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

Update:
2 days later the same problem came up again.
So I went to Apple store and got my mainboard replaced.

Mine just died last week. MacBook Pro 2.2Ghz SantaRosa purchased late 2007. Less than two years old.

I had a 20" Cinema Display connected, popped in a DVD and the video on the Cinema Display became scrambled freezing the system. It will not startup. No startup chime, no video. Just the sound of the disk, fan and the DVD drive checking for a startup dvd I guess but it goes no further.

The sleep light doesn't pulsate but it's at a constant brightness level that only changes with the degree the screen lid is positioned.

This is an insanely long thread and didn't bother to read through it all but does anyone know how much Apple would charge for the fix? Mines out of warranty. I always purchase AppleCare but didn't this time around due to tight funds.

These things happen. I just hope Apple takes care of us if this is a very common defect which seem like it. This is the first time my Mac had died prematurely and I've owned many.

Hi,

I have the same problem, my monitor won't turn on! It was fine until yesterday! It is out of warranty, what I must do?

Can somebody help me?

I belive this will help most of you out: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377?viewlocale=en_US

Free repair and money back to the ones that have paid fore repair.

Well add me to the list. 1 year and 5 months and the laptop is dead. No video, black screen. The laptop starts up but the screen is black. I took it to an Apple Authorized Service Provider which ran a test, and told me the problem is the main board... so it is not eligible for the repair. That's it for me and apple. The repair I am told cost $1,200. I was strongly considering switching over the office and my families computers to apple, now I want nothing more to do with apple and their faulty products.

The mainboard IS what's eligible for repair, I thought. However, they did that test with me, said it wasn't the graphics card, and offered a flat-rate repair for about $300 where it's kind of a gamble. It could be a ribbon cable for $20 that they replace, or the logic board for $800 that they replace...no matter what's wrong, it's $300 to make the computer work like new.

I was ****** about my $4000 laptop being bad in 2yrs too, but then I remembered what kind of computers the Dells and Sony's have been. LOL. The Apple Store at Mall Millenia here in Orlando will bend over backwards to get your computer fixed cheaply and quickly. I dropped my laptop on tile once, it bent in the whole corner where you plug in the monitor and screwed up some of the internals, and they replaced the bottom half of the laptop (almost everything but the LCD and hard drive) for free...and I was without it for 2 days.

If you didn't already do so, let Apple see it directly. Third party "authorized repair centers" does not represent Apple. There's no guarantee but you're more likely to have a satisfactory outcome. I've dealt with Apple in the past and they've been very good to me.

I'll be bringing in mine in a week or so. I already purchased a new iMac since I'm backed up on work and have little time.

Good luck to all of us.

Please add me to the growing list of dissatisfied MacBook Pro users who have been burned by this issue. 1 year and 5 months for my MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz. I can SSH in and use a command line to activate ARD. Thereafter, I can control the computer. In my case, System Preferences > Displays indicates a generic display at 1280x1024. Clicking Graphics/Displays in System Profiler causes System Profiler to unexpectedly quit (crash).

Backup (clone) to external firewire drive in progress via ARD.

After over 1000 posts (over 200 printed pages) from people with the exact same issue, isn't it time for Apple to step up to the plate and recall these machines?

Add me to the list. Girlfriend has a MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz. I can Remote Desktop into into it. It has the latest (1.5.1 I believe) firmware, and I tried to do the sleepmode fix (didn't have any effect).

One weird thing that I haven't seen in other posts is that if I go to System Profiler and click on "Graphics/Displays" in the sidebar (all through remote desktop), the profiler "Quits unexpectedly" every time.

Anyway, super weird…we'll be backing up files and taking it in this morning. Still under AppleCare, so hopefully it comes back fine/free.

Ugh. This is nuts! I have a late-2007 2.2ghz MBP with the 8600, and have the usual black display issue. Have had this issue for a few months, but I switched my macbook pro on tonight and it came on fine! Restarted it, and nope, display is gone again. Very confused. Can't take it in for servicing either as nowhere near me does it and I don't drive. VERY frustrating.

READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS


READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS

I belive this will help most of you out: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377?viewlocale=en_US

Free repair and money back to the ones that have paid fore repair.

I handed mine in and had it back in 3 days. No charge!!!


READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS

READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS * READ THIS

Finally brought mine in. Since the logic board failed on my unit, I do have to pay to get it fixed. $310 flat rate for the replacement. 4-7 days to get it back.

The repair would have been free if it was just the video. Considering what's normally charged for logic board replacements, I'm happy it'll get fixed.

I guess I'm just another story.

I have a macbook pro, purchased in July 2007
I downloaded a firmware update last thursday, restarted my computer and my screen was black. Start up chime, volume buttons and caps lock lights are still visible. But no screen. I tried tons of the fixes in the other thread and nothing worked.
I think that from the info I've gathered, there was probably a video card issue on macbook pro's sold in 2007.
I went to an apple 'genius' and he told me I need a new logic board and that it will cost me $1800 CDN plus labour costs.
I'm not spending 2 grand on a fix, I can buy a brand new laptop for 2 grand. I was hoping I could get around buying a new laptop though.
I love macs so much, theyre amazing, and I really dont want to have to switch to a windows, but if things like this are common, then I cant afford to continue buying these things.
Quite a few people have told me to fight this issue, considering it was DIRECTLY after a firmware update, which generally means its a fault on apples firmware. The apple genius said "its just a coincidence, it was actually a power surge that just so happened to occur at the exact time your computer was restarting from firmware"

yeah, that doesnt sound suspicious at all.
I dont know what to do, but I need my laptop for school and work, and I'm freaking out without it.
I have it hooked up to another mac through firewire right now but im having troubles making anything work.

i really wish i didnt have to take 2 grand out of my pocket to pay for something thats clearly a fault by apple... but im starting to think its my best bet.

I hope something happens here...Mac needs to realize that their laptops are WAAAAAAAAAY too expensive for this kind of thing to be happening. They're going to simply lose these hundreds of customers to Windows machines...when someone spends $3-4k on a MacBook Pro, we shouldn't be playing pathetic lawyer games with the warranties...the Apple Care thing should just come with it. A comparable pc notebook when I spent $4k on mine was about $2500. Hopefully Apple loses such a significant portion of their new customers (that they got thanks to the iPhone — I know dozens of people who switched to Apple after they got an iPhone...and they will simply switch back if there's any problems) that they'll learn how to do business correctly.

What really irks me is that they initiated a massive recall to give $100 back on our iPhones for NO REASON (early adopters spend extra to be early adopters...all the people that couldn't see that HD-DVD was garbage compared to BluRay got nothing for their players when HDDVD finally went under), but they don't issue a massive recall for this kind of thing.

Hopefully you know there's a recall for a specific type of graphics card failure. Your Apple Genius is trying to screw you. He/She will pocket your $1800 and do the repair for free under warranty...you should probably go yell at them for trying to screw you deliberately...don't believe that they didn't know...that's BS. There's a link here for that warranty extension (I'm not sure if you had time to look through the hundreds of messages to find it...but it's in there). Print it out and take it to an honest Apple authorized repair center after you verbally beat the **** from the individual trying to steal from you. :-D

If that's not the problem, there is a flat rate repair for $300 (Apple always lets you send it off to get it working for $300, regardless of the problem). $1800 is a dirty lie no matter what. If you're a physically violent individual by nature, this is more than enough to excuse a major beating...although I don't condone physical violence myself.

Good luck

Hi there

I'm a musician who was working with my MBP 17" 2.4 GHz until today in the morning.
Never a single problem, even when I upgraded to 4G of RAM.
Black screen, restart and nothing. It happened after waking it up with the mouse.
No sound at start up, the white LED indicator changed in intensity if the lid was moved up or down.
Today I went to the Apple Center, and have to wait until Tuesday for an estimate.
My warranty expired long time ago, and no Apple Care for me please.
I paid enough for "quality".

I'll post about the results.