Goodbye Macbook Pro. It's been fun! :(

Hey you guys. My Macbook Pro is dying. nVidia chip is crapping out. I don't have any pictures, but I promise I'll make some and post them.

It's your typical random lines on screen + OS crashing, and in Vista - BSoD with driver fails.

So that's basically it. My warranty is long gone (some months now), didn't get AppleCare, so I know that the video chip is soldered on the logic board, and to get a new one, is like getting a new computer.

I'm going to go on 5th ave Apple Store, see if there's anything I can do, without warranty, maybe you guys have any ideas or anything, I'd very much appreciate that...

I mean, the HDD, 4gigs of ram, screen, everything else is mint.

Question is: does Apple buy back their computers, or is the refurb program only from "returned" products?

Anyways, I'll let you guys know what goes down in the next couple of days.

 

apple doesn't buy them back. If you're out of warranty, you get the choice of putting in a $600 logic board or parting out the laptop and selling it.

The motherboard in my macbook went two months out of my warranty. I'm currently using it as a media server since if you move the laptop anywhere the motherboard voltage fries the hard drive, but I'm probably going to sell it for parts really soon.

 

Does this mean the Macbook /Macbook Pro is of poor quality?

cdnalsi, your laptop sounds failry new.

 

That really sucks. Isn't Apple aware of the bad Nvidia chips in their notebooks? Shouldn't they replace this for you and put it on Nvidia's tab?

When you are at the store, I would make sure to ask them about the problems Nvidia has been having with their gpu's. No laptop gpu should crap out in less than 2 years.

 

@ kb1gra: **** $600? I don't think I'll do that.

@HappiLappie: The laptop itself is of great quality. It's actually nVidia's fault with the crappy video chips. My computer is one year + 3-4 months old. Bought it in July '07.

@xprohx: That's exactly what I wanna ask tomorrow at the Apple Store. I'll let you know!

 

Once the video card craps out, you should still be able to use the laptop.

When my video card was shot, I connected to my laptop using VNC/screen sharing. So yea, you can still access everything, although its a bit laggy even over a network. But atleast youll still have access to data and so forth once it dies.

 

Not sure how that's even possible. If a video card is really *dead*, you won't be able to connect an external display to it.

 

He didn't say he connected an external display, he said he used VNC screen sharing. It's done via networking.

 

I've backed up all my stuff on my Time Capsule, so there's nothing I'd lose if it eventually craps out.

So far, it's kinda random:
A couple of hours ago it wouldn't even boot. The grey screen with the apple logo was all corrupted. And now it's running just fine, and I'm typing off it.

 

Actually, the logic board costs a bit over $1000 to replace.

 

it may be some software issue btw!

 

hey,I know what happened!It entered "self-distraction" mode BC of new macbooks approach

 

I would hold on to it for a but longer. Something might come of nVidia's faulty manufacturing. Cross your fingers and hope for a recall or replacement program or something. Your laptop is not old at all. This is where the extra $200 or so dollars for applecare makes it worthwhile.

 

I'd definitely hold off for the new MBPs, which are very close to confirmed in my opinion. Whether they end up using yet-to-be-announced ATI Radeon 4000 series GPUs or the NVIDIA 9 series, either will be better than the current 8 series issues.

 

It's not software. I haven't changed anything. It just happened random while I was watching a movie.

Anyways, seems to be fine right now, haven't had any artifacts since my OP, but really, I will go down to the Apple Store and ask about this...

 

Yea the whole process of the video card failing is pretty random.

Sometimes it will work fine, but then after a restart it may be gone for good. But then the next 20 startups it wont work, and then randomly, you may get the grey apple logo on startup, and then back to not working.

But essentially, onces its gone, it seems like its gone for good. While its crapping out, you may have a while with it.

I'd say try keeping it extra cool while its on its dieing legs, might help prolong its life.

 

Thanks for the info sulkorp!

iStat menus is saying 41 degrees Celsius right now, my AC is down to 20 I guess, so I'll try to keep it as cool as possible...

Anyways, since last night when it showed the first symptoms, and this morning with the corrupted Apple logo and freezes, it's been working just fine. I've actually watched a couple of movies on it, did some browsing, some music and all that...

I guess I'll keep it as long as it'll live, there's not much else I can do. I'm going to run down to the Apple Store next couple of days anyways, to see what they say about my situation.

 

If your up to it, let us know what the people at the Apple store have to say about it.

 

Actually if you pre heat the notebook by keeping it on, it has been found to work. My 1 year old HP dv9312 with the Go 7600 behaved the same last week and I gave it to the HP service center for changing the motherboard.

 

The problem there is, because Nvidia has not directly acknowledged that there is a problem because there is no real hard statistics for them to have proof, the burden of judgment falls to the middleman, in this case the notebook manufacturer. So, most notebook makers are doing what is within their power both legally based on parts contracts with vendors as well as what is within their power financially as a company. HP, for example, has released a statement saying that they would partially extend the limited warranty on select models because of what they see as "a recurring problem" to help out their customers. Unfortunately, I have yet to hear Apple make a similar statement.

At any rate, it never hurts to mention it and ask, even if it means requesting a manager in the store or calling in to customer service. Just remember to remain nice and polite as that is the best way to get the best service.

BBGus

 

For those of you having problems, can you tell us what temperatures you are getting on your GPU? Try using Smart Fan Control to increase the right fan speed, so as to cool the GPU better.