Ribbon cable cover screw broke

Question

MacBook Air 13" Retina Late 2020 (M1)

Repair guides, support, and troubleshooting information for the first 13-inch MacBook Air to feature Apple's ARM-based M1 SoC (with an 8-core CPU and up to an 8-core GPU). Released in November 2020 and identified by model numbers A2337 or EMC 3598.

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lyxres @lyxres

crwdns2934065:0crwdne2934065:0: 23

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crwdns2931729:0crwdne2931729:0: Maw 29, 2025

crwdns2933897:0crwdne2933897:0

Ribbon cable cover screw broke

As if my luck couldn't get any worse this stupid screw decided to break somehow

how is this even possible??? Do I need it? The other screw is fine thankfully but what do I do about this one?

I'm cooked

Decided to use some electrical tape to tape it down, very very sketchy. But there's nothing else I could do at the moment, plus there's the other screw and that one works so I'm not completely cooked. Tested it and it works fine, for now but my gut says that something will happen soon.

I don't know if this is ok but I have no other options, is the emi shield even necessary? the undamaged screw makes sure it's at least on top of the connector, idk. Maybe there's a better tape I could use that would be better long term?

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score 1 · Answer 1 · 2025-07-30T03:20:22-07:00

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livfe @livfe

crwdns2934065:0crwdne2934065:0: 5.4crwdns2936485:0crwdne2936485:0

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crwdns2931729:0crwdne2931729:0: Maw 30, 2025

crwdns2933897:0crwdne2933897:0

Taping it down is not going to help much in any way, I had this happen on a MBA 2018 model and I used one of these soft pads that comes with a 2.5" External drive caddie. It can stick to the top of the small plate and when you screw down the case it will sandwich it holding it in place. You may also need to apply a small double sided tape on the case to hold it secure on both sides.