so yesterday I was playing real race or
two on my iPad when I took a sharp turn
my life flashed before my eyes not
because of the inevitable car crash that
was going to happen in my game but
because my iPad was floating in slow
motion towards the wall if you're
watching this it's probably because
something similar has happened to you
hopefully your story's a little less
dramatic than mine either way you've
come to the right place because today
we're going to show you how to replace
the iPad front panel assembly hi I'm
Gwendolyn with iFixit and I'll be
walking you through this repair today
but as always make sure to check out our
step by step guide as we go I'll be
doing this repair on a third-generation
Wi-Fi iPad so if your model is different
make sure you check out the guide for
your specific device a word of warning
iPad repairs are no joke a quick look
through our step by step guide will show
you just removing the front panel takes
up 25 steps but don't let that
discourage you just keep in mind that
this repair is going to take you a while
to do and will require a good amount of
patience also if your current panel is
cracked or shattered you want to be
extremely careful with all the broken
glass as you remove the panel the broken
glass has a tendency to get everywhere
including your fingers and eyes so
exercise extreme caution
we suggest covering the shattered areas
with some strong packing tape before you
get started this will help keep some of
the pieces of glass in check while you
work but enough with all the warnings
let's get to it for this repair you're
going to need an eye-opener kit that
comes with an eye opener and all the
special opening tools you'll need for
this repair including plastic opening
tools and a set of opening pics
you'll also need a phillips double zero
screwdriver and a spudger once we have
everything together we can get started
first off you want to make sure your
iPad is off and completely disconnected
from any power source
check and check and to get this bad boy
open we're going to use the eye opener
which heats up and softens all the
adhesive holding the front panel in
place but keep your pics and opening
tools handy because you're going to need
those to keep the glue from resetting
after we've softened it to get started
just toss the eye opener in the
microwave for 1 minute and place it on
the edges of the device
I recommend beginning on the right-hand
side because there's a small gap in the
adhesive right around here that's the
perfect place to start using a plastic
opening tool begin prime
glass up and away from the bezel it can
be hard to see but you want to make sure
you insert the tool between the bezel
and the glass as soon as you're able to
open a small gap insert the first of
your picks to prevent the panel from re
attaching to the glue while the adhesive
is still hot from the eye opener try
sliding the pick down to loosen it along
the right side the adhesive is extremely
strong so you're going to need to use
some serious force to get it separated
if you're having a ton of trouble moving
the picks simply reapply the eye opener
to the area you're working on when
sliding the pick you want to make sure
that it's never pushed beyond the black
bezel of your iPad if you're able to see
the tip of the pick through the glass
you're in there way too far having the
pick in that part can potentially get
adhesive residue on your LCD or damage
some internal components once you've
made it to the bottom corner of the iPad
you'll want to insert another pick in
the area we just opened up to keep the
glue from resetting at this point we
suggest turning your attention to both
the bottom and top edges of the iPad
with your eye opener and picks use the
same process of heating and separating
and work your way across the two edges
going a couple of inches at a time we
found that this method reduces the risk
of cracking the front panel one quick
warning before you start you want to be
wary when using your picks at the bottom
section of the iPad the Wi-Fi antenna is
attached to the bottom right edges of
the rear case of the iPad work carefully
and slowly and make sure not to sever
this cable
just like before whenever you make a
little progress in separating the glass
slide another pick in to keep things
from reefs ticking
now all that's left is the left-hand
side of the iPad be cautious with your
picks and prying tools when you're
working on the lower half of this side
the digitizer cable is located about two
inches from the bottom and we want to
make sure we don't do anything to damage
that in any way folding the iPad from
the top and bottom right corners rotate
the front glass away from the iPad don't
just pull it off because the front panel
is still attached to the logic board if
you're getting any resistance when
lifting use your picks to cut the
adhesive we did it the hard part is over
from here on out everything is pretty
straightforward
starting with removing the four screws
securing the LCD to the aluminum frame
once these screws are removed use your
spudger or plastic opening tool to
gently lift the LCD out of the case make
sure to be careful though the LCD ribbon
cable is fragile
there's a small piece of tape that's
covering the LCD ribbon cable connector
which can make it tricky to see at first
but you can use your spudger to remove
that now you will see the retaining flap
on the LCD ribbon cable zip connector
this connector has a lock that you need
to lift up in order to release the cable
this mechanism is very fragile and you
don't want to break it so be very
careful and use the tip of your spudger
to liquid depending on your finger size
you may need to use tweezers to pull the
cable from its connector fortunately for
me my fingers work just fine now we can
move on to the digitizer cable this
cable uses the same type of connectors
that the LCD use so apply the same
warnings here be careful and use your
spider
finally peel back the digitizer ribbon
cable and use the flat end of your
spider to release the adhesive securing
the cable to the rear aluminum case
using your fingers peel the digitizer
ribbon cable out of its recesses from
the aluminum frame and just like that
you can remove the front panel from the
iPad and before we go here's a couple of
helpful tips for putting your iPads back
together when it comes time to reapply
your front panel you need to take a few
things into consideration first and
foremost you're going to want to make
sure you thoroughly clean your LCD and
both sides of your front panel the last
thing you want is a speck of dirt or a
fingerprint haunting you for the rest of
your iPad's life we recommend using a
microfiber cloth and cleaning the
solution like Omni cleanse or apple
juice whichever second many people are
able to reuse the existing adhesive on
their front panels to reappear them but
seeing as the process involves a lot of
heating and scraping there's no
guarantee of that so it might be a good
idea to pick up a few replacement
adhesive strips lastly when closing up
your iPad be mindful of the digitizer
cable you want to make sure it doesn't
get stuck in the adhesive end especially
that it doesn't get pinched or creased
in the panel of course you can find all
the parts and tools you need for this
and many more repairs at ifixit.com and
let us know how it goes we love to hear
your repair success stories don't forget
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you