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

That's what I was afraid of. The computer still accepts and spits out my cd when I insert/eject it.

I'll make an appointment right away. Thanks for your help!

@JTelcontar:

Suddenly, my screen starts flashing crazy pixelated magenta, then crazy pixelated magenta stripes.

According to the Apple statement, the problem may manifest as 'distorted or scrambled video' or 'no video'.

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

There's a good chance that you're experiencing the fault, although in a much more spectacular fashion than the rest of us!

Peter Miller7 wrote:

There's a good chance that you're experiencing the fault, although in a much more spectacular fashion than the rest of us!

haha yes, it sure seems quite spectacular! The first words out of my mouth:

"Oh... my that isn't good."

For anyone curious, here is my experience yesterday at the Apple Store:

• Could not get my laptop to reproduce the graphic anomalies
• Laptop passed the NVIDIA test twice
• Everything looked normal

I knew something was wrong, so I left my laptop there for diagnostics. One of their techs called me back in about 2 hours and said he had been able to reproduce the weird graphic glitches and then my laptop failed the NVIDIA test! I was practically dancing around the room at that point. haha!

The earlier thought that I would have to pay for the repairs was quickly dashed aside. They are sending it out for repairs and it is covered under that NVIDIA extended warranty program. The only inconvenience is that it will take 7-10 days. Ahh well.

I'm just glad that a) it will be fixed and b) it won't be out of my pocket. I need to be saving up for a Mac Pro tower and dual monitors. :P

@JTelcontar:

Your story is in line with something that the Apple tech told me when I had my fault diagnosed. He said that 'It was good that it was an outright screen failure, because if it was intermittent, it was harder to determine as the NVIDIA fault'. I took this to mean that the diagnostic test needed to see the chip in a 'failed' situation to know that's what was causing the screen problems. This makes sense - if the chip is accurately rendering video to the screen, then there's nothing actually 'wrong'.

One could argue that Apple should simply have called back all machines with the sub-standard chip, but I guess there is the real possibility that no problem will manifest for many people (the chips were suffering from a below-par manufacturing standard - this does not necessarily mean that they ALL will fail...)

Anyway, your experience is one more confirmation of Apple's commitment to customer satisfaction regarding this issue. An inconvenience to be without the machine to be sure, but after three years of owning your laprop you will now have a brand spanking new logic board!

First, to those that have their MBP rejected for the NVIDIA problem, keep trying and go to an Authorized Apple Repair/Reseller if you have to. The test at the "Apple store" does not always "see" the issue the first time.
My question is for everyone that has had a new logicboard replaced in their machine, how do we know the issue is resolved on these new boards? Did anyone get any info after their repair to offer confidence in the boards. Is there a logicboard revision or a chip rev or serial# to look for? I am uncomfortable not knowing if my new logic board will have the same issue in a year. Any thoughts?

Thanks

Peter Miller7 wrote:

I am a new mac user, coming from PC. NEVER had any problem with all my old Pc's. My new macbook pro (higly expected) came out of the box with the problem in the logic board!! I was not able to use the computer for a single day. Unfortunately I live in Brazil (but bought it on a short business trip to the US), so I had to bring it to the local repair center. They will fix it (at least they said so), but my point here is I was really wishing to become another "fanatic fan" of Apple...I am not sure it will happen...

So, let me get this straight - you bought an Apple machine in another country, it had a problem, it's being rectified in your own country with no real ramification, and you're complaining? And you're making a damning assessment of Apple based on this one example of what a normal consumer would consider an entirely acceptable solution?

Hit me with a broom pole someone! How is it that some people in this thread are so obtuse? Apple makes millions upon millions of computers. SOMETIMES, no matter how hight the quality control, it's likely that a machine with a fault will make it into the hands of a user. It is unavoidable. In that instance, Apple's track record for rectifying the problem (read back through this thread for multiple examples) is exemplary. And this is a thread which explicitly discusses problems, so you're reading a very intense little accumulation of those stories here - you're not reading about the millions of NON problems out there.

I'm beginning to suspect that PC lovers troll these forums just to Apple bash. Call me a cynic.

Peter doesn't say whether or not the local repair centre will charge him, for a start. It doesn't even sound like it's an Apple store.

If you were a Mac user, bought your first PC and had a problem, I don't think you'd be exactly pleased. Instead of making excuses, I think you'd be complaining and quoting anyone you've ever heard of that says PCs are rubbish and that you should have listened to them. There's why they say first impressions count, no?

I find it highly unlikely that most consumers would find it acceptable to spend thousands of dollars on a product which has an inherent flaw from the word go.

And it's only Apple that has crazy fans. The vast majority of PC owners don't care enough to waste their time on Apple forums pretending they have complex technical issues with imaginary notebooks. People have better things do to with their lives.

I spent an entire month and a half trying to get apple to fix my MBP with the Nvida issue, 1st i took it to the Apple Genius store and they did the test and it failed the test and my MBP didnt work at all when i brought it to them when it working 99% of the time, they said they would have to charge me b/c of the cosmetic damage to the case (which was from typing with my watch on) now it doesnt work at all and they said that i took it to them at my own risk after talking to the manager he told me to deal with the phone support they told me to go back and demand that they fix it, no luck i took it to a third party and they got it working in 10 mins, then a week later the screen went all pixelated like it was 16bit colors, but it worked fine with an external display, so took it to the store and the genius said b/c it works fine with an external display they could not warrenty it, they two weeks later i took it back to the third party store and they tried to do the Nvidia testing on it and in the middle of the testing it overheated and fried something, they tried for three weeks to get apple to budge and wouldnt. i got it home and tried to turn it on and it started smoking as soon as it turned on, i called apple and told them that i had an nvidia issue and the rep said ok and sent me a box, i got it the next day i sent it to them the same day and got my MBP back 2 days later fixed with a long list of replaced items,

605-1794 Logic Board No Video
620-3997 Bottom Case Enclosure-Defective Latch/Hinge
646-0316 Video Display Panel Mechanical/Physical Damage
620-3981 Top Case Enclosure - Mechanical/Cosmetic Damage
658-0323 Keyboard Inoperative Key(s)
631-0381 Isight Camera Camera-Video/Image Distortion

So to those of you that dealing with apple wanting for you to pay for your repairs my advice to you is not give up and if you keep on bugging them enough you will get some1 that will fix it and authorize a repair for you. it took me almost 2 months but they i will wait 2 months to save 1200 dollars..

As for the items that they replaced i didnt understand why, i didnt have applecare and my warranty expired over a year ago, and b4 all went to **** the latches and keyboard was working fine along with the camera but whos complaining my computer looks like an entire new computer!
Thanks Apple for fixing your Mistake which should of never happened in the 1st place!

@star-fish

I find it highly unlikely that most consumers would find it acceptable to spend thousands of dollars on a product which has an inherent flaw from the word go.

You're willfully ignoring the point of my comment: no, of course no-one wants or expects to spend money on a faulty product. Just like Apple doesn't want to sell you a faulty product, right? However, you would be extraordinarily naive to think that out of the millions of Apple products made, there are some occasional faults. What I was pointing out was that Apple redresses this issue fairly, and for the most part quickly - read back through this thread if you want to take exception to that statement. You will find that most people who have encountered the NVIDIA fault have had it rectified with little inconvenience to them. Honestly, how else do you think a manufacturer could behave?

If you were a Mac user, bought your first PC and had a problem, I don't think you'd be exactly pleased. Instead of making excuses, I think you'd be complaining and quoting anyone you've ever heard of that says PCs are rubbish and that you should have listened to them.

Well, maybe that's YOUR way of behaving, but I'd simply be taking it back to the store and asking for a replacement. If the PC manufacturer accepted there was a fault and replaced or repaired my goods to my satisfaction, I would consider the matter resolved.

And it's only Apple that has crazy fans. The vast majority of PC owners don't care enough to waste their time on Apple forums pretending they have complex technical issues with imaginary notebooks. People have better things do to with their lives.

It doesn't take a vast majority. Just one annoying troll.

@bellmm:

I am uncomfortable not knowing if my new logic board will have the same issue in a year.

Apple stopped using the suspect video chips in 2008 after 'NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect'.

I think you can be fairly sure that they won't be recycling them on brand new boards.

I have a problem with my Macbook pro 2.2ghz with nVidia GeForce 8600M GT, after the initial startup screen with the Apple logo and the spinning wheel my macbook displays only a black screen, i have to force shutdown and restart it again, after doing it a few times he boots up and is working fine, anyone knows if this is a logic board issue? My MacBook has 1,5 years and already had a new logic board in warranty in the 1st few months, if it is the problem, is repaired under warranty again? Thank you!

@Magnat:

If you're seeing the startup screen and the logo, then it's probably not the NVIDIA issue. Typically the laptop starts up to a completely dead screen, ie, no logo, no nothing. Black.

Also, if it's the NVIDIA issue, after the machine has finished the boot process (which it does normally, even though you can't see it) it is still fully functioning except for the video display. So you can, for example, push the volume keys and hear the indicator tone as you normally would. If your machine is completely unresponsive after the display goes dead, the fault lies elsewhere.

The laptop boots perfectly, but most of the times instead of the blue screen before the desktop appears just stays black, like if i turn the brightness to minimum (0), I ear the adium sound of going online, I can ear the sound of rising the volume or lowering with the keyboard, the light of the iluminated keyboard lights up, i only cant see the desktop, i have the feeling that he is eating more near by the f1 & f2 keys, now i dont restart it, just put it to sleep, this way he always works, but if i restart its all the same again, i have to restart it several times till I see the desktop, one more thing, I noticed that when I boot and its a black screen the light on the screen is set to lower than when it boot, when I see the Apple logo with the screen light bright he boots up, I already tried to reinstall and its the same stuff, i'm running Snow Leopard 10.6.1 now, the problem started one day after the 10.6.2 update, I could really use your help, thank you!

Did try reseting pram, didnt work..

Its exactly the same problem as is stated here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=789850