Nexus 9 Antenna Board Replacement

Written By: Geoff Wacker

Comments: 7

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

No estimate

Introduction

Use this guide to replace the antenna board on your Nexus 9.

Tools

T5 Torx Screwdriver

Parts

Step 1

With your fingers, carefully pry off the back plastic casing. Starting at the corners is usually the easiest.
The rear-facing camera seems to fit a little too snugly in its compartment on the rear case; so make sure that it stays connected to the motherboard.

Just removed the cover. On mine, there is a piece of double sided tape, 2"x1", bottom middle, sticking the back cover to the battery. The battery pack's black skin ripped as I pulled the cover off. I was able to peel the skin from the tape and reposition on the batteries. Don't think this black skin is nothing more then a way to print branding and other texts onto the batteries.

Sccoaire - 15/02/16

Same here. Ridiculous!

rexograph143 - 21/02/18

I can confirm that the camera does fit very snugly into back cover.

Start by prying off the cover from the end opposite the camera. When you get near the camera lens, press the lens gently into the body as you continue to release the cover.

Graham Taylor - 04/12/17

Careful pressing that lens into the body, though, because the lens is actually attached to the back cover, not to the camera module (stupid, frankly). It is def a good idea to work from the other corner around, though.

Drew Rushmer - 16/01/20

Step 2

This step is not necessary if you have already removed the battery.
Carefully peel up the copper shielding with your fingers.
Before fully removing the copper shielding, make sure that the blue antenna cable is out of the way of the copper tab.

Step 3

Unscrew the three 3 mm Torx T5 screws on the antenna board.
This step and the next show the battery removed, but it is not necessary to remove it if you are only replacing the antenna board.

The antenna board is tricky to reinstall. The board must be jammed against the stop above the left most screw in the middle of the tablet, and then slipped under the holder toward the middle top of the board. This board drives the speaker beneath it and if it is above the stop the speaker might not work correctly and the back cover will not fit like it should.

M Gasque -

Step 4

Use your fingers or a pair of tweezers to disconnect the blue antenna cable from the motherboard.
When reinstalling the antenna, be sure to clean it with a degreaser such as windex or isopropyl alcohol. The oils on your fingers have the potential to create wireless interference.
The antenna board should now lift free of the motherboard.

If you happen to own a Nexus 9 LTE model, I strongly suggest that you take a photo of the exposed back (i.e. with the rear cover removed) and all wires still in place. You will later find that the LTE model differs in terms of daughter boards used, apparent connection points, number of wires used, and most importantly the way the wires even connect various components. At that point, you will also find that guides that cover the WiFi-only model are useless, for said reasons. You will additionally find that the only guides that are commonly accessible cover only that model. Lastly, before you replace any of the boards, I also strongly encourage you to compare the photo you will have taken to any replacements, to ascertain that they are compatible (to get you started: you will note a connection point on the daughter board that houses the micro-USB connector present in the LTE edition and absent (although the board does contain the solder points forming a circle) in the WiFi edition).

poser1999 - 16/10/19

These antenna connectors are very fragile and if crushed are toast. I go out of my way never to disconnect them unless absolutely necessary. I take the antenna board the cable and the main board out as one piece and keep it that way.

M Gasque -