MacBook Core 2 Duo Inverter Replacement

Use a coin or spudger to rotate the battery-locking screw 90 degrees clockwise.

Lift the battery out of the computer.

Unscrew the three evenly-spaced Phillips screws from along the rear wall of the battery compartment.

Rotate the L-shaped memory cover so it clears the battery compartment opening and lift it up and out of the computer.

Remove the following 3 screws:

One 11 mm Phillips#00 in the middle of the case. (Head: 5mm dia. x .75mm thick)

Two 14.5 mm Phillips #00 (Head: 5mm dia. x .75mm thick)

Remove the following 3 screws from the rear wall of the battery compartment:

One 3 mm Phillips #0. (Head: 2.75 mm. dia.)

Two 4 mm Phillips #0 on the either side. (Head: 2.75mm dia.)

Remove the two Phillips screws from either side of the right wall of the battery compartment (not the ones closest to the battery connector).

Two 6.25 mm Phillips #000. (Head: 4 mm. dia. x .5mm thick)

Remove the four indicated Phillips screws from the front wall of the battery compartment. When working from the left, remove the 2nd, 4th, 7th and 9th screw.

Four 3.25 mm Phillips #000. (Head: 4 mm. dia. x 4mm thick)

Remove the following 4 screws from the back of the computer:

The longer screws go on the inside, shorter screws on the outside.

Two 11 mm Phillips #00, with Shank (2.2mm dia. x 2 mm len.) (Head: 3.2 mm. dia. x .5mm thick)

Two 7.25 mm Phillips #00, with Shank (2mm dia. x 3.75 mm len.) (Head: 3.2 mm. dia. x .5mm thick)

Remove the two Phillips screws from the optical drive side of the computer.

Two 5.2 mm Phillips #00, with Shank (2.3mm dia. x 3.5 mm len.) (Head: 3.2 mm. dia. x .5mm thick)

Starting near the display and working around to the front of the computer, pry up on the upper case. A plastic opening tool or a medium hard guitar pick may help you to do this.

While holding up the upper case, pull up the black tab of the silver cable away from its connector.

While you have the upper case removed, you may want to take the opportunity to remove dust, hair, etc. It's best to use a can of compressed air, though if you use a brush, make sure that its bristles are made of a material (usually animal hair) that doesn't generate static electricity, which can destroy electronics.

Grasp the white plastic tab attached to the hard drive and pull it to the left, removing the hard drive from the computer.

Remove the two Phillips screws from the front edge of the optical drive.

Two 3.25 mm Phillips #000, (Head: 4 mm. dia. x .3 mm thick)

Disconnect the orange optical drive ribbon cable from the logic board. This cable can also be disconnected by prying straight up using a spudger.

Disconnect the newly revealed display data cable. If there is no pull-tab on the top of the connector, it may be helpful to use a spudger to disconnect this connector.

Disconnect the (once again) newly-revealed hard drive cable.

Peel up the foil tape between the fan and the optical drive. Lift the foil tape from the fan side, leaving it attached to the optical drive.

During reassembly, be sure to route the cables beneath the tape before reattaching it.

Pull up the display data cable from along the edge of the optical drive to reveal a silver Phillips screw.

Remove the 2 mm Phillips #00 screw securing the optical drive.

The Bluetooth cable may be covering the screw. If so, carefully push it aside. You may need to unscrew the cable clip to free the cable enough.

Lift the Bluetooth antenna board from the right side of the optical drive.

Deroute the hard drive cable from along the front of the optical drive.

Lift the front edge of the optical drive and slide it up and out of the computer.

Remove the following 3 screws:

Two 3 mm Phillips near the right speaker.

One 6 mm Phillips threaded through a hole in a plastic finger above the subwoofer.

Lift the right speaker out of its housing and set it to the side.

Using a spudger, gently pry up the white plastic slot and slide the metal c-channel to the right and away from the display.

Use a spudger to carefully disconnect the microphone cable from the logic board. You'll want to work from side to side, and slowly wiggle the connector out of its socket.

Lift up on the black right speaker cable with one hand, and deroute the microphone cable from the silver metal clip just above the right RAM slot.

If you didn't remove the ground loop screw in step 20 above, remove it now. It's a 7 mm (may be 4.2 mm in Santa Rosa/Penryn models) Phillips screw securing the ground loop in the right speaker cable and microphone cable to the metal framework.

Deroute the microphone cable and the black display data cable from the tabs at the bottom of the subwoofer.

Remove the single 3 mm Phillips screw securing the ground loop in the display data cable located just above the Bluetooth board.

Disconnect the three antenna cables from the Airport card. There may be a square foam piece over the logic board connector.

Remove the following 2 screws from the right hinge mount:

One 6 mm Phillips on the left side of the hinge mount.

One 10 mm Phillips on the right side of the hinge mount.

For Santa Rosa/Penryn models, see second picture and remove:

One 3 mm smalller diameter Phillips on the far left.

One 5.2 mm larger diameter 4.2 mm head Phillips in the middle.

One 10 mm Phillips from the far right.

Lift the right hinge mount with the small plastic piece out of the computer.

Hold the display with one hand while removing the screws from the left hinge mount.

Remove the following 3 screws from the left hinge mount:

One 7.2 mm smaller diameter Phillips from the right side.

One 5.2 mm larger diameter Phillips from the middle.

One 10 mm Phillips from the left side.

Lift the left hinge mount with plastic piece out of the computer.

Check that the cables on the right are not trapped under other cables.

Grasp the display assembly on either side, and lift it up and out of the computer.

Use a thin plastic card to release the tabs holding the front display bezel to the display assembly. There are five tabs along the left side of the display bezel.

Continue to free the tabs along the the top edge of the display assembly.

Next, free the five tabs securing the display bezel on the right side.

Lift up the front display bezel from the top and use your plastic card to free the tabs along the bottom edge of the display bezel.

After freeing all holding tabs, lift the front display bezel away from the display assembly.

Use a metal spudger or another thin tool to carefully pry the gray plastic clips off the tabs molded into the front display bezel. A 0.8mm flat screwdriver may be useful for this step.

Insert the longer end of the retaining clip beneath the edge of its recess cut into the LCD bracket.

Use the edge of a metal spudger to push the shorter tab on the other side of the retaining clip into the recess cut into the LCD bracket.

Remove the three 4.2 mm Phillips screws securing the clutch cover.

While holding the display down with one hand, use your other hand to lift the clutch cover off the clutch hinges.

Lift up the right side of the clutch cover and guide the display data and iSight cables through the gap in the clutch cover.

Lift the clutch cover out of the display assembly.

Slightly lift the newly-revealed inverter board out of its housing and disconnect the black inverter cable from the left end of the board.

Disconnect the white inverter cable from the right end of the inverter board.

Remove the inverter board from the display.