Q: MacBook Pro Blank Screen (Built - in & External) - continued

Hey mdotz,

I never posted on these boards untill I had this problem either.

For the record I love the machine, the OS, everything about using a mac.

When its working its sweet, when its not I want to know why. If its not working because of hardware that is faulty, and faulty at an unacceptebly common and regular rate. Displaying the same or near identical symtomatic problems before becoming useless without being repaired or serviced, then i want to know why the machine costs so much.

Not unreasonable i think.

To be without the use of your very expensive notebook for a week (like you)because of hardware that was faulty when installed is bad enough. To be without its use more than once because its replacement hardware displays the same faults (as some on these boards are experiencing)is just idiotic.

And paying over the odds for that hardware, what does that make me feel like?

Any downtime if you use the machine for work is costly, end of story. If that happens because faulty hardware is replaced with faulty hardware then what you have is an expensive machine that is costing you money, not helping you make it.

Fair play (literally) to mac for servicing the machines affected. But fair play is what should be expected.

I would also expect the problem to not repeat and resurface because the problem has not been solved. Thats just sensible and economically sound. Less repairs = cheaper for Apple.

Read as advice not complaint.

This is giving me a headache - add me to the list.

Yesterday my macbook pro (bought July 2007) wouldn't turn on. It fired up with bong etc and into a black screen.
Weird thing: I always sign on to log in, yet immediately the volume buttons ping, the keyboard lights up and you can put a dvd in and it spins / ejects etc.

Just a dead screen. Even my extrnal hard drive powers up....

Can't understand this, and will try and find someone here (in New Zealand) to check it out. I've done all the combinations of buttons as advised in these threads, taken out the battery etc etc.

Seems everything was fine until the last round of software updates, then Photoshop started to crash (never happened before) last week. I guess that's a coincidence though. I understand from the posts its likely to be the motherboard?

Felicity

Hi Felicity,

According to Apples' own info this problem, (yours sounds identical to mine and others experience), this is related to a "packaging error" on the part of Nvida when shipping the Grafix cards (the 8600 seems to be the worst affected with others much rare).

Apple contest they have identified the offending logicboard-graphics card units affected and the replacements do not suffer the same root problem.

The experiences of those on this board indicates that is not the case and this logicboard/graphics card combo is till having the same identical problems after repair.

Apples solution seems to be replace the logicboard(with same graphics card type) ad infinitum and soak up (along with Nvida who seem to be taking a big hit because of this and similar problems on some pc units) the cost.

This is done free if you are inside 2 years of the original purchase date, if not after paying you get 90 days warranty on the replacement part.

For a problem that seems to arise after 1 year and a couple of months on average this equates to your MBP after repair having a minimum lifexpectancy of about 2.5 to 3 years(total). (ie seems you shouldnt be dissapointed with this)

My summary Felicity,

best of luck.

(oh PS crashes maybe not a coincidence if the prob is in the graphics chip)

oh to follow on the PS crashes thing. The first symptoms of a problem for my MBP were what i have been calling screen freezes, crashes really. I had to force shut down, restarts sometimes didnt work but the desktop was there just frozen. that is, the display had not died yet. Intermittently decided to work after a shut down and power from mains with no battery in, however. Then the blank screen and bong that is now so familiar to many others.

Yesterday this exact thing happened to me.

Computer works fine, but totally black screen. Tested it with Firewire Target mode to another Mac and was ok. Could hear the volume go up and down and see keyboard lights. Initially thought it was just the dimmer on lowest setting. I use it with another monitor and that displayed nothing also.

Booked into see a Genius that day at the store. I told them I tried resetting PRAM, SMC, holding down shift etc but did not bother with system disk as I knew there was no chance. I told them about this thread and he immediately said it sounded like a Nvidia problem. He connected it to a hard drive to run some tests but I'm unsure if it could actually complete them.

It is a year and a half old, out of warranty with no applecare (I bought this computer because my last Macbook logic board went after 2 years and was no point replacing, so bought a new one but could not afford applecare).

Anyway. Nvidia are paying for it to be rapaired and I should be able to collect it in 3 days. Mine was not one of those listed as faulty for recall. He did however carefully inspect my computer for damage and general state etc so I suggest always cleaning before taking to a store. Luckily mine is immaculate.

Moral for my last 2 Macbooks ..... Expect big problems 1.5-2 years. Get insurance or sell to avoid headaches.

Update: Apple have just rang me and is ready to collect. I can't complain, that's a 24 hour turn around and no fee for an out of date warranty.

Good luck.

Thanks for your replies, ivanmcc and Kernal.
I'm not sure what to do really.

I have a friend who has a friend who may be able to take a look at my macbook pro next week - I'll let you know what happens.

I'm feeling dispondant about Apple just now - I love my mac so much but spending out that amount of money and then thinking it may conk out after 1.5 - 2 yrs isn't good. There are many posts and if I end up paying for the fix and not getting the money back - plus there's no way to know if it's going to work -then I may as well buy a (gulp) pc again.

Sigh.

Here in New Zealand there are stores with varying reps and no actual Apple services, just resellers (as far as I know). I was told my computer would need to be sent to Sydney, which is fine if it's going to return 100% fixed but posts suggests...maybe not.

As I say I'll let you know what happens next week hopefully.

Thanks again for the replies, much appreciated.

Thanks for your reply, I really appreciate it.

Message was edited by: Felicityvfx

Here is what I think you should do Felicity,

Apple have obligated themselves to fix affected machines free of charge.

call applecare and give them this link

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377

keep at them untill you talk to someone willing to listen and not just tell you the machine is out of warranty.

downside is you cannot prove this is the problem even if the syptoms are identical but if they accept it is the prob then it should be fixed free of charge. if not then you get to either bin the MBP or pay for repair.

Back up using another mac, firewire cable and a T boot before sending for repair,

again good luck

Ivan

Oh Boy ...

Count me in as well. MBP SR purchased June 2007. This computer has had a gentle life - sits on the desk unmoved for months at a time, rarely game or do anything to heat the GPU excessively, not a scratch on it.

I thought things were running a bit slow tonight so I did a quick restart and got the same symptoms as everyone else here - black screen (internal & external), computer working, can log in via SSH or Remote Desktop. I tried all of the suggested software solutions with no luck.

Tomorrow I'll call Apple and see how it goes.

Add me too. Was working on my macbook pro 15" (the only computer I have, I'm on a friend's Windows machine right now)an it started working very slowly, and some programs wouldn't open. I decided to reboot and... yep... black screen of death.

Thing is, I bought this in Oct 2007 when I was living in Australia. Now in South Africa... the nearest Apple store is about 200km away.... sigh

Not happy Apple....

Had this problem with Oct 2007 MBP on Saturday. After quick research, got apptment and went to local Apple Genius bar. Guy was familiar with the issue, ran a diagnostic test using an external hard drove that told him the serial number was one of the bad ones. Sent off to repair in Houston, got back on Weds AM FedEx. Not bad considering they said 5 days. Got machine back and everything was fine except for 2 things - Had to reauthorize iTunes Store, Time Machine couldn't find volume error. Fixed TM by going to Change Disk option and picking the same disk again. Unfortunately it starts the backup process from scratch. Am guessing cause MAC ID changed with new motherboard. Not a big deal but just kind of hassle. Plus, how would I use the old backups if I needed them?

One thing I noticed in looking through various threads is that many people with affected machines (including me) use an external monitor. Wondering if there's a correlation between using external monitor and graphics problem. I do notice machine runs much hotter when monitor connected but don't know if that due to cover being closed or that it takes more processing power to run external display.

If you haven't already, may want to install SMC Fan Control utility. Makes it easy to monitor laptop temperature and adjust fans for more cooling.

You speak a lot of sense britbonic,

First thing i did when i got my MBP back was install fan control utility, surprised apple dont have something like that in system preferences already,

and yes this does seem to be common amongst those who use an external monitor me included. I was genuinely reticent to hook it back up to my tv after getting it back, but i did, i want to use it for the reasons i bought it.

One more thing to anyone who still checks these boards...;

have any of you also had this problem?

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9079840#9079840

with the bodge fix here

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6571108

I have started experiencing this problem, and the bodge works, I am out of warranty so don't really feel like ponying up more cash to fix another manufacturing fault.

All this from a pro machine with a pro price, i am mad as **** and you should be also. Any downtime is costly if you use the machine for work. blah blah.... is anybody listening at Apple?

**** gets asterixed? how about Hades or more specifically Tartarus?

Ha!, more idiocy in Apple policy.

if only the os wasn't so nice and the machines so pretty....