iMac Intel 21.5" EMC 2638 iSight Camera and Microphone Cable Replacement

The wedge is an extremely tight fit for this model. I was worried that the amount of force needed to use it as shown might damage the stand, so I used it with the long side down instead. It worked fine that way and didn’t need anywhere near as much force to insert.

Here’s a good YouTube vid on upgrading the RAM: Can a Normal Person Upgrade the RAM in the 2017 21.5" iMac?

Here are a couple tips from me:

1) Expose the adhesive to extreme temperatures. I did this by transporting my iMac in my car, screen-down on a piece of cardboard on a cold February morning (in Chicago). When I went to pick up the iMac, the screen practically fell off the chassis. I would have been distraught by this if I hadn’t already planned this replacement. So it was a happy accident.

2) Remember to expell the residual power from the power supply by pushing the power button while the iMac is unplugged. This does NOT guarantee it’s safe to touch, but when I accidentally brushed the solder and exposed capacitors, I didn’t get shocked.

Instead of using the wedge, I placed the iMac faced up with the top side (web cam) facing me while I ran the pizza roller around. It worked out great!

“All iMacs also come with a traditional hard drive” mine doesn’t!! it’s HDD bay is completely empty, no SATA cable or anything. I guess I’ll have to upgrade the PCIe SSD instead.

There is no replacement glass for this model, it is part of the LCD and impossible to remove or replace- the entire LCD has to be replaced unfortunately if the glass is cracked or damaged. You will have to Google search for a replacement. Also be careful with some of the lock tight tork screws as I broke one of my screw mounts taking one out.

I used this service wedge but also found it a very tight fit. The same stabilization can be achieved by using a big rolled up towel.

While this is a good instruction guide, I recommend to also look at OWC’s instruction video about drive installation, before starting the exercise. Those install videos are very detailed and useful.

Don’t get too worried about starting exactly where the picture says. The glue is stronger in some parts so just start wherever is easier and then work slowly and patiently around in the direction shown.

As this guide doesn’t cover replacing the adhesive strips, I found referring to the following was useful (noting that it’s not for the same model of iMac, so the modification they mention wasn’t necessary): iMac Intel 21.5" EMC 2544 Adhesive Strips Replacement

It is very easy to crack the glass in front of the LCD during this step. I used the guitar pick, maybe it was too thick… crack is just on the frame but anyway it is disappointing :(

This part of the exercise should be done with extreme patience. I took my sweet time with the opening tool, rolling it through the entire panel and enclosure gap over and over again, until I was very sure no parts were sticking together anymore. And when I thought I was I done, I decided to do it over again.

Erreur de traduction: "de bas en haut" et non de" haut en bas" sur le côté gauche de l'écran

If re-opening a screen that was opened and re-attached using iFixit’s adhesive strips, I would strongly recommend heating it first with an iOpener, heat gun or hair dryer. 20 minutes after attaching with the iFixit adhesive I tried to open it again with the pizza slicer to fix something and cracked the screen on the left-hand side.

In this step can I cut along the display without make any damage to the front camera?

Hi! Actually - there is no need to cut the tape around the camera area - there is no tape to cut at all! And so, the way go is easy - just pass 10 mm to the left and to the right from camera and start cutting!

P.S. Just did the whole procedure to replace a RAM and to add SSD on PSIe an hour ago! Seems to be different reading the instructions... you know - 2/10 and so on. But it's really not that hard, trust me. I'll give it 5/10.

P.P.S. By the way there is one trick to pass the difficult steps. Any action which requires pulling smth (motherboard, speaker, power supply unit) from the narrow crack (or should i say - slit?) at the bottom of your Imac is really not so easy.

And the trick is to first remove a thin metal stripe with some kind of insulation on it which held by 5 small (very small!!) screws at the bottom of your Imac. After you done it - it's easy to pull everything! Pay attention to the fact that one of this 5 screws at the center are more shortly than others.

After doing the replacement the adhesive still sticks quite good enough to hold the screen in place. Maybe this isn't rock-solid, but enough for me.

You can add a SATA SSD if you already have a PCIe SSD Factory?

The key thing is to never put any force on the opening tool when working through the tape. Just roll it back and forth with ease.

Yes, do it many times to loosen the adhesive.

this step is extremely important NOT to stick in the cards too far….. doing so, you risk a 600 euro replacement as I experienced………

I drew a 3/8” line on my cards with a marker first.

I’m reading this on the EU store, please change all measurements to cm/mm.

@ifixit The next batch of cards you create should have a line printed on the card 3/8” in from the edges. Would make a nice reference.

Here’s where OWC provides glass removal suction cups, which is a better solution than plastic cards.

The suction cups help to easily lift the glass panel, without risking the damaging of any internal wiring that the plastic cards could cause.

Better to remove stand wedge at this point? Can’t see from pics

This part must be done very carefully or you can damage the flat cable from display, despite it was under a iron cover.

Using glass removal suction cups will avoid running this risk of damaging the camera (or any wiring).

Pulling the display power cable by the wires makes me nervous..

I had a small flight light ready so I could see. Follow the directions - don’t blindly pull.

Head lamp gives you the best hands free view!

bstaud - The display power cable has two squeezable levers on each end of the cable’s width.

Squeeze the left lever with your thumb while you simultaneously squeeze the right lever with your

index finger, and gently pull the cable straight back and out, and the cable comes out very easily.

When reassembling, make sure you get a “click” confirmation that both the levers have locked AND the pins have seated on this connector. I was treated to a black screen upon startup, and had to re-cut my newly installed adhesive strips to get back in to firm up this connection. Better would be power up with the bottom adhesive in place, screen resting in place and held on top with blue painter tape to confirm connections, THEN pull off screen-side adhesive tape covers for final re-bonding.

To clarify, the connector pulls out in the plane of the logic card, not perpendicular.

Cutting through this extra adhesive on the bottom took a bit more effort than the step and picture implied (to me). Unlike the other edges, here don't be afraid to really push the card in there to break the seal, there's nothing behind that adhesive that is breakable.

To save a few steps and a bit of time, if you have a helper, they can hold the display at a 90° angle while you unscrew the brackets and remove/replace the hard drive rather than remove the display entirely. Also reduces the likelihood of damaging the display as you remove and handle it.