Introducción
Here’s the guide of speaker replacement of MacBook Pro 2016/2017. In October 2016, Apple launched a new MacBook Pro, which had a whole new design and functions including Touch Bar, new butterfly keyboard, display and speakers. However these features annoyed the users because they were really frangible. Apple announced the replacement program of keyboard and display but speakers even many people have been suffering speakers muffling issue. Apple says it costs about $600 to replace the speaker because they glued to the top case and can't be replaced individually. So I decided to replace by myself and write a guide for those have the same issue.
Qué necesitas
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Power on your Mac and launch Terminal.
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Copy and paste the following command (or type it exactly) into Terminal:
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sudo nvram AutoBoot=%00
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Press [return]. If prompted, enter your administrator password and press [return] again. Note: Your return key may also be labeled ⏎ or "enter."
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sudo nvram AutoBoot=%03
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Close the display and flip the entire laptop upside-down.
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Use a P5 Pentalobe driver to remove six screws securing the lower case, of the following lengths:
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Four 4.7 mm screws
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Two 6.6 mm screws
So this need to replace each and every screw in its exact former position explains exactly the excruciating difficulty I am having in getting the set of four shorter screws screws back in after everything else having gone successfully. Wanna scream at the top of my lungs. Maybe this point needed to be made in all ALL CAPS and BOLD for me. So can I still just start over trying each screw in each hole or have I messed up the threads in trying to screw in screws mismatched to their holes?
The front screws are at a slight angle, pay attention when putting them back!
I did not have the magnetic project mat, but instead I stuck loops of blue painter's tape on the table, wrote the step number on them in sharpie, and stuck the screws/covers for the corresponding step on them.
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Press a suction handle into place near the front edge of the lower case, between the screw holes.
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Lift up on the suction handle just enough to open a small gap under the lower case.
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Pull the lower case firmly towards the front of the MacBook (away from the hinge area) to separate the last of the clips securing the lower case.
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Pull first at one corner, then the other.
I found it easier to insert a screwdriver through the hole (not too far down), and use that to pull sideways, as it was hard to get a strong grip with my fingers.
If you have a black stick, or a nylon probe tool, you can insert it at the back at the point closest to the screw holes, and use that to push the lower case forward. I’ve seen this help me quite a few times, and it makes it quite easier.
I like adrianbrown's suggestion. Spot on!
Its difficult if the side catches arent released properly, check them again if it seems too much.
I snapped one of the spring loaded logic board grounding pins. Take your time. Leverage from the back in order to push it out versus pulling on it.
Take the opening pick and stick the edge down behind the hinge all the way to one side, so it is perpendicular to the case, and give it a twist. That end should pop free. Do the same on the other side and there you go.
This step requires a lot of force to slide the back cover away. Make sure you get a good grip of the mac body and of the back panel.
I literally cut myself with the bottom case, when it finally got freed from the upper case. I have opened a lot of macs, phones, and other items in my life, this was a first. Some light duty cloth gloves next time.
I didn’t understand some suggestions above. Tried Indawg Wetrust but didn’t really get it. Now looking back, it means use the pick just on the tiny lip of the cover, close to the hinge. Not on the antenna, but just on th slip of metal I believe. If that can help others.
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Remove the lower case.
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Set it in place and align the sliding clips near the display hinge. Press down and slide the cover toward the hinge. It should stop sliding as the clips engage.
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When the sliding clips are fully engaged and the lower case looks correctly aligned, press down firmly on the lower case to engage the four hidden clips. You should feel and hear them click into place.
I am doing a battery replacement for a client on this model. The battery has swollen more than I have ever seen before on a Mac! Roughly a ½” higher, once cover removed. Cover was so tight that one screw stripped and had to drill out one screw after trying everything else! Fortunately, I’m an exmechanic/machinist and I own a full size drill press! None of the screw extraction tools sold by ifixit worked or were applicable until I finally got the cover off. Then the small screw pliers from Japan were easier to use than anything else I own. My tools are mostly for larger nuts, bolts and screw extraction. Possibly a mini hammer driver screwdriver would work if one could be made small enough for tiny screws! Ross
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The speaker is glued to the enclosure with really hard tape, so I used hair dryer to make it easier to take it off.
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Use the hair dryer to heat the metal from the other side, next to the keyboard.
Step 0: Open the bottom case by following this guide:
Reemplazo caja inferior de MacBook Pro 15" Touch Bar de finales de 2016
Step 1: CAREFULLY unlatch the cable connection to the motherboard.
Slide a thin sparger underneath the cable starting from the direction of the fans and towards the batteries. The connector lifts straight up to disconnect
Does not show how to disconnect speaker from motherboard. Thanks.
To unglue the loudspeaker it needs quite a bit of heat : leave it opposite side for at least two minutes before using a metal piece starting from the top of the loudspeaker ( thin side) There is a gap between the chassis of the computer and the plastic loudspeaker :easy to insert a thin metallic spugger.
Not terribly hard to safely pry the speaker(s) out: there is plenty of speaker edge that overhangs the vertical containing part of the chassis that surrounds the speaker. That gets you a good start, for example with a fine, thin-blade screwdriver. Once it starts coming up, it's not hard to keep pulling the whole thing out.
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After that, insert a metal ruler between the speaker and the enclosure. Be careful not to damage the battery shells when you do that.
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You can also try to use a guitar string on the rounded corner next to the battery.
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It works best when you heat the case while trying to remove the speaker. Ask someone to hold the hair dryer while you pull.
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Only apply as much heat as you need until the glue slightly loosens.
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In my case, I used double-sided tape for this replacement. The most important thing in this step is not to make a gap when you cut and put it on the speaker. Even just a little gap will make sound distorted.
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Also, I noticed the structural differences between 2016 and 2017models. The right one is 2017 model and the left one is 2016 model from iFixit. Sound absorbing material is slightly different as you can see at the third picture, but I couldn't tell the difference of sound quality.
Bei mir ist sogar der originale Kleber genau richtig im Gehäuse kleben geblieben.
Ich habe Ihn dann nur nochmal mit dem Fön erwärmt und den neuen Lautsprecher feste (und vorsichtig) daraufgeklebt.
welche Kleber kann man benutzen?
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Several month after this replacement, the battery drive time dropped so much, so I had my MBP checked at Genius Bar. I asked them if I could receive the battery replacement even I replaced the right speaker by myself, they said they could. Ultimately, the top case including battery and speakers was replaced. However I am afraid that the new speakers would break again because they sometimes make a cracking noise while playing music or something.
Several month after this replacement, the battery drive time dropped so much, so I had my MBP checked at Genius Bar. I asked them if I could receive the battery replacement even I replaced the right speaker by myself, they said they could. Ultimately, the top case including battery and speakers was replaced. However I am afraid that the new speakers would break again because they sometimes make a cracking noise while playing music or something.
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26 comentarios
is battery draining is related to speaker replacement? as I get it’s not, but just wanted to double-check
I’ll need to do the same replacement after I’ve damaged my speaker when I was opening my MacBook to change thermal paste, so great news you can change to case after a repair like that, thank you
Has anyone done this repair and what there any problems?
I just did it and I did encounter one frustrating thing. In this tutorial it's not mentioned but I did unplug/pull out the power/data line or whatever it is in the middle of the machine. When I went to put it back in, the tab which is there so you can pull on it ripped off! So I was very scared I wasn't going to be able to hook it back in and with some frustration managed to get it. Just be very careful with every step of this process.
wangmeow -
Where can I buy the right-side speaker component, 2017 model? As you noted in the 3rd step section, you find the structural differences between 2016 and 2017models. When I search the 2017 model right-side speaker in ifixit. com here, the component seems to be only 2016 model as below:
MacBook Pro 15" Retina (Late 2016-2017) Right Speaker
Also, do you have a video tutorial of replacing speakers? If then, much appreciated!
Sorry I didn’t record the video of this repair. You can find it on eBay, the link is here : https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Macbook...
but I’m not sure if it would work perfectly because it is used one. So I recommend you buy the right speaker on iFixit though it might be 2016 model because I couldn’t tell the difference of sound quality between 2016 and 2017 model.
Thank you. I am suddenly wondering what kind of glue is good for use to be replaced with a new speaker part, as you noted that you used a double-sided tape.
As for the 2017 model speakers, I am leaving a piece of information for someone who wants to repair speakers.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lautprecher-S...
That seems to be a genuine 2017 model of speakers.
If not, please correct and suggest other 2017 models. By the way, I am appreciated for Takashi Miyazaki suggesting one in iFixit website.
Yes, I think it is the real one! As for the tape I used for the repair, the thickness was 0.6mm if I remember correctly and it was suitable for taping on metal.
What type of double sided tape did you need to use?
Thanks.
I ended up using a plastic pry tool instead of a metal ruler (worried about the battery), but otherwise I found this guide excellent. It took me about 15 minutes, so the estimated time might be a bit on the long side - almost all of that time was carefully prying up the old speaker.
The iFixit part that is linked comes with adhesive now! Not sure when that changed, but obviously makes the replacement MUCH easier.
Did this replacement solved muffling sound issue? Here is the video where the volume triggered muffling issue is demonstrated
here is a video of the speaker replacement
Hey Guys, another question here: so you think these replacement speakers are original ones?
https://www.ebay.de/itm/Apple-Macbook-pr...
I replaced them with cheap china speakers a year ago, and surprise surprise.. they sound like crap.
So just to be sure that I will buy the good sounding ones.
Thanks in advance!
I’ve tried two speaker replacements so far, and each gave the distorted / buzzing sound with no bass / loudness compared to the left one. I verified this by panning audio to the left and right in system preferences. The process to take out the speaker was not that bad. I used a hair dryer with an attachment to isolate the heat to the side of the MacBook top case and keep away from the battery / board.
Any ideas what might be causing this?
It looks like it is the actual replacement speaker and not adhesive / poor installation as I was suspecting. The replacement parts from here are similar, but the clear tubing is a little different and seems like just bad parts from China. Let me know if anyone else is experiencing the same, but shout out to iFixit’s team for being super awesome to work with.
I bought the speaker directly from ifixit US and yep, I have the same problem. The speaker seems to be the issue here clearly.
No bass (checked with a third party equalizer to verify) very thin mid and a very odd buzzing.
MrWegl -
Same here. Bought speaker from iFixit and after installing it (not that hard by the way), Sound continues distorted in particular with bass. Keeps happening only on right speaker…
How can I tell which speaker is muffled L or R?
Just replaced both speakers, with great success. I was able to pry the old ones out easily with out heat. I replaced them with used speakers which don't come with adhesive. For one, the original adhesive stuck to the case and worked fine to restick the replacement speaker. For the other, the adhesive came out with the original speaker and was unsalvageable. I used double-stick tape to stick that one in, and it seems to have worked.
Another success story — sound is now fine. Speakers came out with a little bit of heat from a heat gun (may be hotter than a hairdryer — definitely less than a minute to be warm enough). Replacements from dvwarehouse, which came with adhesive already attached. Old adhesive could be peeled out in one piece, with a little bit of care.
Probably a good idea to "rehearse" how you will insert the new speakers before removing the protective layer on the adhesive. If you boggle laying them down, you'll have a tough time adjusting them.
I am so thankful for this guide and this site. 2 years ago my speaker blew and Apple store quoted me at $500. I went to a local place and they said something like $250 but I kept hesitating. Then one day I opened up an old guitar pedal and fixed it and got the courage to try to do this, and I have to say, it wasn't that hard (I have zero experience with this type of repair and know nothing about the inside of a laptop). I think I spent with shipping and the screwdriver/suction cup/speaker around $50 bucks. Plus now I have the satisfaction of having done something interesting. Just be careful when you do this, take it slow and rewatch/reread the steps and have patience.
Thank you so much. i just did the replacement and it was so easy. Thanks. apple was charging me 699 + tax. i found the speakers on amazon it came with the kit and it was easier than I thought .
I just finished doing this replacement and it went flawlessly. Very easy to complete. Thanks!! brought my laptop back to life!
Is this step necessary? I can’t perform this step as I am attempting to repair water damage and need to remove logic board & most likely replace the battery.
Macrepair SF - Contestar
@mac_medic You definitely don’t want the power coming on while the board is wet. In your case, I think powering on the machine to disable Auto Boot would do more damage than it prevents. I agree, skip this step and be prepared to disconnect the battery quickly if the laptop automatically powers on. Good luck!
Jeff Suovanen -
Thats right! You don't want power running while working on your logic board.
Dan -
This did not work when running High Sierra.
Kyle B - Contestar
Tried this on a 2018 MBP 13” Touchbar (there’s no iFixit guide for this model yet). Need to replace a broken screen.
Luckily I managed to connect to an external screen (Cmd-Down Brightness to switch displays) and enter above command. Seems to work, but there’s another problem with this model - it powers up as soon as any key is pressed……. ffs <gnashes teeth>
Cool_Breeze - Contestar
I unscrew the battery first and wrap electrical tape over the logic board battery connector before attempting any repairs to the board. Haven’t had any problems yet and I’ve worked on about 10 of these models already. Also when you open the bottom case use a suction cup at the bottom and pull up then run a plastic spudger along the edges to disconnect the clips. Also only use a plastic spudger on the board. Saw a youtube video from a repair shop and he did not disconnect the power and used all metal tools during the entire process of removing the board. His last step was to disconnect the battery terminal.
Brian - Contestar
Is this step necessary if my mac can turn on? Battery fully dead(
Nursat b - Contestar
BEFORE YOU START: The included torx head stripped off before I was done (and you might need an additional T4) so stop now and go buy a good one. Also they fail to warn you above to get some blue threadlocker ahead of time.
Jason Sherron - Contestar
This command did not work for me and I read that sometime in later 2020 Apple stopped this command from working…any ideas on a work around?
Patrick Machacek - Contestar
Not able to do that with damaged screen
richardjgreen - Contestar
If you have a damaged screen you can still use a converter from thunderbolt (USB 3) to HDMI and plug your Macbook Pro to your TV as monitor display. Just make sure to chose the right Source (HDMI IN) in your TV. I did it and to make it work I unplug and plug again in my Macbook and so I could disable the Auto boot
Roberto Sanchez Bustos -
Hi. This does not work on 2018 13” MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. I did exactly this to disable auto boot. But when I check by using nvram -p it says: auto-boot true. Am I doing something incorrectly? I did everything step by step. Copied and pasted the sudo command, pressed enter and then entered my password. I have Big Sur 11.1 installed. Is there any other way since I need to replace the screen. Thank you. Adrian
Adrian Vizik - Contestar
Hi everyone. This is also a little pointless if you can’t see anything on the screen, and you don’t have a display adapter to USB C to display it. I agree with Brian about removing the back and disconnecting the battery cable before you even think about opening the lid of the MacBook. Applying the insulation tape is also a handy little tip that just makes sure there is no way to discharge from either the board or battery.
Roberto Enrieu - Contestar
running `nvram -p | grep 'AutoBoot'` in terminal verifies that it was accepted
result: `AutoBoot %00`
Marek Polák - Contestar
Running Big Sur 11.6.7 on a 2019 16" MBP, it's "auto-boot". So it's:
nvram -p | grep 'auto-boot'to display the current state, the default istrue- and then to change it,sudo nvram auto-boot=falsewhich turns it off.Ed Mechem -
This step is completely unnecessary if you follow the guide to disconnect the battery properly. Just put some tape between the battery and logic board connection to prevent it from accidentally touching and therefore powering on the laptop.
Grant Ormsby - Contestar
It took me a few tries to make this command work, as I was able to copy and paste the command into Terminal, but could not type in my laptop’s password. I finally typed my password into a text document, copied it (command C), and then pasted it into Terminal and it worked.
tommy404 - Contestar
I didn’t do this. Mine never auto-booted before I replaced the battery. Now it does.
hatuxka - Contestar
BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING - CHECK THE BATTERY!
I-fixit sent me a bad battery, which I didn’t realize until it was already install. They sent me a new one, but I wasted hours uninstalling and reinstalled.
Get a volt meter and measure the voltage on the output of the battery pack. If it reads 0 V, SEND IT BACK. It should read over 2 V.
bcardanha - Contestar
I've just received my replacement battery and it reads 0,042V between the two main connectors. Do you think it's dead?
peter sussex -
When I did this from Terminal.app within Recovery Mode, the “sudo” was not recognized but I could invoke it without the sudo part. It seems to have been accepted when looking at “nvram -p”
johann beda - Contestar
When in Recovery Mode, you already have superuser powers. So you don't need to prefix commands with the sudo command to invoke them with root privileges; you already have them. Do a
pwd(print working directory) after opening Terminal in Recovery Mode, and you'll see that you're in the root user's directory.Ed Mechem -
I received the battery kit for my 2018 MacBook Pro and as per the above comment from bcardanha - Oct 12, 2021, I checked the voltage on the pads marked + and - . It was zero volts so I panicked a bit.
I sent a message on the iFixiT Facebook page and I got no reply. I finally found the customer service email for Ifixit Europe and sent them an email voicing my concern as I was not keen to work for couple of hours just to discover that the battery is faulty. I had an almost instant reply on the email (kudos to them) and they adviced me to go ahead and install the new battery as the voltage measured when battery is not connected is not relevant.
I took a leap of faith and after two hours… the new battery showed 50% charge and everything seems to be working just fine. I am happy it worked.
Mircea Comanici - Contestar
After removing the old battery and installing the new battery I powered up the MBP before screwing the bottom on. I discovered the my keyboard would not function. It took a few hours of investigation and frustration that I discovered the track pad power ribbon had become partially dislodged from the trackpad. I was able to see that this through the little machined slot where the battery sat. I had to remove the trackpad to reinsert the power ribbon back into the connector in the trackpad. after reassembling and reinstalling the battery etc the keyboard worked. Just food for thought if your run into the keyboard issue.
Ed Mease - Contestar
This should be the default. IMO I tell you to power on - not the lid.
G Sena - Contestar
Est ce que cela fonctionne sur un macbook pro 2017 sans touchbar ?
maël muzelet - Contestar
Bonjour Maël, oui, ce tutoriel concerne "les MacBook Pro 2016 (et plus récents) et les MacBook Retina 12" 2017 (et plus récents)"
Claire Miesch -
Excellent instructions. I was able to follow and install the new screen. I recommend that you get a good set of tools before you begin. I started with an inexpensive repair kit bought online. The Penta and torx bits failed. I bought an IFIXIT kit with quality bits and I was able to do everything I needed.
Tom Markham - Contestar
If you're not running an admin account the sudo command won't work (which honestly, you should not be running admin). Rather than logging in to your admin amount via the OS, in the terminal type "login [admin username]," then the password and you'll be able to do the sudo command as described above. Once you're complete, type "logout [admin username]" and you'll be good to go. Obviously replace [admin username] with whatever the account name for your admin user is.
arichard2401 - Contestar
For those unable to complete this step because the screen is too damaged I recommend leaving your macbook on until the battery dies.
Nicholas R Licato - Contestar
Just replaced my 2018 15" MBP battery. Running Sonoma.
I found no way to disable AutoBoot (The status can be checked in the Power section of system report).
Anyway, i left my battery completely drain before opening the MBP, and had no issues during the process.
Cédric Bontems - Contestar
After sending this command in terminal when I checked what happens if I now open the lid, instead the screen lit slightly up (still black) then a battery symbol showing the charging state showed up.
Now, after replacement of the battery, this is all I get to see.
No reset of NVRAM nor PRAM helped.
Currently the new battery charges (58% atm) and it feels like it‘s mocking me.
webrockers - Contestar
I suspected the keyboard or TouchID sensor wouldn’t work, so I went on and checked every connector.
I missed connecting the left TouchID sensor from step 31.
webrockers -