Easiest way to permanently remove 2007 MacBook Hinge Cover?

henryaz · 10-02-2012, 03:42 PM

(This question is cross posted to MacRumors.com)

I have a very dead video on my late 2007 13" MacBook 3,1 -- replacement of the cheaper parts didn't fix it, and it is not worth investing any more money into it.

I want a setup that looks more or like this (minus the Old Spice):

Lidless MacBook Pro

The teardown sites look like over kill to me. What is the easiest way to remove this and still have a functioning MacBook.

BTW - It looks like I'll lose AirPort, because the antennae is in the lid. Anyway to make the antennae external?

Thanks!
Henry

DeltaMac · 10-02-2012, 04:13 PM

What do you mean by overkill?
You will find that you can't get at the hinge mounts, just by removing the hinge cover.
You have to remove the keyboard/top case to disconnect all the wires that run through the hinge area (microphone, camera, video, wireless antenna, and the video inverter cables), and you also get access to remove the hinge clutch blocks (which hold the hinges in position to the frame.) Those have to be removed to get the display panel completely removed. You also have to remove the DVD drive to get at some of the wires that come from the display to the logic board.
The 'overkill' comes in, to prevent you from damaging the REST of the MacBook, so it has a chance of working once you have removed the display.
There's nothing about what you want to do that could be considered "easy"

(the wireless antenna is simply a wire, which can be removed from the display assembly, and re-attached to the airport card, and the wire extended as you need it, or get a replacement external wifi antenna, with the proper connection for your airport card - not too difficult to find.)

henryaz · 10-02-2012, 04:52 PM

Well, let's say you follow these directions: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installi...D-Panel/1498/1

It appears to me that I have to completely disassemble the lid and the LCD panel before I can remove the last cable that connects to the motherboard (Step 55, here: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installi...l/1498/7#s1241) and it is not clear that the panel is still completely disconnected from the main body when I look at this photo: (Step 60: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installi...D-Panel/1498/8) This part of the process seems like overkill to me.

I have no intention of using the LCD panel again (I'll freecycle it), so I would rather unplug the wires directly from the CPU, or even snip them, if I knew which ones would still leave the computer running.

henryaz · 10-02-2012, 04:54 PM

Is there a better tear down you can recommend? Thanks!

onceagain · 10-02-2012, 05:09 PM

FWIW, this is pretty much what I was talking about with my headless "Mac Slab" concept in the coat room.

OP - what would be cool is if you can ditch the cables by using an appletv and (i forgot what apple calls it - air play maybe?) to wireless send the video to your monitor.

You could always try just routing the antenna cable into the body of the machine somewhere and hope for the best.

DeltaMac · 10-02-2012, 05:46 PM

You have to do most of that disassembly, for sure. Even to just snip the cables, you have to mostly dissassemble just to get at the cables. Once there, you'll see where the cables connect, and it's a simple matter to just disconnect. The OTHER steps in that quide is for replacing the LCD panel, and not just that complete assembly. If you want to remove the wifi antenna from inside, then you would still need to disassemble that display assembly. If not, then if you work your way through the steps, as presented, you can simply stop once the cables to the logic board are disconnected, and the hinges (the clutch blocks) are removed. That will leave you with what you want, and no reason to open the display assembly unless you want to. Then just put everything back in place, such as the optical drive, that is not part of the display connectors, etc. If you begin the removal, I think it will be self-evident where you can stop.
I agree with onceagain about the airport antenna - although it's packed in pretty tight, and won't be simple to rout - although there WILL be some extra space because some cables won't be there now, and the hinges will be missing, so ....

acme.mail.order · 10-02-2012, 08:06 PM

The teardown instructions are all written with the intention of being able to put it back together again. If you are willing to accept some damage you should be able to remove the screen in 2 minutes. Extract the wifi antenna and wrap it around the lower case, then remove the top case.

Be careful cutting cables - if you short wires together you will probably destroy the logic board and/or power supply. Separate the conductors and apply an insulator to the ends. Old-fashioned rubber cement works well here, as does epoxy.

DeltaMac · 10-02-2012, 11:09 PM

There's no need to cut ANY cables

You can't get to the clutch blocks/hinges without first removing the top case.
IMHO - if you have opened the MacBook enough to unscrew the display clutch blocks, then ALL of the wires to the display can be unplugged from the logic board, with very little more effort, other than removing the optical drive for access to the wires that pass underneath it.

note - be careful of terms that you use here. The "top case" on the MacBook is that part of the housing that has the keyboard, trackpad, and power button. The display module includes the LCD panel. You might also call that the lid (while it's still attached, anyway!)

acme.mail.order · 10-03-2012, 02:06 AM

If you are removing the screen/lid without disassembling the bottom case you will need to cut some cables.

henryaz · 10-11-2012, 07:33 PM

Hey - I got it all disassembled with no hiccups. (Of course, that's the easy part!)

I will attempt to repurpose the iSight to a USB cam, based upon some sites I read.

BUT, the Airport antennae are soldered to a metal L that was screwed into one side of the LCD panel. I don't think that unsoldering it and tucking the wires into the main body will work. Thoughts?

Cheers,
Henry

henryaz · 10-12-2012, 02:46 PM

OK - I got it working! I now have a screenless MacBook that I have hooked up to an external monitor. Some interesting thoughts:

- I tested it before I reassembled it to see if the external monitor would work and it would boot off of the CD-ROM (I took out the HDD and replaced it with another). To get the external monitor to register here, I had to use the OPTION key to choose the boot device (CD-ROM) in order for the external monitor to be recognized BEFORE the boot. Otherwise, the CD-ROM would boot and nothing would show on the external monitor.

- The Trackpad Click would not work until after I had installed snow-leapord on the hard drive. I used an external mouse when working off of the Snow Leopard install disk.

- Without having to flip the reed switch to make it think the screen is closed, it now seems to automatically boot off of the internal HDD with recognizing the external monitor.

More tests to follow to see if everything works fine ...

10-02-2012, 03:42 PM	#1
henryaz Prospect Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	Easiest way to permanently remove 2007 MacBook Hinge Cover? (This question is cross posted to MacRumors.com) I have a very dead video on my late 2007 13" MacBook 3,1 -- replacement of the cheaper parts didn't fix it, and it is not worth investing any more money into it. I want a setup that looks more or like this (minus the Old Spice): Lidless MacBook Pro The teardown sites look like over kill to me. What is the easiest way to remove this and still have a functioning MacBook. BTW - It looks like I'll lose AirPort, because the antennae is in the lid. Anyway to make the antennae external? Thanks! Henry

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10-02-2012, 04:13 PM	#2
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,997	What do you mean by overkill? You will find that you can't get at the hinge mounts, just by removing the hinge cover. You have to remove the keyboard/top case to disconnect all the wires that run through the hinge area (microphone, camera, video, wireless antenna, and the video inverter cables), and you also get access to remove the hinge clutch blocks (which hold the hinges in position to the frame.) Those have to be removed to get the display panel completely removed. You also have to remove the DVD drive to get at some of the wires that come from the display to the logic board. The 'overkill' comes in, to prevent you from damaging the REST of the MacBook, so it has a chance of working once you have removed the display. There's nothing about what you want to do that could be considered "easy" (the wireless antenna is simply a wire, which can be removed from the display assembly, and re-attached to the airport card, and the wire extended as you need it, or get a replacement external wifi antenna, with the proper connection for your airport card - not too difficult to find.)

10-02-2012, 04:52 PM	#3
henryaz Prospect Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	Well, let's say you follow these directions: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installi...D-Panel/1498/1 It appears to me that I have to completely disassemble the lid and the LCD panel before I can remove the last cable that connects to the motherboard (Step 55, here: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installi...l/1498/7#s1241) and it is not clear that the panel is still completely disconnected from the main body when I look at this photo: (Step 60: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installi...D-Panel/1498/8) This part of the process seems like overkill to me. I have no intention of using the LCD panel again (I'll freecycle it), so I would rather unplug the wires directly from the CPU, or even snip them, if I knew which ones would still leave the computer running.

10-02-2012, 04:54 PM	#4
henryaz Prospect Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	Is there a better tear down you can recommend? Thanks!

10-02-2012, 05:09 PM	#5
onceagain All Star Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 664	FWIW, this is pretty much what I was talking about with my headless "Mac Slab" concept in the coat room. OP - what would be cool is if you can ditch the cables by using an appletv and (i forgot what apple calls it - air play maybe?) to wireless send the video to your monitor. You could always try just routing the antenna cable into the body of the machine somewhere and hope for the best.

10-02-2012, 05:46 PM	#6
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,997	You have to do most of that disassembly, for sure. Even to just snip the cables, you have to mostly dissassemble just to get at the cables. Once there, you'll see where the cables connect, and it's a simple matter to just disconnect. The OTHER steps in that quide is for replacing the LCD panel, and not just that complete assembly. If you want to remove the wifi antenna from inside, then you would still need to disassemble that display assembly. If not, then if you work your way through the steps, as presented, you can simply stop once the cables to the logic board are disconnected, and the hinges (the clutch blocks) are removed. That will leave you with what you want, and no reason to open the display assembly unless you want to. Then just put everything back in place, such as the optical drive, that is not part of the display connectors, etc. If you begin the removal, I think it will be self-evident where you can stop. I agree with onceagain about the airport antenna - although it's packed in pretty tight, and won't be simple to rout - although there WILL be some extra space because some cables won't be there now, and the hinges will be missing, so ....

10-02-2012, 08:06 PM	#7
acme.mail.order League Commissioner Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tokyo Posts: 6,057	The teardown instructions are all written with the intention of being able to put it back together again. If you are willing to accept some damage you should be able to remove the screen in 2 minutes. Extract the wifi antenna and wrap it around the lower case, then remove the top case. Be careful cutting cables - if you short wires together you will probably destroy the logic board and/or power supply. Separate the conductors and apply an insulator to the ends. Old-fashioned rubber cement works well here, as does epoxy.

10-02-2012, 11:09 PM	#8
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,997	There's no need to cut ANY cables You can't get to the clutch blocks/hinges without first removing the top case. IMHO - if you have opened the MacBook enough to unscrew the display clutch blocks, then ALL of the wires to the display can be unplugged from the logic board, with very little more effort, other than removing the optical drive for access to the wires that pass underneath it. note - be careful of terms that you use here. The "top case" on the MacBook is that part of the housing that has the keyboard, trackpad, and power button. The display module includes the LCD panel. You might also call that the lid (while it's still attached, anyway!)

10-03-2012, 02:06 AM	#9
acme.mail.order League Commissioner Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tokyo Posts: 6,057	If you are removing the screen/lid without disassembling the bottom case you will need to cut some cables.

10-11-2012, 07:33 PM	#10
henryaz Prospect Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	Hey - I got it all disassembled with no hiccups. (Of course, that's the easy part!) I will attempt to repurpose the iSight to a USB cam, based upon some sites I read. BUT, the Airport antennae are soldered to a metal L that was screwed into one side of the LCD panel. I don't think that unsoldering it and tucking the wires into the main body will work. Thoughts? Cheers, Henry

10-12-2012, 02:46 PM	#11
henryaz Prospect Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	OK - I got it working! I now have a screenless MacBook that I have hooked up to an external monitor. Some interesting thoughts: - I tested it before I reassembled it to see if the external monitor would work and it would boot off of the CD-ROM (I took out the HDD and replaced it with another). To get the external monitor to register here, I had to use the OPTION key to choose the boot device (CD-ROM) in order for the external monitor to be recognized BEFORE the boot. Otherwise, the CD-ROM would boot and nothing would show on the external monitor. - The Trackpad Click would not work until after I had installed snow-leapord on the hard drive. I used an external mouse when working off of the Snow Leopard install disk. - Without having to flip the reed switch to make it think the screen is closed, it now seems to automatically boot off of the internal HDD with recognizing the external monitor. More tests to follow to see if everything works fine ...