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.
Use a spudger to carefully pry the battery connector up and disconnect it from the logic board.
In models that don't have a removable black spacer, you may need more clearance to unplug the battery connector from the logic board. Remove the screw at the middle of the left I/O frame, then lift up the lower end of the I/O frame. If removing this screw doesn't give you enough clearance, remove the I/O frame.
Look at the pinout on the bottom of the battery connector circuit board. If there's no gap in the two rows of pins (if both rows contain ten pins), it's the Non-Energy Star version. If there is a gap (two rows of six pins each, separated from two rows of three pins each), then it's the Energy Star version. These two versions aren't interchangeable.
When reinstalling/replacing the battery connector, make sure to route its short black cable into the channel provided for it in the lower case frame, or else it might press upward on the left edge of the top case at this location, preventing the top case from laying flat here.
Im sad i did this one + Replacing MacBook Core 2 Duo Magsafe Board, try another charger and still the same symptoms :( wont charge and green light stay on. waste of time and money for my Macbook 2.4Ghz intel core 2 DUO White.
My battery connector looks like the energy star (6+12 pins) but on the motherboard says “apple inc 820-2279-A “ and no ‘energy star’ is written. I assume I should get the energy star model because is identical to mine. However, iFixit points to follow what is written on the board. So, something wrong here…
