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This disassembly guide for the 17″ MacBook Pro has been generously provided by TakeItApart forum user Risotto.
The memory cover taken apart.
After removing all screws on the side and on the bottom of the case the cover with the keyboard can be lifted off the base.
The other side…
Don’t forget to gently unplug the keyboard cable.
View from the top with the keyboard removed.
The back of the cover with the keyboard and the trackpad.
Closeup of the keyboard from behind.
Those black tapes will have to be pealed off to access some more screws…
Must be one of two light sensors for the keyboard backlight…
Another light-sensor.
The right fan with the connector for the display. Looks very fragile.
Left fan.
The harddisk with the bluetooth module on the left.
The WLAN card with the expansion slot underneath.
The left speakers
Back to the keyboard disassembling: peal off the protecting tape and remove the screws below.
There is one hidden quite nastily…
The trackpad from behind. The protecting sheet will also have to be removed in order to disconnect the keyboard.
Peal it off gently
Ok, now we finally have the keyboard removed
The keyboard consists of different layers.
This is the reflecting layer for the backlight.
It has 4 leds built in.
See the leds? They reflect on the white surface of the sheet.
Next, there is a plastic sheet. I don’t really understand the use for this.
The sheet in between has funny markings on it. No idea what they’re for.
To remove the caps pull steadily on the top of the key. Don’t lift the cap to high. It will snap off when pulling gently.
Now that the keyboard has been rinsed under flowing water it has to be drained. I used compressed air to get the water out of it.
I took off some more caps to let the water evaporate more easily.
The suspensions are rather fragile. Carefull!
The cables off the wlan antennae run into the display as can be seen here.
Have no idea what that thing on the right is used for. It has three cables… First I thought it was the mike, but it isn’t!
The bluetooth module.
The loudspeakers and the light-sensor on the left.
Again, loudspeaker and light-sensor on the right.
Memory by Nanya? Who is nanya? Never heard from them…
On the lower left, the mike.
In the middle you can see the keyboard connector for the flat-cable. It can be tricky to be found when reassembling the case.
Those flat-cable connectors have a mechanism to be opened. The picture shows an opened connector.
Same thing here. It is opened in this picture…
…and closed in this one.
Don’t forget all those screws when reassembling.
The tools used. Be sure to have the right ones or you will break the screws. You need a very small philips screwdriver as well a Torx bit.
After reassembling, it still works! 
Pheww….
thanks a lot, Risotto! i’ve been waiting to see this one.
[…] You can check out the pictures here […]
Man you got some balls. Must have been sweeting when doing it huh? I know I remember the first time I opened up a laptop it was so hard to connect everything and what not. It must be even harder in that laptop sincei its under an inch!!!! Anyways what model is that the PowerPC or Intel?
Bravo! Nicely done. Clap clap clap.
Wow! You got balls LOL
Any other reason for taking it apart to clean the keyboard and posting it? The laptop insidessure do look better in a mac than my compaq 
hey well done ,can you tell me how to take apart the screen my friend dropped something on the apple emblem when it was clossed and the screen hasn’t worked since
Good job!!!!
Awesome site and that Mac notebook dissassembly was neat i could use those speakers lol
Can you tell me how to take apart my packard bell k5305 please? I cant seem to get the case off even once all screws have been removed :o( if you can id be verry thankfull. Thanx and congrats on a great job with this project :o)
Impressive indeed. You do have [guts].
Allow me to rant though, why does it have to be so [darn] difficult to do this. On older versions you could take out the keyboard without ever opening the computer.
sigh
Wow, nice job, when I done that, I really messed it up bad
[…] Nos meus cliques atrás de uma solução para o meu teclado da Apple (”afogou-se”, creio que não há salvação), acabei achando um site que não só desmontou o Apple Keyboard todo (isso dá um trabalho…), como também um MacBook Pro, e mostra fotos com o passo a passo. É o Take It a Part dot net, que tem a proposta de dissecar qualquer eletrônico, desde computadores à celulares, câmeras digitais, calculadoras e controles de Play2 - tudo pela simples diversão de desmontar. […]
(Portuguese to english thanks )
In my search for a solution for my Apple keyboard (\”drowned\”, I believe that it is not salvageable), I found a site that not only dismantled the whole Apple Keyboard (-?-that gives a work…-?-), but also a MacBook Pro, and sample pictures with a step by step description. It is Take It Apart dot net, it attempts to dissect any electronic, from computers to cell phones, digital cameras, calculators and PlayStation2 controllers - everything just for the fun of taking things apart.
is there a way to remove the button from the touch pad and clean behind it? I spilled some soda on it and now it sticks
>Thomas Palmer
>Any other reason for taking it apart to clean the keyboard and posting it?
Spilling a carbonated/sugard soda on the top and the keys getting all gummed up
>Mo
>Allow me to rant though, why does it have to be so [darn] difficult to do this. On older
>versions you could take out the keyboard without ever opening the computer.
AMEN!!
Three additional notes
1) Tthere are four posts at the top of the keyboard holding it into place that will have to be bent straight to pull the keyboard from the assembly
2) There are a total of 8 of these posts holding the reflecting surface and both plastic layers under the keyboard in place, that also have to be bent back to avoid damaging these components.
3) You should NEVER use water to clean computer parts. All the disolved minerals will leave deposits and damage the components…and of course there’s the problem with water and electricity being unfriendly. Your should use 96+% Isoprol alcohol…available at most respectable computer stores…in a pinch you can use 91% which is available in your local drug store.
That look much simplier than the Sony Camera. I used to disassemble and assemble my computers frequently to get rid of the dust.
What a Hero!! I was sweating just READING it!
I got a new black Macbook for my birthday last October, & the first thing I did was to switch the keybord layout to DVORAK, which I like much better than QWERTY.
I wish I’d read your description before I started, though, because I did a tiny bit of damage to the first “key-riser” I prised off. Everything works fine, but hopefully I’ll eventually be able to get hold of a new “riser,” if only to ease my conscience!
During the last 6 years I introduced myself to computing, & very soon couldn’t resist the temptation of taking them apart & putting them back together again.
Your effort, though, is of the highest order, & I salute you! (Applause, applause, applause!)
Wow! Risotto, I have a slight problem: my “s” key came off my keyboard and I’m having a very difficult time putting it back on the two white snap-on arms. Is there any specific tecnique you use to put your keyes back on?
Hi
Wow, great job! I spilled some soda on mine accidentally, and this is exactly what I’ve been looking for. I noticed that most of my LED’s burnt out after this mishap, is there any possible way to replace them or would i need an entirely new keyboard? Thanks!
Replacing my gin&tonic soaked MBP keyboard was a snap thanks to your guide! Cheers
By the way, if you’re looking for cheap apple parts (I don’t work for them, just found them through google, and they price keyboards at 69 bucks instead of the usual 120…), check out synaptech.com . Make sure to order the right keyboard, there are at least three parts that look alike but are not interchangeable. Try 922-7183 to find one of the three (it fitted my 15″ single core 2Ghz MBP)
Like It. i dissassmbled my powerlaptop.
Any idea how you reassemble the key suspensions?
I have the two components of it and the key cover, as I knocked a key off by dropping an ipod on it of all things…..
The docs at apple are not particularly helpful….
Any advice gratefully received!
coool! It makes me funny 1000hugs
I have completely disassembled an NES 2 times sucessfully, and put it back together all in one piece.
Can’t get past the bit about “After removing all screws on the side and on the bottom of the case the cover with the keyboard can be lifted off the base”. I’ve taken off the three screws holding the memory cover, followed by four long screws from the base, four small ones from each side, plus two more besides the video port and two in the back. Still the cover with keyboard seems to be held in place by hidden screws. Is that because I don’t have a Torx bit to remove the two screws that have heads like Phillips crews but with four crossing slots?
Too late, I hope the tech nerds can remove what’s still left of the glass of red wine.
Yes, I was able to remove the keyboard after buying a set of torque screwdrivers, so will press on a little with Risotto’s help.
wow, I followed those instructions exactly and had a great time doing it (I had to anyway because I spilt milk all over it and had to clean it up myself), but now the keyboard isn’t working…I used tap water and then rinsed with bottled water, and then squeezed isopropyl alcohol over it and washed with a compact cotton swab a bit to act as a ‘rinse’, but now isn’t working…I put it in front of a light-moving fan for about 30 minutes, then left it overnight to dry, then put it in the basement where it’s less humid for a few hours so any extra moisture would get sucked out, but it’s still not working right. if it’s because of a bit of extra moisture, no problem, if I just didn’t connect it up right and have to go back in there, *sigh* but no problem. if I got minerals all over the circutry (which I thought would be ok since it’s all mostly in plastic except the connectors)……..problem.
BUT despite a HUGE spill of milk, a short circuiting and display-blanking before I even got it turned off, and forgetting to take out the battery for about 20 minutes, EVERYTHING else is ok!! so I was lucky. and thank you for providing me a guide to examine my keyboard at least, since it probably would need to get replaced anyway (still smells a little like milk)!
The “thing” with three wires on one side that you don’t know what its for…
It’s the “lid switch” that tells the computer that you closed the lid. Take a screwdriver and point to the corresponding point in the lid and you will notice that there’s a magnet there. When the lid comes close enough, the magnet makes the switch close and hence, the computer knows itäs time to go to sleep.
You can fool the computer by using a magnet on the top case in that position. Great fun to scare people
Nice work… It gives me hope. Last night I walked into my room and my Macbook pro was sitting in a pool of water on my desk! M window was open a crack and sometime during the day a gust of wind knocked a picture off my window sill. The pic fell onto a glass of water that then spilled directly onto my comp. Water was sitting on the closed macbool for about 4hrs or so. Right away I picked it up and let the water roll off. After a night of drying it starts up only when plugged in, the display is barely visible and the CD/DVD drive doesn’t accept discs. I hooked it up to my roomates monitor and everything else seems to be working. I have a couple questions.
1) Is the failure of the CD/DVD drive and the screen related to the lack of battery or is the screen fried?
2) How do you take apart the screen?
THanks!
it is fun to take it a part but … when it come to get it back in normal shape ….. aint as much fun …
Thanks for the instructions. My cat just jumped standing on my keyboard and broke a key. After reading your instructions I was able to remove the damaged key and realign the key suspensions and reattach the key. The key was stuck at an angle but still working but now its back to normal. Thanks again, really good instructions.
your keys are much different, yet we have the same computer, on mine the suspensions are under the metal part of each key rather then the keyboard itself, making it ten times as hard to reassemble
Taking a MacBook Pro apart just for fun does indeed take guts.
In my case, it was sheer need. I live in a country where servicing my Mac may mean weeks, if not months, without my machine, while it’s at the authorized shop and they run the diagnostics they say Apple requires of them, order whatever required parts, and then wait for them to get here to be installed.
Since I’ve been a computer tech, and generally know what to do (kinda miss the simplicity of a Macintosh 128, when I see the guts of a MacBook!), I often prefer to take the risk than to be without my source of sustenance!
Anyhow, I HAD to take the keyboard apart, because the “a” key suddenly stopped working. I got started on my own before I found this site, and good thing I found it. Risotto’s directions saved me a good deal of time, I’m sure. I felt stuck when I suddenly realized I wasn’t sure what order all those little plastic sheets inside the keyboard where supposed to go.
All the same, putting the thing back together is surely not what you’d call a “breeze”. I had to take the whole thing apart and reassemble it four times, before it worked right. (Yes, I DID sweat a lot!)
I have NO idea what made the difference in the end, nor what exactly was the problem to begin with, other than the keyboard was rather dirty inside.
I would like to contribute a few additional tips, hoping that whomever reads them does so before getting started.
First of all, as someone alredy mentioned before, theare are a zillion tiny little screws you must take out before the keyboard can be taken apart. I assume that anyone brave, desperate, or foolish enough to be attempting this is already familiar with all the recommended precautions to be taken when working with lots of teeny-tiny screws, right? Right.
Most of the screws are quite visible and easy to find. Others, like the ones holding the keyboard together, already have been pointed out by Risotto in his pictures.
There are three hard-to-see screws in the inner border of the battery compartment, right under the spot where the trackpad button should be. You can’t lift the keyboard / trackpad assembly off withouth taking those off. And of course there are the two only torx screws hidden under the lid that covers the memory modules, which someone already mentioned too. Once all the screws are out, the keyboard / trackpad assembly should come off easily. If it feels stuck, you haven’t got all the screws.
Do be paranoically careful when lifting the connector locks that hold the keyboard ribbon cables in place. Those things are awful fragile. All the same, go ahead, lift them and take the ribbon cables off. It’s a lot harder to try to dissemble the keyboard with them in place, and you run a high risk of breaking the cables, in which case you’re out of options.
It would have been very helpful if Risotto had included pictures of the little tabs you must bend in order to take the keyboard itself appart. (You can see one of the inner ones in picture 26 labelled “Next, there is a plastic sheet.”) They are nasty, and the ones that hold the keyboard in place, together with the screws, are cunningly hidden under the black protective “tape”, by the upper edge of the keyboard. You should probaby use a set of needle-nose pliers to straighten them up for dissasembly, and then bend them back upon assembly.
Finally, pay attention to the orden and postion of all those plastic sheets. I don’t have the faintest idea what they’re for, either. However, I’m sure they’re there for a reason, and it does seem to make a differece that they are placed exactly right. Same goes for the aforementioned tabs. Upon assembly, make sure all the layers are flat and properly postioned, press down on them, and then bend back the anchor tabs to ensure that all the layers stay firmly in place.
Good luck!
can’t you just remove the buttons straight away without taking it all apart first?
[…] Teil meiner Tastaturbeleuchtung funktioniert nicht mehr. Bei takeitapart.net habe ich eine Anleitung zum zerlegen eines MacBook Pros gefunden. Ich werde mal versuchen, ob ich die Tastatur herausbekomme und reinigen […]
I just recently spilled some soda on my Macbook Pro and one side of the keyboard is sticky. This is definitely the best and most detailed thing I have found anywhere so first off Kudo to you Risotto! Anyone know anything or can suggest anything that would be good to use once i get this thing open to clean the keys? Also anything that I might need to know other than what Risotto has provided? I am open to all suggestions =D I want to save my keyboard from my stupidity =[
I followed these instructions, cleaned my keyboard and re-assembled everything. Everything works great except one thing… t doesn’t recognize the laptop’s Airport card (built-in, of course). I didn’t think I went anywhere near it… any ideas about what to do?
very nice , thanks. it was very useful after spilling koffie over macbookpro. more then half of a big cup went in to this machine!
after the incident, for the record: i unplugged all power and battery as fast as possible, turned it over and let it drip out and dry for a few days. then after 2 stressful days of praying, i switched it on again and its still working!! only some keys didnt work anymore.
i used an external keyboard and my mac worked just fine.
i didnt want to get trough all the trouble of rinsing the keyboard (and waiting for it to dry) so i just bought a new keyboard, 70 euros tax included, and followed the above instructions.
I must say it was a piece of cake, really, just folow the steps and you’re done.
When i was at it, i took the time to clean out all the left overs of coffee, which were btw minimal on the crucial parts, all these layers of plastic inside and underneath the keyboard have a thankful reason for being there i guess…
In my mainboard there was tiny part where there was ‘oxide corosion’ or something like that, u almost couldnt see it , but i cleaned it anyway and hope this wont give any future problems. be careful cleaning the mainboard!!
afterwards, reassembled it, and wordk perfect, as it did before, with all the (lighted) keys working now, jippiee!!
the only bothering things i came trough were:
-the screws are really tiny, u need a ultra tiny screwdriver, i had it. but for the two torx screws, u need also an ultra tiny one, which i do not have. I used a kitchen knife, and it worked fine, without any damaging.
-lifting up the toplid which contains the keyboard: After unscrewing all screws, it should come off easily… well, in my case it didnt. i have a macbook pro 15″”, and the frontside (under the touchpad-where there are no visible screws on the outside) of the lid is clicked into the botomcase in a way, so if it doesnt come off, u maght have to pull slightly harder to ‘unclick’ it.
-dont be afraid to bend the keyboard (u have to do this a little bit to take it out), its quite flexible..
-also, if u change the complete keyboard (instead of rinsing it), u dont have to pinch the little iron pinchiethingies, because those are only to keep the keyboard together. to take out the keyboard from the toplid, u just need to unscrew all screws mentioned (and cables offcourse).
those were my experiences, and they are really positive, thanks again for this tutorial and useful comments!!
Brilliant, I poured vodka into my friends 15″ and wrote off 20% of the keys and the backlight. I bought a new keyboard and followed your instructions. Good times, it all works a treat.
Thanks a lot mate, you saved my life. Yippee.
i followed the above instructions to the degree. However, my laptop has not worked since? I am confused. I have tried everything…..tightening screwes, banging the screen, holding it up- side down, shaking it both left and right but all have thus far failed. I’m no engineer but i know when a screen doesn’t turn on!
Having precisely retraced my steps a second and third time, pulling at wires pressing the motherboard scratching away any visual dirt, i still have no access to my laptop? Can anyone throw some light on my situation?
More pictures including tabs, exact screw locations, spacers, etc. from this Apple document:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8237/macbookpro
ds
Wow good to find this site! The keyboard+trackpad of my MPB doesn’t work anymore… so I want to take it apart myself to (I suppose a cable is loose) reconnect the keyboard cable. I hope in my case taking it apart will be less hard, as I don’t need to take the keyboard apart.
Bringing it to an Apple care is OK too, but I don’t want to weight 2 weeks.
I’m hugely impressed with this disassembly guide for the 17″ MacBook Pro and grateful to Risotto for making the generous effort to provide it. I admire the coolness of having the presence of mind to photographically document the disassembly process and the pithy comments attached. Respect. Why aren’t there more examples in the world of this kind of public spirit?
On a weekend in Finland I spilled tea on the keyboard of my 17″ MbP. The machine continued to work OK but the keyboard ceased to function. I began looking at forums for how to go about solving the problem and found this Take It Apart page which, on a dark day, gave me hope. I found out the cost of having a replacement keyboard shipped to me from the UK - approx £85 part & shipping, total. Before ordering I thought I take the tram to the downtown Helsinki Mac store and see what a technician would say. He looked at it and said he the job would cost between 150€ and 300€ and take a week in the repair queue. I thought it over and then accepted the offer. An hour later someone from the Mac store phoned and said he’d tested the unit and found that only the keyboard was affected: he could fit a Scandinavian keyboard immediately or wait a few days for a British keyboard. I said go ahead with the Scandinavian version - it makes little difference to me and offers some advantages. After another hour I received a call to say it is all done and working OK. The total cost - taxes included - came to only 135€ (labour 50€ parts85€).
Had I ordered the part and failed to install it correctly - or inadvertently damaged another component in the attempt - I’d ultimately have had to refer to the Mac store to sort it out anyway. However, if I’d done it successfully myself I’d have saved the 50€ labour fee and gained considerable satisfaction. OK I rate myself lucky: some spills will inevitably be worse than others. In the light of experience I would definitely recommend considering all the options - particularly consulting a Mac store technician - before choosing self-repair. The obvious exception would be a case like Gekkosan’s, above, where the problems of time linked to geographical remoteness are a consideration.
Somehow my long response has been wiped off here. I wonder why?
The gist of it was that, unless you are living somewhere remote, like Gekkosan above, then you may be better off getting your MBP looked at by a Mac technician first. Keyboard replacement at a Mac store proved neither expensive nor time consuming: about the same cost as it would have been had I had the parts shipped to me and I’d done it myself - assuming everything had gone okay. All done and ready to roll in less than 4 hours.
I wonder why keyboards and laptops are not better constructed to withstand the inevitable spills. Perhaps construction costs would increase? On the other hand built-in resistance to liquid ingress could be a hugely advantageous selling point, given the inevitability?
Hats off btw to Risotto!
Hello, what size is the Torx bit that you need to disassemble the 17″ MacBook Pro dual core’s case? Thanks
Thanks for the guide! This helped a lot in replacing the keyboard in my MacBook Pro.
i need help i’m not really a tech whiz but the “h” key came off of my macbook and so did the plastic thing under (i can type “h”s with the little squishy thing) HELP!
[…] further research, I found a couple very informative sites that walk you through, step-by-step, on how to take apart your MacBook Pro and do whatever you want/need to it. It doesn’t really look that hard, and I’m actually […]
I have the same problem as Dinoi. I only have a few keys that are really sticky, and it’d be easiiest just to take off the 4 or 5 problematic keys. Are they fairly easy to remove and reattach straight from the unmolested computer? I’m afraid to break them off, and don’t really need to crack the whole thing open in order to get inside.
Ditto the rest — thanks for your kind directions. GREAT assist in my cleaning and inspection job on my nearly new (and still happy) MBP.
sorry for butting in, but i recently removed my ESCAPE key and now it’s tilted downwards, but none of the parts are broken. can someone please suggest a way to fix this?
This broke my O key even more thanks… typing is so much nicer now that my o is even more different than my other keys. You see a macbook pro key is a rather subtle system. It’s very fragile when opened. Very… there are various small plastic pieces, smaller than a cubic millimeter, that keep the hinging mechanism underneath in balance. It turned out there was a small breadcrumb under my keyboard. More than sufficient create a lever effect on the cubic milimeter, and as I exerted only a minute bit of force I barely noticed that my O key hinge point broke off. Bottomline is that my O key is now on my keyboard titled and typing is much more annoying now, as the entire resistance of that one key is off. I also looked at the ±§ key and guess what, it also broke. Fortunately that key is just unimportant but the bottomline is;
DONT FOLLOW THIS TUTORIAL, JUST GO TO THE STORE
sorry for butting in, but i recently removed my ESCAPE key and now it’s tilted downwards, but none of the parts are broken. can someone please suggest a way to fix this?
Hey man, just wanted to thank you for this article. I just switched two keys on the keyboard of my sister in law’s german macbook pro to be more fit with what we use in Brazil.
cheers to you!