Stripped a screw head during upgrade. Is it worth the effort to remove it?

[sentur]

I replaced my SuperDrive with an SSD. During the process of removing the SuperDrive I managed to strip the screw head of one of the tiny screws closest to the edge of the MacBook. I was still able to get the SuperDrive out of the MacBook as the screw in question was raised just enough to be able to slide the retaining SuperDrive clip out from underneath it.

Should I be concerned and still attempt to get the stripped screw out?

I was able to fit the SSD, in a special caddy, by attaching it to the case with 4/5 of the screws and it seems pretty secure.

I tried a lot of different methods to get the stripped screw out including, a rubber band, a different sized phillips screw drive head, turox screw driver, super gluing a screw driver to the stripped head. But nothing gave me the traction to get it out. I suspect the screw head may have been slightly damaged to begin with, but couldn’t tell as it is in such an awkward location.

On a side note, the macbook I’m upgrading was, a mid-2012 model, had stickers on parts such as the SuperDrive and battery that had the dates 2014 on them. Is it just me or this a bit odd? I bought the laptop second hand so don’t know if anything has been replaced?

 

[Feek]

It sounds to be as though someone's been inside it already and replaced the superdrive and the battery and perhaps trashed the screw. It's not a great problem to leave a stripped screw in place, especially as you've tried so much to get it out and it's fixed.

 

[sentur]

It sounds to be as though someone's been inside it already and replaced the superdrive and the battery and perhaps trashed the screw. It's not a great problem to leave a stripped screw in place, especially as you've tried so much to get it out and it's fixed.

Thanks for your advice Feek.

If I really did want to get it out can you suggest any other methods?

 

[Spuddy]

Can you not drill it out with a really fine drill bit?

I wouldn't worry about it though if its causing no problems and the SSD is secure.

 

[armafan]

The only method that really worked for me was direct pressure to gain maximum traction to the screw head, manually by hand. Nothing motorised. Using a drill could make it worse if not careful.

As for the components, yes. That's not normal to my experience. Possible replaced battery and superdrive.