MBP Logic board failure

I'm in the same boat as a lot of the rest of you. I have had constant graphics issues when I'd use Aperture 2, so I just didn't use it very much. For a while, someone in Aperture development was emailing me to check on things, but I just quit using it for anything other than basic image storage. For the past week, the screen has been flashing and everything would freeze. Reboot shows the kernal panic screen. I took it to the Genius bar. They ran diagnostics, but said it was a software problem. (They didn't put the computer under load, so no surprise that it didn't show a problem)

I did an erase and install. Installed Leopard, moved some music back into iTunes and problem recurred. Was able to reboot a while later. Installed Aperture 2. Problem recurred.

I had installed iStat and the temperatures were really erratic and seemed to get quite hot.

Now, if I try to restart it, I get a chime and the black "you need to restart" screen. I've done every troubleshooting thing listed. Back to the Apple store and waiting for a call from Apple support.

I just put in a request for someone to call from Apple Support since I hadn't gotten the kernel panic/screen flashing problem fixed at the Apple store. The man who called me was very helpful and I am back up and running and the flashing screen is not occurring and the computer is running cooler and faster than it has in ages.

He talked me through getting to root access privileges (I think that is what it would be called). Something showed up modified and he helped me correct it and so far, so good since I've been back up and running!

The fix was temporary - about 12 hours. Then more screen flashing, kernel panics, etc. I could occasionally reboot in safe mode or do a file system check and then it would boot okay for a short while. Apple Support said I had to take it back to the Apple Store and have the graphics card tested again, so this time, I left the kernel panic screen visible and this time, it failed the graphics card test. It got approved for the graphics card/logic board replacement and I was told it would take 3-5 days, but unfortunately it has been 8 days and still hasn't even arrived at the repair center.

I have brought mine to Apple Support to get it restored.
A week of video artifacts. Then.....Death of the machine...
I am waiting for a mail, telling me if they will repair it for free.
I hope they will use a different version of logic board.
Otherwise it will happen again. 😟
M.

Hi guys.. im having the same problem..MBP 15 inch 2.2 ghz Oct. 2007.. chime is on, light on tab, numlock etc is on but i get a blank screen almost everytime.

Went to a service center nearby and did a nvidia test, and they say its working and that it is the logic board that needs to be replaced..GIDDIMNIT.

BTW they do the test by connecting it to an external harddrive with some type of software i guess..anyways im seriously considering replacing the logic board my self..since the replacement repair is as you all know totally unacceptable.. I live in Denmark and a replacement is exactly 10.000 dkr or 2000 dollars!! I can get one from the States..(havent found any european dealers) for like 500 dollars.



Besides that im a student so money is tight..

one last thing.. i read somewhere (sorry i dont have a link) that turning it on with a blank screen for a while will make it power up with the screen, this has worked for me fiftyffifty, so i really dont know if this is really working..but what i do know is that when its up and running and i shut the mbp down and immediately turn it on the screen comes back on again all the time.. so its when its been left unpowered for a while this **** happens..

hope this helps somebody out there and good luck

Message was edited by: pony down

Can someone help me understand the relationship between the video card and logic board? Is the video card integrated onto the logic board, and therefore when the video card fails, the entire logic board needs to be replaced?

I just had my logic board replaced due to the NVIDIA issue, and have read that some people are now on their 3rd or 4th logic board. Why would that be? If the video card is defective, wouldn't they replace it with a non-defective one? Or do the replace it with the same exact thing?

I hope this doesn't seem like I'm trying to hijack this thread as I've already addressed my predicament in another thread. I only just saw this topic so apologies to offended readers.

Anyway. Are Apple just replacing these faulty boards with the same boards/chips?? surely not! How can we identify these NVidia chips ourselves?

I'm out of warranty and also have some spillage on my MBP (late 07) so I'm guessing Apple won't even consider if my logic board has Nvidia chip. The repair guy here told me he couldn't run NVidia diagnostics so he had to open my machine. He saw stains from an 18 month old spillage which may have caused corrosion, so this is probably to blame.Fair enough.

I want to replace the board myself but how do I know if it has the dodgy chip? Any Apple mods available to discuss?

*You can identify the hardware by running the serial number through the search engine here in the support section, if that's part of what you were asking. Only, if you got a new Logic Board before, you no longer have a serial number to reference internally, only the tiny printed one (THANKS APPLE) in the .002 sized font under the battery.*

*There is no reason to switch back to a Dell, they wouldn't do anything different if you had an out of warranty machine, and why go back to the Windows OS and all of its headaches? Why on earth did you not by an extended support plan for a notebook computer? This is as hard a lesson to learn as not backing up one's drive.*

*My wife's MBP 2.4 Ghz machine from spring of '07 had the classic graphics chip failure on Saturday, no video on boot-up and no video from external connection. Made appointment and went to Apple Store in Nashville yesterday, they hooked up some firewire drive to it and confirmed it was the card, and scanned the bar code under the battery, all confirming that this era and model had the issue. They are replacing the logic board for free. I bought AppleCare for this two days before it ended its first year of use. Pretty smart decision, I think.*

**Two words of advice for you.**

1. *Be polite and persistent and insist in asking that you speak directly to customer care when you call Apple's support line. Do not speak with anyone other than somebody in customer care.* There is a difference in the AppleCare Support people and Apple's Customer Care department. Explain the system log error you found, point them to the NVidia replacement plan page and persistently escalate, without getting upset with them, to a higher and higher person if need be. They have the power to place a note in the system and get the machine fixed locally, or to instruct AppleCare to ship a box to you to replace the machine. Persistence and good manners will help you a lot here. If there is not outward damage to the casing, if there is no evidence of moisture or other self-inflicted damage inside, and if the symptoms are its booting up but no screen display and no external screen display, the you should be polite but firm and speak to Apple Customer Care. I've had luck with this process, getting two notebooks replaced and even having them upgrade me to the latest machines for free each time. If its been repaired before for the same issues, you have a stronger case. And if you've had three separate repairs of this nature, Apple Customer Care can authorize a free replacement machine of the latest vintage for you. Again, being polite and firm, and escalating to a higher person pays off.

2. _People, for the love of all that is holy, BUY APPLECARE!_ OK, it seems expensive but its not. For an iMac or a notebook, its a must. You can buy it on eBay for a lot less than it costs at the Apple Store or a retailer. I have routinely purchased AppleCare on eBay from a company with a couple of thousand positive feedbacks who sells pretty much nothing but AppleCare, and it was $200 less than the price at the store.

I'll tell you what makes that happen. Independent retailers of Macs are forced to buy "X" amount of it as part of being a retailer. They make maybe 5% margin on the hardware sales, but they make their profits from selling the AppleCare, which they pay significantly less for than its retail price. It has a huge mark up for the retailer. Thus, many of the retailers will sell their excess bulk boxes to others to move for them, and the end up on eBay. Apple made its money on each plan sold already, so they don't really care as long as its a valid agreement number. The guy I've bought from on eBay emails the registration info immediately and you just hop over to this website and register the machine. Who would be foolish enough to not spend another $150-200 for AppleCare on a portable machine which is much more likely to have issues being moved around, flung over shoulders in back packs, runs hot due to it being a notebook, et,?

AppleCare is an excellent value at full retail, and an extremely excellent value discounted like this. I've rarely had any problems whatsoever with them, their support phone centers are excellent. AppleCare is the hands-down the best warranty repair and support plan I've ever had from any kind of company for any kind of product. Don't try to make the cheap-o argument that it shouldn't need an extended warranty. First, they warrant them for a full year without an additional dime, and for the price of two Happy Meals a month you can buy from a reseller on eBay an additional two years. You can buy it the day before the first year expires, as I often do, then you don't have to spend it when you buy the machine. That they even let you buy it that long after purchase is pretty amazing to me.

Apple products have their issues, too, like anyone else's, but I'll be lying in my grave before you're going to get me to stop using them. No other computer manufacturer comes close to Apple in quality and support, and the Mac OS is far superior to any other OS running in virtualization on my MacBook Pro.

We have ten Macs, including the oldest G4 17" iMac, a Mac Mini G4, a Mac Mini Intel (*both Mac Minis running Leopard Server), a 20" Intel iMac, a G5 Dual 2Ghz, a 3GHz Quad Mac Pro, a 2.66Ghz Quad Mac Pro, a MacBook, a MacBook Pro (the one getting serviced now), and the MacBook Pro 17" all in active service in our home.

I also have a couple of dozen iMac G3s sitting here I'm slowly fixing to do basic Internet and Office stuff to give to kids with developmental disabilities, because the Mac OS is much easier for them to get around in and comprehend.

Every machine has had AppleCare for it and some have been used, and others needed no repairs at all. Its kind of like that with computers. One "bad Apple" shouldn't spoil the bunch and send you back to the pains of Windows version whatever. That I don't have to deal with a registry system, or have it constantly scanned for viruses, malware, trojans and more, not to mention updating them daily, is worth sticking with Mac alone. I know you've got an expensive repair there, but follow my advice and I'm going to lean toward Apple doing something for you.

Remember, next time, buy AppleCare.

deltron612 wrote:
Can someone help me understand the relationship between the video card and logic board? Is the video card integrated onto the logic board, and therefore when the video card fails, the entire logic board needs to be replaced?

I just had my logic board replaced due to the NVIDIA issue, and have read that some people are now on their 3rd or 4th logic board. Why would that be? If the video card is defective, wouldn't they replace it with a non-defective one? Or do the replace it with the same exact thing?

In Apple notebooks, Apple decided to solder many critical components directly onto the motherboard, which Apple calls the Logic Board. Because they're soldered (and we're talking about hundreds of solder points for some chips) they can't be removed, so if any of these multi-pin chips go bad it's in most cases impossible to remove them so Apple just replaces the entire board. Eliminating sockets reduces size and cost, and could in principle improve reliability. The nvVidia 8600M chip used in our problem MBPs are one of these chips.

I've asked your second question in another post on this board. From my personal experience with people who have this same MBP generation, the replacement boards seem to have the same problem chips with sub-standard lifespans. These logic boards were quite possibly made as extras when they built that series of MBP. I really would like to know.

What seems to govern how fast the chips go bad seems to be the stress you put your chip under and how many heating and cooling cycles it experiences. One of my friends had his fail twice (the first time just over a year after he bought it) and he's works all-day with 3-D graphic intensive work; mine took 2 years, but my work doesn't require much 3-D at all. So his graphics chip typically works much harder than mine. If someone uses theirs for an hour a day for some email and light surfing, my suspicion is that theirs would last longer.

The bottom line is that they will fail. Knowing this is hard to swallow considering how much they cost.

Message was edited by: Qzxptl

Hey, guys! I had the logic board of my MBP 3.1 (mid 2007) replaced a month ago. I asked them if the new logic board is from the same batch, and they said it can't be, because it doesn't make any sense.

Anyway, I doubt I have a better logic board than the previous one. I even presume, that they put a refurbished one.
After the replacement I have a new problem - I can see the waves of the refresh rate floating, especially on grey and blue background. Really annoying.

Apple, in the long term you will be losing your loyal customers.

I had my 2007 era MBP logic board replaced under Applecare a few weeks ago due to the nvidia gpu fault. The repair docket lists part number 661-4955, PCBA MLB 2.2 GHZ REV2, hopefully the REV2 means it has a changed and improved design to prevent this failure happening again ...

Same problem for me - my screen stayed black on Saturday... (MBP 15" 2,4 Mid 2007)
Currently I hope it's the NVIDIA-Chip.
I'm really disappointed about the Apple quality at all:
It was my first Mac - three issues in 30 months:
Superdrive (after 5 months)
Battery (40% capacity after 10 months an 70 cycles)
and now this - This is definitely NOT what I'm expecting when I buy a high-end professional notebook for this money.
I personally think this quality is a shame for Apple - if they don't fix it for free it was my last Mac.
Concerning Apple Care - why to pay for a service others already include for a fraction of apples price?!

My Pro (14 months old) has a logic board problem. Now today they call to tell me that there is liquid in the computer. I have no recollection of spilling anything near the computer, and I have a Speck case that I keep on it and it has not been wet. The cost is $750 to replace, since AppleCare does not cover it.

Does anyone have a suggestion for how I should proceed? I am a full-time doctoral student, this computer is my life, but I can't afford $750. They say that it can be hooked up to an external monitor.

Thanks!

I think my logic board just went out too. Put my Macbook Pro to sleep today and now it will not come back on. Adapter lights up green and when I hit the power button the sleep light will blink once and then blink again about 5 seconds later. If I hold down the power button it will act like it is starting and I can hear the drive spin for a few seconds then it goes off again. Anyone else have something like this. I have read some many complaints about these logic boards on the internet. Clearly there is more problems than just the Nvidia logic board issue, but Apple does not want to take responsibility for it because they would have to pay. We need to band together over this. My Macbook Pro was about a year and half old and was one that also falls under the Nvidia recal even though mine sounds like the logic board. Anyone have an email for customer service at Apple to file a complaint. There are just too many people having this problem and they need to take responsibility.

I have the info that my mainboard seems to be dead at all - they can't check the grafic chip because they don't even can get the test running.
When you don't even get the start-gong it seems to be completely dead and it can't be checked if it's (also) the NVIDIA-problem.
I hat the gong only one time after the black screen - so I'm sure the NVIDIA-chip was the reason of the problem.

My impression is the same like most of the posters here - there are so many threads in so many boards in so many countries - this MBP-series definitely has/had a big quality problem and Apple has to take responsibility.

Currently I try everything to get it fixed by Apple - 900€ is the price for the logic board and it's the same price an used complete mbp has, so it's not an option.

I can't believe this wonderful piece has died.