Mac mini Late 2018 Logic Board Assembly Replacement

Written By: Jeff Suovanen
  • Comments: 49
Mac mini Late 2018 Logic Board Assembly Replacement

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

5

Time Required

No estimate

Introduction

Prerequisite-only guide to slide the logic board and attached components out of the Mac mini's chassis.

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    • Grasp the power supply cable and lift to disconnect it from the logic board, wiggling as needed to loosen it up.

    Loosen the side nearest outer case first

    dermoid777 -

    Is that a standard 20 pin power connector?

    gotjoshua -

    It appears there are curved metal tabs (1 on each side of the connector) that compress until they lock the connector in place or the connector is removed, but doing so evenly as to not break off the 2 gold knife blades on the logic board that slide into the plastic connector. Both the tabs & gold knife connectors are seen in the 2nd picture, in the first picture you can see how the tabs look when they are locked into the logic board connection.

    bbbb -

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    • Carefully lift the connector for the LED indicator light straight up to disconnect it from its socket on the logic board.

    • Take care not to pry under the socket, or you may break it off the board.

    So I followed the picture above, but lifting straight up on it ended up breaking off the entire component from the board…

    Is there a way to fix this? It doesn’t look like the computer turns on without this connection made

    Kevin Moran -

    @ksmoran Yes, it can be fixed. See Maarten’s comments on the RAM guide. That connector is only for the LED indicator light on the front, so your Mac mini should still turn on and work fine. If it’s not turning on, there’s some other problem.

    Jeff Suovanen -

    I have also broken the led connection off the logic board. Is there another way to reattach it, other than finding someone to solder it?

    Steve Kenyon -

    The video at the top of the page (timestamp: 2:30) does a much better job showing how to do this. They didn’t use any tools. Simply use your fingers to pull the wires straight up from the connector. Don’t try touching the actual components, since they’re so fragile. The wires are the better bet.

    Philip Stancil -

    I found it easy to get the corner of a plastic spudger underneath the wires as close to the plastic clip as you can get it, and gently prying up. Use the logic board as the base for prying. Didn’t take much force, and everything here is really delicate. I’d try a plastic spudger here first.

    Christopher Reynolds -

    This worked for me, and didn’t take a lot of force.

    Chris Lawrence -

    thanks that worked nicely

    Alexander -

    Ditto on the spudger- i couldn’t shift the connector with the angled forceps as shown in the photo

    Kier Darby -

    I also used a plastic spudger.

    Radim Cernej -

    I think I broke something here, too. I was able to disconnect it and reconnect it. But the LED does not light up anymore. I will not open the device again to fix this. It also works without the LED lighting up.

    Patrick Pulwey -

    I’m a proud new owner of a perfectly functioning, 3 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5, 512GB SSD, & 32GB RAM(came with 8GB RAM), 2020 Mac Mini with a broken LED connector. I thought I was being so careful lifting the LED wire off of the socket, but that little socket is fragile, very fragile. So, no, I’m not worried about the LED working. It’s entirely in stealth mode now, not drawing attention to the nearest passerby. I do wish I hadn’t broken it, but it’s so much better than “bricking” it!

    Thomas Robison -

    It appears there are curved metal tabs (1 on each side of the connector) that compress until they lock the connector in place or the connector is removed, but doing so evenly as to not break off the 2 gold knife blades on the logic board that slide into the plastic connector. Both the tabs & gold knife connectors are seen in the 2nd picture, in the first picture you can see how the tabs look when they are locked into the logic board connection.

    Wizbang FL -

    Do not lift anything at all. The wording above talking about a connector is misleading There is no connector as for the antenna cable. These are two separate cables plugged horizontally into the socket on the logic board. You need to pull these cables horizontally out of the socket. Do this carefully and slowly best by using tweezers gripping the cable or metal cap as close as possible to the socket. Once I figured this out, the cables came off quite easily.

    Walter Jury -

    I’m sorry to disagree, but there is a connector, similar to the one for the fan (but much smaller, and more fragile). Do not pull the wires out of the socket! Best tip was to use a spudger to gently lever under the wires near the connector so that it pops up vertically.

    Tony Piper -

    I attempted and failed at following these suggestions. When lifting up didn’t work, i tried to pull horizontally as suggested by Walter Jury. Unfortunately, I pulled the two wires from the connector, leaving the connector on the board. After the memory swap and reboot, i may consider a fix to the led light.

    robertstiff -

    I also used the spludger. The flat end and just a little at a time to make sure I didn’t get the connector on the motherboard

    Aaron Dudek -

    Oeps … ook hier ging het mis met het LED kabeltje en de hele socket is van het board af.

    Wie kent er (liefst in Noord Nederland) iemand dit dit heel secuur kan herstellen zodat het LED weer werkt?

    bartvels -

    There are two metal prongs near the wires that seem to lock the connector in place. Wiggling these a tiny bit with tweezers may help loosen them up. Press the edge of the connector furthest from the wires against the board with a spludger while prying gently under the 2 wires with another spludger.

    Roger -

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    • Use a T10 Torx driver to remove the two 7.5 mm screws securing the logic board.

    These were very tight,

    plevin -

    Yes - Had to use a pliers to turn the T10 Screwdriver to get the first turn loosened!

    dermoid777 -

    Yeah, very tight. Make sure you put your strength into the twist and not the press. This made all the difference for me.

    koobsmooth -

    The second screw just wouldn’t come out for me!

    Adam Urbina -

    I used the ordinary, “heavy duty” driver for that job. It comes off pretty easily unless you use the precision tools intended for delicate work.

    Tomek -

    Note that these are T10s, not TR10s. I also had trouble with how tight these were, too. I even started to strip the screws with the iFixit TR10 bit and driver. Luckily I did the smart thing and quit the brute force+ignorance route. After a quick trip to Canadian Tire, I used this folding set of Torx drivers to get the screws out effortlessly.

    Ryan J. A. Murphy -

    Glad I wasn’t the only one. I didn’t have much around me but a paper towel helped me with the grip and I was able to get it off

    Stefan Ayala -

    what they said above. these two T10 screws were hard to unscrew!

    Edward Fox -

    The tightness is just caused by the blue stuff they use to seal the screw in the hole (presumably for warranty purposes). As koopsmooth says, put your strength and speed into the twist and not the press so that the seal snaps.

    Tony Piper -

    Almost impossible to remove with the iFixit tools (replacement kit). Felt like I was damaging the screws. Twisted right off with a regular screwdriver with T10 bit.

    Loek Keizer -

    Embarrassed to admit that I was trying to remove the logic board, couldn’t do it, and then realized I had only removed one screw :(

    Suffice it say that it came out pretty easily with both screws removed.

    Michael Morphis -

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    • In this step, you'll push the logic board free from the clips holding it to the frame. Push only where directed or you may damage the fragile cooling fins.

    • Place a thumb at each end of the exhaust vent, over the fan screw holes.

    • Push firmly in the direction of the ports until the logic board unclips and begins to slide out of the Mac mini.

    Okay - I used a lot of “might” to push on the ends of this heatsink to no avail. Literally, I was scared to break it - I could feel one side moving and the other not budging. I used a large flat-edge screwdriver vertically into the Mac Mini, prying lightly against the edge of the case hole and onto the back edge of one of the silver fan standoffs protruding from the motherboard. Very little leverage here caused the board to pop out past those tight clips. Phew!

    booster4075 -

    Agreed needed a lot of force, but came out as described just tense moment. Almost ready to try the pry method and then it popped free. Phew is right.

    plevin -

    It does take a lot of force. I found the best way to handle it is to put the two exhast screws back in and use two T6 screw drivers to push. Thats easier than using your big thumbs and keeps you from damaging the fins.

    Geoffrey McKee -

    Wow, great. Thanks for the comments above, and mine is also very difficult to push. I screwed back to two T6 screws and is still no luck. At the end, I push the two screws with a T6 screwdriver and bang, much much easier. Just my two cents. Good luck guys.

    Tso Dart G -

    Watch your fingers pushing this out! I just cut my thumb on the sides

    brian.brianb64 -

    Got myself sliced on the right thumb. Don’t even know on what.

    Heath Ahnert -

    A few people have commented here about having to use a lot of force to get this out, but make sure that all of the black area at the back of the case are not being covered by your fingers as you try to push it out, it came out quite easily for me once I realised I had my fingers on it!

    Rick Curran -

    This may sound really stupid, because I am :) but keep in mind that the logic board assembly is coming out the side. So as you push from the inside don’t be blocking that motion with your fingers on the outside of the case. Once I realized I was defeating my own pushing of the fan it came out very easy.

    Neal Culiner -

    Mine came out as described. Did not need “too much” force

    Jeffrey Gorman -

    Duh. I put 8 fingers on the back of the case, and two thumbs on the exhaust vent and SQUEEZED. Wouldn’t come out.

    Then I read the comments and realized my thumbs were pushing against my fingers. As soon as I moved my fingers, it slid out with no effort.

    Michael Stricklin -

    I positioned the case on my lap so that I could get my hands under and around the side of the case, with just my thumbs inside. It came out effortlessly. Before that I tried sliding it out with the Mac on my workbench and it wasn’t moving.

    Tony Piper -

    WATCH YOUR RIGHT THUMB!

    Do not put your right thumb in the position displayed in the 1st diagram!

    When I exerted force to push the board out, the RAM guard sliced my thumb open in the exact point where the thumb is contacting the RAM guard. Since it’s hard to know how much force to exert the 1st time, you may end up like me.

    In the 2nd and 3rd photos, you’ll see how the thumbs are positioned above the RAM guard - this is likely a safer position.

    Marvin Marcial -

    Pretty embarrassed to admit that I tried removing the logic board with one screw still in place. Once removed the board came out pretty easily.

    Michael Morphis -

    Booster4075's approach (first comment) works nicely.

    Roger -

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    • Slide the logic board out of the case.

    • When reinstalling the logic board, make sure to hold the thin LED indicator light cable out of the way so it doesn't get damaged.

    When sliding back INTO the case after you’ve replaced the RAM, be sure to keep an eye on the LED light indicator connector cable. It’s easy for the logic board to slide back in and cover up the cable, which risks breaking the plastic end piece.

    Philip Stancil -

    Tape the LED light indicator to the case to keep it out of way until reassemble.

    dermoid777 -

    Also make sure the power cable connector does not slide between the power connector on the logic board and the big capacitor (marked 101) when sliding the board back into the housing.

    Ernst Cline -

Conclusion

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

Author

Jeff Suovanen

Member since: 06/08/13

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