crwdns2915892:0crwdne2915892:0
Use this guide to replace the upper case, including the keyboard, of your MacBook Air 11" Early 2015.
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crwdns2942207:0crwdne2942207:0crwdns2935267:0crwdne2935267:0P5 Pentalobe Screwdriver Retina MacBook Pro and Air$5.99
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Remove the following ten screws:
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Two 8 mm 5-point Pentalobe screws
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Eight 2.5 mm 5-point Pentalobe screws
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Wedge your fingers between the display and the lower case and pull upward to pop the lower case off the Air.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry both short sides of the battery connector upward to disconnect it from its socket on the logic board.
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Bend the battery cable slightly away from the logic board so the connector will not accidentally bend back and make contact with its socket.
When reassembling the connector wire needs to be bent to fit.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the left and right I/O board cable connectors up off their respective sockets on the I/O board.
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Use the tip of a spudger to carefully push on each side of the iSight camera cable connector to loosen it out of its socket on the logic board.
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Peel the iSight camera cable up off the adhesive securing it to the fan.
Additionally it seems as though the display assembly I have is from an earlier model with a different built in camera. I don’t care if the camera works, could I chop the cord, power it up, and just no have a working camera?
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Use the tip of a spudger to carefully flip up the retaining flap on the fan cable ZIF socket.
Be sure you understand how the connector works, if you have to go and look up “apple ZIF connector” and watch a video. The one above flips up from where the tool is pointing at. Again do not damage the connector. Click the second picture to see this!
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Remove the following three screws securing the fan to the upper case:
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Two 5.5 mm T5 Torx screws
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One 4.6 mm T5 Torx screw
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Lift, but do not remove the fan out of its recess in the upper case.
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Carefully pull the fan ribbon cable out of its socket as you remove the fan from the Air.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry both antenna connectors up from their sockets on the AirPort/Bluetooth card, and move them out of the way.
Be very careful. When I did this - just as in the photo - I prised the top of the antenna connector off from the bottom of it, leaving me with only one functioning antenna.
You can usually pull the airport card out of the socket and let it dangle by the attached wires. They can be frustrating to re-attach.
This seems like great advice! Any more details would be greatly appreciated
Just walk it out slowly. The cables don’t have a lot of slack, so if you pull too hard on the card it may yank the cables out of their sockets, or worse, when it comes free.
When I did this, one antenna connection broke off and the other will not reattach for love nor money. I have not idea how to fix it. I’d try a blob of solder if my fingers were the size of matchsticks! Haha
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Remove the following five screws securing the battery to the upper case:
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Two 5.2 mm T5 Torx screws
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One 6 mm T5 Torx screw
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Two 2.6 mm T5 Torx screws
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Lift the battery from its edge nearest the logic board and remove it from the upper case.
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Disconnect the I/O board by pulling the power cable away from its socket on the logic board.
Did it wrong to begin with by taking the complete socket away and not just the insert. Now I can’t get the socket back on the logic board contacts. Any ideas?
I have the same issue! Did you find a solution?
It's safer and easier to use the tip of a spudger to depress the catch located on the top of the socket. Push down and towards the connector and it will ease itself out without damage.
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Use the tip of a spudger to de-route the antenna cables from their notches in the logic board.
I ordered a used display and the antennae wires are way too short to make it in to their respective ports (either of them). Am I missing something? Anything I should know to do a splice?
-Aidan
I did not disconnect the tiny gold terminals, they are too fragile. I just slide out the card but leave it connected to the antenna, if replacing the logic board is the aim.
They're not clicking back in when I reassemble it
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Gently push the tip of a spudger under the black plastic flap stuck to the display data cable lock to make the lock pop upward and away from the socket.
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While holding the lock away from the socket, gently pull the display data cable out of its socket.
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Use the tip of a spudger to pry under the speaker cable connector, lifting it straight up from its socket.
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De-route the cable from its notch in the logic board.
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Use the tip of a spudger or your fingernail to flip up the retaining flap on the trackpad ribbon cable ZIF socket.
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Pull the trackpad ribbon cable straight out of its socket toward the front edge of the Air.
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Use the tip of a spudger to flip up the retaining flap on the keyboard backlight ribbon cable ZIF socket.
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Pull the keyboard backlight ribbon cable out of its socket.
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Remove the single 2.9 mm T5 Torx screw securing the AirPort/Bluetooth card to the logic board.
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Slightly lift the free end of the AirPort/Bluetooth board and pull it out of its socket on the logic board.
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Remove the three 3.6 mm T5 Torx screws securing the logic board to the upper case.
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In some models these are 3.1 mm T5 Torx screws.
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Gently lift the logic board assembly from the heat sink end and pull it away from the port side of the case to remove it from the Air.
There's a screw that's connecting the logic board to the casing that has to be removed before sliding the logic board out. I found that out the hard way.
Only 3 were in mine, where did you find another screw?
When replacing the logic board, make sure you haven’t trapped an antenna cable underneath. Easy to sort it out now, much more annoying if you only discover it after screwing everything down first!
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Remove the small rubber gasket from the corner of the upper case nearest the the I/O board.
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Remove the gasket from the corner nearest display cable connector.
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Use the tip of a spudger to carefully flip up the retaining flap on the microphone cable ZIF socket.
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With a pair of tweezers, pull the microphone ribbon cable straight out of its socket.
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Use the tip of a spudger to pry under the speaker cable near the connector, lifting it straight up from its socket.
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De-route the cable from its notch in the logic board.
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Remove the single 3.6 mm T5 Torx screw securing the I/O board to the upper case.
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Carefully lift the I/O board by its power cable and pull it away from the edge of the case.
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Peel up the six cable loops securing the antenna cables to the upper case.
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Gently pull the cable loops slightly out of the channel cut into the upper case one at a time.
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Use your spudger to open up the plastic loops as you de-route the antenna cables through them.
On the reassemble phase, rethread these before you reattach the display/
Agreed, with Mark, I found pushing the loop in the hole over the gasket material and then using a small tweezer to reposition them. Once you attache the display, you will probably have to push the securing tabs back to the working side of the back.
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Remove the inner 4.9 mm T8 Torx screw securing each display hinge to the upper case (two screws total).
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While holding the Air steady, remove the remaining 4.9 mm T8 Torx screw from the lower display bracket.
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Remove the last 4.9 mm T8 Torx screw securing the display to the upper case.
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Push the upper case slightly toward the display assembly, then rotate it away from the front of the display assembly.
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Once the two display hinges have cleared the upper case, remove the display.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the right speaker off the adhesive securing it to the upper case.
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Remove the right speaker from the upper case.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the left speaker off the adhesive securing it to the upper case.
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Remove the left speaker from the upper case.
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Use the tip of a spudger to pry the microphone away from the side of the upper case.
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Remove the microphone from the upper case.
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Upper case remains.
This connector is different on mine and does not appear to be removeable. My replacement upper case came with it attached.
This microphone is different and glued in. Takes a bit of prying out
Don't pull too hard the microphone has the density of cardboard and I ripped mine in half.
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Push/lift the keyboard ribbon cable off of the upper case with one hand.
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With the other hand, use a spudger to flip up the retaining flap on the ZIF connector.
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Once the retaining flap has been flipped up, carefully pull the ribbon cable straight out of its socket.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to separate the trackpad ribbon cable from the underside of the keyboard.
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Remove the six 1.5 mm Phillips #00 screws securing the trackpad to the upper case.
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Check your replacement upper case—if it doesn't have this wide T5 screw, remove it to transfer into the replacement.
Also you will need to remove the T5 screw at the bottom of the trackpad, closest to the edge. It's located right underneath the hill shape in the aluminum. Without it the trackpad will not physically click.
I needed the #000 bit instead of #00.
I also needed #000.
#000 is a necessity to remove those six screws - #00 is just too thick to fit.
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Holding the upper case up off the table with one hand, gently push the trackpad up through the upper case.
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Remove the trackpad from the upper case.
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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I don’t see why steps 20 and 21 would be necessary.
Steps 20 and 21 are necessary, as there is a logic board screw slightly hidden underneath the Wireless Card, as you can see in Step 22.
The isight cable in the top right corner: I don’t think yours is installed right, it shouldn’t be going over that rubber grommet, it should be going to the left. Your cable is all stretched. I don’t see why steps 20 and 21 would be necessary, except temporarily to remove the screw. Step 31: My inners are T9 and my outers are T10. Also, I wouldn’t rate this as a 3-bar difficult. There isn’t even anything glued in, you don’t need a heat gun or adhesive remover, no special tools besides the pentalobe bit are required. Estimated time 30-60 minutes.
Steps 20 and 21 are necessary, as there is a logic board screw slightly hidden underneath the Wireless Card, as you can see in Step 22.
I completed this process in hopes that I would have repaired a power button problem on this MacBook Air. This didn’t seem to work. Any other suggestions. Could it be the logic board? Just trying to find some answers. Wonderful step by step guide, though…Kudos to all involved.
Is this the guide to follow to replace the keyboard itself (as in the black part with the keys seen in the last image) or do I need to replace the entire upper case for that? The keys on my Early 2015 11,6” are a bit flimsy and not very firm.
Anybody got to the keyboard? I was curious to know if it was riveted or screwed-on, like in the non-Retina MacBook Pro.
When you say:
Remove the following ten screws:
Two 8 mm 5-point Pentalobe screws
Eight 2.5 mm 5-point Pentalobe screws
Do the 8mm & 2.5mm dimensions refer to the LENGTH of those screws, or the size of the pentalobe? That is, are there other sizes of pentalobe drivers like there are for hex, phillips and torx? When only one dimension is provided, it is usually the socket/driver size, not the screw length, maybe since the length cannot be seen when the screw is installed.
Can I suggest that you clarify your instructions so folks are confident they are only in need of _one_ pentalobe driver?
Nerdily yours,
Larry (whose iPhone 4S can now get through a day without 6 recharges thanks to ifixit.com ;-)
larryleveen - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
The 8mm and 2.5mm are the length of the screws. One pentalobe P5 screwdriver suffices for all the screws (P5 is implicitly the size of the pentalobe screw heads).
Michael Welham -
I sourced all the parts from ifixit, plus a magnetic project mat which I found to be very useful for organising the teardown and reassembly.
Allen - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
The magnetic mat is
GERARD SZAREK -
Keep the 2.5mm tiny screws away from the MagSafe connector as they will be attracted and sucked in to the magnet.
Frank O'Carroll - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
A tip an old bench tech taught me that has saved me many times: I put clear “Scotch” tape over the case screws as they became “free”. The tape kept them in place while I lifted the lid off, cleaned it etc.
Michael Mee - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
Thank you for a really smart tip! I will be using that countless more times!
Lilljedahl -
I’m confused about internet recovery and installing MacOS. Is all of this done before placing in the new ssd card or after. I don’t have any files that I would like to safe/transfer, is all of this necessary, if I don’t do it before placing new ssd, will I still be able to instal/upgrade macOS afterwards.
It’s an old Mac and now it won’t start or charge, I know I will have to replace battery and put new battery first and turn on Mac before doing the ssd stuff. Since it won’t effing start.
I’m really clueless about backing up old ssd, since I don’t need any files, besides MacOS(software) ,and is that related to the ssd?
AMG - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
The answer to your question: You need to insert your SSD into the computer before internet recovery. If you start the recovery before inserting SSD, it won’t affect the setup, you won’t damage anything. But your SSD will not be detected (as there isn’t one inserted.)
Also, a little tip: If you bought a used SSD, go into Disk Utility and format the drive with the highest security level to permanently remove all of the previous files.
Also a FYI: Internet Recovery will load up Mac OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks, so I would recommend making a recovery drive from a Big Sur (or desired version) through another Mac, and a USB. You can visit this support doc: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
Hope this helps! -Dan
danielwen -
I got a macbook air with a damaged and swollen battery. I could remove all screws, except one 2,5 mm screw. I’m afraid it got damaged while attempting to remove it, I have no grip with the P5 pentalobe screwdriver. How can I proceed?
Robert Hermans - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
Hi Robert!
Try some techniques found in this stripped screw removal guide. Good luck!
Arthur Shi -
Hello I have a macbook air they are say they do not have parts for my laptop macbook air 11 inches 2013 mid need to replace battery which one to buy
vensilver - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
Hello! This is the part you want—maybe we’re not able to ship it to you if you’re out of the United States. The battery in your MacBook Air should be the same for all 11” between mid-2011 to early-2015.
Arthur Shi -
The smaller screws went in more easily when I put back all the screws along the hinge edge first.
Rachel Slatkin - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0