How to get the top case off?

[steffi]

Most of the videos on youtube seem to show that it's common to get stuck at the same spot with the front of the case being very difficult to remove especially around the dvd-rom corner.

How can you loosen it without damaging anything?

In my case the back is off just the front is still stuck and refuses to budge.

 

[scott85213]

I just rocked it back and forth and it will usually come free, there was still about two snaps that wouldn't come off so I just wedged a screwdriver and pried a little. Didn't bend or break anything, but it didn't really matter anyways because it was dead.

 

[UltraNEO*]

Most of the videos on youtube seem to show that it's common to get stuck at the same spot with the front of the case being very difficult to remove especially around the dvd-rom corner.

How can you loosen it without damaging anything?

In my case the back is off just the front is still stuck and refuses to budge.

Around the DVD, there are 4 plastic clips.. they just unclip off if you rock it a little... but don't rock it too much as there are two metal bits that could break off!! Remember it's soft aluminium!!

 

[alphaod]

Get a plastic knife and try to lever it over. Be careful.

 

[UltraNEO*]

Get a plastic knife and try to lever it over. Be careful.

*stabs alphaod with said plastic knife*

hehe

 

[steffi]

Yeah I managed to get it off eventually and all is well.

Tip

If after when you've got it all back together it doesn't respond on power on and the display doesn't show up then press down in the center of the keyboard and you'll hear a click. I think that's the connector for the keyboard to the logic board that must have loosened a little when I removed the case.

I managed to do my swap using the ifixit instructions but I was a little shocked by how well the ribbon cable was stuck down and I wasn't expecting it to be stuck down all the way to the connector at the back of the drive so removing that took a lot of care and a little patience. I ended up using a cable tie as a spuger and slowly pushed it underneath the ribbon cable.

Once you get the top case off and get the ribbon cable unstuck it's all pretty smooth sailing from that point on. I didn't have to undo any connectors inside except the connector in the back of the drive.

*stabs alphaod with said plastic knife*

hehe