Replacing cracked Macbook Air 11.6" screen

V0RT3X said:

Hey, I'm getting a 2011 11.6 MBA with a smashed screen I would like to replace.

http://i.imgur.com/TNKTX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/MGGbv.jpg

Is the bezel the aluminum frame only or is there also clear plastic (that shields the LCD) I can't see from the pics or videos. I'm still debating over whether getting the LCD only or the whole upper assembly. I've watched the Techrestore vid. Do you need a quality heatgun or would a hairdryer do? Does the LCD come off nicely like in their vid with the back layers staying in the frame? Would't want to touch those. Do you need to reglue the new LCD in or can you just screw it in? Is the remaining adhesive on the bezel sufficient to reattach it? Can you screw it up so it doesn't sit flush anymore? (like on the iPads where corners start to come off) Any other tips?

Also, what kind of screwdrivers do I need? And some pliers and spudgers?
Should this one be OK? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-...Laptop_Screens_LCD_Panels&hash=item27c317b4bc Full assemblies are in the 300$ range.

Thanks for the replies.

Click to expand...

Having tried and completed TWO bare LCD replacements on A1370s, I think next time around I'd probably buy complete display assemblies and do it that way. Neither of my two MBAs turned out perfect. The first one has a partially torn backlight flex cable because it was very short and you have to fold it a certain way to re-attached. I also didn't notice that the bare assembly LCD has a thin clear plastic sheet with a red lettering (probably lot number) and once you glue this into the LCD frame/back there without removing it, there is no going back without damaging the new LCD, so I am stuck with it. It shows thru the LCD display screen.

On the second one, I was quite careful in removing the old one, but it still comes apart in thousand of pieces (exagerating), and again the heat gun damaged/curled the 3-5 sheets of back up milky plastic sheets functions as a diffuser for the LED lights. So when I put all back together, you can actually see the damaged diffuser.

I don't think it is worth doing it again unless you are really experienced and have the right tools. Get a similar MBA with water damage main board and use the hopefully good display in it's place, or go to some chinese website (i think it is alibaba something) and get it from them.

Thanks for the reply. Do you need to glue the new LCD in? What did you use? Is your bezel 100% flush with the rest? (looks like before)

Also, could you post a pic? Wonder how it looks.

V0RT3X said:

Thanks for the reply. Do you need to glue the new LCD in? What did you use? Is your bezel 100% flush with the rest? (looks like before)

Also, could you post a pic? Wonder how it looks.

Click to expand...

No glue. You have to buy (I got mine via Amazon), a thin double sided foam tape specially designed for things like this (2mm, I think). Attached are a couple of out of focus pictures.

V0RT3X said:

Hey, I'm getting a 2011 11.6 MBA with a smashed screen I would like to replace.

http://i.imgur.com/TNKTX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/MGGbv.jpg

Is the bezel the aluminum frame only or is there also clear plastic (that shields the LCD) I can't see from the pics or videos. I'm still debating over whether getting the LCD only or the whole upper assembly. I've watched the Techrestore vid. Do you need a quality heatgun or would a hairdryer do? Does the LCD come off nicely like in their vid with the back layers staying in the frame? Would't want to touch those. Do you need to reglue the new LCD in or can you just screw it in? Is the remaining adhesive on the bezel sufficient to reattach it? Can you screw it up so it doesn't sit flush anymore? (like on the iPads where corners start to come off) Any other tips?

Also, what kind of screwdrivers do I need? And some pliers and spudgers?
Should this one be OK? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-...Laptop_Screens_LCD_Panels&hash=item27c317b4bc Full assemblies are in the 300$ range.

Thanks for the replies.

Click to expand...

If the whole assembly is available then buy it. This is a very difficult repair and it is easily damaged. The cables have almost no tolerance. No a hair dryer will not work. It needs a very small tip in very specific locations. There is no glass, the led is the screen now. There are also diffuser panels behind it that get damaged extremely easy. Not a beginner repair. Not impossible, just not easy. For $300 its worth the assembly.

Hmm, yeah probably. I will first try to remove the LCD and not damage stuff and then decide whether to order the whole assembly or just the LCD.

Shouldn't it be a bit easier if you took the upper assembly off and work it from there?

Hello all. I have a 15" pro late 2009 2.66GHz

Randomly shuts off.
Battery is new
Does not follow any specific pattern
Any thoughts?
Tried swapping memory
I have one stick in it now and seems to work.
Then I added another stick(thought I had bad memory)
Worked great all night.
Then today worked for 30-40 minutes and then shut off.
Not tasking it hard, just normal operation

cmdrdata said:

Having tried and completed TWO bare LCD replacements on A1370s, I think next time around I'd probably buy complete display assemblies and do it that way. Neither of my two MBAs turned out perfect. The first one has a partially torn backlight flex cable because it was very short and you have to fold it a certain way to re-attached. I also didn't notice that the bare assembly LCD has a thin clear plastic sheet with a red lettering (probably lot number) and once you glue this into the LCD frame/back there without removing it, there is no going back without damaging the new LCD, so I am stuck with it. It shows thru the LCD display screen.

On the second one, I was quite careful in removing the old one, but it still comes apart in thousand of pieces (exagerating), and again the heat gun damaged/curled the 3-5 sheets of back up milky plastic sheets functions as a diffuser for the LED lights. So when I put all back together, you can actually see the damaged diffuser.

I don't think it is worth doing it again unless you are really experienced and have the right tools. Get a similar MBA with water damage main board and use the hopefully good display in it's place, or go to some chinese website (i think it is alibaba something) and get it from them.

Click to expand...

Kapton tape and a rework station with a narrow nozzle work wonders on the 11.6" air. For your third one!

Use the kapton tape on the black trim and around the polarizer to keep the heat out of the important parts, and the rework station nozzle to target the heat. You can boil the bezel without messing up the back layers.

anyone have a pic of where the fuse is located on a 11" air a1370?

i did the lcd removal and it cracked "didnt care it was bad" buti didnt remove the battery connector before hand, after reading this guide i removed the two connectors on the lcd side of the inverter and connected the inverter to the pc side and im not getting a backlight... not sure if the lcd has to be uncracked in tact or if i blew the backlight fuse, any help would be appreciated

i assume its somewhere in the pic location by the lcd connector?

Get a screen assembly

Hi folks, thought I would share my experience with the cracked screen on my son's macbook air 11" 2011.

We had the usual experience of being told by Apple that they would like £500 to repair the unit. As it only cost £675 (educational discount as he was off to uni), I searched the internet and came across the tech restore video on replacing the lcd. I'm pretty good at that type of thing so decided to buy a screen on ebay for £50 from Taiwan. With free post and packing, 8 days later the screen arrived, really well packaged and looking to be the correct one.

Apple have obviously no intention for making the lcd replaceable! Even with infinite patience and care, getting the thing apart was a nightmare. I managed to get the bezel off without damaging the plastic sheets behind the screen, but it is virtually impossible to remove the already cracked screen without leaving shards of glass behind. Anyway, plugged the new screen in and only half lit up. After a lot of trouble-shooting, it became apparent that the new screen had a problem. The supplier was brilliant, another screen arrived within a week, plugged it in prior to assembly and it was fine. Put everything back and could not stop the edge of the screen grounding out on the case. If you look at the old screen, there are a lot of small strips of tape etc that are not supplied with the new screen. After much fiddling about, I managed to crack the new screen as it stuck to an old bit of adhesive!

At this point, I ordered a complete screen assembly from the guys in Taiwan for £250. It duly arrived and with the excellent ifixit tutorial, was installed within a couple of hours and we are back up and running.

My advice is to go for the screen assembly if you have a problem. The observation that I made whilst trying to change the lcd is that without doing it for a living, having the correct adhesive strips etc, your macair is going to peel apart eventually.

Anyway, thought I would share the experience and hope it helps others. Brent

braxR1 said:

anyone have a pic of where the fuse is located on a 11" air a1370?

i did the lcd removal and it cracked "didnt care it was bad" buti didnt remove the battery connector before hand, after reading this guide i removed the two connectors on the lcd side of the inverter and connected the inverter to the pc side and im not getting a backlight... not sure if the lcd has to be uncracked in tact or if i blew the backlight fuse, any help would be appreciated

i assume its somewhere in the pic location by the lcd connector?

Image

Click to expand...

Photo is a bit blurry but I think it is the part I highlighted below. Fuses usually have a white dot, P, or F marked on the top.Looks like this one fits the bill. With power removed, battery disconnected, measure the resistance across the fuse. A good fuse is close to zero ohms. Bad fuse measures megaohms.

2010 11 inch a1370 backlight problem

hello, cmdrdata, the a1370 you have is a 2010? like this on the picture??

if so could you help me finding the led fuse, and the wled driver please!

thanks will appreciate it! a lot!

thanks

soapsudz said:

Anyone had success with replacing the screen on a MBA 11" from 2010 or 2011? Would the screen from the 2011 model fit in the 2010?

Click to expand...

Does anyone knows the answer for this?
I have a 11" 2010 and thinking of buying a screen from a 2011.
Are they compatible?
Thanks.

chrisperro said:

Does anyone knows the answer for this?
I have a 11" 2010 and thinking of buying a screen from a 2011.
Are they compatible?
Thanks.

Click to expand...

I don't think so. The wifi card is in a different location so the antenna cables may not be the right length. Check iFixit site for teardown and photos. Also, they sell parts so if they list a different part number for display assembly for 2010 vs 2011 then the cable lengths are likely different.

Dadioh said:

I don't think so. The wifi card is in a different location so the antenna cables may not be the right length. Check iFixit site for teardown and photos. Also, they sell parts so if they list a different part number for display assembly for 2010 vs 2011 then the cable lengths are likely different.

Click to expand...

Thank you.