Macbook air repair and rebuild

[Jim.S]

Macbook Air Repair & Rebuild

Thumbelina, hopefully you are still monitoring this string. My daughter has a Macbook Air (Model A1237) with a broken LCD and dented top cover. I am going to try to repair it and since you did that in January, I would like to ask a few questions:

1. How difficult was it to move the Camera/microphone, LCD LED LVDS Cable, backlight from the old case to the new case?
2. Did you have any problems with the adhesive that held the the LVDS cable in place?
3. Any general pointers you can give with the top cover would be appreciated.

JimS

 

[InfoSecmgr]

Hi All
If you have been following this thread, I am delighted to report that my Macbook Air is back to life and up and running and almost looking as good as new, after it's upper case/keyboard change, new top case and LCD replacement Thank you DesignerOnMac, Scottsdale, Mactagonist and Agaskew for your advice and posts.

Few pointers to help others who may face a similar predicament:
Be really careful when removing the screen bezel - they do warp much easier than you would expect and the more time and care you take in removal will mean that it will go back easier and look as if it never happened ( I have to find a new adhesive to put mine back and smooth out the ripples)

You don't need to seperate the heatsink from the logic board - on my late 2008, I was able to remove them still attached and that made putting it back easier too and avoiding having to redo the thermal paste (a must if you seperate them)

If you are replacing the lid, check that the lid and case line up perfectly BEFORE you tighten up the hinges.

If anyone out there needs any tips, get in touch. My macbook Air and I are now on intimate terms. In my opinion, an LCD CAN be replaced without a complete dis-assembly of your MBA. I did my case change before the LCD arrived and then just had to slot the LCD into the lid and connect the LVDS cable.

But as has been written above - take you time and you too can do a better job of bringing your MBA back to life than Apple who will happily sell you a new lid and LCD for $800 plus another $600 for the upper case/keyboard. My repair has cost me $300 in parts and I could now cut that down by over $80. And the Apple Service centre told me it was beyond economical repair and told me to buy a new one.

Personally, having fixed my MBA, I havent felt this good since I won an argument with the wife.......

Where did you get your parts from? I have a revision A MBA 1.6GHz with a dented upper case. I most certainly do not have the money to pay Apple to fix it.