Near death experience

Sorunum

The fan was noisy, and it sounded like it was on the way out

Tamirim

All good until it came to levering the fan connector out with the spudger. Then -- as predicted in the instructions -- disaster! All four pins from the logic board sheared off, firmly in the fan connector. Fortunately my local computer tech is tooled up for this and he installed the replacement fan with a dot of glue and solder. And $100.

Önerim

It is very tight, and I would strongly advise you to think twice before taking this on. Future bold souls could really use a closeup of the fan connector on the motherboard, showing that the pins are at the front and not underneath. Hence your advice to attack it from the back. I'm afraid I was in too much of a spin to take the shot.