Mac mini (PowerPC) Speaker Replacement

Written By: iRobot
  • Comments: 10
Mac mini (PowerPC) Speaker Replacement

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

21

Time Required

No estimate

Introduction

Restore sound to your machine by replacing the speaker.

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    • Power down your Mac mini, disconnect all of the cables, and flip it over.

    • Insert the Jimmy into the crack between the aluminum top housing and the plastic lower housing.

    • The Jimmy should reach a stop about 3/8" down.

    A spackle knife makes these steps go much faster.

    jouniseppanen -

    A double sided letter opener or a thin non-serrated butter knife will suffice.

    To prenent cosmetic blemishes, place a matchbook cover or similar thin cardboard on the outer perimeter under the “jimmy”.

    Mike -

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    • Gently bend the Jimmy outwards to pry the crack open a little larger and lift the lower housing up a small amount.

    • There are several plastic clips on the lower housing that fit into a channel in the aluminum top housing. Your goal is to use the Jimmy to push these clips inward enough to free them from the channel, while gently pulling up on the lower housing.

    Patience is your best friend.

    Do not insert “jimmy in too far. Marking a line from tip upwards on the tool will prevent too far insertion, possibly breaking tabs or damaging internal components.

    To prevent the cover closing back up, small strips of matchbook cover (os equivalent) can be inserted about half inch hold prevent closure.

    Mike -

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    • Once you have the first side free, rotate the Mac mini and start prying up on the front edge.

    • Use the same prying motion to both bend the clips inward and lift the lower housing up out of the top housing.

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    • You may need to move the Jimmy along the edge to pry up all of the clips. Be patient and do a little bit at a time.

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    • Keep working around the perimeter, freeing the clips along the final edge.

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    • Flip the Mac mini back over and lift the top housing off of the lower housing.

    Before reassembly, make sure no wires are sticking out.

    Line up top cover carefully. Gently press down on top cover until top and bottom fully seated.

    CAUTION! DO NOT PRESS TOO HARD ON THE COVER TO PREVENT CRACKING THE PLASTIC TOP.

    GO EASY.

    Mike -

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    • If your mini does not have Airport installed, then skip this step.

    • Grasp the Airport antenna board and lift it off of the two plastic posts holding it in place. You may need to push back the black plastic tab jutting through the lower left corner of the board.

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    • Remove the yellow tape securing the power button cable to the black plastic framework.

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    • Remove the three black Phillips screws securing the plastic framework to the logic board and lower case.

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    • Grasp the optical drive and mass storage unit in one hand and lift up enough so that you can see beneath it.

    I just put in a 1G RAM chip that just came in the mail from iFixit. And though I followed every step this step (removing the HD, cooling fan, and drive unit) was not needed. I put the chip in, put everything back in place then removed and replaced the RAM with no problems. So it would seem that for a/my PowerPC Mac Mini (I have a 1.33 Ghz processor) it was not a needed step.

    mbob518 -

    BTW, it took about 15 - 20 min even with my experimentation.

    Quote from mbob518:

    I just put in a 1G RAM chip that just came in the mail from iFixit. And though I followed every step this step (removing the HD, cooling fan, and drive unit) was not needed. I put the chip in, put everything back in place then removed and replaced the RAM with no problems. So it would seem that for a/my PowerPC Mac Mini (I have a 1.33 Ghz processor) it was not a needed step.

    mbob518 -

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    • If your mini has neither an Airport card nor a Bluetooth board, you can simply lift the optical drive up and away. Otherwise, you need to disconnect the Airport and/or Bluetooth antenna cables first.

    • With your free hand, pull the Bluetooth cable up from Bluetooth board and unplug the Airport antenna cable from the right of the Airport card. Caution: both of these connections are very small. When re-assembling unit after repair, you may want to remove the two screws holding the airport card to the assembly and lift the card up and out to re-attach the cables.

    havin a hard time with step 9. i don't really see how I'm supposed to remove the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth cables from the Airport card. They seem to be soldered in! is there a twisting motion involved? I just don't wanna mess it up more than i already did with my putty knife haha!

    chris -

    Same problem here on this one. There seems to be no way to get them off and I can't seem to unscrew this thing. I think this otherwise great guide should be more precise about how to get the antenna cables out of the way :-(

    sebastian.patting -

    Antenna cables just pop off - straight up.

    Must be perfectly aligned when reconnecting as well before you re-seat them.

    Small needle nose pliers may be useful or a spudger or flat jewelers screwdriver to pry up on the cable as close to the connector as possible.

    rockpiano54 -

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    • Remove the three long, black Phillips screws from the corners of the fan. These screws are strongly threaded, and will offer significant resistance.

    • There is no screw in the bottom left corner.

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    • Lift the fan out of the computer.

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    • Peel up the yellow tape securing the speaker and fan cables to the bottom of the hard drive.

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    • Use a #1 Phillips to remove the two screws attaching the right side of the hard drive to the plastic framework. You'll need to angle the screwdriver down to get access to the lower right screw. Be sure to apply steady force to the screws and turn slowly so as not to strip them.

    If one has a thin screwdriver, there is a hole in the plastic to keep the screwdriver straight when removing the lower right screw. That hole is closed with a piece of yellow tape to keep the airflow, so after replacing the drive, one needs to use a piece of scotch tape to cover the hole again.

    robek -

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    • Use the same screwdriver and steady force to remove the two screws attaching the left side of the hard drive to the plastic framework.

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    • Use a spudger to pry the hard drive away from the interface board. Wedge the flat end of the spudger between the interface board and the far right side of hard drive and wiggle back and forth until the hard drive slides out about a sixteenth of an inch. Then move to the other side and repeat the procedure. Go back and forth until the hard drive slides free.

    • When reinstalling the hard drive, make sure that you don't slide the top pins into the lower row of holes.

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    • Lift the hard drive out of the assembly.

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    • While holding the assembly with the speaker resting on the table, remove the four black Phillips screws holding the speaker in place and their associated rubber bumpers.

    • When replacing the speaker, place the rubber bumpers into the plastic casing first, then slide the screws into them, and finally line up the speaker with the screws. When working on the lower screws, you'll need to angle the end of the screw up a bit, as the speaker sits higher on the framework than you might expect.

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    • Deroute the speaker cable from the plastic framework, removing tape as necessary.

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    • The cable you're about to remove is very fragile - do not pull directly on the wires. Instead, try to pry up the connector directly, using your fingernails or a small flathead screwdriver if necessary.

    • Disconnect the speaker connector from the interface board.

    • Pull the speaker out from the plastic framework.

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

iRobot

Member since: 25/09/09

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