MacBook Core 2 Duo Clutch Cover Replacement

I used this guide plus the Thermal Paste guide to resolve my MacBook RRS (Random Restart Syndrome) issue. My MacBook would randomly restart after the fan kicked into high speed. When I removed the heatsink I discovered an an irregular patch completely free of thermal compound of about 15-20% of the area on one of the processors. I removed and re-applied the thermal paste. I ran a memory test utility overnight that previously caused a restart after a couple of hours, and the probelm seems to be solved. TIme will tell.

This guide was seriously helpful, so thanks for putting this together. I found a thick ribbon of dust/muck whatever between the fan outlet and the exhaust port that was almost as dense as felt. My fan must have been fighting like crazy trying to pass air through that blockage, which explains the high temps and excessive fan noise. Wish I'd done this sooner...

Thanks again!

Just R&R'ed the fan in my black MacBook Core 2 Duo tonight. Took me 30 minutes tops and I was taking my time. These instructions are SPOT ON! Great job ifixit.com! Two thumbs up!

Follow the instructions exactly as you see and have a piece of paper taped to the table next to you that you can outline all the screws you took out so you know where they go back in. I expected this to be a LOT harder, but it was one of the simplest repairs I've ever done to ANY computer!

Piece of cake--or should I say gum. If you don't have a magnetized screwdriver, load up a stick of gum and chomp on it until it's needed then use a bit to retain screw on the driver. And if you should tear the black tape, or if the silver tape won't stick any more, just bubblegum it together. The instructions were clear and correct, which made for a very simple repair.

My battery does not pop out when after step 1. Any idea why, and how do fix it?

Quote from Calvin:

My battery does not pop out when after step 1. Any idea why, and how do fix it?

Will not drop out even if you turn it upside down?

Somehow, now my isight camera doesn't work and the light is always on. Cannot figure out what I did wrong.

Outstanding guide - thank you!

My computer will not charge when plugged in. It will stay on as ling as the plug is in the wall however if the power source gets disconnected it will shut down immediately. I removed the battery and put it back in that did not help. It worked and charged fine 2 days ago. I have a backpack with a laptop storage area. I went to hang the backpack up and it fell and ever since the battery is not functioning. Is there some fix I can try or is my only solution to replace it? I would have thought that dropping it would affect more than the battery?

Better leave the back pack where it cannot fall. Hindsight is so much better than foresight . I learned the hard way too!

Many of the tiny screws in this project were quite sticky. I found some blue Loctite residue that must have been when the Apple repair shop worked on the laptop years ago. I have found that it is important to hold the correct driver firmly down in the screw and then just tweak the driver in short bursts to loosen it before unscrewing it with a smooth turn.

I just replaced the battery as indicated (with a iFixit part), but the computer says there is no battery connected, even after letting the power plug in for more than one hour.

I think I found the way to have the new battery to charge!!!!!

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRYIMDQx....

Essentially, you have to follow a very precise order: 1/shut down the computer, 2/take off the magsafe connector, 3/remove the old battery, 4/put back the magsafe connector, 5/put the new battery, 6/power on, each time leaving a few seconds in between.

please pay attention that screws are native to metal pieces otherwise you are going to be a stupid like me trying to unscrew unsuccessfully until I reread the guide

Lay the screws out in a ”timeline” like a circle, Then when you reassemble just start from the end of the “timeline”

The screws have to unscrewing positions, first they unscrew from the whole body BUT if you move the lid without entirely removing the screws, they will remain attached to the lid. This I find much more recomendable!

I found when putting this back in that I had to use a spudger to work the mesh/foam into the slot where the memory cards are so the bracket would lay flat again when screwed back in.

What size screwdriver

That looks so easy!

I couldn't get the top two 11mm screws to come out, even with a magnetized driver. When I tried to keep unscrewing them, they clicked like they were spring mounted, and I didn't have any trouble leaving them in and continuing on.

Quote from ryan64:

I couldn't get the top two 11mm screws to come out, even with a magnetized driver. When I tried to keep unscrewing them, they clicked like they were spring mounted, and I didn't have any trouble leaving them in and continuing on.

I use a strong magnet to pull the screws out of their socket.

The top two screws didn't seem to want to come out, and I saw no reason they had to, so I left them there, put a little piece of tape over each so they wouldn't fall out.

You need to replace the shorter middle screw first, otherwise it won't tighten later since it won't quite reach the bottom.

for me this was the hardest part especially the two 14.5mm that dint want to come out. keep turning the screw and slightly pressing the case down, once the screw is a little use try using finger, screw and a non metallic point to try to push them out. they arent tight but they are very hard to unscrew i almost gave up, but believe me they come out with patience

I also did not find that I needed to remove the two 14.5 mm screws. I unscrewed them but they seemed designed to stay with the case and I found it did not seem to affect anything to just let them stay there.

On this step, I encountered a problem. The middle screw was screwed in very very tightly. As a result, I ended up stripping the screw despite being very careful. I tried to use a wire cutter to remove the screw, but that did not work. I actually ended up using the wirecutter to cut the bracket off, leaving the screw screwed in. This did not affect anything. I am typing off of my replace macbook top case right now.

The point is, BE CAREFUL! but if something does go wrong, don't fret. There are solutions.

On a Macbook I just tore down, I found that in this step, the 4mm screw was on the left, not the right. I thought maybe someone else had it apart before and accidentally switched them so in staying true to these instructions I tried to reassemble with the 4mm screw on the right. I found it would not go all the way in. I ended up putting it back together with the 2-3mm screws on the right and the 1-4mm screw on the left.

You need to replace the shorter middle screw first, otherwise it won't tighten later.

I couldn't pull over the two 3 mm Phillips on the step 6, how could you've done it?

To confirm what HandyMac and colmcostelloe found, some MacBooks have one 3mm and two 4mm screws in the rear wall of the battery compartment. On the one I worked on, the shorter 3mm screw came from the middle hole.

please note the position of the screws because when you are reinstalling them you might get confuse. this ones go below or under (sorry English inst my first language). There are two screw holes this steps are for the ones below.

Quote from BeatJunkie:

To confirm what HandyMac and colmcostelloe found, some MacBooks have one 3mm and two 4mm screws in the rear wall of the battery compartment. On the one I worked on, the shorter 3mm screw came from the middle hole.

Thanks Beat Junkie, this was the situation with my Mac 2.13ghz Mid 2009 that I was putting back together. Thanks for the confirmation! (For the 6th step)

For me (A1181), there were two shorter screws and one longer. The longer went on the left (a shorter screw wouldn't catch). (Not the middle that is currently in the instruction. But that could be model difference.) The middle screw started to strip the head but using a slightly larger phillips allowed me to get it out.

I have two MacBooks, one white and one black and both had two 3mm screws and one 4mm screw, opposite of what was in the main document

In my late 2006 macbook the central screw was longer than the side screws..

Stripped a head on my left screw (A1181 model, Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz). Used a precision 1.5 slotted screwdriver to get enough bite to screw it out and back in.

I couldn't get the suggested Phillips #0 tip to grab. PH#00 worked, but I found the PH#000 to work the best.

I found this step to be the hardest to put back because of the angle - even with iFixIt's driver Flex Extension.

The steps do not tell you what length screw that is needed to be here. What I can tell you that is the screw needs to be 5mm or 6mm, NOT 7.5 or 8mm or 9mm.

Screwdriver PH0

It's recommended to use a PH00 screwdriver instead of the PH000.

The PH000 is too small and you can damage the screwheads.

I used PH0 for this

Outer screws (red) are shorter (7mm long), while inner screws (orange) are 11mm.

I found these screws quite loose; upon reassembly, I wanted to torque them but found the case would distort towards the center, so I had to leave them fairly loose

When reassembling, do not fully tighten the two 11 mm (orange) screws. When the plastic starts to flex, back it off until the strain on the plastic housing is released and leave it at that. The two 7.25 mm (red) can be snug.

Thank you ifixit, it was huge help for me, I did it and everything just works great.....THANK YOU!

As is reported above, there a 4 friction tabs that connect to the keyboard. If they do not stay in place and stick to the keyboard, the keyboard will not go back on. Just remove them and put them in the clips, with the solid clip wall to the outside of the unit, and put the keyboard back on. Do this before reconnecting the keyboard.

I had no problem at all in this step, the left side was already unlocked when I open the MacBook, the right side was a little tricky but i was able to pull it out in less than a minute

Because this step requires some force, make sure to double check that you got all your screws out. I finally got my gumption up to apply the necessary force required to pull up the upper case, and after 5 minutes of pulling, I look and see that the reason it wasn't coming up because I missed one screw. Ugh.

Also, before you just shove your hands under the upper case, prying about, think twice: I cut my finger pretty bad on a sharp piece of metal.

When reassembling, take some care to align the tabs on the right hand side next to the optical drive. Rock and slide these tabs into position. Then work from right to left, as the rest of the case is quite easy to put back together.

I took my mac apart yesterday to clean out the trackpad properly and after getting some 'help' from my grandfather (he lost 2 screws and snapped off a bit of the uppercase but i didn't have the heart to ask him to leave it alone) i tried putting the uppercase back on. it fits perfectly but the middle section closest to the screen appears slightly raised and when i go to screw in the four screws on the exterior of the laptop i can't because the hole is not at all aligned (and two of those four screws are very long). anyone know why this might be? can it be fixed/is it a common problem?

The plastic around the edge is very thin and cracks easily, so be gentle while using the opening tool.

On the right side above the optical drive there are little plastic braces that latch the upper case to the main body. This is the reason why the upper case might stick here. If the above step is not working, also try to gently push the upper case sideways away from the optical drive after freeing all other sides. When reassembling make sure the braces are in their slots of the main body and not attached to the upper case. If you cannot fit the upper case evenly over the optical drive, that's probably why. In this case carefully remove them and slide them back into their slots before lowering the upper case.

this guide was awesome. this step was easy for the broken macbook i salvaged and noticed because i got a factory replacement keyboard quite recently on my macbook in use, the 4 clips above the optical drive were TIGHT - it took quite a bit of pulling up before it came loose!

When changing the topcase remember to change the sticker with the serial also! This might be important when further service or bigger repairs by apples service are needed. The serial also helps you with identifying your macbook!

The entire connector broke off the logic board when I was disconnecting the keyboard just now. Be extremely careful!

I tried to remove the blacktab from the logic board, however, the black tab tore apart. The logic board is okay but the keyboard connector is torn. It has some silver wires passing through a whit plastic housing. It is the first generation of MacBook Core Duo. Do you think it can be repaired?

I could not get the keyboard off my the body... (black macbook I don't know if that makes any difference). It was stuck bottom left hand corner, so I had to bend whatever was stuck to get access to the logicboard etc... any reason why this is the case??

not sure if this is the place to ask but my mac. doesn't start properly now it turns on and the little light on the right side turns on but keyboard leds don't and display doesn't either any ideas please?

Great repair guide! Changing the top case was pretty easy and it saved me a lot of money.

it was really easy, i had no experience whatsoever installing or unistalling mac parts (or pc either). it just took me less than 25 minutes, and i just finish and Im typing from my new upper case keyboard.

After a sucessful install of the keyboard, the select (mouse buttun equivalent) was found to not operate consistently. I called support and they are shipping a new one out to me. THIS is why I buy from ifixit - sure I can get a part for less elsewhere - but I would not get the service I get with ifixit - THANKS guys!!!

Note - I agree, this was VERY easy - great pictures, perfect explanations...

Quote from carlos:

not sure if this is the place to ask but my mac. doesn't start properly now it turns on and the little light on the right side turns on but keyboard leds don't and display doesn't either any ideas please?

Did you ever find an answer for this question? My computer is doing the same thing. Thanks.

Quote from E Chambliss:

Did you ever find an answer for this question? My computer is doing the same thing. Thanks.

no i never did couldn't get help it blows to hear someone else had the same problem...im using a windows(yuk) but im getting a new mac next paycheck. if you figure it out let me know so i can fix my other one and maybe give it to my parents

Quote from carlos:

no i never did couldn't get help it blows to hear someone else had the same problem...im using a windows(yuk) but im getting a new mac next paycheck. if you figure it out let me know so i can fix my other one and maybe give it to my parents

Hello, I'm following this procedure because my MacBook isn't turning on due to a failure in the MagSafe DC In board, it was not charging the battery and therefore no power going in. The case was broken duirng warranty and also the MagSafe power adapter was replaced. Now it is failing again. This is an old late 2006 MacBook. Does your Mac powers on, do you hear the chime sound? or you are stuck with a hardware failure?

Quote from Francisco:

Hello, I'm following this procedure because my MacBook isn't turning on due to a failure in the MagSafe DC In board, it was not charging the battery and therefore no power going in. The case was broken duirng warranty and also the MagSafe power adapter was replaced. Now it is failing again. This is an old late 2006 MacBook. Does your Mac powers on, do you hear the chime sound? or you are stuck with a hardware failure?

my MacBook charges the battery and powers on i dont hear a chime and it turns on but never starts

Quote from spi:

When changing the topcase remember to change the sticker with the serial also! This might be important when further service or bigger repairs by apples service are needed. The serial also helps you with identifying your MacBook!

How do you do it? I can't get it out

Superb guide thank you guys

This takes some nerves if there is no tab, but be confident and just prise the connector straight up.

Be very careful while you pulling the black tab! It's better to use spudger to pry the connector from it's housing while you gently pulling the black tab.

Clips removal: its hard with finger to pull. It's better and easy off with a pry tool (I used a flat twiser) to pry from the bottom gently for each clips. It was so smooth and easy.

After I clean everything nice… put the cable back and DO NOT TURN ON. What the !&&* happens!? Ideias my friends? :(

Sorry my bad english!

After installing the caddy successfully, I could not make the screw on the right fit in again. The distance between the hole and the caddy seemed to be too big.

!! I can't remove the left screw, and ended up "screwing" it.. it's a round hole now. What should I do?

Pull straight up from the left

The display cable was difficult to disconnect for me. I had to pull firmly and use the spudger at the same time to finally pop it off.

Pull the connector firmly straight up.

I have found over the years that a connector puller is invaluable in these situations. I believe that I bought mine from iFixit. In steps 16 and 17 you'll have to partially de-route two cables at the base of the connectors in order to get a good grip with the connector puller.

This step is not necessary

Left Off Here

When reconnecting the Hard Drive Cable to the logic board (Step 17) I ran the HD cable on top of the microphone wire, and the other wire that runs parallel to it, when I should have run the HD cable underneath those two wires. This resulted in the hard drive not being connected on startup, and a lengthy troubleshooting session to figure this out. So save some time and install this underneath the two wires, just like you found it when taking it apart!

I've found it very useful to take photos of wire routing on disassembly for later reference.

I was gently pulling up the tape with a spudger, but the tape snapped clean in half right at the edge of the optical drive. I'm really pretty surprised because I see no reason why it would have done that.

Leave the foil on the fan side cause you’ll be taking it off the optical drive anyway

I had to unscrew a screw securing flat ribbons keeping cables in position between beeper and fan to reach for the dvd screw

After removing the screw gently push the metal tong (which the screw was holding) towards the fan. This will unlock the drive mount.

Please add this notes to the actual step. I missed the comments and bent the bracket.

I used a #000 Phillips.

I found it helpful to remove the screw sitting to the lower left of the speaker.

There is only one screw holding the optical drive down, the one circled in red. the one in orange is for the ground loop for the microphone and right speaker cable. Also, a spudger makes quick work of moving the cables out of the way to get to the screw for easy removal/replacement.

As I tried to refit the optical drive, the plastic mount for the brass threaded socket that receives the screw crumbled like an old tooth. Only thing for it was to ditch the plastic and superglue the brass socket into place on the case - seems to have worked. (People who design parts/fixings that involve strong materials held in place by weaker ones should be imprisoned). I also had to remove the sliding bracket on the drive and cut 2/3mm off the right hand end to get the screw hole to align with the brass socket, also seems not to have caused any harm. Never thought I would find myself lashing out with the superglue and wielding a hacksaw inside a laptop...empowered!

On the the optical drive there is a sliding-bar (secured by two screws, which fixes the drive in the right edge of the Alu-frame) that has to be shifted to the left when taking the drive off. Especially, before putting the optical drive back to the computer, make sure that the the sliding bar is in its leftward position in order not to block the insertion of the drive. Then shift the bar gently to the right thereby fixing the drive's position.

If you don’t have the c-channel it seems you can skip steps 24, 25, and 26.

Santa Rosa and Penryn use a #000 phillips for the speaker screw.

Is the silver wire really the microphone? I noticed wear right down to the wire on mine, and the macbook often has yellow/goofy looking screen, then adjusting the angle helps.

On my Penryn model, it helped to deroute the data display cable and the microphone cable from under the tabs of the subwoofer by loosening the two Phillips screws to the right of the speaker.

The ground screw also holds down a ground loop that is part of the speaker cable. The two loops may be stuck together so you need to carefully separate them.

Don't pry the plastic connector from the board, but rather, the plastic connector is two pieces. Separate them.

For the MacBook Core 2 Duo Santa Rosa/Penryn: the inverter cable is a bit tricky. I was fooled into thinking that there were pins which went INTO the inverter cable. Because of this, I was afraid of lifting up on the cable (off the board), but this is what you actually must do to separate them.

For clarification, here's a pic (low-res, sorry) of the inverter cable disconnected from it's on-board plug: http://lh4.ggpht.com/_l0f6yKkaxDU/S0FOHS...

The inverter connector comes off vertically from the motherboard.

Antenna connectors pull up.

Pull vertical for santa rose models as well, be delicate with this part, very tricky.

A method to remove the inverter cable connector that just worked great for me: I hooked a dental pick underneath the connector at the cable side (display side) and picked in right up out of the socket. I wiggled it a little first to make sure that I only had the connector hooked.

After destroying a similar connector on a fan replacement with a dental pick, I've decided to withdraw my recommendation to use one. Best to use the flat end of the smaller spudger and pry the connector out from under the wire (screen) side, very slowly, working from side to side.

I tried this last night and the screen fell backward, cracking the components of the hinge. Be careful and support the screen here once you unscrew the hinges!

What is that plastic hinge thingie called in step 34. The piece broke and I'd like to replace that.

For those wishing to go further into the LCD, the steps are identical to the MB CD, see this repair guide for more:

MacBook Core Duo Inverter Replacement

When you go to replace the bezel, look at the back side and disconnect any of the little snap-on tabs that may not have stayed in the metal bracket around the LCD. On a white MacBook they were grey, about 4mm x 8mm. They work best if you put them into the metal frame separate from the bezel and then snap the bezel into them.

The best way to remove them seemed to be by placing my thumb over one edge (so they didn’t fly off) and prying with a thin, flat screwdriver flat against the bezel tab.

Hello I've seen a video on Youtube where the guy skipped all the previous steps and got to the inverter without taking the screen off. Seems like it saves a lot of time and potential problems, since I have never done anything like this. Does anyone recommend doing it? I see it's more accessible to just try to get to the inverter without taking the screen off first.

A note for anyone panicking because they can't get their front bezel back on:

It is common for the grey clips holding the bezel to the display to come up along with the bezel. If you have ANY grey clips attached to the back of your bezel, in order to replace the bezel you need to first remove the clips from the bezel and reinsert them into the holes in the display panel manually first! Once all of these clips are back in place, the bezel can be reattached.

These clips are very fragile and if you are having this problem odds are you have already severely bent some of them. Check the tiny plastic clasps and if they are squashed down, gently pry them back up with your fingernail. Again these grey clips are very fragile, so use care in reattaching them.

This was a very helpful tip. I made the mistake at first when reading your note, thinking that the gray clips were supposed to be on the bezel, not the display, but quickly corrected that.

For anyone confused, the bezel is the thin plastic part surrounded the display, and the display of course houses the LCD.

Another note:

The easiest way to remove the clips from the bezel is from the side and pry up. To reattach them to the display, put one end of the clip in first, and then use tweezers to poke in the other end of the clip.

Quote from WillyDavidK:

A note for anyone panicking because they can't get their front bezel back on:

It is common for the grey clips holding the bezel to the display to come up along with the bezel. If you have ANY grey clips attached to the back of your bezel, in order to replace the bezel you need to first remove the clips from the bezel and reinsert them into the holes in the display panel manually first! Once all of these clips are back in place, the bezel can be reattached.

These clips are very fragile and if you are having this problem odds are you have already severely bent some of them. Check the tiny plastic clasps and if they are squashed down, gently pry them back up with your fingernail. Again these grey clips are very fragile, so use care in reattaching them.

I found that an easy way to remove the clips from the bezel is to use a plastic knife (knife as in the utensil). Sliding the knife under one of the clip's long sides and prying upwards worked well for me. Thanks MC25 and WillyDavidK for the tips, they worked great!

The plastic clips deform easily, making it difficult to reuse them. The tabs on the back of the bezel that fit into the clips also break off easily.

If any of the tabs or clips are omitted, the bezel will not lie flush nor will it hold the cables that run beneath it in place.

Wear gloves while wrangling with the white bezel—like the white topcase, the matte-finish plastic is very porous and quickly gets grubby.

In this picture you can see that it is a Nikon camera that was used for this guide. :)

There are little clips at each end of the clutch cover, and I found it helpful first to lift the clutch cover off the metal rod first, and after that squeeze the cables at each end between the clips, so you can lift the cover off.

Pay attention here. I missed the part about pinching the cable and that's exactly what I did. It helps to pull the video and mic cables tight to fit the clutch cover on. I also had to make sure the pink/white cables were up and out of the way. When I did it correctly, it slid in pretty easily. It would help to really look at how things are arranged when you are taking it apart, too. There's some tabs that interconnect with the plastic sliding things you removed in steps 46-47.