06/06/19

Thanks for posting this teardown! Worked out great!

Used this to replace all the cooling fans in my macpro5,1

Andrew Clark - 03/09/20

how can i take apart the case further as in Taking off the latch and the Wifi and the top piece that holds the PSU?

CaffeinatedMac - 21/05/21

how can i take apart the case Further as in the latch and the plastic parts the cheese grater front panel ect.

CaffeinatedMac - 21/05/21

Conclusion

To resemble, follow the instructions in the reverse order.

Author

remitouch

Member since: 12/10/16

979 Reputation

7 comments

Bonjour, j’ai un mac pro 5,1 de 2010 dont les clapets (ou les trappes, j’ignore le terme exact) de la baie des lecteurs de disques restent ouverts à chaque fois qu’ils sont actionnés. Je n’ai pas réussi à les démonter, et les 2 gouttes de 3 en 1 sur les glissières latérales n’ont rien changé au problème. Je n’ai trouvé aucun tutoriel, ni même aucune occurrence de ce problème sur le web. Pourriez-vous me donner quelques conseils ? Merci.

Gabriel Fracque - 02/10/19

Amazing explanations and perfect picture track on each move made.

Thanks much - this was very helpful :)

Dennis.

Dennis OBrien - 24/01/20

Hello sir , I have a problem with my Mac Pro 5,1 mid 2010 Xeon 6core Cpu 64 GB Ram RX580

I erase SSD Hard Drive and I want to reinstall mojave OS and it does not work still appear ‘Missing Operating System’

I try to use all commends on startup like (Option) (Commend+R) (Option+Commend+R)(Option+Commend+R+P) and more commends

but nothing work with it … please I want help . I need your help please , please …

Hussain Khan - 13/04/20

You’d probably get an answer a lot quicker if you just posted that as a question.

[deleted] - 15/04/20

Thanks for posting this guide!

I used it to replace all the cooking fans in my macpro5,1. Worked great!!

Andrew Clark - 03/09/20

The "cooking fans", is your Mac Pro a flat top grill?

guardian10 -

@guardian10

Haha! 😆

I guess my spell check/proofreading skills were not engaged that day…

Andrew Clark -