LFC

Back to the basics today, taking stuff apart and putting it back together again!
This covers 2010-2017 models - which have slight internal differences over the years, but are conceptually the same. You can save yourself a lot of trouble by purchasing a replacement case with a new keyboard pre-fitted, but this method shows the significantly cheaper Keyboard-only route.

[@ThanassisTsiodras]

Just wanted to thank you, Graham. I followed the steps you described in this video, and was able to bring my old MB Air to life again. Cheers, mate.

[@brentwaddoups2357]

Thanks so much for this! I was able to replace the keyboard on my wife's macbook air and get it working again after a smoothie incident. The folks at the "Genius" place didn't even look at it, just said new logic board and $800 please. You rock.

[@Adamant_IT]

Many thanks and well done!

[@peterjones2377]

This is an excellent guide on what to do. I followed it and managed to get through with no major issues. It took me the best part of a couple of hours but I got there in the end. Great video! It is interesting that the motherboard layout inside my mid-2011 MacBook Air is ever-so-slightly different in parts to what was shown here. Nothing major, and it didn't cause any problems, but kind of interesting.

[@shannonwagner3542]

I am SO VERY GRATEFUL! This video walkthrough was so clearly done and really easy to follow! My computer is a 2013 and has lasted through a lot of abuse but the loose screen drove me crazy! While my model was slightly different (older so I didn't have to remove the fan, as you stated in the video) I followed along perfectly and was able to fix the issue for $8 (tools on ebay as you suggested). I can't even tell you how happy I am! Thank you Thank you Thank you!! I was chuckling as I did it because I definitely had spiderwebs too (though on spill on the front thankfully) but my screen was so loose on both sides it took 3 full turns of each of the 6 screws! I can't believe they didnt' just fall out after you said a full turn was surprisingly loose! :)

[@als1035]

Changing a keyboard on the MacBook Air is never a pleasant experience, but you made it look easy. I would recommend that at the stage where you are about to remove the keyboard, lay down some clear packing tape along the back surface of the keyboard. This will keep the rivets captive on the back so you don't having them popping all over the room. This has worked surprisingly well for me. Also, it's a good idea to save the old keyboard for when a key cap is required.

[@Adamant_IT]

Yo, I was doing another one of these today and stuck masking tape on the back of the keyboard like you suggested. Worked a treat! Thanks for the tip!

[@als1035]

@@Adamant_IT Hey, You're very welcome. As you can see, it takes some of the stress out. Your videos are great. Thank you for the inspiration.

[@ChrisGWGreen]

Thanks Adamant IT! I had a crack at this over the weekend and it seems like it was a big success. The flippy ribbon clips stumped me a little but you gave me the confidence to go whole hog and gut the entire machine. Very satisfying result. Thanks very much.

[@brentwaddoups2357]

Thanks!

[@shidoshisenzotanaka]

Your videos comes like therapy to me. Thanks...

[@kipper841]

Great video just seen it. Your comment about swapping out the SSD for an MVMe struck a chord with me, I did exactly that last week! Runs even snappier now.

[@builder.d]

Successfully replaced the keyboard in a MacBook Air 11inch with help from this video, thanks

[@Anishrokport]

I learn so much from your videos man! Keep it up!

[@davidhumphreys1422]

Awesome job! Well worth the time spent. A lot of knowledge spilled today :)

[@AMComputers]

Really enjoyed this video. Always learning new things from your videos! As always keep up the good work and I don't envy you for this repair 🤣 so tedious

[@MrKiasfo]

@Adamant IT it would be nice to make a video about repairing desktop motherboards.cheers mate.keep on teaching us!!!!

[@Adamant_IT]

I've had a couple of questions about that. I've never actually looked into it myself, but I'm going to try and research it to see if it's something I could tackle. The problem is that most laptop mobo faults that are fixable are power related, and desktop mobos have significantly less power hardware on them because it's all done in the PSU.

[@webcodebranch]

17:25 I can’t re-use the screws to fill up the middle of my keyboard even if I completely popped up the rivets on the topcase though because the screws are too small. Do you have any alternative recommendation screws in this problem? It doesn’t matter the alternatives are not normally being used in the macbook repair. I’m good at if the screws are only thick enough to hold down the keyboard (I’m using Macbook Air M1 late 2020 A2237.)

[@steilr]

What an awesomely detailed and even entertaining video of exactly my task at hand. Thank you very much! Unfortunately I saw it a bit too late - only after I listened to some other guy on KZbin to pull out all cables to the top. Now I'm here with the half removed connector of the webcam, the tiny one next to the fan... Do you think I could just leave it like that and get my dad an external webcam? Or rip it out completely? Or glue it back in place? I'm pretty confident any soldering attempts on my side would finally ruin the whole logic board...

[@Adamant_IT]

Ooof... Yea if you're not confident at SMD soldering, I'd go for external webcam.

[@steilr]

@@Adamant_IT I saw your soldering video meanwhile. Hm. Maybe it's feasible. Because I'm not sure what happens if I rip out the component completely - could produce a short circuit, no?

[@Ambler_]

Thanks for the video, got mine fixed!

[@DigitalandanalogKing]

Great guide, worked out very well for me. Thank you.

[@AlainGlico]

Great tutorial. Thanks.

[@ColtLuger]

Love your content, real information and presented clearly.

[@MG-ok6nu]

Thank you!! Helpful to say the least!!!!! Nice job!!! By the way, I'm watching this because I need to mine isn't ideal. I can't type the key that alphabetically comes between Q and S....aka between E and T on the keyboa.d. I have to choose my wo.ds with caution. No wo.ds with the lette. of the unhappy key

[@beardedobserver5947]

Thank you so much for making this video!

[@floridahummer]

spilt a pint of lager on mine and ended up replacing the whole bottom case, but 10 years on and my 17" is still going fine running Catalina.

[@lylewaters6161]

I wish I would have found your video before I did my kids MacBook Air 11”. Everything works, but I didn’t know the trick with the rivets and screws so of course the keyboard is probably mushy. I bet they won’t even notice, but it would have been great if I had done what you did.

[@nealschwartz9456]

I was never ever able to remove leftover rivets on my first air MacBook. Moving forward , I just took my customer that we just need to purchase a top case. By the way, on later MacBook pros, where there are no screws and only rivets, the rip out of keyboard results in all the rivets stuck the aluminum case and are virtually impossible to remove. Apple by design, of course.

[@shanemaher5150]

Hi Neal, never impossible to remove all rivets. You get an automatic Centre punch, grind the point back to a flat blade. Then push the punch down on one side of rivet until it clicks, then the other side, and it will easily pop out. Did a video on that, a couple of months back on MBK Upcycle. An extra 5 minutes of work, and ur new keyboard will sit nice and tight in top case, with no keyboard sag. Winner winner Cheers MBK Upcycle

[@merlynfifield2469]

Brilliant fantastic guide, clear logical excellent

[@hendongooner7383]

Fantastic video - many thanks.

[@marcellalobo3300]

Hello! I'm a little disappointed because I spilled water on my MacBook Air keyboard. I don't know if I buy and follow your tutorial to change the keyboard will solve my problem. Because it's typing in symbols instead of letters. Every time I turn on my Mac I need to disable sticky keys to go back to typing letters instead of symbols. Also, even some keys continue not typing according to the keyboard. Please help me!!! 😫😫😫

[@PanamanianPrincesa04]

Thank you a million... 😊

[@pedrohenriqueserpa2308]

Hey, mate! Have you ever noticed that the upper right corner of the space bar is not lit? I was disassembling my A1466 MacBoor Air recently to clean it and happened to notice this little dark square area that is not backlit. Any idea why is that? Great vid, by the way! :)

[@mundomakina1980]

great job

[@IbrahimAli-xz5yn]

Not related to this topic... However could you please try to analyze this problem.. I have a 3558 dell laptop. Recently whenever I try to plug it to my TV through a hdmi cable..it works but I have a weird problem.. The USB keyboard start to behave strangely.. I never had this problem before.. Tried Uninstalling Intel and nvidia drivers and reinstalling them again.. Didn't work.. I even tried to reinstalling a new system with updated drivers.. Didn't work also.. The cable isn't faulty.. The strange thing is that the mouse works just fine and even any USB device also works fine.. Without pluging the hdmi also the USB keyboard works fine.. I could really use your help if you have encountered such a problem.. Thanks.. Really appreciated

[@azeez_dev]

Dear Adamant IT, Hope you are doing well and safe. I have couple question could you please help me. I have a Macbook Pro 2012(Mid) it is working while then shut down(automatically) before shut down it gives sound(just quick around half second) recently I have been changed battery then shown me folder(instead of apple logo) then I changed cable under the HDD then worked now this problem. Additionally(working 30-min to 1-2 hours + working slowly). Is there problem with HDD or Ram? Thank you so much and looking forward to hearing from you!

[@Adamant_IT]

More likely HDD. I would remove the HDD and connect to a windows computer (via SATA or USB) and use SeaTools for Windows to do a Long Generic test on it.

[@azeez_dev]

@@Adamant_IT I do appreciate thank you so much

[@mykalimba]

I think I would put the new backlight panel into position _before_ exposing the adhesive strip. Or maybe just expose a small (20mm) bit of it, place into position, then remove the rest of the strip.

[@nazz5830]

what type screw you use? flat head or sharp?

[@SapphireDragonGaming]

I just got a mid 2013 MacBook Air model I think it was the 11” one.The Z key is the only issue with it, Do I need to replace the whole keyboard or just the that is activating randomly

[@Adamant_IT]

I'd replace the keyboard. As much of a pain as it is, you'll likely find that more keys fail in the future if you don't replace it.

[@SapphireDragonGaming]

@@Adamant_IT one last question, I read that the model I’m getting can use big sur , would it run?

[@SapphireDragonGaming]

@@Adamant_IT Question do I need to replace the backlit too because Ifixit does offer a replacement keyboard just not the backlight and do I need to replace the whole top half to get out the keyboard and or do I have to replace the keyboard top half that it’s connected to?

[@Adamant_IT]

Yes, the 2013 can run Big Sur Personally I would buy a new backlight, because on ebay the keyboard is max, £20 without or £30 with. And then if you find that the old backlight doesn't come off cleanly, or it's really grotty due to old liquid damage, you've got a nice new one to put in. It's not essential though, if you're careful, you can reuse the old one.

[@sujitcodes]

where do I buy this keyboard? please reply me.

[@mentesmehmet]

Hi Adam thanks for you videos I was wondering for some advice a pointer I have a macbook air and it stopped working I have removed the mb have green light no fan spin and when charger plugged in you gets hot ?Thanks in advance Mentes

[@Adamant_IT]

Check the condition of the magsafe connectors (on the laptop and the charger) to make sure they're clean and not melted / blackened. A poor connection will get hot. Without getting into schematics and board repair diagnostics, the next thing I'd try is replacing the IO board (aka DC board) which is the smaller circuit board in the laptop. It's a shot in the dark, but they're not very expensive.

[@mentesmehmet]

@@Adamant_IT thank you so much for the reply sorry to bombard you you with the questions I will try this then failing this will need to go through the schematics

[@HuntersMoon78]

Hey Graham do you know what Clock_Watchdog_Timeout in Windows 10 means.

[@Adamant_IT]

ahh heck I've seen that one a few times, but can't remember what was causing it. Check for graphics drivers, turn off any overclocks, turn off XMP, see if any of that sorts it, then work forwards again.

[@HuntersMoon78]

@@Adamant_IT I've tried various graphics drivers, various cards (GTX 960, RX 580 & RX 5500 XT), No XMP, bog standard clocks and many clean installs of Bindows 10 (Yeah I said it right). The RX 5500 XT is broken I've tried it in all 3 of my PC's and that has the same issue, drivers crashing, GPU and RAM speed not being reported in GPU-Z or HWINFO64. It's going back to Scan computers tomorrow.

[@sventobergte845]

i like your denglish, a little bit of spritzer here, removing Schmutz (with u) there...greetings from Germany!

[@oscarmarfori613]

You will need a magnetic Matt on those tiny screws for you not to lose it

[@Damjanhd]

Louis Rossman will give you a hell with wrong screws in wrong places

[@Swordman0]

Louis Rossmann sends his regards and says that you must put the screws on their respective place or the macbook wont be a happy little macbook.

[@1800Supreme]

You do a 1 minute segment at the end where you replace a keyboard for a real laptop.

[@MrPnew1]

Damn microphone - what a pisser :)

[@HalifaxComputersRepair]

this why i hate macbooks to repair they are too dam hard to follow out !, vers pc repairs less headaches , cheaper on parts!

[@Biffo1262]

Off course it can't come out from the top like any other sensibly constructed notebook. That's Apple!

[@gkinahan]

Thanks!

[@HalfPro]

Thanks!