M1 Refurb – Touch bar
M1 Update – Touch bar
I can’t stress this enough, take your time, there are some 50+ steps in this process; proper care is a MUST, otherwise use your discernment and seek a professional where applicable.
There are certainly easier ways, which cost more money, we’ve mentioned those prior… for example purchasing the corret make/model upper case where a touch bar must be removed and replaced. Finding the right parts on the other hand, aren’t as easy as you would think as this particular model is just coming out of warranty. You’ll find this is common when fixing newer or cutting edge electronics. Like I said, probably easier to purchase the upper, replace the parts from the existing machine and rebuild from there.
We clean as we go, there were glass fragments prior to, during and after this process. Handle with caution and care. Glass and debris (dirt, hair, fuzz etc.) must be cleaned as you go. Goal, leaving it better than the way you found it!
Ditto on Teardown for the battery, battery cable, main screw, hinges, lcd cables, display, display hinge covers, cables (springs), antennae cables and assembly, LCD, remove antennae, main hinge screws, remove LCD.
Starting here with the upper disassembled, we have the main logic board, power brackets, cable brackets, where we need to disconnect – trackpad, speakers, logic board flex screws and cables. This is where we can start the touch bar assembly replacement. It’s all bundled up, with covers and varing screws and electronic tape etc. Really you need to have your replacement handy, once you’ve removed the main board, speakers and trackpad… this is where it gets hairy!
Handy to have your tool kit out, if not, again, give Amazon a quick call… or pull up iFixit a scroll… you’re going to need adhesive remover, some gloves, glasses, you know the essentials when working with glass, chemicals on small electronics. We will start with the flat pry bar, on the front (assuming all touch bar parts have been dismantled or ‘torn down’). We will slowly pry and spray our adhesive remover down behind the touch bar glass and the metal upper. Fun times, easier if you have more adhesive remover than what we had during the refurb process. Not much left after the mobile device teardowns a few months back.
Ok, so we remove the glue, glass, and ultimately the touch bar on the front through the back upper. From here, easy peasy, we replace touch bar, careful to remove the backing which will adhere the touch bar to the upper case, flex cable in hand through the upper or touch bar bracketry and reassemble the touch bar cables and housing. We left the screen protector film on while we replaced all parts, as we continued the the rebuild process. Those images can be found below, there are a number of images; proceed with caution!
Phew, touch bar in, all parts, reassembled… let’s cover the conclusion. Once the machine is back together, a quick test is needed. We run the machine services mode, working with the drive, what’s on the drive etc. Wipe main drive, rename, rebuild and reinstall. Some quick terminal snippets and reboot. Once reinstalled. Remove any all software (bloat) we can, and we are off to the races. This laptop will be used at some point to run ham radio software if I can, hoping to install Linux on the main drive and use it as I do my previous machines. Well that concludes the refurb effort, if you have questions… send me an email, Cheers
