Following up on my previous post I'd like to share how I eventually circumvented the risk of snapping the microphone connector socket on the I/O board. Instead of attempting to disconnect the mic (as suggested in this guide, step 14), I did the following: a. remove the battery, b. detach the right speaker, c. detach the microphone from the outer case (for steps b and c I followed the iFixit guide on how to replace a MacbookAir microphone). The advantage is that the microphone can now remain safely connected to the I/O board. Of course when reassembling the mac one has to reverse these extra steps (the microphone can be easily reattached to the case as it has a sticky side). I would strongly advise iFixit to revise this guide accordingly!
I agree, I found this to be the only critical step of the entire disassembly procedure: I snapped the microphone connector socket off the board despite applying a relatively gentle pull on the cables. Fortunately I did this on a dead MBair from which I wanted to get the display, but now I'm afraid of doing the same damage while installing the display on the target MBair!
Following up on my previous post I'd like to share how I eventually circumvented the risk of snapping the microphone connector socket on the I/O board. Instead of attempting to disconnect the mic (as suggested in this guide, step 14), I did the following: a. remove the battery, b. detach the right speaker, c. detach the microphone from the outer case (for steps b and c I followed the iFixit guide on how to replace a MacbookAir microphone). The advantage is that the microphone can now remain safely connected to the I/O board. Of course when reassembling the mac one has to reverse these extra steps (the microphone can be easily reattached to the case as it has a sticky side). I would strongly advise iFixit to revise this guide accordingly!
I agree, I found this to be the only critical step of the entire disassembly procedure: I snapped the microphone connector socket off the board despite applying a relatively gentle pull on the cables. Fortunately I did this on a dead MBair from which I wanted to get the display, but now I'm afraid of doing the same damage while installing the display on the target MBair!
Any tricks/tips would be most welcome.
Lorenzo