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
M1 Visual Inspection, Teardown
M1 Inspection – Screen, Touch bar & Keys
M1 Inspection Report
Time will be relevant here, take your time, clean up as you go; we will be replacing several items, the screen, touch bar and keys on the M1 MBP.
Let’s start with the inspection? Shall we begin? We shall start with the physical inspection. Then compute and gather the relative information to start the refurb. So, what the physical damage? Does this damage impact the computers ability to function or compute? In turn, we want to where the damage is and how the damage might impact the machines performance, compute power, UI etc…
Next, we can see screen issues, or LCD issues where the screen is being manipulated by either glass that is broken or screen distortion that might otherwise not be there. Also, upon further inspection, there appears to be scratches and or broken/cracked glass in the black/sublayer of the LCD, at the bottom of the display, near the hinge and just above the touch bar. Perhaps some debris or object inside this key/screen area when the computer was closed. At least that is my hunch.
Now, the case, the metal case seems worn not out of the norm, all corners have some damage, scratches etc., seems ok (case did it’s job), nothing that might through a red flag (flag showing damage causing internal or computing issues).
Next, let’s inspect the keyboard, directional arrow is missing and touch bar is no longer illuminating… I wonder if the key came off and damaged the screen some how? Not likely, but something appears to have been closed in the laptop. Where the touch bar and screen would meet upon closing the laptop. Third takeaway, the machine may need an overhaul, or new upper (upper case, which can be extremely expensive as it to will have all parts ). Again, parting this out, or fixing each piece, piece by piece, is not recommended. Now, the disclaimer – this is my own machine, typically items under warranty will be processed through Apple via Apple Care. Utilize Apple Care, Apple+ where you can, assuming you’ve purchased the warranty/insurance. If not, things get expensive; there are resources out there as you can imagine, hopefully posts like this and those following help to provide some guidance in dire straights.
Ok, now that we got that out, let’s get to the first fix; this left arrow key and LCD screen.
