Introduction
Use this guide to replace the display assembly of your MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar 2019.
For your safety, drain your MacBook Pro's battery below 25% charge before starting repairs.
Tools
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Power on your Mac and launch Terminal.
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Copy and paste the following command (or type it exactly) into Terminal:
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sudo nvram AutoBoot=%00
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Press [return]. If prompted, enter your administrator password and press [return] again. Note: Your return key may also be labeled ⏎ or "enter."
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sudo nvram AutoBoot=%03
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Use a P5 Pentalobe driver to remove the six screws securing the lower case:
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Two 6.2 mm screws
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Two 5.3 mm screws
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Two 3.4 mm screws
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Apply a suction handle to the lower case near the front-center area of the MacBook Pro.
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Lift the suction handle to create a slight separation between the lower case and the chassis.
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Insert one corner of an opening pick into the space between the lower case and the chassis.
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Slide the opening pick around the nearest corner and halfway up the side of the case.
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Repeat the previous step on the opposite side, sliding your opening pick under the lower case and up the side to pop the second clip free.
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Insert your opening pick once again under the front edge of the lower case, near one of the two centermost screw holes.
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Give the pick a firm twist to pop free the third clip securing the lower case to the chassis.
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Repeat this procedure near the other of the two centermost screw holes, popping the fourth clip free.
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Pull the lower case firmly towards the front of the MacBook (away from the hinge area) to separate the last of the clips securing the lower case.
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Remove the lower case.
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Set it in place and align the sliding clips near the display hinge. Press down and slide the cover toward the hinge. It should stop sliding as the clips engage.
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When the sliding clips are fully engaged and the lower case looks correctly aligned, press down firmly on the lower case to engage the four hidden clips underneath. You should feel and hear them snap into place.
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Carefully peel up the large piece of tape covering the battery connector, on the edge of the logic board nearest the battery.
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Remove the tape.
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Use the tip of a spudger to flip up the small black locking tab securing the cable in its connector.
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Disconnect the battery board data cable by sliding it out from its socket.
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Slide parallel to the logic board, in the direction of the cable.
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Use a T5 Torx driver to remove the 3.7 mm pancake screw securing the battery power connector.
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Use a spudger to gently lift the battery power connector, disconnecting the battery.
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Lift the connector high enough so that it stays separated from its socket.
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Remove the four 3.3 mm T3 Torx screws securing the plastic covers on top of the display hinges.
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Remove the two 3.1 mm T3 Torx screws securing the aluminum cover on top of the main display cable.
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Remove the cover.
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Remove the two 1.7 mm T3 Torx screws securing the aluminum cover on top of the display cable flex connector.
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Remove the cover.
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Pry the display board flex cable straight up from its socket to disconnect it from the display board.
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Remove the four 1.5 mm T3 Torx screws securing the two aluminum covers on top of the two display cable connectors.
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Use a pair of tweezers to remove the two aluminum covers.
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Remove the four 3.3 mm T5 Torx screws on both sides, which secure the antenna cable assembly.
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Also remove the twelve 1.1 mm P2 pentalobe screws on both sides.
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Carefully disconnect the two antenna coax cables by prying them straight up from the logic board.
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Slide your tweezers or the flat end of your spudger underneath each cable until it's near the socket, and then gently twist or pry up to disconnect it.
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Carefully remove the antenna assembly while simultaneously feeding the antenna cable bundle out from underneath the heat pipe.
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Grab the left side of the display cable assembly and pull it towards the bottom end of the MacBook and away from the spring hinge.
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Use a pair of tweezers to pull the spring hinge of the display cable out of its bracket.
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Repeat this step with the right spring hinge of the display cable assembly.
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While steadying the MacBook pro with your free hand, remove the three T8 Torx screws from the lower display hinge.
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Remove the remaining three T8 Torx screws from the upper display bracket.
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Push both halves of the MacBook Pro together so that the hinge brackets can be lifted clear of their recesses in the chassis.
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Push the main body of the MacBook Pro away from you while pulling the screen toward you to separate it.
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Remove the display/screen assembly, being careful not to snag it on any cables.
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Compare your new replacement part to the original part—you may need to transfer remaining components or remove adhesive backings from the new part before installing.
To reassemble your device, follow the above steps in reverse order.
Take your e-waste to an R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler.
Repair didn’t go as planned? Try some basic troubleshooting or search our Answers community for help.
Is this step necessary? I can’t perform this step as I am attempting to repair water damage and need to remove logic board & most likely replace the battery.
Macrepair SF -
@mac_medic You definitely don’t want the power coming on while the board is wet. In your case, I think powering on the machine to disable Auto Boot would do more damage than it prevents. I agree, skip this step and be prepared to disconnect the battery quickly if the laptop automatically powers on. Good luck!
Jeff Suovanen -
Thats right! You don't want power running while working on your logic board.
Dan -
This did not work when running High Sierra.
Kyle B -
Tried this on a 2018 MBP 13” Touchbar (there’s no iFixit guide for this model yet). Need to replace a broken screen.
Luckily I managed to connect to an external screen (Cmd-Down Brightness to switch displays) and enter above command. Seems to work, but there’s another problem with this model - it powers up as soon as any key is pressed……. ffs <gnashes teeth>
Cool_Breeze -
I unscrew the battery first and wrap electrical tape over the logic board battery connector before attempting any repairs to the board. Haven’t had any problems yet and I’ve worked on about 10 of these models already. Also when you open the bottom case use a suction cup at the bottom and pull up then run a plastic spudger along the edges to disconnect the clips. Also only use a plastic spudger on the board. Saw a youtube video from a repair shop and he did not disconnect the power and used all metal tools during the entire process of removing the board. His last step was to disconnect the battery terminal.
Brian -
Is this step necessary if my mac can turn on? Battery fully dead(
Nursat b -
BEFORE YOU START: The included torx head stripped off before I was done (and you might need an additional T4) so stop now and go buy a good one. Also they fail to warn you above to get some blue threadlocker ahead of time.
Jason Sherron -
This command did not work for me and I read that sometime in later 2020 Apple stopped this command from working…any ideas on a work around?
Patrick Machacek -
Not able to do that with damaged screen
richardjgreen -
If you have a damaged screen you can still use a converter from thunderbolt (USB 3) to HDMI and plug your Macbook Pro to your TV as monitor display. Just make sure to chose the right Source (HDMI IN) in your TV. I did it and to make it work I unplug and plug again in my Macbook and so I could disable the Auto boot
Roberto Sanchez Bustos -
Hi. This does not work on 2018 13” MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. I did exactly this to disable auto boot. But when I check by using nvram -p it says: auto-boot true. Am I doing something incorrectly? I did everything step by step. Copied and pasted the sudo command, pressed enter and then entered my password. I have Big Sur 11.1 installed. Is there any other way since I need to replace the screen. Thank you. Adrian
Adrian Vizik -
Hi everyone. This is also a little pointless if you can’t see anything on the screen, and you don’t have a display adapter to USB C to display it. I agree with Brian about removing the back and disconnecting the battery cable before you even think about opening the lid of the MacBook. Applying the insulation tape is also a handy little tip that just makes sure there is no way to discharge from either the board or battery.
Roberto Enrieu -
running `nvram -p | grep 'AutoBoot'` in terminal verifies that it was accepted
result: `AutoBoot %00`
Marek Polák -
Running Big Sur 11.6.7 on a 2019 16" MBP, it's "auto-boot". So it's:
nvram -p | grep 'auto-boot'to display the current state, the default istrue- and then to change it,sudo nvram auto-boot=falsewhich turns it off.Ed Mechem -
This step is completely unnecessary if you follow the guide to disconnect the battery properly. Just put some tape between the battery and logic board connection to prevent it from accidentally touching and therefore powering on the laptop.
Grant Ormsby -
It took me a few tries to make this command work, as I was able to copy and paste the command into Terminal, but could not type in my laptop’s password. I finally typed my password into a text document, copied it (command C), and then pasted it into Terminal and it worked.
tommy404 -
I didn’t do this. Mine never auto-booted before I replaced the battery. Now it does.
hatuxka -
BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING - CHECK THE BATTERY!
I-fixit sent me a bad battery, which I didn’t realize until it was already install. They sent me a new one, but I wasted hours uninstalling and reinstalled.
Get a volt meter and measure the voltage on the output of the battery pack. If it reads 0 V, SEND IT BACK. It should read over 2 V.
bcardanha -
I've just received my replacement battery and it reads 0,042V between the two main connectors. Do you think it's dead?
peter sussex -
When I did this from Terminal.app within Recovery Mode, the “sudo” was not recognized but I could invoke it without the sudo part. It seems to have been accepted when looking at “nvram -p”
johann beda -
When in Recovery Mode, you already have superuser powers. So you don't need to prefix commands with the sudo command to invoke them with root privileges; you already have them. Do a
pwd(print working directory) after opening Terminal in Recovery Mode, and you'll see that you're in the root user's directory.Ed Mechem -
I received the battery kit for my 2018 MacBook Pro and as per the above comment from bcardanha - Oct 12, 2021, I checked the voltage on the pads marked + and - . It was zero volts so I panicked a bit.
I sent a message on the iFixiT Facebook page and I got no reply. I finally found the customer service email for Ifixit Europe and sent them an email voicing my concern as I was not keen to work for couple of hours just to discover that the battery is faulty. I had an almost instant reply on the email (kudos to them) and they adviced me to go ahead and install the new battery as the voltage measured when battery is not connected is not relevant.
I took a leap of faith and after two hours… the new battery showed 50% charge and everything seems to be working just fine. I am happy it worked.
Mircea Comanici -
After removing the old battery and installing the new battery I powered up the MBP before screwing the bottom on. I discovered the my keyboard would not function. It took a few hours of investigation and frustration that I discovered the track pad power ribbon had become partially dislodged from the trackpad. I was able to see that this through the little machined slot where the battery sat. I had to remove the trackpad to reinsert the power ribbon back into the connector in the trackpad. after reassembling and reinstalling the battery etc the keyboard worked. Just food for thought if your run into the keyboard issue.
Ed Mease -
This should be the default. IMO I tell you to power on - not the lid.
G Sena -
Est ce que cela fonctionne sur un macbook pro 2017 sans touchbar ?
maël muzelet -
Bonjour Maël, oui, ce tutoriel concerne "les MacBook Pro 2016 (et plus récents) et les MacBook Retina 12" 2017 (et plus récents)"
Claire Miesch -
Excellent instructions. I was able to follow and install the new screen. I recommend that you get a good set of tools before you begin. I started with an inexpensive repair kit bought online. The Penta and torx bits failed. I bought an IFIXIT kit with quality bits and I was able to do everything I needed.
Tom Markham -
If you're not running an admin account the sudo command won't work (which honestly, you should not be running admin). Rather than logging in to your admin amount via the OS, in the terminal type "login [admin username]," then the password and you'll be able to do the sudo command as described above. Once you're complete, type "logout [admin username]" and you'll be good to go. Obviously replace [admin username] with whatever the account name for your admin user is.
arichard2401 -
For those unable to complete this step because the screen is too damaged I recommend leaving your macbook on until the battery dies.
Nicholas R Licato -
Just replaced my 2018 15" MBP battery. Running Sonoma.
I found no way to disable AutoBoot (The status can be checked in the Power section of system report).
Anyway, i left my battery completely drain before opening the MBP, and had no issues during the process.
Cédric Bontems -
After sending this command in terminal when I checked what happens if I now open the lid, instead the screen lit slightly up (still black) then a battery symbol showing the charging state showed up.
Now, after replacement of the battery, this is all I get to see.
No reset of NVRAM nor PRAM helped.
Currently the new battery charges (58% atm) and it feels like it‘s mocking me.
webrockers -
I suspected the keyboard or TouchID sensor wouldn’t work, so I went on and checked every connector.
I missed connecting the left TouchID sensor from step 31.
webrockers -