iMac Intel 20" EMC 2266 AirPort Extreme Replacement

Step 1

Lay your iMac front side down on a table with the lower edge facing yourself.
Loosen the single Phillips screw in the center of the access door.
This screw is captive in the access door.
Remove the access door from your iMac.

The grid won't fall off by itself. You'll have to help it. Use the smallest screwdriver you have; the Torx 6 worked fine for me. It should enter in one of the many holes composing the grid. Use it as a lever to ploy the grid a little bit. You may catch it with your fingers and that's it.

Be carefull not to damage the hole by a too strong leverage.

Laurent -

much more safer to use duct tape, instead of torx 6. (glue it along the length of the grid and pull). it will loose instantly and smooth;)

Hofmann78rus - 28/11/15

Anyone know a guide to replace the plastic piece this screw connects to? I accidentally forgot this step - went to remove the front bezel and bent the plastic piece the access door connects to.

Jason Augustin - 31/01/17

Step 2

The glass panel is fixed onto the front bezel with fourteen magnets around its perimeter.
Stick two suction cups to opposing corners of the glass panel.
To attach the suction cups we sell, first position the suction cup with the movable handle parallel to the face of the glass panel. While lightly holding the suction cup against the glass, raise the movable handle until it is parallel with the other handle.
If your suction cups refuse to stick, try cleaning both the glass panel and the suction cup with a mild solvent.

A good alternative to the two heavy duty suction cups is a regular household plunger.

Russell Knight -

Also, 2" wide packing tape. Maybe a 6 or 8" piece, folded in the middle to give you say, a 1-2" "handle". Make a pair of these. They look like a capital T but with a short vertical part (the handle), and a wide top I the sticky wings). Get the good 3M tape, it's strong, and it peels off clean without leaving any glue from the screen.

Barry Coyle - 30/01/16

for me one household plunger did the trick!

Ronald Huygen - 04/11/17

Step 3

Gently pull the glass panel straight up off the iMac.
The glass panel has several positioning pins around its perimeter. To avoid shearing these pins off the glass panel, be sure to only pull straight up during removal.
Be meticulous about cleaning the LCD and the inside face of the glass panel before reinstallation, as any fingerprints or dust trapped inside will be annoyingly visible when the display is on.
When replacing the glass, be sure there's nothing between the glass and the frame. Stray cables could be damaged or crack the glass.

Another approach that worked for us was to get 4 small plastic wedges (the kind used in iphone screen replacements). Working one corner at a time you can use a cheap suction cup to pry just that corner up enough to slide the wedge in. Then proceed to the next then next, etc. Once all 4 have the wedges under them the glass should be away from the body all the way around, then just carefully lift it the rest of the way up.

A___K - 03/01/19

Step 4

Remove the following 12 screws securing the front bezel to the rear case:
Eight 13 mm T8 Torx.
Four 25 mm T8 Torx.
On the 24" iMac Intel Model A1225, the bottom center two screws are long (26mm), four on sides (two left, two right) are medium (18mm), and the remaining 6 (four top, two bottom corners) are short (14mm).

I would strongly suggest taping the screws down on a piece of paper towel or cloth in the same order you take them out, as there are different lengths in no particular order and they don't all fit into just any hole. Unless you keep track of which hole each screw belongs, there is no other way of knowing. I stress taping because I didn't tape mine down and after bumping the table I was working on they scattered, leaving me to guess.

Len -

Even better, use an ice cube tray to keep the screws from each step together.

maccentric -

how about using the magnets near the screws to keep their positions?

Andy -

I use an 18 count egg carton (or two) and label each egg slot with a Sharpie. Works great.

airira -

As a rule with iFixit repairs, for years I've been printing the guides, applying scotch magic tape near each picture (which allows me to reutilise the paper prints in the future), neatly putting the appropriate screw next to their picture and taping them down with scotch magic tape.

Even if I have to wait for spare parts, this allows me to neatly file the guide + screws in a copy safe and a binder (or in a cardboard filing box together with the rest of the parts) for later reassembly. Hardly any mistake possible...

Bart Van Dessel - 02/10/14

I think the caption on the picture is wrong here for 24" iMacs - it says: "On the 24" iMac Intel Model A1225, the bottom center two screws are long (26mm), four on sides (two left, two right) are medium (18mm), and the remaining 6 (four top, two bottom corners) are short (14mm)." I think actually bottom centre two are long, then all the rest are medium apart from the two either side of the CD/DVD drive

HBloomfield - 12/03/15

I print out the steps. Get a roll of scotch tape ready. Every screw, or set of screws I remove, I lay on some tape, and then tape them to the number on the directions. Then you have each screw labeled, with direction, and in order, or reassembly. Just working backwards in the directions.

Barry Coyle - 30/01/16

I agree with @HBloomfield’s comment overall, but to add to that comment, mine was a little different.

(2) Long: bottom center

(4) Medium: bottom left and right; on either side of the CD/DVD drive

(6) Short: everything else

Jake Thornberry - 04/08/20

Step 5

The front bezel is still attached to the iMac by the microphone cable.
Gently lift the front bezel from its top edge off the rear case.
Once the top edge of the front bezel has cleared the rear case, rotate the front bezel toward the stand and lift it off the rear case.
Rotate the front bezel away from the rest of the device and lay it above the top edge of the iMac.
When reinstalling the front bezel, start at the lower edge and make sure it is flush with the rear case before lowering the top edge onto the iMac.

Contrary to the pictures, to lift the front bezel off, start at top of the computer screen lifting up while apply a little bit of pressure to the foam in the upper corners of the screen. This will give you the leverage needed to get the bezel to lift up. Be careful to not pull to fast, as the camera cable is still attached.

armand - 07/08/15

you'll need to add this step in all the other tutorials about iMac 20" EMC 2210, where it is missing ; they all jump from step 5 to step 6, which is a little annoying...

Armel h - 10/11/16

Easy way to remove bezel, insert the longest screws a quarter turn into the two top most edge screw slots. Use the screws as anchors to press against as you pull the bezel toward you. Then a simple twist to remove the screws, and the rest of the bezel comes off easy.

armand - 14/04/17

Step 6

Disconnect the microphone cable connector, removing tape as necessary.
For the front bezel to sit properly, be sure to tuck the microphone cable and connector into the void next to the camera board.

During reinstallation of the LCD panel, be sure that the iSight microphone cable does not become trapped behind the panel.

Ocean Yamaha -

I actually didn't have to remove the cable. With the iMac laying on its back, just rotate the front bezel (bottom edge rotating around top edge) so that it's laying upside down, above the iMac. When reassembling, just rotate back into place.

Brian Tsai - 14/08/15