Sorry I’m so late to the party, but I just picked up a 2012 Mac Mini to replace my HEIC-incompatible 2009 Mini. Upon reassembly, I also had some trouble reinstalling the antenna plate, and this page came up first in the Google. Unfortunately, none of the replies described the cause. Finding the cause led to an easy solution.
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The cause is that the ridge of the antenna plate has a thin grove into which which the edge of the case must fit. Left to its own devices, the case edge will slip into one side of the groove or the other, but the opposite side of the plate will droop and misalign the case to the top edge of the groove. This lets the screw hole on the good side to align, but the opposite side is off by ~1-2mm.
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The cause is that the ridge of the antenna plate has a thin grove into which which the edge of the case must fit. Left to its own devices, the case edge will slip into one side of the groove or the other, but the opposite side of the plate will droop and misalign the case to the top edge of the groove. This allows the screw hole on the good side to align, but the hole on the opposite side is off by ~1-2mm.
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The easy fix is to insert the tip of your spudger into one of the holes on the misaligned side to lift the plate slightly. With slight pressure on the plate, the case edge immediately falls into the groove, and both screw holes will align perfectly.
+
The easy fix is to insert the tip of your spudger into one of the holes on the misaligned side to lift the plate slightly. With a slight push on the plate, the case edge immediately falls into the groove, and both screw holes will align perfectly.
Sorry I’m so late to the party, but I just picked up a 2012 Mac Mini to replace my HEIC-incompatible 2009 Mini. Upon reassembly, I also had some trouble reinstalling the antenna plate, and this page came up first in the Google. Unfortunately, none of the replies described the cause. Finding the cause led to an easy solution.
-
The cause is that the ridge of the antenna plate has a thin grove into which which the edge of the case must fit. Left to its own devices, the case edge will slip into one side of the groove or the other, but the opposite side of the plate will droop and misaligned the case to the top edge of the groove. This lets the screw hole on the good side to align, but the opposite side is off by ~1-2mm.
+
The cause is that the ridge of the antenna plate has a thin grove into which which the edge of the case must fit. Left to its own devices, the case edge will slip into one side of the groove or the other, but the opposite side of the plate will droop and misalign the case to the top edge of the groove. This lets the screw hole on the good side to align, but the opposite side is off by ~1-2mm.
The easy fix is to insert the tip of your spudger into one of the holes on the misaligned side to lift the plate slightly. With slight pressure on the plate, the case edge immediately falls into the groove, and both screw holes will align perfectly.
Sorry I’m so late to the party, but I just picked up a 2012 Mac Mini to replace my HEIC-incompatible 2009 Mini. Upon reassembly, I also had some trouble reinstalling the antenna plate, and this page came up first in the Google. Unfortunately, none of the replies described the cause. Finding the cause led to an easy solution.
The cause is that the ridge of the antenna plate has a thin grove into which which the edge of the case must fit. Left to its own devices, the case edge will slip into one side of the groove or the other, but the opposite side of the plate will droop and misaligned the case to the top edge of the groove. This lets the screw hole on the good side to align, but the opposite side is off by ~1-2mm.
The easy fix is to insert the tip of your spudger into one of the holes on the misaligned side to lift the plate slightly. With slight pressure on the plate, the case edge immediately falls into the groove, and both screw holes will align perfectly.
[image|2557336]
Cheers!