MBP Logic board failure

Patrick, What Nikos says makes sense. I would advise using http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23137/fan-control and also http://www.coolbook.se/CoolBook.html which allows you to precisely dictate how hot your macbook is allowed to get vs the CPU performance of your macbook. If you want higher performance you have to accept higher temperatures. But it also allows you to put a limit on that high temperature if you are willing to curtail the CPU performance. It you want to spend a few days on it, CoolBook also allows you to optimise your CPU such that it runs at a lower voltage (lower temperatures) than the Apple factory settings (but set it too low and the CPU will crash).

I fully agree with the overheating issue. My 2008 MBP got very hot and the fans ran a lot.

My MBP failed three times to the NVIDIA issue. The first 2 times Apple said it was the NVIDIA issue. The third time, with the problems the same as the first two failures, an Apple store just said too many failures of the same kind and gave me as a free replacement of a new MBP in summer 2012, which I love. It does not have heat issues as the earlier model.

While Apple treated me very well, and I'm happy, I was also apparently a rare lucky customer with this issue. It is very concerning to see all these people with the same problem, clearly due to a defect in manufacturing with bad parts that Apple has not appropriately addressed. If these were defective car brakes instead of a defective computer parts, it would be rushing to do something about it. But these are supposed to be premium computers, and carry a premium price, with these problems, not a Dell or HP, which would be no surprise if they failed.

Some journalist hopefully will come along at some point and do an in-depth story on how Apple largely ignored this defect and its customers, replacing one defective part with another defective part when they do fix the NVIDIA issue, with Apple hoping that the fix fails after the 90-day warranty expires.

Come on, Apple, live up to your good brand name. Do the right thing on the NVIDIA issue with all your customers, like you did with me. I went from being a fully irate customer to a devoted Apple customer for life. From what I've read, NVIDIA is footing the bill for the costs on this issue anyway.

Thought I'd do a follow-up.

Promotheus...I emailed Hi-tech about the "re-baking" scheme and whether or not high temps was going to re-fry my baby's brain, and this was the reply:

Hello,

I've sent you a PayPal invoice, and once your computer ships I'll let you know the tracking number.

I know many repair shops who offer the bake, reflow or re-ball service, however we never do that.

This is a temporary fix and works for 2 months at best, and customer satisfaction is too important to us to offer this kind of service.

We replaced your video chip on the logic board with a brand new chip, using factory grade reflow equipment, a sophisticated reflow temperature profile and best in grade UV Cure Edge bonding glue (Same apple uses on new boards) to protect the chip from mechanical stress.It is best to keep the laptop as cool as possible regardless, but I can assure you the chip will not fail any time soon.

We do offer a 95 Days warranty, however please don't hesitate to contact us even after the warranty expires, regarding any questions you might have.

Thank you for using our services !

To be clear, I'm not a paid sponsor or an employee, but Hi-Tech has been quick to answer emails, and quick to update me with diagnostic tests while I'm half way around the world nervously wondering if I'm being conned. I'll post another update when the machine arrives in Switzerland safe and sound, but for now it seems like a better and cheaper alternative than dealing with Apple, who admittedly claims responsibility for faulty hardward yet expects the customer to pay big bucks for it.

As for the temperature monitoring software, that sounds great, too! I spent almost a year in India, Nepal, and Southeast Asia in sweltering conditions and never once had a problem until I got back to the cold, but I'm sure those months slowly chipped away at the just-waiting-to-happen problem.

Patrick Sears - Good news its seems for you! Including the postage and packaging how much did Hi-Tech charge you for the repar? If it's not too expensive, many others in the world with failed MacBook Pro's may be able to use the same company. Do they have a web site in the UK?

If Hi Tech are good at what they do, then they deserve more Apple customers. It seems that Apple would oblige by providing 1000s of failed 2007/2008 MacBook Pros! So better to give Hi-Tech repair business, rather than give Apple another few $1000 for a new replacement MacBook - clearly even a replacement logic board is not fully sufficient. However, I hope Apple are now turning in their attitude to the 2007/2008 problem. Some Apples Stores or Apple Customer Care seem to be doing so, from what I read from other forum entries.

As for myself I've run out of the energy to argue with Apple and just resort to fixing my MacBook Pro myself by re-baking as I get quite a buzz from fixing such a complex piece of electronics! Actually my own Pro lasted for 5 (not 4 as I previously said) months before failing again. So I suspect the "2 months" quoted by Hi-Tech is on the pessimistic side. I would guess 3 or 4 months. The advantage of re-baking the Logic board oneself, is that it allows one to also clean the dust from the machine and fans, and just as importantly careful cleaning and re-application of thermal paste (arctic silver) to the chips, whereas I assume a repair shop (Hi-Tech excluding) would and could not be so careful in its cleaning and application as time is money. It took me just over 3.5 hrs to repair my MacBook Pro the second time. It of course took me many hours of research before I could repair it the first time in March 2012.

I would of course be very pleased if Apple replaced my died-resurrected-died-resurrected 2007 MacBook Pro with a Summer 2012 MacBook Pro!

I got my GPU replaced with an new upgraded one by BGA repairs on Ebay - great service and Mac works fine - and, of course they confirmed once again that the GPU was at fault while the idiot Mac 'geniuses' just spat corporate crap at me. If it wasn't the GPU, how come I now have a working macbook after replacing the GPU - I fully recommend this company and now officially hate the new Apple after 20 years of slavish devotion. Link below, if this post doesn't get deleted like my last one - I hate you Apple! 🙂

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/bga_repairs?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1181

Safari just crashed on me aswell - Apple has gone so far down hill... can't believe how long this thread has been going now and they are just loosing customers with their obstinacy and obviously deliberate and devious polcy. They are going to loose more than the amount they would have if they had just owned up. Can you tell how annoyed I am?

Wow over 160, 000 views so far ...

**** EVEN THOUGH MY MAC BOOK PRO DIED I WOULD NOT SWITCH BACK TO PC *****

Dr Jezz, I too got very annoyed when the Apple Store would not repair my 2008 MacBook Pro for free or perhaps a small charge (£50). However, as I am now capable of fixing my MacBook Pro and actually quite enjoyed learning how to do so, I would never return to PC. The Macbook despite its flaws and its expense, is in my view superior to a PC in the functionaity and ease of use it offers.

Being the owner of a 2001 Del Inspiron, a 2008 MacBook Pro and a 2008 Apple iPod nano and the user of an IBM Thinkpad, after I had experienced the death of a battery, an optical drive and most recently the (temporary) death of the logic board in the MacBook Pro, during which time I used the Inspiron, I decided to subjectively assess PC vs Mac. Despite the death of my MacBook, the expense of a Mac and a few aspects where I think a PC is better than a Mac, I still retain my conclusion that a Mac (6.5/10) is better than a PC (4.4/10). This is despite the fact that I don’t even use the Macs main strength - its “creative” software.

Function PC Mac

Windows Explorer vs Finder 5.0 8.0

Ease of working with many windows open 6.0 8.0

Calender vs iCal 5.0 8.0

Email vs Mail 5.0 8.0

Internet Explorer vs Safari 5.0 8.0

Word vs Pages 8.0 6.0

Excel vs Numbers 6.0 4.0

Preview 0.0 8.0

iTunes 8.0 8.0

Photos vs iPhoto 4.0 8.0

Backups vs TimeMachine 4.0 9.0

Control Panel vs System Preferences 2.0 9.0

Address Book vs Address Book 5.0 5.0

Widgets 0.0 8.0

Long term system performance 2.0 5.0

Long term start up and shut down speed 2.0 7.0

Internet Security (and impact on system performance 2.0 8.0

Resilience to application crashes (is a reboot required?) 2.0 10.0

Display Quality 5.0 8.0

Desktop vs Dashboard 4.0 8.0

Sound Quality (without external speakers or headphones) 3.0 3.0

Thermal Quality 6.0 4.0

Hard Drive 6.0 6.0

Optical Dive 7.0 3.0

Fans 4.0 6.0

Battery 5.0 4.0

Wireless 5.0 5.0

Ports 5.0 8.0

Power Cable 5.0 6.0

General Ease of Use 2.0 6.0

Keyboard 2.0 8.0

Integration with other apps/devices 3.0 8.0

Integration with PC 10.0 5.0

Integration with Mac 2.0 10.0

External Casing 4.0 8.0

Usefulness of Official Technical Support 3.0 5.0

Logic Board 8.0 1.0

Price 8.0 1.0

Average Score/10 4.4 6.5

However, I do hope that a competitor of equal creative stature to Apple does arrise, so that they don't dominate the market for much longer and prices don't get even more unreasonable. How much does the new Retina MacBook Pro cost!? I'd need more money than sense to buy one at such a price.

I also have the black screen of death on my MacBook pro (5 yrs old-apple will not touch it). I have been quoted $395.00 for new logic board replacement. But I am looking to have it repaired for much less. I know that this is fairly easy to do effectively with a BGA (reflow the bad solder on the affected chip or chips). But I don't have the equipment, and I don't quite trust the do-it-yourself oven bake method (more power to those who tried it and had success though).

Navycross made mention of someone that will do the logic board rework for $125. I can't seem to find more information about this on this forum. Anyone have more info on this or know someone who has the equipment and will do this for around $100?

Thanks.

By the way, I am in the US. I don't mind shipping but don't wan't to go international.

Thanks.

Even to do a re-fry, you're looking at 3-4 hours. To have the all-too-common graphics/logic board problem fixed properly, you'll have to spend more than $100 unless you want the same problem again 3-4 months later.

I went with Hi-Tech Electronics in New York. Got my laptop back today here in Switzerland...good as new. $225 plus shipping...cheapest deal in town for a quality repair after doing an extensive Google search. Excellent customer service and quote and final price was the same. Speedy, too.

Not a spokesman or shareholder...just praising them for doing quality work for a good price that Apple quoted me $600 for (when, in theory, it should have been for free!).

I'm amazed, really amazed, that so many years later this thread is still going.

So a question... I had my logic board replaced last year, and now am having the black screen at startup blues--the problem as identified in, uh, great depth here.

What's the likelihood that my new logic board is a result of the NVIDIA issue that you all have identified?

The amazing thing is that this is just one of 2 almost identical threads that have had a quarter of a million hits between them. What model MBP from what year do you have and why was the 'board replaced?

A message to all above - don't fry your boards - it doesn't work for MBPs for more than a few months (although it works well for PC's) - you'll eventually damage them - get a company like BGA repairs to do a proper job and replace the GPU altogether.

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/bga_repairs?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1181

I hate the fact that this thread is still has to be going, but I'm sure as **** happy that Apple can see what it's done.

Mine was early 2008, 2.2ghz. I had the board replaced because it completely died. When you turned it on, simply nothing happened. I just don't know if Apple would replace the board with a known faulty GPU (although, they do use refurbed products in replacements)... Even if I'm out of the 4 years from purchase, if a <1 year old board is due to the same problems, one would think I could wag my finger at apple.

Thanks for the info about frying...

I am trying to figure out if it is worth fixing my computer or just buying a new one. I keep getting mixed answers from the people I ask so I figured I would try here too.

I have a 2008 MBP 2.5Ghz Core 2 Duo. I was not aware of the recall from a few years ago. Five days ago I got the black screen of death and now it is in permanent sleep mode.

Took it to the Genius Bar and they said they could fix it for $310. Is it worth it or should I buy a new MBP?

My biggest concern is that this problem will happen again in less than a year and then I will have to buy a new computer anyway. Thoughts?

I am also in the same situation- Logic board failure >>>> I am VERY VERY UNHAPPY...