Unobody 17" Macbook Pro 9600M broken gfx card?

Hi folks,

I just saw this on Engadget. What you are seeing is plain old graphical artifacting, which occurs at the hardware level when the graphics card overheats - this is why you can't see it in screenshots.

The cause is under-engineered cooling for the graphics card. The solution is to either wait for Apple to re-engineer the cooling solution, or for nvidia to supply a chip that dissipates less power. In the meantime, if I were in this situation, I'd find a software package to underclock the video chip until it no longer overheats (although this defeats the purpose of using the faster chip).

On the other hand, you could try to keep your laptop a little cooler by directing forced airflow into its intake vents.


Btw... rebooting fixes the issue for a few minutes because it gives a chance for the chip to cool down.

Do a Google for "video card artifacting" and you will find exactly the same symptoms that you are experiencing (it happens to other users who overclock their video cards too much)

I think you are right about it being a heating problem. It happens when CPU usage is high even if the GPU is not doing much. I use aTargus Chill Mat for Mac but still have the problem. Even with the mat the temp gets over 200 with heavy CPU usage and the problem comes back.

This *****! For a product 3 times more expensive than other laptops, this thing should work perfectly. Why don't they check every single unit. We're paying good money. Mine is on the way back, I don't want to fool around with updates and stuff until it is too late to return it. We all know how nice apple is with customers whos money they already have in their pockets.

First I was like, thank god my unibody MBP is perfect, this problem doesn't persist whatsoever. But after a round of COD4 (on Vista) I start to see the problem, even if its not as bad as some other people's artifacts that I have seen so far.

I can see vertical lines but it's very hard to see. But still, it does get extremely annoying.

Do you know what I should do next? Call Apple?
The problem is that my machine is not a stock spec as well so there's no refund.

Have been waiting for a long time for this machine, and in the end, same problem.
Is Apple going to do anything at all? Very very disappointed.

This is my first MAC purchase and I am having the same problem that is posted in the pictures from forcefedmedia. I tried to troubleshoot as much as possible. I can only reproduce the problem if I leave the LCD on the brightest setting. If I reboot on a dim setting with the 9600M GT enabled I don't have any troubles.

I really like the MAC but for the price I paid it needs to work properly. I don't know if I should call apple and wait a few weeks for a replacement that may have the same issues, or just live with running the low end video card. Either way it isn't looking good for the home team right now.

Message was edited by: bophed

If you're right (and I'm not saying you're not) then theoretically everyone with this machine should be able to reproduce the problem using the same method no?

Is there a program that everyone can get for free, that they can use to test this? It would seem like a nail in the coffin so to speak if 100% of the people could reproduce this to some degree.

If however, the results came back with percentages more on the low end, then we could assume it's not effecting all machines.

Like I said above, it's great to complain and send the computers back, but it's another thing all together to actually test this as a community and get some hard results.

If 100% of the people are seeing this issue, then it might prompt a recall of the computers. It might allow us to return our computers at a later date when they solve the problem. Either way, I have one coming on Tuesday and I am concerned I will be stuck in a loop of exchanges without any result. It might allow us to get the option of keeping the machines for a reduced price. Either way right now we're just working of speculation.

If it's a design flaw, then I would like to have that information available so I can better deal with Apple. This is my first Apple computer and I refuse to pay $3200 for a lemon that will never get better.

Is anyone willing to put in the time and effort to test these things or are we all just content to complain?

Message was edited by: crazylegsmurphy

My normal boot temp. is 113F if I turn up my fans and get the temp below 100F the problem slowly disappears. That is with the LCD on the brightest setting.

You say "normal boot temp" is this in OSX or Windows? What are you running when this happens or is it at idle?

Perhaps you wouldn't mind giving some details so others might replicate this and see if everyone is getting the same results.

I am using straight OS X, I can see the problem at the login screen. It looks like the shape of a leaf in the background, just like the first image posted by forcedmedia. Once I login the problem stays until I turn my fans up enough to get to 100F or lower. After the temp. is down the pixels slowly start looking better. Maybe 3 minutes or so pass before I can't see the distortion any more.
As I said before, this only happens if I leave the screen at the brightest setting. Switching back to the 9400M and rebooting will fix this. Switching to the 9600M GT and rebooting may not always produce the problem. But if I let it warm up on the 9600M GT and do a full shutdown, wait a few minutes then boot up with the display as bright as possible I can reproduce it every time. It probably needs to be tested for a few more hours but I need to get to sleep soon.

The pictures are from a antiglare screen - Does anybody experience this on a glossy model, or is it just the antiglare?

Message was edited by: Roeven

I do not have the anti glare feature.

Just to add my feedback...
I do experience exactly the same issue, this hapening usually after 3D gamings (wow).
I do really hope they will come with some firmewire fix. i 've got an antiglare display, but like others, i don't see why this could be link to lcd covers...

I have the problem on the glossy model.

Adjusting my basic fan speed to around 3000rpm seems to solve it for now...