Remove the four indicated Phillips screws from the front wall of the battery compartment. When working from the left, remove the 2nd, 4th, 7th and 9th screws.
Four 3.25 mm Phillips #000. (Head: 4 mm. dia. x 4mm thick)
There's a trackpad and keyboard ribbon cable connecting the upper case to the logic board, so don't pull the upper case off entirely just yet.
Use a plastic opening tool, an expired plastic credit, or a similarly-thick card to pry up on the upper case, starting in the upper-left corner and working around to the front of the computer.
The upper case is likely to stick at its connection above the front edge of the optical drive. If this happens, first free all other sides, then proceed to pull upward on the upper case from either side of the optical drive opening. Here again, inserting a plastic card, guitar pick, etc. can be useful.
If you stand the base of the MacBook on one end to get a better look, you may displace the four grey plastic clips that hold the right side of the upper case in place. Don't panic. They slide into slots at the top rightmost edge of the lower frame, above the front edge of the optical drive.
During reassembly, make sure the clips on the right side, above the optical drive, click firmly into place. They're different from the clips on the left side, and so normally they require a little firmer pressure to click into place.
While holding up the upper case, pull up the black tab on the connector end of the silver ribbon cable away from the connector's socket on the logic board.
If there is no black tab, you can also use a spudger to gently pry the connector out of its socket on the logic board. This connector is tall, so be sure to pry straight up.
If you happen to break your upper case cable when removing the upper case, we stock the cable individually and we have a guide that makes replacing it easy.
While you have the upper case removed, it's a good time to remove dust, hair, etc. It's best to use a can of compressed air, though if you use a brush, make sure that its bristles are made of a material (usually animal hair) that doesn't generate static electricity, which can destroy electronics.
Upon reassembly, there are 4 grey plastic clips installed in slots running along the top of the frame in front of the optical drive (refer to second and third pictures). These clips must be installed in their slots for their mating tabs on the underside of the right side of the upper case to snap into them.
Note that the actual keyboard is sandwiched between the top case and an aluminum backing panel that is plastic welded together. Because of this, the keyboard can not be replaced without modification to these plastic weld points.
I actually purchased a replacement keyboard only to find out that I should have purchased the whole top case unit.
Wow. I have used this guide religiously 3 times now and I can not thank enough for it to the provider. You won't find anything more informative, explicit, graphic, descriptive but simple and basic oriented out there, and without leaving key details out. I think you did a FANTASTIC job with this guide, and thank you again. I'm very happy I found this link.
By the way, much better and appropiate than those dozens of youtube videos.
On step 10 the last screw, the one farthest away from the optical drive, would not come out. My screw driver is fine and the screw look ok but it will not come out. I'v been trying for 30 minutes now.
I have a question happens when I change the upper case of this team and still does not work bring it to a central apple and tell me I have to change the logic board is this true and if so how is that is damaged