MacBook Core Duo Logic Board Replacement

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

Lift the battery out of the computer.

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

Lift up on L-shaped memory cover, slide it to the right, and lift it out of the computer.

Remove the following 3 screws:

One 11 mm Phillips #00 in the middle of the case.

Two 14.5 mm Phillips #00.

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

Two 3 mm Phillips #00. (A1181 has three 3 mm screws and one 4 mm.)

One 4 mm Phillips #00 on the right side.

Remove the two 6 mm Phillips #00 screws from either side of the right wall of the battery compartment (not the ones closest to the battery connector).

Remove the four 3 mm indicated Phillips #00 screws from the front wall of the battery compartment. When working from the left, remove the 2nd, 4th, 7th and 9th screw.

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

Two 7 mm shouldered Phillips on the far sides.

Two 10.5 mm Phillips toward the center.

Remove the two 5.2 mm shouldered Phillips #00 screws from the optical side of the computer.

Starting near the display and working around to the front of the computer, pry up on the upper case. It is held with clips on the right above the optical drive. These will release with some firm lifting pressure.

Be careful when prying up the upper case. It's very easy to slice open a fingertip and thus provide the blood sacrifice the Mac gods sometimes require of those who insist on doing their own repairs.

While holding up the upper case (from the bottom or the top), use a spudger to pry up the orange trackpad and keyboard cable from its connector.

Disconnect the MagSafe board cable from the logic board.

Remove the single Phillips screw securing the left speaker to the lower case.

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

Remove the following 3 screws:

Two 7.5 mm Phillips from either end of the left I/O frame.

One 9 mm Phillips from the middle of the left I/O frame.

Remove the small black plastic spacer at the bottom of the left I/O frame.

Lift the left I/O frame up and out of the computer. Pay attention to the thin metal EMI fingers, as they may catch as you remove the left I/O frame.

Peel up the foil tape between the fan and the optical drive.

Use a spudger to move the gray display data and black speaker cables to the right. This will reveal a silver screw securing the fan housing to the lower case.

Disconnect the orange optical drive ribbon cable from the logic board.

Peel up the small black rubber cover from the right side of the heat sink.

Disconnect the black fan connector and two white temperature sensor connectors from the logic board.

Remove the following 6 screws:

One 3 mm Phillips on the right side of the fan.

One 6 mm Phillips on the left side of the fan.

Four 9 mm Phillips securing the heat sink to the lower case.

Hold the heat sink with one hand and the fan with your other hand, and lift the heat sink and fan assembly out of the computer. The fan is attached to the heat sink only with a strip of black felt tape, so be sure to remove both parts as a unit

Disconnect the two antenna cables from the Airport card, and the black inverter cable from the logic board.

Remove the following 2 screws from the Airport card:

One 3 mm Phillips from the left side.

One 8 mm Phillips from the right side.

Grasp the Airport card at its top and slide it toward the screen and out of the computer.

Use a spudger to disconnect the left speaker connector from the logic board.

Lift the left speaker out of the computer.

Disconnect the display data cable by pulling up on the black plastic pull-tab. 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 newly-revealed hard drive cable from the logic board.

Use a spudger to disconnect the two speaker connectors from the logic board.

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.

Deroute the silver microphone cable from the silver metal clip just above the right RAM slot.

Use a spudger to carefully pry the battery connector up and disconnect it from the logic board.

Remove the three 3 mm Phillips screws securing the logic board to the lower case.

Lift the logic board up from the right side, and slide it up and out of the computer.

Turn the logic board over.

Peel the PRAM battery up from its location on the logic board, removing tape as necessary.

Disconnect the PRAM battery cable from the logic board. Pull the connector horizontally out of the socket with the two battery wires.

Remove the PRAM battery from the computer.

Pull back on the metal lever and slide the RAM chip out of the logic board.

Repeat this process for the other RAM chip if there are two RAM chips currently installed in your computer.