iPad 5 Wi-Fi Logic Board Replacement

I had a screen that was lightly cracked, and when I pulled up on the glass it cracked even further and made a mess of my removal. So, I would recommend taping cracks even if you can get suction so that you don’t induce even more cracks.

I actually had a really badly cracked digitizer. Using the suction cup did nothing but shatter the digitizer more. I intentionally drove a flat head screw driver into the digitizer to reveal the recess in the body where they are showing the opening-pick. Working around the edge, the glass shattered. You still need to be careful at all of spots noted in step 2.

Do not go under the digitizer more than the 1 mm along the sides or 3-4 mm at the corners as shown in step 29 using the flat grey ring around the edge for a reference. Direct all of your tool force into the body to prevent slipping into critical parts.

The antennas at either side of the home button were the trickiest part as they were thin and slightly attached to the digitizer. I would recommend using a plastic tool for these parts if you are having to 'scrape' the glass off of the tabs of the antenna.

How do you heat the iopener?

There are sensitive display/digitizer cables no less than five inches from the bottom edge of the iPad. Insert the pick further down than this, or deeper than 1mm beyond this point and you risk irreparably damaging these cables.

Three inches is much too far down this side of the iPad to use picks.

While reassembling, REALLY make sure the display cables and the home button cable won't be folded / bent while closing the digitizer. I'm not exactly sure what I did, but I broke the home button and touch ID since I bent the home button cable to the point that it broke. These ribbon cables are SUPER fragile.

Use the provided replace screen case's square compartments to place your screws into as you remove them. Really helpful and you likely won't mess up.

! went to Office World bought 4 packs of bluetac stuck them on a sheet of paper to give approximately size and shape of iPad put it in a flat cardboard box

Where can I buy these screws please ?

At this step, possibly depending on date of manufacture, there may be black silicone present on/around the four screws that mount the display. It needs to be carefully scraped away and the two screw mount holes at the top of the screen pried up and away from the chassis. Between the chassis and the plastic portion of the mounting frame, there is a slim sheet of metal. Be sure to pry this off WITH the mounting frame. It is part of it. DO NOT try to separate it.

Not having the isolation pick, I used 2 thin guitar picks instead, which did the job fine.

I couldn't disconnect the battery connector - I applied some force, nothing happened and I was afraid of applying too much force - so I just left it connected and I was very careful not to short out any terminals with metal tools. I completed the repair without any other issues and the iPad now seems to be working fine.

Mine was missing. Made one with scissors but still didn't do the trick. I just worked with the batteries still plugged in.

try lifting the board and not blocking the connector. If you block the connector there are pins that could be damaged.

A replacement of the battery connector is required if pins are bent should you get power on or charge issue after battery disconnection. This can be replaced with the right tools and low melt solder to remove the connector and replace.

Best method to disconnect battery is to carefully lift the logic board near the battery connector enough to slip a piece of thin plastic or paper between the batter connector and the logic board battery connector and pins.

Failing to isolate battery so can result in blown back light or touch filters or diodes in backlight circuit.

At the very least run down the battery flat prior to repair but you are really best to isolate battery.

From a repair point of view. This connector is a royal pain. For assembly it's great, well, nearly great.

This connector is SOLDERED to the motherboard side. Never lever this on the motherboard side, I will call it the right hand side. It will break leaving it's soldered pins behind. Yes I did it.

The pins, on the battery side of this connector, just rest on the batteries plated pads. They are kept under tension by the screw. It should be noted though that removal of the screw will not disconnect the connector pins from the battery pads. Natural tension is still present.

I suggest strongly that you take a look at the battery connector online to see the nature of the pins and you will see that some are quite delicate.

The tools purpose is to raise the battery side of the connector ; the left side, so there is some clearance between the pins and the batteries pads. If you have seen a picture of this connector then you will realise the potential of damage to this connector and will have a better idea of what to do.

Contd.

Lifting the connector and simultaneously sliding a thin piece of card or plastic under the pins should be done carefully. In fact, to minimise damage I just slid it under ONE of the main battery pins, plus or minus, which are in the middle and quite robust compared with the tiddlers on the side of the connector.

The second point, the battery and the motherboard have protection circuitry. When I broke my connector the battery dropped to 0.5V at the terminals. Connecting the charger, when all the connections were sound and not shorted raised it from the dead back to over 3.2V

I replaced the battery, and got things hooked backup. For the test, the screen came on, digitizer seemed to be functioning fine. But I couldn’t get it to charge. I used the i-fixit battery blocker by using my spooger to put a little up pressure on the board, and then sliding the blocker in. I don’t think I damaged the pins, but its possible. This is a friends ipad, and its obviously been dropped a few times. I started eye balling the charging port, it LOOKS ok, but looks can be deceiving. When plugged in, even trying different cables, the ipad is not showing the charging symbol. Some of the comments here seem to imply, if I damaged the battery connection pins, I would still get a charging symbol. My question is, if I damaged those battery connector pins, would the ipad show the charging icon or not? Should I be looking at replacing the charging port?

If you gently use the plastic opening tool as shown in step 94 to lift the board slightly it makes it MUCH easier to slide the battery blocker in.

Be careful when re-installing screws on reassembly. I mistakenly put the longer screw from the battery connector in the outboard hole, and wound up twisting off the lug that is only lightly soldered to the metal below. Still have 2 screws and system seems to work fine.

Does anyone know where I could purchase a replacement display cable bracket?

Note:Be rly carefule with unplugin homebutton-connection.

The plug-connection (Homebutton) is not similar to the plug connections the basic-plugs got.

The homeputton-plug-connection is sensetiv and cant unplug easly.

Andddddd continue this iFix folks! It's not a matter of working backwards. Most people must have cracked screens and end up having to rip the screen off and won't have a chance to inspect connections.

He is far from complete…..if lcd is being replaced its probably because top screen is busted too. He didn’t show anything about how to remove the cables for that.

If the battery blocking method is outdated and dangerous, why not show us the new, safer method? Just a thought.

There is a separate guide for replacing the outer glass ;)

Careful removing the tape. The home button has a zif connector and if you aren’t careful the tape can rip the zif flap right off. You might have to hold it down while you pull it off or pull the tape from a different direction to make sure you dont tear the zif tab off.

I got through the repair, only to have the new screen give me problems that I can not find solutions to any where. The digitizer is working on its own without my input, it will start apps, switch windows, etc. I have pulled up the new screen and checked my ribbons and cables seem to be fine. ANY IDEAS??

Moses Roman

Same exact problem that I have. I think it has something to do with the glass touching the ipad. Something like on the iPad mini, where you had to cover some areas beside the home button.

I would love to see a real solution, as im stuck with unhappy customers and frustrated me :)

I had mine replaced TWICE by a local repair shop. Soon noticed both times that the iPad would soon go haywire after a few minutes use with random clicks, ghost typing, opening apps, etc.

The iPad Air's such a poor quality, un-durable product anyway. I only had my screen replaced in the first place because it cracked with no apparent drop or trauma and Apple wouldn't replace.

I have also the same issue, does anyone know what the problem is?

Please give us some feedback.

Have seen this with multiple repairs where the digitizer was replaced. In each case it was a problem with the digitizer cables where it gets tucked under the glass near the edge of the frame. Not yet sure if they are badly made digitizers or if the cable gets damaged trying to tuck it under frame during installation.

Just fitted the screen, the digitizer works, display all good but I had a message saying I could not use touch ID and the home button doesn’t work at all…is this expected?

I break the ZIF connector. Is tat touch connecter.?

How do you take the ribbon cable off from the home button site???

Pull the ribbon horizontally out, not up

What are those connectors for because i kinda half broke the left one on the screen on the glass frame and now the lcd wont turn on

THIS PICTURE IS PERFECT AND PERTANANT TO THE NEXT STEP REGARDING “GHOST OR PHANTOM TOUCH” - See that foam around the edges? For some reason, the ifixit replacement digitizer doesn’t come with it (but it does come with new adhesive applied already.) With your screen, also purchase their “tesa tape” : Tesa 61395 Tape / 4 mm - it comes in different widths fyi. I choose 4mm as advised by a staff member.

I didn’t receive any of the two sided tape…I assume it needed to be ordered separately??

So, when I removed the glass, the bottom cable tore and I have to replace it. The video is not as clear regarding replacement. The old button had a round rubber gasket but the new one does not. No inst. how to re-use it. I can’t attach and keep in place the new button.

In a previous repair, i broke the zif, what you want to do is hold it down while removing the tape, otherwise it will pull the parts up with it.

Since it was broke i put a piece of electrical tape on top for the pressure the zif would push down, then another piece from the screw hole to the bend in the cable, so it does not come loose when putting back together.

In your conclusion, which doesn't have a comments area, you say to reverse the procedure - simple enough, BUT what about the sticky adhesive residue along the edges of the (a) the just-remove-glass (if re-using) and (b) along the 'inside' edges of the iPad chassis? Typically Apple says to remove the adhesive residue (careful) with alcohol wipes (lint free & 98% isopropyl). Thanks for the instructions!

the hardest part of this repair for me is actually aligning the ribbons (especially on the aftermarket version) so they don't jumble and cause the glass to mush away from the adhesive leaving a gap. Would would be very helpful to see how to fold the ribbon cables back on the aftermarket digitizers. They are slightly different than the originals, or at least they appear different. This repair is super useful but we could really use a step 44 because re-assembly has a sequence and a folding technique.

The ribbon cable is a little tricky to figure out. But if you look closely at the old ( Broken) screen you will see they stick to the underside of the screen thin the remaining ribbon slides down into the ipad between the display and ipads frame.

I used a heat gun and suction cups to loosen screen.

This was a very good ifix ii

It is not as simple as reverse disassembly steps, the ribbon cables need to be tucked into the pocket on the side of the iPad. There is tape on them that has to adhere to the side of the digitizer too. Mine did not make it all the way down into the gap, and stuck on the other adhesive, now I have a gap by these two cables. To tuck these into this area is difficult at best. I now need to remove the glass, hoping it does not shatter and purchase more tape.

Other than this the task was not bad.. BTW: YES People use the capton tape

I’ve read that people are putting glue at each corner. I haven’t figured out what glue. One person said Glue Dot 1” 16lb, another said rubber cement, 1 video shows 5 min epoxy… Heard that some sort of glue (not super glue) needs to be used to avoid the glass lifting later on. And to use 3m red tape along the edges. I’ve been searching for which glue because I still have an ipad air to do screen replacement on.

Would be helpful if the tape were listed in the master supplies for the guide. I got the whole kit overnighted, but then had to wait a week to get the tape from Amazon (since I wasn’t going to shell out another $50 for overnight shipping). Otherwise, it’d be nice to know if the displays through iFix it included the foam or not—mine didn’t.

what is the difference between the right and left antenna?. My right antenna is damage and cant find a replacement. Can I use only the left one?

Thank you for your guide, it helped me fix my son’s iPad!

Just wanna say thank you. I replaced my LCD and digitizer today…. took a LOT longer to get that adhesive off than I expected. And the IOpener busted in my microwave despite following all directions (eg only 30 sec at a time, out for at least 10 min before reheating. So that sucked. Turns out the rice in a sock worked pretty well too.

Regarding assembly: even with carefully tucking the ribbon cables down the side while reassembling, it’s still hard to get that area to stick down.

Some advice when reassembling that I have learned in the hard way.

One good hint is to those who buy replacement parts that are not exactly the original ones. Some of the parts come with a 3M adhesive tape on the tab of the flex cables (I guess original parts are already folded and glued). I would strongly recommend to be very careful when you try to glue it on the front panel and maybe watch a video on how to fold it properly, so as not to fold or pinch the flex cable on an unrepairable way. Also, some of the low cost parts come with a very strong protection sticker on the front glass. It is advisable that you peel off the sticker before reassembling the ipad in order to not end up ruining the glue that was supposed to hold the front panel .

Skip to the step 98 or even 100 if you just need to replace the power button - I think you should even consider this to replace volume buttons. I am fixing mine right now and screwed up the speaker cable. I did follow the instruction but totally missed the cable right below the tape. I proceeded further, but I just realized I didn't have to go through all the troubles. I wish ifixit.com can manage this type of direction clearly so that dis-assembly is minimum.

After you replace the Digitizer if you are getting random key presses it is likely to be because Kapton tape has not been applied to the edges of the digitizer. You need to cover the silver strip around the edge of the digitizer with kapton tape before reassembling. Works every time.

My goal was to replace the battery. As some suggested I skipped some steps. I did Step 46 and left out 47 to 100. But I think Step 46 can be skipped too. iFixit probably does not recommend skipping these steps because it is riskier to bend the batteries and damage them. But if you work carefully enough and make sure the adhesive has been softened well, you should be fine. It was no problem for me. It saved me quite some time. (I will write a comment in Step 102 to help you get the batteries out without Steps 46-100.)

You may partially skip steps 46 to 100, as it is not really mandatory to remove all those parts in order to remove the logic board and the battery.

The pick was not thin enough but the razor worked.

I would strongly advise not to follow this step and following ones: removing the 2 Wi-Fi antennas is not required for complete disassembly of the motherboard and battery, and you may potentially destroy your antennas: I scrupulously and foolishly followed this tutorial step by step and now I have severe Wi-Fi problems on my iPad because one of the 2 antennas has been damaged during the process (and by reading all the comments on this page you'll see that I'm not the only one to have this issue...).

=> As someone else already mentioned it in the comments, just skip most of these steps and go directly to something like step 79.

Este paso es innecesario, ya que con solo quitar los tornillos es suficiente, no hace falta despegar la goma espuma que mantiene la antena de la bocina.

tout a fais il n'est pas nécessaire de décoller l'antenne du haut-parleur ! Il faut juste enlever les vis et continuer le démontage du haut-parleur en laissent l'antenne fixer a lui !!!

Faire de même pour le deuxième haut-parleur !

What can I do if I accidentally peel

off the speaker ribbon from both

speaker connecters? Can I get a replacement part?

This step was not very well explained. It fails to mention the speaker cable attached on to the tape. This caused the speaker cable to be torn since it is so thoroughly attached to the tape. Guide made no mention that it was under there or that you should be careful about it. Not even the usual remove the tape gently they just tell you to rip it right off no problem. Not sure how this was missed when the guide was so thorough about this beforehand.

Approx. 3/4 of an inch past the bend in the cabling underneath the tape lies the right speaker cable. Beyond this point proceed with extreme caution. Delicate cables and ZIF connectors underneath the tape will be torn or damaged if they aren't separated from the underside of the insulation tape first. Use fingernails or thin-edged tools.

An update to this would be nice. Will the Ipad work with a broken spaker cable? Is it possible to get replacement part? Maybe this step should be rewritten.

It is really not necessary to remove either speakers for a logic board swap.

When did you remove the blocker after installing the battery blocker? No photos with blockers after this procedure.

I didn’t need to take the left antenna and speaker out. If you just get the wire and tape out of the way so you can unplug the speaker flex cables and take out the lightning connector, then you should still be able to get the logic board out. the left speaker isn’t in the way at all.

Este paso es innecesario, ya que con solo quitar los tornillos es suficiente, no hace falta despegar la goma espuma que mantiene la antena de la bocina

Pulled out the connector doing this step. Best to hold down cable while pulling tape.

Note for others. On this connector, i have some tape keeping it down, it's rather difficult to remove without ripping it. So i ripped the tape to remove it.

"Ripping" the tape seems ill-advised. A sharp ceramic craft paper cutting knife or the very tip of a fine-tip Exacto blade work well. Once the tape is cut on one side, the blade slides through it like it's nothing. Zero force required.

Be careful not to insert a blade too far or it may come into contact with conductive components.

NOTE for others who might miss this: this picture is looking down, out the bottom of the iPad. There are four other screws near the lightning port, two for the speakers and two for the port. You see these four easily, looking down at the battery and motherboard. These two are additional to those, and perpendicular to them. Both pairs of lightning port screws, one set perpendicular to the other, must be removed.

Where did the battery blocker go? It was introduced in step 35. Nowhere has it been said it can be removed . . . yet it is now absent in this picture. I took it out when I got to steps 93-96.

Thread a piece of dental floss under the tip of the logic board. Be careful when rounding the corner not to snag any ribbon cables. This easily released the foam tape up to the battery connector.

CAUTION - there are two ‘hidden’ screws holding the lightning port that face the battery. Hold the iPad vertically and look down to see them. I almost broke the cable trying to remove it thinking it was just stubborn adhesive. Yes its mentioned at Step 82 but its a confusing illustration and easily overlooked.