The tutorial video is great, but they were fortunate to have such a long microphone cable to work with. The iMac I just upgraded had a cable on the system side (not the one on the bezel) that is barely long enough to provide enough play to be able to grasp the connectors when re-attaching them.

Disconnecting the microphone cable is done automatically, when you breathe on it. Or look at it. Or reattach the bezel and get it screwed down.

However, it should be noted that this connector is a LUXURY compared to the first-gen ("polycarbonate") Intel iMacs. Those come configured with the auto-slice microphone cable: the cable simply shears off during disassembly of the case.

The two 4mm screws on the metal hinge need to be removed before prying up the hinge.

The easy way to lift back the hinge is to carefully "open" the laptop as usual, gently lifting from the front of the case. Then set the case back down, the unscrewed hinge remains elevated.

"Unlock the cables":

These are ribbon cables that slot directly into the connectors on the motherboard. For the cables to the lower case and the trackpad, the connectors are black and white. The color part that's the outside half of the connector - that is a little tab that flips up. You don't need much force with a fingernail. Just flick it up, then you can gently pull the ribbon cable by its blue tab, parallel to the motherboard.

The larger black ribbon is the keyboard cable. That connector may have its black latch held in place by Kaptan tape. Gently peel up the tape, then release the cable by easing the black latch out, parallel to the motherboard, just about a millimeter. There are small edges on each side of the latch, two fingers you can pull that out. Again, not much force at all.

The last tiny cable is the indicator lights. Again, the white tab just flips up, then you can pull out the ribbon by the blue tab.

Reassembly: It’s very often that you get the cable to snap to the connector on the board, but find that the device doesn't work properly. In most cases, re-seating the cable fixes the problem. S

Sometimes, it's a bent pin on the connector, and then you have a problem… While I have been able to fix desktop CPU socket pins, I have never tried to fix a busted surfaces mount connector like these. I don't know if that's possible.

This technique is fantastic.

I feel better about delaminating the display assembly just now… It still works, except for destroying all of the pixels right where the Android notification bits are in portrait orientation. Maybe that’s not so bad.

Maybe because my phone has been welded together with adhesive since early 2017, the battery did not want to come out. It laughs at your stretchy-glue encouragement. Those foil chunks glued to the battery are probably the dismembered corpse of the NFC antenna.

Fingerprint assembly likewise: the cable came out via an ablative maneuver. In pieces.

Excellent. I believe that this is actually a standard TTL level-shifter for USB to RS232 serial interfacing. I call it an "FTDI cable” because an adapter chip from Future Tech Domain is in widespread use and you can get one built into a USB cable assembly for about USD $5.

Very nice guide, thanks!

I call this the “You Gotta Be Kidding Me” Era of Mac repair. The Flat Panel iMac, the iBooks… good times. If I actually get the iBook G4 running I will be most happy to update this comment.

Excellent guide.

I have been through about half of this, replacing a failed hard disk. After an hour or so, it's like "You gotta be kidding me..."

If it makes you feel any better, this iBook disassembly is easier than its sibling, the lampshade iMac.

Instead of separating the front-panel glass, I managed to de-laminate the LCD display: the LCD layer, the polarizer, and the backlight (diffuser).

Oops.

I didn't have a heat gun or hair dryer, so I used a sock filled with dry, uncooked rice heated in a microwave oven for a few minutes. That did soften the adhesive, but may it didn't get hot enough?

Otherwise, I had no trouble at all thanks to this great guide! Seriously thanks.

(Full display assemblies can be had on eBay for same price as the bare LCD, so no worries there. I love taking things apart.)