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Airport cable broken, part sticks to logic board

Dear community,

while replacing the Airport/Bluetooth card, I broke the airport cable. The little connector piece is still connected to the logic board and I cannot take it off. Is there any solution?

Thank you!

Update (11/17/2022)

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I attached a photo of the cable. It is very easy to get out, just open the back of the mac.

It's the little connector piece that is normally on the cable. It got off and is now stuck to the logic board. It looks like that the plastic part of this connector piece is already really bad and porous. I manipulated a bit more and some tiny plastic parts fell off, however not the whole part. I'm just scared to break something on the logic board, if I use too much force.

Update (11/17/2022)

Hi Dan, yes I followed those ifixit manuals to replace the Airport card that was not working anymore. This all went well, however, when I tried to connect the Airport cable to the logic board the connector of the cable distached from the cable but is now stuck on the logic board. See mark on the screenshot of the manual.

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Evening,

I'm sorry to hear that. it can be common on these macs. I am unsure when you say the "airport cable" (The wifi antenna cable(s)?) but use something like a plastic prying tool or worst case a knife (As long as all power is removed from the board).

As for that broken cable, it likely requires the entire display to be replaced as it's glues underneath the already glued shut display.

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The mac is still running well. In the same operation I upgraded the RAM and replaced the battery and all looks good so far.

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@renardrouge - can you post a nice tight picture of the logic board connector so we have a better idea what’s still present. I fear you may have pulled up the logic board connector shell besides the cable.

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Here’s the needed replacement cable MacBook Pro 13" Unibody (Early 2011-Mid 2012) Airport/Bluetooth Cable and here’s the guide MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 AirPort/Bluetooth Cable Replacement

Hopefully you haven’t damaged the AirPort board or main logic board connectors. Take pics of them so we can see what they look like now and post them.

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MacBook Pro 13" Unibody (Early 2011-Mid 2012) Airport/Bluetooth Cable

$9.99

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