Sostituzione dell'unità ottica del Mac mini, versione metà 2010

On mine I needed to remove the 26 mm T6 Torx standoff during this step rather than step 12

on my mid-2011 mac mini, that 3rd T6 post/screw had to be removed to get the fan out. It goes right through a hole in the fan housing. No way the grommet is slipping over anything without wreaking major havoc.

Loosen the fan standoff from the motherboard using a T6 driver.

When I pulled the fan ear off the standoff the rubber grommet stayed on the standoff. That's fine, but it makes it difficult to put the fan ear back on during reassembly. So I just pulled the rubber grommet off the standoff and put it into the hole in the fan ear. Then I was able to push the fan ear onto the standoff with out trouble during reassembly.

This is a screw into the head of another screw below it that holds the main board. When I took out the fan, the top screw AND the longer 26 mm screw came out together so when I was putting my mini back together I thought for a moment I had lost a screw.

This is wrong step. If you need remove this out, it would be better to pull out logic board, and remember to remove cables attached on it before pull out.

When I tried to do step 9 and disconnect these connectors, I found that not only the cable/connector but the receptacle tore off the logic board -- momentary panic! This happened to both connectors.

Left on the logic board were two tiny fragile gold pins (per connector). Fortunately they were pretty straight, and upon re-assembly, I was able to gently slot the receptacles back into the tiny pins. Upon reassembly, everything's working fine (no crazy fan noise) so I guess I got lucky...maybe VERY lucky. :)

Thanks iFixIt for a fantastic guide. I've got a replacement drive in there and it's definitely going to extend the life of my Mini for another season.

Hmmm just broke the port as well; it is tricky and sticky even after the port came off …

Thanks for the info; my port just broke here as well :( It is sticky and port connector is so fragile!

When you replace the antenna plate, it can be tricky. The curved edge of it actually slots both over and under the edge of the case. If it doesn’t seem to fit properly, the edges of the cut perforations may be slightly squashed. Tweak them with a small screwdriver and it will suddenly seat properly.

If you look at the edge of the antenna plate near the Mac mini body, you'll see a groove where the metal from the unibody fits. I found that if you turn the mini around so the antenna plate is closest to you and us the pointy end of a spudger to lift and place the antenna plate, you can get this groove to fit properly and the screws pop into place.

In my case, the yellow circled standoff already came out with the previously removed fan.

My standoff screw was really tight and my T6 stripped the screw. :( But, because it's effectively just used as a post to stabilise the fan, I ended up using some surgical clamps, grabbing the standoff where the rubber grommet sits, and gently twisted the screw loose. No major damage because that part of the screw isn't really used! Just be careful and gently twist (patience is KEY) to loosen.

The weak design of the long standoff screw (not enough material around the star-patterned socket head) has probably caused damage of the internal head during production of the Mac Mini!

The standoff screw was in my case extremely tightened and the T6 Torx screw driver could not be used anymore (due to damage of the socket head after applying too much torque during the original assembly).

I needed to use a High Leverage Combination Plier in vertical position to loosen the screw without damage to other parts. I tried to keep the rotation axis of the screw at the centre of the flat nose of the plier. Minor scratches to the screw can not be avoided in this way.

The thermal sensor is VERY delicate, hold the connector down with a spudger and lift the cable with some tweezers. Long list of people online who have accidentally removed the connector from the logic board because the solder is insufficient.

I second the comment about using something, say a small screwdriver, to carefully put some pressure on the connector whilst then prying the cable up.

Excellent advice - thanks. I used a small set of tweezers to gently lift up enough cable to hold onto, and then to hold the sockets onto the logic board whilst I pulled! Success!

The removal of the SATA connectors for the hard drive and the optical drive should probably be separated into two steps. It's easy to miss the second one and pull a SATA connector off.

Not confirming that I did it, but I am looking for someone to solder a SATA connector back on. ;)

These sensors are too fragile in some cases. In my case both the hard drive and optical sensor cables tore off despite all my best efforts. The plastic holding down the cables appears to be too fragile or brittle and simply tears as the cables are pulled away.

Pulling the socket off the board seems to be a common problem. I am going to investigate making a tool to hold down the socket while prying up on the plug.

For the time being I am using an app that controls the fan speed by sampling other sensors, such as the CPU heat sink.

There are two problems with these connectors. First off they're made of very thin plastic so break easily (something addressed in later Mac mini's). Second the socket melts to the connector making it impossible to lift it.

If you do break it the metal tabs of the socket should we easily resoldered. Some practice beforehand, a fine tip solder iron, some leaded solder and your away.

I had a couple of 3/32" drill bits in my tool chest. Worked perfectly (2.38 mm)

two fischertechnik screw drivers work perfectly as well!

Used 2 bigger paperclips. Straightened into single wire. Then in one of the previous bends I had bent it again and squeezed with pliers together so I have 2 "legs" of this improvised tool for better stiffness of wire. Went out nicely. It actually looks like a older hairpin, but more flattened...

But now I see there is a lot of paperclips on the market. Only the "smaller" ones I might use to bent it into 3 parts. So it depends of what is lying around.

Tweezers aren't strong enough. Use some small needle-nose pliers. Hold the I/O board and it pull away.

By the time you get to this step, the hard drive can be easily removed by simply sliding it out over the logic board. Then you can simply pull off the cable with your fingers. When re-assembling, again, attach the power cable connector first, with your fingers and slide the logic board all the way in. Then slide the hard drive in over the logic board.

I suggest to list this specific type of tweezers as shown in Step 19 at the beginning as useful/recommended tool to reconnect (!) the power cable. I could pry the power cable with the blunt side of a scalpel knife. But I sorely missed something like this tweezer when trying to reconnect the cable.

I had to wiggle the power cable to help remove the power supply.

The plastic tab with the 7.9 mm T6 Torx screw which secures the power supply has an internal lip which may get caught on the part underneath. Lift the tab to slide out the power supply.

When re-installing the power supply, double check the position of the plug before inserting back into the chassis. Keep in mind that you need to hold the plug in that earlier (90 deg counter clockwise) position as you slot it in, otherwise you'll have a heck of a time twisting the plug back properly.

This step should really be done _before_ step 19 - this will give a lot more space to remove the power cable connector.

You can skip this step if you dont want to replace the IR sensor. If you want to remove the screw on the DVD you can twist the IR sensor cabels easily aside.

Some optical drives have a tiny-bit different shape and as a result, the bracket won’t fit when reattaching. I ended up cutting a small piece off the plastic bracket with a knife to make it fit.

Tip here, warm the adhesive tape with a hair drier to aid removal.

Measure where the cable/connector is from the edge and be sure to reattach it at this same location. Don’t make the mistake I did and put everything back together, only to find the connector doesn’t exactly line up with the socket on the logic board. There’s not that much ‘wiggle’ room and you’d be better off not forcing it. I had to take everything back apart and start over. :-(

Tip here, warm the adhesive tape with a hair drier to aid removal.

Be very careful - I accidentally broke this thermal sensor in half while pulling off the black tape and had to order a new one for $40 (I ordered Apple P/N 605-2470, which is a kit because I couldn't find just the sensor). iFixit does not carry this part. Expensive mistake. Without the sensor the computer sounds like an airplane (fan is on high).

should one replace the thermal sensor onto the new hdd? I imagine it will naturally be warmer than the old optical drive, will the OS know how to handle this?

Tip here, again, warm the sensor with a hair drier to aid removal. Try to push the sensor off the adhesive rather than lift or pull.