Replacing iMac hard drive.

Mijn probleem

Hard drive was gradually failing.

Wanted a bigger one.

Didn't want to pay the Apple Store to do it.

Mijn oplossing

The repair went well. I hit a couple of snags. The thermal sensor cable for the hard drive has a notch on it, but there was no matching notch on the replacement hard drive. I ended up shaving the notch off with an exact-o knife, and it fit it fine. The system seems to be working fine now, though the fans are running continuously. I want to find out whether this is due the cable fit problem, or something else.

Mijn advies

It took me a while to figure out how the display cable connection works. The first time I reassembled the machine, the screen was black. I reopened it, and studied that connection in a bit more detail. It makes sense now, but I wish I had understood this earlier when I disassembled it. The end of the cable basically rests in this groove, and the thin gold bracket with the tab on it, holds it in place. I kept expecting to hear of feel a sort of click, but inserting it in the groove, then pushing down the bracket with the spudger on the other side the receiving piece holds it in place. It was only after figuring this out that the pictures for removing the cable made sense -- you need to pull off the brace with the tab before pulling the cable out.