Introduction
Is your laptop having power issues that a new charger or SMC reset won't fix? Replace the MagSafe board.
Tools
Parts
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Remove the three evenly-spaced Phillips screws from along the rear wall of the battery compartment.
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Remove the following 3 screws:
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One 11 mm Phillips #00 in the middle of the case.
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Two 14.5 mm Phillips #00.
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Remove the following 3 screws from the rear wall of the battery compartment:
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Two 3 mm Phillips #00. (A1181 has three 3 mm screws and one 4 mm.)
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One 4 mm Phillips #00 on the right side.
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Remove the two 6 mm Phillips #00 screws from either side of the right wall of the battery compartment (not the ones closest to the battery connector).
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Remove the four 3 mm indicated Phillips #00 screws from the front wall of the battery compartment. When working from the left, remove the 2nd, 4th, 7th and 9th screw.
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Remove the following 4 screws from the back of the computer:
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Two 7 mm shouldered Phillips on the far sides.
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Two 10.5 mm Phillips toward the center.
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Starting near the display and working around to the front of the computer, pry up on the upper case. It is held with clips on the right above the optical drive. These will release with some firm lifting pressure.
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Be careful when prying up the upper case. It's very easy to slice open a fingertip and thus provide the blood sacrifice the Mac gods sometimes require of those who insist on doing their own repairs.
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While holding up the upper case (from the bottom or the top), use a spudger to pry up the orange trackpad and keyboard cable from its connector.
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Use a spudger to rotate the MagSafe board up and out of its housing. It may be helpful to pull the lower case out slightly to provide additional clearance.
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
5 comments
I did this and battery is charging but now MacBook doesn't boot up any ideas? I took it appart again and everything is connected ;(
broke the keyboard cable to motherboard BE CAREFUL!!!! ALL WORKING GOOD!
Does not boot up and did not break or damage the cable to motherboard. Any suggestions? The cable looks as new. But keeps booting for many minutes with spinning wheel
Before you do this - might be worth checking to see that the insulating gasket in the magsafe port is intact. I was about to buy a new board when I noticed that the gasket was broken (I wouldn’t have noticed there was even a gasket unless it was broken).
Turned out for me it was just this insulating gasket in the outside of the port that was stopping it charging and I didn’t even need to open the back. When I found part of it still intact, I guessed partial insulation might be that causing a short. The gasket is made of very thin tape and sure enough when I made a copy and put that in, it charged fine on the new charger I had bought. The old charger is dead (on this and a friend's machine) so I presume it was fried shorting while I repeatedly tried to charge before. P.S. I made the copy by making an inverse template by pressing Blutac into the port and used that as a block to print an outline onto the tape.
This is a difficult project. It is imperative that you read the entire guide before you proceed. Have a system in place to keep track of the screws so you know what goes where. Budget several hours for this.
jonathan55 -