Putting new memory in the Mac Mini - tips and (especially) pitfalls

Question

I had some problems in expanding my Mac Mini's memory. If you're about to do the same thing, you might find my experiences useful. So here they are.
*Opening the case*
I followed advice to use a plastic putty-knife and bought a one specially, but ran into a couple of problems. First, the plastic knives aren't as sharp as the metal ones, so they don't push into the available gap. I had to sharpen the edge before it would go in. The second problem was that, once in, it wasn't rigid enough to open the case; it just bent.
At this point I should have left it and gone back to the drawing board, but I was frustrated and flustered and casting about for anything that would do the job, I ended up using the metal blade of a set-square. This worked, but either because it wasn't flexible enough or because I was a bit coarse in my technique, I did some damage to the clips.
When I had to open the case a second time, I used a small, very thin and flexible cheese-grater and the case popped open like a dream.
*The four corner screws*
A magnetic screwdriver would have been a godsend for this, but since I didn't have one, I just had to tip the Mini up when the screw was loose and hope it didn't disappear into the workings. Fortunately none of them did. So not everything went wrong. Three of the screws were easy to put back - they could either be pushed or dropped into the holes, but the fourth couldn't be got in either way. Thinking about it afterwards, I realised I could have turned the mini upside down and put the screw on top of the screwdriver and got it in that way. But what I actually did was bite the end off a toothpick, jam it into the screw head and then push it in the hole. Worked a treat.
Note. My instructions said not to worry about the spring on the Airport antenna -"It's not going to fly off." Maybe not, but it can come loose and is then a pain to put back. Suddenly the wire holding the antenna doesn't seem long enough. Before you know it the antenna cable has come off completely, leaving you with the choice to undo all the screws again or forget about using Airport.
*Lifting the chassis*
Some advice tells you to undo all cables and take the chassis off completely, but the advice I followed suggested just undoing the fan control wire and propping the the chassis on a book with the others still attached. This worked fine. I was nervous about pulling on the wire to release the fan control, so I used a fingernail to get under the rim of the plug itself and popped it off that way.
*Fitting the RAM*
This was the easy part, though it didn't snap in as positively as some I've done.
*Putting back the fan control wire*
I put the wire back, as I thought, and powered up the Mini with the lid still off. I checked that the memory was properly installed and was delighted that it was. I vaguely noticed that the Mini was making a lot of noise, but thought that might be because the case was off. In my defence, none of the instructions identified the wire I was disconnecting as the fan control wire; they just called it "the little wire in front". Anyway, I put the lid back on, then realised I had a problem and took it off again. I learned (from Boece) that "the little wire in front" was indeed the fan control wire and saw that it was loose. It took me several tries to get it in. It's in an awkward place, is very small and sometimes appears to go in when it really hasn't. But whereas a few times I thought it had gone in, when it did go in I knew it was in. One of those things you only ever do once, but could do so much more easily the second time.
*Putting the lid back*
Some advice suggests just pushing the lid back, but you can cause damage that way. The clips can get bent out of shape. The best way is to use your cheese-grater or whatever, to gently ease the lid back on.
Conclusion
This was a bad experience; I had visions of ending up with an unusable machine and a void warranty. But in fact it I now have a quiet, working 2GB Mac Mini - and the nightmares have almost stopped. If you're about to try it, take comfort from the fact that you couldn't have as bad an experience as I had. Probably.
Michael

Answer 1

Pretty much describes my experience. I used a relatively thin metal putty knife to take the case off. Not to difficult doing one side at a time. I totally agree, a magnetic screw driver would have been very helpful when replacing the bracket. By far the biggest problem I had was the fan control wire. Very short cord in an awkward location. End of story - all back together with 2gb or ram. Probably toook 35-40 minutes (Including 10-15 fooling around with that lousy fan control wire.)