Alu Macbook casing screws REALLY tight!

[anim8or]

I just installed new RAM on my brand new 2.4 GHz Macbook.....

...man it took some effort!

It took me about 45 mins to do it. Why? 2 out of the 8 screws were so tight in the case that i broke a screwdriver in the threading!!!!

Luckily i had another screwdriver to do the job and somehow i managed to get the little buggers out but man i was ready to throw the thing outta the window, i was soooooo frustrated.

Thank goodness i didn't mess up the screw threads or do any damage to the notebook whatsoever so in the end a job well done, but man i was thinking it wasn't gonna happen for me for a while!

Anyone else come across this when fitting after market RAM???

 

[Ron21]

All the screws have loctite on them, so it's really difficult to get them out.

I broke a screw driver trying to get the one screw that holds the HD out.. Took about 10 minutes to get that one screw out lol

 

[Jaffa Cake]

I broke a screwdriver installing RAM in my previous-gen MacBook Pro.

Either we're both heavy handed buffoons or Steve Jobs makes them all that tight because he's got shares in a major screwdriver manufacturer. I'm leaning towards the latter explanation myself.

 

[deriko100]

Wow more bad apple things, apple should be better like when they were before.

 

[anim8or]

Wow more bad apple things, apple should be better like when they were before.

I wouldn't entirely blame apple for this its a simple tolerance thing on the machine that screws them in.

I merely wanted to hear if it was common, out of interest, not to berate apple for it.

 

[mac jones]

WTF? lock-tite?


Geesh , I'm worried now.

If you don't have the right screwdriver (even the right size could be a problem) you could really screw-up (literally)

If you don't mind me asking, what brand and size screwdriver was successful for you without stripping?

 

[anim8or]

Philips 0 or 00.... it was just a cheap one from a hardware store.

The 00 was the one that fit perfectly but then the teeth on the driver turned to mush when i couldnt get the screws out its now just a pointy stick!!!

The 0 did the trick but wasnt a perfect fit but somehow worked for me.

They are tiny tiny tiny screws so i would advise patience and a careful hand.

As for loctite, its not uncommon for this practise its just a pain in the back side with screws so small!

 

[magbarn]

You can also use a low wattage soldering iron with a small tip and heat up the screws carefully prior to removing them. Softens up the loctite, making it much easier to remove. Apple did right to loctite them IMHO. Metal screw to metal threads will ALWAYS LOOSEN over time if you don't use loctite (of course everyone would then cry foul), OTOH metal screw into plastic will not loosen as easy.