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Mac mini Mid 2011 Cowling Replacement

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  1. Mac mini Mid 2011 Cowling Replacement, Bottom Cover: stap 1, afbeelding 1 van 2 Mac mini Mid 2011 Cowling Replacement, Bottom Cover: stap 1, afbeelding 2 van 2
    • Place your thumbs in the depressions cut into the bottom cover.

    • Rotate the bottom cover counter-clockwise until the white dot painted on the bottom cover is aligned with the ring inscribed on the outer case.

    • You do not need to apply much downward pressure while turning.

    This took a lot of force on my Mac mini. A lot.

    nh3 - Antwoord

    I agree. It took a crap ton of force from my thumbs to twist the bottom off.

    sleeve -

    I accidentally broke the little things that hold the cover to the case. Is there a cheap replacement to the cover? Those clips are held onto it very weakly.

    Jacob Halton - Antwoord

    Don't just use your thumbs... Use your whole palm to twist it, with maybe a thumb in one of the recesses, applying slight downward pressure.

    markbart - Antwoord

    Wish I would have read this comment before I did it!

    I found that what markbart said works best. one palm one thumb (and my knees) My thumbs would do it. It was a bit at a time.

    Same difficulty getting it back on.

    Would be handy if this (difficulty) was mentioned in the guide

    Also would be nice to mention the safe practice of pressing the power button for a few seconds after disconnected to rid the system of any residual power, working in a clean static free environment & they say on the crucial website to touch a metal surface of the machine before touching the RAM

    Nancy -

    I think it depends, I have seen some that are very difficult to open and some super easy. But I see them everyday. I wish there was a tool that fit in the holes.

    Justin Weathersbee - Antwoord

    When seating the bottom RAM chip you may have to apply a little extra side force to get it to seat properly. I put in the new RAM and just got a beeping sound upon starting. I then put the old RAM back in and got the same result.

    Here is the solution I found on the Apple discussion board.

    "Take a small flat head screwdriver and after you put the memory in slot 0, put the screwdriver between the top of the mac mini and the memory then turn the screwdriver a little to exert pressure on the memory into the slot. Do it on both sides of the memory."

    This worked for me.

    littlemas2 - Antwoord

    I remember this when I was changing my memory ... I realized (after opening) that more you push, more force it take to open the cover. As you push down you force the cover "to rub" the casing and possibly other things inside. If you "lightly" hold the cover it comes right off ... Remember: less is more! :-)

    Have fun!

    Radek - Antwoord

    We found it hard to use the thumbs but if you put the casing on a carpet and one person is holding the case while the other is using his palm of one hand to turn the cover it comes off quite smoothly and without much downward pressure.

    Alexander - Antwoord

    If you're upgrading to an SSD, before you even take this first step, I'd recommend putting the SSD into an external drive case, using USB and format the SSD first before trying to swap your existing hard drive or implementing a fusion drive. The external drive case will come in handy later so you can use the old drive as extra storage anyhow.

    Once that SSD is internal, the Mac errors out during the formatting process. Once it was formatted externally, then installed inside the Mac again, there was no problem.

    Orange Girl - Antwoord

    The first time I did this it hurt! The second time my mac mini 2012 had been running so was warm. VERY EASY WHEN WARM. No fun when cool!

    Nancy - Antwoord

    Forget about those 2 circle indents. if you consider the 2 marked dots (open and close) as position 12 o’clock, place your thumbs at 11 and 1 o’clock on the outer rim of the cover and rotate from that position.

    juicer52 - Antwoord

    No way was I getting the back off. So I made a tool. Took a large wrench longer than the Mac mini. Superglued 2 rubber feet on the wrench at the same location as the thumb indents. Put the Mac on the ground, between my knees and used my body weight to turn the cover. Worked like a charm.

    Mark - Antwoord

    Hey dos anyone know if that can lead to the 3 beep RAM problem? I just got a Mac mini witch has the 3 Beeps when started. its not the RAMs them self because thy work in other Macs so if this could lead to thee 3 Beep problem it would make it more Ez because I don't have to Re solder the RAM Port. (This Mac mini was Running over 10 years and after it got turned of for the first Tim it started to have this problem) I think because of Over heading.

    Arvid000 - Antwoord

  2. Mac mini Mid 2011 Cowling Replacement: stap 2, afbeelding 1 van 1
    • Tilt the mini enough to allow the bottom cover to fall away from the outer case.

    • Remove the bottom cover and set it aside.

    I have a late 2012 Mac mini, but it must be an earlier version than this late 2012 Mac mini in this description, because removing the hard drive is much more complicated than described here. Please see this YouTube video if you have trouble removing your hard drive with these directions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvmuQIZP... There is a longer process you've got to go through. It can be done, it just takes much longer. (3-4 hours for me)

    sandyfacebook - Antwoord

    This applied to me as well. The iFixit article was good and lots of helpful information in the comments but my mini was different and required more dismantling. The video sandyfacebook posted was very helpful in taking me the rest of the way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvmuQIZP...

    Erik Heerlein -

    My HDD replacement procedure took 2 jours of research, one night sleeping on it and 30 minutes to perform…

    Rene Girardin - Antwoord

    Step 1: Always wear ESD protection.

    skjell - Antwoord

  3. Mac mini Mid 2011 Cowling Replacement, Fan: stap 3, afbeelding 1 van 1
    • Remove the two 11.3 mm T6 Torx screws securing the fan to the logic board near the antenna plate.

    On my mini, the fan has a 3rd screw on the bottom right of its housing just out of sight on the step 3 photo. I believe it was in the hole later referred to as the 26 mm T6 Torx standoff in step 14.

    benjamin - Antwoord

    Remove a third screw at the opposite end of the fan near the DRAM

    Craig Foster - Antwoord

    Not necessary to remove that screw at that point to get the fan out. It is only a post at that point.

    Remove it in step 14.

    Craig Reilly -

    I needed a T7 for this, and had to remove all three screws before I could take the fan out.

    mackrell - Antwoord

    The fan has in fact, 3 screws that need to be removed before you can lift it out.

    FinnCrisp888 - Antwoord

    That screw is a post at that point. I removed it at step 14.

    Craig Reilly -

    The 3rd screw needed a T5, for me.

    Martin Cleaver - Antwoord

    All of mine have 3-T6 screws.

    Kadah Coba - Antwoord

    I can't, for the life of me, get the left screw out of the cowling. Had to pull both out together. Now having a very hard time getting the cowling back in to replace the fan.

    Elvin Lucic - Antwoord

    I can’t remove the left screw to separate the fan to the cooler. Impossible to put back the fan and the cooler.

    Jérôme Rosat - Antwoord

    One of my fan screws don't come out, even though I keep trying to unscrew the screw. I tried a lot of things ranging from pulling the fan up to just trying to shake it out, please help me out with this

    cooldude20128 - Antwoord

    Only two screws as stated above need to be removed but as people have found out, the one in the cowling can bind into the post below it and it’s the post below that unscrews instead. So you end up with the screw+the post+the fan all together as one. That assembly can be worked out, and then with two pairs of pliers the post and screw can be separated.

    The lower right T6 fan screw is a standoff (that also secures the logic board). This can be loosened and kept with the fan, or (since it is friction captured in a grommet on the fan), the fan can be lifted off, being careful not to dislodge the grommet.

    John - Antwoord

    IMPORTANT: there’s a spring under the post which could go anywhere when the post comes out with the screw.

    John - Antwoord

    Hi… Hi… Good. I have a query, I want to change my internal hard drive from my Mac Mini (mid) 2011, and my query is whether to remove the fan screws and other parts, which from what I was informed is the Torx T6 screwdriver. And my question is: to remove it I need a Torx T6 screwdriver with a hollow point or the Torx T6 with a flat tip will work for me. From what I have read, that the hollow point Torx are called Precision Torx or are identified with an "H" after the number in this case: "T6H". The same query is to remove the cover where the WiFi is, should I use a Torx T8 hollow point or does the flat point work for me? From now on I thank you get me out of this doubt, before doing something wrong. Thank you very much and greetings. Image (Augusto)

    Augusto - Antwoord

    After having a look on YouTube at various methods I found it was not necessary to disconnect the fan or the antenna plate. I rotated the antenna plate out of the way and secured it with a piece of masking tape. I also found that I didn't have to move the logic board either. I lifted the HDD connector (gently) with a spludger . The original HDD came out easily once I managed to grip the plastic PCB cover (which isn't needed on the SSD) . Fitting the new SSD was easy using a masking tape 'handle' in the shape of an upside down 'T' . funnily enough the hardest part was getting the little plastic shroud on the left to sit nicely but even that was easy once I had used the masking tape 'handle' I'd used on the SSD. I always think the less you have to mess with the less chance of anything going wrong. Oh, and buy a antistatic wriststrap !

    Andy Dacosta - Antwoord

    When reassembling, take care to not over-tighten the screw on the left of the photo, which goes into the cowling. If this is screwed-in tight, then it may cause problems the next time you disassemble the Mini. (This screw is screwed into a second screw - and when you remove it, you only want the topmost screw to come out)

    Matthew F - Antwoord

  4. Mac mini Mid 2011 Cowling Replacement: stap 4, afbeelding 1 van 1
    • Lift the ear of the fan nearest the RAM up off the standoff secured to the outer case.

    • Removing the standoff screw is not necessary to remove the fan. You need only raise the fan enough to lift it off the standoff screw.

    Contrary to the instructions, I had to remove the fan screw

    radonr - Antwoord

    Same for me, couldn't get it to move without feeling it was going to break so I just removed the screw.

    warrencox -

    Ditto re: standoff screw

    turkeyneck -

    Better to remove the 3rd bolt here, making it easier to remove the fan. It needs to be removed anyway in step 14.

    Bas Meijer -

    Mid 2011. I too had to remove the standoff screw. It seems to be a T5.

    lsbf - Antwoord

    You will have to remove this screw in step 14, so why not now ;)

    mpalma - Antwoord

    For me it was no prob to remove the fan just pulling carefully upwards.

    Timpetou - Antwoord

    Mid 2011 Server, I had to remove the fan screw

    garzov - Antwoord

    Mid 2011. The "yellow screw" from step 14 is captive in the fan and has to be removed in step 4.

    eric - Antwoord

    Also it is much easier getting the fan correctly aligned on the stand of rubbery bit if you have the screw removed.

    aron - Antwoord

    It’s no need to remove the screw

    fatych - Antwoord

    I ended up removing the complete stand off post.

    Peter Stockwell - Antwoord

    My whole fan connector just broke when reconnecting

    Vince lolol - Antwoord

  5. Mac mini Mid 2011 Cowling Replacement: stap 5, afbeelding 1 van 3 Mac mini Mid 2011 Cowling Replacement: stap 5, afbeelding 2 van 3 Mac mini Mid 2011 Cowling Replacement: stap 5, afbeelding 3 van 3
    • Lift the fan out of the mini for enough clearance to access its connector.

    • Grab all the wires at once and gently pull straight up to disconnect the fan from the logic board.

    • Do not pry at the socket, or you may rip it from the logic board.

    • Remove the fan.

    You actually don't need to disconnect the fan. You can just let it hang on the side while working. I accidentally killed my connector trying to pry it loose. It's being held together now by some tape, after spending hours trying to reconnect it and figuring out pin outs.

    Nick Michielsen - Antwoord

    Did it just as Nick suggested, hang the assembly to the side.

    David Chan -

    Agreed. It is much better to leave the fan connected. The only thing you actually need to disconnect is the hard drive.

    ablack3 -

    Absolutely. just dangle it.

    Chuck Lin -

    110% agreed: you don’t have to remove the fan. Those wires are delicate, as is the connector. Just move it off to the side. Do the same for the antenna plate. The fewer connectors you touch, the fewer things you break!

    Chris Belanger -

    These instructions are used as a prerequisite for many other repairs where the fan simply has to be removed in order to continue. (For example, fan replacement.) I would not recommend leaving the fan dangling from the board during a repair, as that’s a hazard all by itself. If you insist on leaving the fan connected, secure it to the chassis with some masking tape to make it a little less dangerous.

    Jeff Suovanen -

    The fan has some slack cable on it. Once you have unscrewed the fan, you should see that the connecting cable is wrapped around two hooks. CAREFULLY move the cable around the hooks to free it. You can then move the fan to one side out of the way while you access the hard drive bay. On reassembly, thread the cable back around the hooks before screwing it back in.

    Ritchie Swann -

    Be careful to LIFT UP on the fan connector cable. Using a spudger tool helps here. I mistakenly thought that the connector would slide off the logic board and tried to remove the connector this way. I ended up lifting the connector off of the logic board, thus ruining my logic board and requiring a $350 logic board replacement at the genius bar. The second time I did a HD/SSD replacement, everything worked fine.

    Matthew Wagner - Antwoord

    Yeah, I did the same thing by following someone elses "shortcut". Now I am going to shell out 289 for quad core i5 board, and a new fan BTW. . . . . . Oh well never a dull moment :) and it gets an upgrade as well!

    rob Stewart -

    That's probably the must tricky part of the replacement. I did the same thing, i just pull on my cables and the connector stays on the board. Tried many times to switch cables into but any order i try is not the good one.

    The avoid this, now, when i want to pull out my fan, i just use a plate screwdriver and lift up the connector. That's work perfectly.

    ayottepl - Antwoord

    I've just pulled out the connector that's soldered to the logic board because I used a pry tool. Be careful at this point to just pull gently on the four cables that go to the fan.

    No Name - Antwoord

    The CAUTION in step 13, "Make sure to pry up from beneath the wires and not underneath the socket," applies to this step as well, for removal of the fan wires.

    lsbf - Antwoord

    I screwed it too... Not reading carefully enough, I accidentally removed the whole socket from the board. This happened with the IR connector too. When re-assembling the parts, the socket wouldn't stick to the board, now I know why. I don't want to buy a new logic board, because I can't afford one, so I'm trying to find someone to solder it. Seems hard to find someone able to repair logic boards these days. Hope I'll be successful, otherwise this is an expensive upgrade to my mac...

    Floffrob - Antwoord

    Don't remove it with your fingers, use a tool for that. And underneath the wires!

    sebcthiebaud - Antwoord

    Followed all the instructions, everything went well, but now my mini fan won't turn off. It starts as soon as I boot up. I've tried every fan control software out there, and nothing works; the fan just constantly runs. I was very careful when I disconnected/reconnected the fan cable, and it looks fine. What else can I do?

    Ben Dunkle - Antwoord

    The problem is most likely a disconnected or damaged temperature sensor, I had this problem when reassembling a 2007 Mac mini. It can't read the temperature, so assumes the worst and sets the fan to maximum.

    patronics -

    I broke the fan wires from the connector plug. Impossible to repair. I have ordered a new fan. Is there a correct orientation to plugging in the new connector?

    ronhixson - Antwoord

    For heavens sake please DON'T remove the fan. It's really really hard to reconnect it properly. And besides that you don't have to remove the Logic Board for just changing the HDD.

    Greg Kollmann - Antwoord

    It’s very easy to reconnect if you know how. Position the connector over the socket as shown in the photo, and press it down. As long as it’s not upside-down or anything, you’re done in 5 seconds.

    Jeff Suovanen -

    Does anyone know how to solve the full RPM fan issue? My computer guy couldn't solve with fan control software

    J beneventi - Antwoord

    I removed the fan and everything worked fine, but it’s good to know that it’s a “push-down“ connector, took me some time to relize that, all I needed to do was to press down the connector over the pins, see the picture for more details.

    Jan Igerud - Antwoord

    SO glad I read these comments first.

    I changed the directions to read:

    “Use a Spudger to carefully pry the fan cable connector UP out of its socket on the logic board.“

    You guys DO know you can edit these, right?

    Brian - Antwoord

    The direction you “ gently pull” to remove the connector is all important. You have to pull upwards, vertically away from the board. If you pull more downwards parallel to the board, you may end up wrecking the connector by pulling the wires out of it as I did. Fortunately the socket was okay so it was just a case of buying a $10 replacement fan (complete with new connector).

    David - Antwoord

    DAGNABBIT! Broke it! Now I have a fan blowing on the open case while it’s operating. What can I use as a shield for dust but still allow for airflow?

    william8248 - Antwoord

    OMG, please change this instruction to NOT remove the fan. What a nightmare trying to reseat it.

    Donald Braman - Antwoord

    You need to position it over the socket as shown and press straight down. If it takes you more than 5-10 seconds, something’s wrong.

    Jeff Suovanen -

    really wish i would have seen these comments before I ripped out the fan from the logic board.

    frankie messinja - Antwoord

    I missed the word UP and instead pulled the wires straight out, which ended up with me holding the wires but leaving the plug behind in the socket. I just ordered a replacement fan from ebay, since ifixit is out of the one in the correct amperage for this unit.

    I then edited the guide to capitalize and bold the word “UP” and hopefully that saves somebody else a bit of hassle.

    Any step with a lot of comments is one people have trouble with. It might be useful if ifixit were to make it more obvious we should read the comments, at least for those that have a lot of them. It would save a lot of people a lot of hassle.

    James Vasile - Antwoord

    Just for emphasis on this point, I did exactly that - I ripped the fan connector right off of a perfectly good logic board. I used a plastic pry tool and was attempting to follow OWC video for replacing the drive. So beware! Trust me, it is not that hard to rip this thing off the board.

    Neal Sosdian - Antwoord

    DO NOT REMOVE THE FAN.

    Put it to one side.

    Curtin Architecture - Antwoord

    Here’s a video showing how this is done: https://youtu.be/KlR-RWtqzis

    glennbecker - Antwoord

  6. Mac mini Mid 2011 Cowling Replacement, Cowling: stap 6, afbeelding 1 van 1
    • Remove the single 3.5 mm T6 Torx screw securing the cowling to the heat sink.

    in Step 6 — Cowling ; " Remove the single 3.5 mm T6 Torx screw securing the cowling to the heat sink", does it mean that it is the same T6 Torx screw for the cowling and the heat sink ?

    In fact at the end, I mess this T6 Torx screw !

    cegondaireun - Antwoord

    Uhh I can't get this to go back in? Not sure what is going on...

    David Inman - Antwoord

    Note that when you are replacing this cowling you are putting the screw back into what looks like another screw that holds the heat sink to the logic board. Disconcerting but correct.

    thrint - Antwoord

    Thank you!

    I kept looking at that screw and wondering why I was trying to screw that screw into another screw.

    I've done removal and reinstalling a couple of days apart and I don't remember everything about what happened and where things came from. You're not wrong that it's disconcerting!

    Andrew K -

    Note That the arc of the cowling does not butt to the edge of the chassis. But slides in below it. Once the two screws on the heat sink are aligned with the cowling holes, it's good to go.

    imtimrob - Antwoord

    used a T7 head to get this one out.

    patjmccarthy - Antwoord

    Does this screw have a spring attached to it?

    martinknowsbest - Antwoord

  7. Mac mini Mid 2011 Cowling Replacement: stap 7, afbeelding 1 van 1
    • Lift the cowling from the end nearest the antenna plate.

    • Rotate the cowling away from the outer case and remove it from the mini.

    Look very closely at how this is set. Take a photo. Because when I put mine back together it took 45 minutes just to get the fan and this cowling to fit in place next to each other.

    sandyfacebook - Antwoord

    The cowling has a notch close to the midpoint of the flange that goes under the outer case, which slides onto a standoff screw attached to the logic board. I used a Sharpie marker to put one "alignment mark" on the inner edge of the outer case. I put another alignment mark from the midpoint of the cowling notch out onto the visible part of the cowling. This made it much easer to reassemble, especially since my standoff post provided a tight fit, which, when I did this the first time, felt like "it doesn't fit . . . again?" It also helped to insert the end of the cowling closest to the heat sink first, which acted as a "fulcrum" for the cowling to "click" onto the standoff post.

    Carrick - Antwoord

    On reassembly, if you're having trouble lining up the cowling with the screw holes, you can try pulling the logic board out a tad and set the cowling in place. Just try not to damage the cowling or the inside of the outer case when sliding it back in!

    Drew - Antwoord

    This is one of the few problems I had when reassembling because I didn’t realise at first that the cowling goes just under the lip of the outer case rather than just butting up against it; once done, it’s easy to line up the screw holes.

    eggs - Antwoord

    Thank you Carrick!

    geoff.dunkak - Antwoord

    I am working on a late 2012 Mac Mini (A1347) and there are two T6 screws on the cowling. On towards the WIFI as indicated, and another towards the back by the SD card slot.

    Roman Sturgis - Antwoord

    this is for the mac mini 2011. for mac mini 2012, see here: Mac mini Late 2012

    Gray Greensheim -

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