Chosen Solution

I dropped my Early 2009 MacBook Pro (don’t ask) The case on the back of the screen seems to have come unglued at one corner. When I close the screen one corner doesn’t sit flush. You can lift the flap up enough to see the glue that was meant to be holding it together. Is there a way of re-glueing this back? Or any other suggestions? Update As you can see the screen is fine, still attached to computer, but the actual case or shell of it has come away. When I pry it open a little it is possible to see where the glue was which stuck it down. Do you think I should try to glue it back? When I squeeze the lid down gently it fits back into place. If I were to glue it back is there a special glue I should use? A heat resistant one? cheers

I had the exact same problem and even took it to an Apple store, which said the cost of fixing it, given it was an older first generation unibody, made no sense. So, I was on my own. Following suggestion I found online, i did the following:

  1. Carefully took pix of everywhere there was glue inside the case.
  2. Scraped out the old glue and noted its locations.
  3. Sanded these locations lightly with high grit paper (600 I think). Vacuumed carefullly.
  4. Treated these spots with a weak acid to etch them, I think I used vinegar.
  5. Wiped it with rubbing alcohol to clean all residue and aluminum dust.
  6. Using the photographs, I carefully applied JB-Weld Liquid Steel Epoxy to the same plces the glue was located, not just gooping it in, but not just putting a few touches of it either. Use the JB-Weld that takes the longest time to cure. (That is the strongest.)
  7. Clamped it carefully, just enough to hold together, and make sure you don’t let the case skew while clamping. Undue and realign it if needed. Left it two days. Result: it worked. The case cover is back on, the screen is not coming loose, and it has held up 6 months now. Even getting very hot at times. It works. NOTE: I do carefully baby the hinge, i don’t just open and close it like when new, i continue to press down on the back and slowly open to minimize pressure on the hinge and reverse this when I close. Anyone who has the loose hinge knows what I am talking about. IT can’t hurt to keep it stressed as little as possible. That said, I have forgotten one or twice and just slammed it shut or yanked it open. No problems.

The front glass is held on by an adhesive, much like the iPhone 3G front panel (if you are familiar). Using a heat gun or blow-dryer will soften the adhesive so it can be reworked. I would recommend softening the adhesive in this manner and then use some c-clamps around the affected area to hold it together while the glue resets. This is certainly no guarantee, but worth a shot if you want to avoid replacing the whole assembly. I would probably put cloth or padding of some sort between the c-clamps and the computer casing to avoid marring the case. Also, be careful to NOT over-tighten the clamps for fear of breaking the glass. Good luck!

I note the procedure for removing the LCD involves heating the glue seam with a heat gun. It is possible that you could gently heat the affected area with a heat gun and with luck the glue soften and stick again. I would caution you this is just a theory–I don’t know if it would work and you would need to be very careful not to cause further damage. Ralph

I had exactly the same problem. Thanks to this thread and similar ones around the web, I managed to fix it and it seems like it will hold. What I did was follow the these steps:

  1. Shut the computer down completely and close the lid.
  2. Lie it flat and carefully scrape away old glue on the exposed hinges.
  3. Mix a full-strength two-part epoxy (it’s stronger than super-glue).
  4. Use a toothpick to carefully apply this to the exposed hinges.
  5. Press the closed lid into it’s correct place and wipe away any excess epoxy.
  6. Using a cloth, two thin pieces of wood, and a loose wood clamp (or a heavy book) keep it pressed into position until the epoxy fully sets (up to eight hours). Make sure, of course, the clamp is only tight enough to hold it in place and no tighter. A day later and it looks as good as new. I’ve seen elsewhere that you could just use super-glue and holding it together for 10 minutes, but this fix above seems more permanent.

i just glued it with an apoxi resin made for aluminium… seems to be fixed so hopefully it will hold! thanks for your time

Hi All, I’ve had exactly the same problem as outlined above, however my casing lifted on the right hand side and then 1 week or so later lifted on the left (basically exposing the whole back side of the computer so that I can see in under the case at the back and can see the reverse side of the screen). The laptop had never been dropped, always travelled in padded case and was (is) treated with love n respect… I found yr fix and applied 2 part epoxy resin and clamped for 10 hours (or so - just to be sure… the only time the machine has not received love). It stayed solid for about a month and then lifted again on the weekend. Has anyone else had both corners lift? Has everyone else found the fix to hold (beyond a month)? And does anyone have any suggestions??

do those solutions really work which is best the aluminum poxy one? mine is lifting on the left side only sticks down when i press it, i was going to go the apple store but im terrified they are going to tell me i have to replace the entire screen which ive research is £400 being a student i dont have that kind of money! had my mac book pro a year and half now. never dropped it doesnt have water damage take special care of it so really don’t understand why its doing this! any help appreciated.

I had same problem. It first started on the left corner and was getting worse with time. I always noticed that the left side was warmer then the right (probably melting down the glue). Anyhow I had to do something because this problem also made the image on the screen disappear on about one fifth of the screen on left. I read this forum and others, I decided to try with the epoxy glue. Went to the hardware store and asked for aluminium expoxy. I mixed the glue and using a wooden stick that I got at Starbucks, I put a fair amount of glue between the cover and the screen along the edge. I didn’t have to undo anything as by the time I decided to fix the problem, I had almost 1/2 inch gap so inserting the stick with the glue was not a problem. I then closed the cover and aligned it correctly. Once this was done I put the laptop on the edge of a table and with a piece of wood going along the back, I used two vises to hold everything in place (not putting too much pressure). I let the whole thing dry for 24 hours. The next day, when I open up the cover, it was holding firm. I did all of this about a 2 months ago and it is still holding. My laptop is 3 years old and wasn’t covered by any warranty. It cost me about $5 to fix it. I made sure to wipe off any glue so it doesn’t even show that the laptop was repaired. And yes I have no more problem with the image. So I am quite happy with this solution.

I had that same problem with my mac book pro A1286. my screen was separated from body, I used different kind of glue after couple of days again separated, Then i found this 3M™ Windo-Weld™ Super Fast Urethane, This is usually used to bond vehicle windscreen to body, its did my job well. first clean both parts , remove old glue . when you apply glue use a clam or similar kind of heavy object on top until its cure, i kept 24 hours , its a rubbery glue can withstand heat and vibration ,http://imageshack.com/i/ng8py1j

LOL @ all the mess and then getting the free screen replacement :) But also this thread is awesome. Very helpful. Question – did you all pull the screen to do the repair? Or did you try it with the screen still connected? Did you clean the surfaces of old glue, rough it up a bit, before using the epoxy? Still can’t believe they used epoxy. The screw holes should be part of the rear-cover mould.

I am having the same problem. I’ve been checking into epoxy solutions and researching the 3M company site. I think the epoxy of choice for this job is 3M Scotch-Weld DP810. What I’ve also been finding out is that exposure to heat affects the bond strength of a lot of glues. I think this might be the problem for those people without drop damage – because the hinge is near a part of the computer that really heats up, over time the glue probably loses its hold because of the heat exposure. And it probably means this is a particularly weak point in the hinge, so that if you do drop, it’s pretty susceptible to breaking.

My problem looked similar and the frame was broken. I suspect thats always the case when the back comes off like in the picture above and here: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/apple-n… since apple only sells the whole cover with display and glass for the price of a used mac, I bought only the refurbished frame on eBay from top-best, realy easy and nice, from China. to remove the glass is not very easy, and the exchange of the back also needs some study on youtube or here: http://video.answers.com/how-to-remove-t… but its reasonable and I did not have problems thank you all for help!

first off it is not glue it is a special Adhesive made by 3M called 300SLE DO not make the mistake of GLUING your case back together. First, take a blow dryer or heat gun if you have one. and on low move it back and forth in the area that has come unglued. then using your finger carefully press and hold the pieces back together. If you have a potato chip clip or other holder or sit a book or two on it with a pillow between it. Look on ebay they sell the stripes of adhesive you need if that fail replace it if you can find a ifitit.com guide to doing that

I just got a hand-me-down from my mom with the same issue. Now that it has been a few years since any one posted on this, how has it held up? Should I try it or save the $400 to have a repair shop put a new display on? Thanks!

Hi folks! well, I’m in the same situation as everyone there. Spent some money to upgrade my Late 2008 MBP ( 8Gigs of RAM, Samsung SSD), and one day this huge trench on the hinge. Did the glue trick. Worked 2 months. Did it again. Worked only 2 weeks. So kept it trenched, moving / opening / closing the screen very carefully. Decided also to clean the fans … and now I’ve got a nasty dust between the LCD and the glass (I know, my fault, I should have thought twice)!!! So now it’s time to replace the display assembly. I have the opportunity to get a “fried NVidia” MBP 2010. Would it be possible to use its display assembly? Found a topic on using a MBP 2009 display assembly, but not the 2010 one. Or maybe I should try something on the MBP2010. Any advice will be welcome. I love my Late 2008 MBP. Still a beast.

I found that the broken screw is twisted in the assembly. Ones I bent it back forth a few times in an attempt to scrape the glue out …The screw/broken assembly just fell out and the screen self clamped shut and did not really want to open back up again. Going to use some Barge Cement (the old one) and doubt it will open again. It should sit snug like the right side and if not because seemingly something looks jammed I would bet its the broken screw. Gluing that would be like pining down a spring with glue. Make sure it snugs up by itself before any glue.

To all. I bought a faulty Mac with this problem and I’m about to fix it using an epoxy resin glue. I won’t know how well it works for a few months but I’ll report back if I remember. But for anyone about to attempt this repair job be aware that aluminum is a highly-reactive metal that reacts with oxygen very quickly and forms a very thin, nearly invisible layer of aluminum oxide on its surface that protecst it from further oxidation (the aluminum’s equivalent of rust). However, and most importantly, the Al Oxide surface layer is very resistant to glues, and epoxy resin will NOT adhere to it very well. I tried it and found that I could peel the epoxy off the aluminum shell easily after 48 hours. The aluminum surface needs to be properly prepared for the epoxy by sanding it down to clean shiny metal, then applying the epoxy resin glue very quickly afterwards. “How quick is quickly?” you might ask. I have not determined the time yet but by practicing on an old aluminum sardine can I found that if the cleaned surface is left for 24 hours before gluing the epoxy resin will NOT stick well. I am experimenting with gluing parts together within 2 hours of sanding and the epoxy seems to stick quite well within that time frame. BEFORE attempting to repair a hinge carry out a test by trying to stick something to a piece of aluminum - like a sardine can, and see if you can peel the epoxy off easily with a knife. If it comes off relatively easily then your hinge repair will fail. Update (01/14/2019) A few peole have postulated that maybe the cause of the original glue coming unstuck was because they closed the case with their right hand and perhaps that twisted the top too many times and put more force on the right hinge (or the left hinge), thus causing it to break. The real answer is much simpler. There was not enough glue applied to the hinge in the first place! When I opened my Mac case I found only half a dozen small drops of glue on one of the hinges. Of the two surfaces that needed to have glue applied to stick them together only about 10% of the surface area had remnant glue on it. The other hinge did have enough glue on it, but once the first hinge broke, the other hinge DID have too much “twisting” force on it and it broke away too. So the real reason was just sloppy manufacturing by Apple.