Introduction
Wireless connectivity issues? Use this guide to replace an inoperative AirPort/Bluetooth board.
Tools
Parts
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Remove the following ten screws securing the lower case to the upper case:
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Three 13.5 mm (14.1 mm) Phillips screws.
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Seven 3 mm Phillips screws.
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Using both hands, lift the lower case near the vent to pop it off two clips securing it to the upper case.
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Remove the lower case and set it aside.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the AirPort/Bluetooth cable connector up off the logic board.
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Carefully peel the AirPort/Bluetooth ribbon cable off the top of the black plastic AirPort/Bluetooth housing.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the AirPort/Bluetooth cable connector up off its socket on the AirPort/Bluetooth board.
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Disconnect the camera cable by pulling its connector away from the socket on the logic board.
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Pry the AirPort and Bluetooth antenna connectors (3 total) up off the AirPort/Bluetooth board.
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De-route all three antenna cables from their channels in the black plastic AirPort/Bluetooth housing.
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Remove the two Phillips screws securing the AirPort/Bluetooth board housing to the upper case.
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Carefully remove the AirPort/Bluetooth assembly from the lower case.
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Remove the two Phillips screws securing the AirPort/Bluetooth board to the AirPort/Bluetooth board housing.
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
5 comments
I didn't even have to replace my daughterboard -- I ordered a used one, but simply "reseating" (removing and attaching it again) the ribbon cable to the daughter board fixed my problem that the WiFi and Bluetooth card was invisible to the OS.
Thanks anyway for these great instructions! Without them I hadn't even thought about that the WiFi functionality was on a daughterboard... I thought other than in most "Windows laptops" that functionality was integrated into the main board.
Excellent guide! The whole thing took me about 30 minutes and as soon as I turned on my mac again the WiFi worked perfectly.
I replaced both the card and the ribbon cable. Still get the message that there is no WiFi device installed. 15" MBP, mid-2010. The Bluetooth and Ethernet still work. But it is very inconvenient not having WiFi. Any thoughts on what else to try would be appreciated.
Raymond Steinbart
Step 1 (technically step 9 - replacing the base plate) Apparently one of my screws was a micron or two smaller than the others. This screw belongs to the hole above the optical drive, which is also apparently a couple of microns smaller than the others. It took seven attempts to figure which screw had originally been in that hole; all the other screws were too large, but fitted perfectly everywhere else.
Bizarre much?
Will -
It might be a matter of how the screws are driven in, and not that they're slightly different sizes. When I reassembled my MacBook, a couple of the screws, including the one over the optical drive you mention, were hard to drive in and jutted up a little bit instead of sitting entirely flush. Swapping screws didn't help. The solution was to unscrew them and drive them in at a bit of an angle - perpendicular to the slightly curved surface of the back plate where the screw holes were, instead of fully vertical with respect to the ground the Macbook is sitting on. Doing it that way, the screws were easier to drive in and they all ended up flush in their holes. Didn't matter which screws they were. (I swapped a few around just to check after reading this.)
Andrew Janke -
I had no such screw issues. Either there are differences in manufacturing lots or I just got incredibly lucky during reassembly!
xtophr -