Rip Those Macs Open

[dts2000]

Here is a quick DIY with pics on what I noticed after I cracked mine open to replace my Stock 1tb 7200 HDD to a SSD. I purchased a OEM VHB replacement tape...You can cut your own but I'm confident if I took my IMac back to Apple store they would never know I opened mine up. Use the best tools and take your time.(This is how I did it and it does work, but I'm only writing this up for reference only and not responsible for damages to your computer)

1. Start at right bottom side of the Imac, Insert a guitar pick slowly start rolling it up around the Imac (This process can be found on youtube.com). It takes patience and repeat attempts around the Imac to completely cut the VHB tape. In theory what your trying to do is cut a already thin (approx .5mm) VHB tape in half.Half of it stays on screen side and other on the Imac frame.

2. You will remove both Imac Frame and screen VHB tape to expose a clean surface to receive the new VHB tape.

3. Line up your VHB tape and apply one piece at a time. The hole will line up and look straight on the black frame. Take your time and make sure its straight.

4. Before peeling the numbered side and mounting the screen use 3m blue take or similar to hold the screen inplace while you reload OS and check for function. After testing and benchmark remove blue tape and number side of the VHB tape and seal your imac!
Your are now done!

 

[Tri-stan]

Excellent guide above just what this thread needs. If the blade ssd upgrade works I will be doing a full guide to upgrade your imac with a owc blade ssd drive.

Damn ! I already ordered a OWC Aura Pro 480GB 6G, i hope this works or i will have to order an apple ssd too. It should work since its for retina mbp. Im crossing my fingers i will receive it tomorrow.

Let us know how your mod goes. We are are all just waiting to hear if is is possible to get the imac to at least boot. We have all of the information now and just need to suss out this last procedure and we can guarantee a successful iMac blade ssd upgrade is possible. People have been saying that a stock imac ssd should work now so no reason that the owc blade would not if it physically fits.

If I was going to do the install I would have osx running on the 1tb drive, install the blade ssd, boot in to osx and see if the imac is able to recognise the new hardware. This bit should be possible it is just determining if the hardware can be recognised. Crossing fingers.

 

[cramazing]

awesome thread, someone please put up a youtube video of this, would be great!

 

[happyhacking]

Excellent guide above just what this thread needs. If the blade ssd upgrade works I will be doing a full guide to upgrade your imac with a owc blade ssd drive.




Let us know how your mod goes. We are are all just waiting to hear if is is possible to get the imac to at least boot. We have all of the information now and just need to suss out this last procedure and we can guarantee a successful iMac blade ssd upgrade is possible. People have been saying that a stock imac ssd should work now so no reason that the owc blade would not if it physically fits.

If I was going to do the install I would have osx running on the 1tb drive, install the blade ssd, boot in to osx and see if the imac is able to recognise the new hardware. This bit should be possible it is just determining if the hardware can be recognised. Crossing fingers.

I will report it asap, but unfortunatly i should wait 1 day more due to a delay in shipping, it will be delivered by tomorrow, and i will post every details realtime doing the mod

 

[Johnf1285]

Here is a quick DIY with pics on what I noticed after I cracked mine open to replace my Stock 1tb 7200 HDD to a SSD. I purchased a OEM VHB replacement tape...You can cut your own but I'm confident if I took my IMac back to Apple store they would never know I opened mine up. Use the best tools and take your time.(This is how I did it and it does work, but I'm only writing this up for reference only and not responsible for damages to your computer)
Image
1. Start at right bottom side of the Imac, Insert a guitar pick slowly start rolling it up around the Imac (This process can be found on youtube.com). It takes patience and repeat attempts around the Imac to completely cut the VHB tape. In theory what your trying to do is cut a already thin (approx .5mm) VHB tape in half.Half of it stays on screen side and other on the Imac frame.
Image

2. You will remove both Imac Frame and screen VHB tape to expose a clean surface to receive the new VHB tape.

3. Line up your VHB tape and apply one piece at a time. The hole will line up and look straight on the black frame. Take your time and make sure its straight.
Image



4. Before peeling the numbered side and mounting the screen use 3m blue take or similar to hold the screen inplace while you reload OS and check for function. After testing and benchmark remove blue tape and number side of the VHB tape and seal your imac!
Your are now done!
Image

Did you purchase the tape only and not the entire kit? If so where did you get it from? Thanks!

 

[R.OG]

Wow, you guys have made a lot of progress. Once I'm certain ill never open the iMac up again ill look into buying the tape kit.

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No such luck. The computer will not even turn on with the OWC Blade installed. I have ordered a Apple 256 GB to install instead.

Cheers,

CJ

That's what I thought. I tried installing it twice thinking it might be something I did in the reassembly. Each time I had it back together it would not start with the OWC blade installed but starts just fine with it removed.

I am interested to see if you get the same result.

Cheers,

CJ

Maybe OWC sent you a bad drive, I'll guess we'll find out when happyhacking installs his drive in a couple of days.

 

[happyhacking]

Preliminary

Hi guys, this is a Preliminary report, as of now, i cant power on the imac with the OWC Aura Pro 480GB 6G, i will do some more atempts before concluding anything and will publish some details and a lot of pictures later on.

 

[hfg]

Hi guys, this is a Preliminary report, as of now, i cant power on the imac with the OWC Aura Pro 480GB 6G, i will do some more atempts before concluding anything and will publish some details and a lot of pictures later on.

What does OWC have to say about using their Aura Pro in the iMac?

 

[Tri-stan]

Hi guys, this is a Preliminary report, as of now, i cant power on the imac with the OWC Aura Pro 480GB 6G, i will do some more atempts before concluding anything and will publish some details and a lot of pictures later on.

Maybe there is some sort of safety function that has to be switched on or off whatever the case may be. Maybe this is apple not allowing you to power up with the drive installed when not specified from the factory, some sort of safety feature or anti upgrade feature which does not allow you to move drives across from different platforms.

This is not a problem I have ever experienced in Windows, some sort of Apple weirdness I think. You would have to suggest that if this drive does not work, neither will a genuine rMBP drive either. Even though I have spoken to Upgrade Monkey selling Apple drives on eBay, he said that the drive would work in the iMac, or just physically fit.

Do you know if the connection pins align perfectly by the way?

 

[DIMEZ]

Maybe there is some sort of safety function that has to be switched on or off whatever the case may be. Maybe this is apple not allowing you to power up with the drive installed when not specified from the factory, some sort of safety feature or anti upgrade feature which does not allow you to move drives across from different platforms.

This is not a problem I have ever experienced in Windows, some sort of Apple weirdness I think. You would have to suggest that if this drive does not work, neither will a genuine rMBP drive either. Even though I have spoken to Upgrade Monkey selling Apple drives on eBay, he said that the drive would work in the iMac, or just physically fit.

Do you know if the connection pins align perfectly by the way?

incorrect, if you go back and read an ssd from retina was confirmed tk have worked.

 

[cngisl]

incorrect, if you go back and read an ssd from retina was confirmed tk have worked.

Well as I stated before the OWC Blade would not allow my computer to power up as well.

I have just installed the apple 256 Blade from the Macbook Retina and the computer powers on fine and the drive reads perfect.

Must be something on the connectors for the OWC that causes a fault that prevents the computer from powering on.

CJ

 

[edry.hilario]

So I have to report that you guys are way better at opening these iMac than a "certified genius" yes they were trying to replace the fan on my 27 inch imac and they broke the screen in the process of it.

 

[cngisl]

So I have to report that you guys are way better at opening these iMac than a "certified genius" yes they were trying to replace the fan on my 27 inch imac and they broke the screen in the process of it.

I think we have more at stake.

CJ

 

[happyhacking]

Some Images

Well this is sad news, its confirmed, iMac Late 2012 will not power on with the OWC Aura Pro 480GB 6G for retina Macbook Pro installed, so avoid them. And in case you want to replace your hdd, i will state that its pretty easy, except for the glued screen, so dont hesitate, it worths the speed increase. For replacing the blade ssd, thats pretty more difficult, but its still possible with some calm and a proper retina mbp ssd. Here are some pics so you can check what i did.

BTW: The AppleComponents strips and pizza cutter are the deal for openning and closing this imacs, the owc kit for replacing ram on iMac Late 2012 has some good tools too.

 

[DrJack6]

Sorry to jump in with this out of nowhere but is the GTX 680MX in a removable MXM daughterboard?

 

[happyhacking]

Sorry to jump in with this out of nowhere but is the GTX 680MX in a removable MXM daughterboard?

Im not sure because its under the heatsink but from the bottom i can see a MxM socket where it should be, but i find it not practical to replace, from this point your risking to burn your motherboard...

 

[jmpage2]

Sorry to jump in with this out of nowhere but is the GTX 680MX in a removable MXM daughterboard?

A search for "GPU" in this thread seems to leave the impression that it is soldered onto the logic board and not removable.

 

[happyhacking]

A search for "GPU" in this thread seems to leave the impression that it is soldered onto the logic board and not removable.

Its very possible, but im unsure since its under the heatsink, anyway, i wont recomend to take that risk.

 

[Tri-stan]

For replacing the blade ssd, thats pretty more difficult, but its still possible with some calm and a proper retina mbp ssd.

Looks fun to open up one of these iMac's. Now I will be getting a genuine 256 ssd. What ssd is in your iMac? Is it just a fusion 128GB ssd? I dont think my iMac will come with a screw as it is none fusion.. annoying.

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Well as I stated before the OWC Blade would not allow my computer to power up as well.

I have just installed the apple 256 Blade from the Macbook Retina and the computer powers on fine and the drive reads perfect.

Must be something on the connectors for the OWC that causes a fault that prevents the computer from powering on.

CJ

It could be something as simple as the earth point around the ssd screw. I guess we will never know why it doesn't work.

 

[hfg]

Has anyone with the OWC blade not working in the iMac discussed the issue with OWC tech support?

I don't think OWC officially offers the blade SSD as an upgrade for the iMac, just the MBPro, but it would be interesting to know why the OWC product for the MBPro works there, but not in the iMac ... whereas the Apple MBPro product does work in the iMac.


-howard

 

[happyhacking]

Looks fun to open up one of these iMac's. Now I will be getting a genuine 256 ssd. What ssd is in your iMac? Is it just a fusion 128GB ssd? I dont think my iMac will come with a screw as it is none fusion.. annoying.
----------


It could be something as simple as the earth point around the ssd screw. I guess we will never know why it doesn't work.

Mine is 1TB Fusion Drive, so it comes with apple sata custom conector and the blade ssd is the 128GB from samsung (check the pics), i dont think we can fix the owc drive, perhaps they (owc) will fix it soon, but since i got the aura envoy pro, i will use it as external drive.

I already ordered a 256GB oem retina blade ssd to join with my samsung 840 pro 512GB for raid install, i will publish more info when done.

 

[Tri-stan]

Mine is 1TB Fusion Drive, so it comes with apple sata custom conector and the blade ssd is the 128GB from samsung (check the pics), i dont think we can fix the owc drive, perhaps they (owc) will fix it soon, but since i got the aura envoy pro, i will use it as external drive.

I already ordered a 256GB oem retina blade ssd to join with my samsung 840 pro 512GB for raid install, i will publish more info when done.

Yeah I am just going to get a 256GB oem blade ssd now. Owc may come out with iMac compatible drive but probably not for a while. The benefits to to a oem drive is that it is bigger and cheaper than the standard fusion drive and it can be used as a pure ssd option. I will just have to make sure that it comes with the screw to hold it in place.

Thanks for the help thought, I hope now others can follow from your lead. I a still wating for my iMac so I wont be doing an install quite yet.

 

[paddy-black]

noisy fan

have someone an idea for that fan problem? i changed my 1TBhdd into a 3TB seagate hdd, the problem is, after 2minutes i swiched the imac on, the fan goes on half a speed not full speed. i tried to bridge pin 2 & 7 of the sata power cabel, no go! any idea?

 

[Tri-stan]

Yes there is a connector for the blade ssd on the non fusion 27" imac.

Yes there may well be a connector but without the screw to keep the drive in place it is useless. This may push me to buy a samsung 840 pro 512GB sdd only for my iMac ssd upgrade :-( that is going to hert the wallet.

 

[bgroenewold]

Yes there may well be a connector but without the screw to keep the drive in place it is useless. This may push me to buy a samsung 840 pro 512GB sdd only for my iMac ssd upgrade :-( that is going to hert the wallet.

Hi!

Is the screw the same as in a macbook retina? A 3.1mm T5 Torx?
If yes where can i buy the screw set (part no?) for macbook retina?

THX!