ATI Radeon X1600 GPU problem

If you want it to work again for a bit, try this method:

1. Plug in your macbook pro (make sure that its off)

2. Turn on the computer, and hwen it chimes, close the lid and turn it updside down.

3. Wrap the macbook in a heavy quilt.

4. Let the computer sit for about an hour.

5. Take it out of the quilt, unplug it and let it cool for 20 minutes.

6. Turn on the computer.

I can say that this works as I had the same problem, and after this method, the computer is up and running, I'm typing this on it now!

I told my wife to try this today on her MacBook Pro with the glitchy video card. It worked! Mind. Blown.

At least I can go ahead and back up her hard drive now, in case it breaks again. If so, I'll try the oven baking repair.

It might be the sodering comming undone on the GPU on the logic board (mine would stop working right after the GPU went above 140ºf), a friend of mine got mine working using a heat gun (reflow the soldering)

You may also need new thermal paste (mine was like crushed crackers)

That is the problem. The left fan had been making a lot of noise, and I think that the MacBook Pro was overheating, leading to the GPU failure. The blanket baking only worked for a short while. I am expecting a new fan in the mail, and then I'm going to open it up and pull the logic board for a reflow.

Are you still doing these repairs?

Update: baked the logic board on September 16th, 2013. Laptop is still going strong today. Wouldn't recommend the baking-in-a-quilt method: nearby a house caught fire because of a laptop was left on a bed, running. The heat was enough for the bed to catch fire. So, if using the quilt-method: be very alert of things getting too hot at least.

can you or anyone please post a link or email me ati ktext files from the Systems/Extensions, PLEASE? I flipping deleted them by accident and cannot find the install files...my DVD reader just died...TIA, KC

also, I just ordered a new used motherboard for this old mac from ebay for $112 and another DVD R/W unit for lest htan $20...would anyone here suggest doing anything special to the new/old motherboard which has been tested and works? before installing so I do not run into this problem again very soon.

I am starting to save for new MBP or Air, but it might take another decade on my slave wages, LOL

Just to +1 on a similar:

Have A1212, 17" C2D 2.33 with ATI graphics (2006 I think). Now getting white screen of death... From what I am reading and other evidence, am thinking to do with the Graphics chips. From what I've read, the solder in the chip is lead free and basically doesn't weather well resulting in dry joints.

Funny thing is you get some graphics out of it (Alt) gets you to the boot options. My theory is it only fails when engaging the 32bit driver mode on the graphics card (please slate me for incorrect terminology... this is a kind of guess).

Anyway... The thing has always been a bit ropy with overheating but used to only get BSOD when playing games in Windows... OsX would never overheat (probably because I never played games in it). Status was pretty much quo and I stopped using it for Games... Got a powerful PC for this.

Laptop happy for a few years, but recently started using it in Clamshell mode (closed with a big TV plugged into it and a Bluetooth mouse).

1) The laptop doesn't seem to like being closed to much from a temperature point of view.

2) The laptop started working, watching netflix and streaming videos etc. This was relatively high in stress compared to safari and mail.

Anyway, it's now died (white screen after initial boot).

Shame to be honest... I think Apple should recall these because the solder used for something to do with the ATI was not up to spec.

A friend of mine redid the solder (and seems the thermal paste was also nearly gone on the cpu) It seems to work well. This is a late 2006 macbook pro

You can find more info on http://www.everymac.com/ to find out what card it is and if it is similar to others

I think part of it was the excessive heat caused mostly by Flash Player performance bugs (which I am trying to get Adobe to look into, seems to be only affecting those using Flash Player with OpenGL, poked them on Twitter with Khronos Group)

Another would be cleaning the Mac (might have a lot of dust on the computer and around it, might be dust in the fans), make sure the vents are not blocked both the air intake and vent out

Further to this I can confirm for sure it's the crummy solder in the ati chip.

I took the main board out, wrapped in tinfoil leaving hole for chip. Then I applied a hairdryer for ten minutes exactly, directly to the chip. Left to cool properly.

Now works fine although needed to time machine back as the filesystem was shot.

This is an old trick used for decades in electronics.

Still say apple should fix even if it is eight years old. Poor. 😉 Troll.

Glad I have found this thread after searching for the solution to my problem. I have a MacBook Pro A1150 2.0 GHz 15" with the mentioned problems caused by the ATI X1600 graphics GPU. While booting into save mode is stable, a normal startup is difficult and sometimes even impossible. Especially when the computer gets hot. My computer was unused for over 5 years now because of this issue but now I try to fix it.

I will do the method of cleaning out everything properly, baking the logic board at 190°C for 7.30 min (or the method to treat only the GPU with the hair dryer for 10 min looks also very promising). Has anyone tried the method with the hair dryer? What is better baking the whole board in the oven or just treating the GPU with the hair dryer? After that I will re-apply new thermal paste to the chips. Lets see how it will work out.

I purchased my iMac 2006 brand new and only a few months past it's warranty period the graphics went wonkey. On start up there was no desktop and no apple menu bar. In safe boot start up the desktop was up and the apple menu bar was on but there is very little you can do with all the extensions off. And so i parked this iMac with a collection of other Mac's that just barely made it past the warranty period when they failed because of some factory defect that would cost me more then the computer was worth at that stage. For example, the cost of repairing the 2006 model even today was close to one thousand bucks. For a couple of hundred bucks more i could buy a brand new iMad.

The other day when i was reviewing my collection of dead Mac's i decided to try trashing the " drivers " for the infamous graphics card ( ATI X 1600 ) for this iMac thinking they may have been corrupted or damaged some how.

Much to my joy when i booted my iMac 2006 ( 17' inch screen version--lordy that's small compared to my 27 inch models ) it had full graphics and the desktop was on and the apple menu bar was on. The computer was fully functional.

I wish someone with the same problem would try trashing the graphics card driver and let me know if that solved their problem or was I just lucky.

Further to this, my hairdryer reflow worked for a while, but then the problem came back. I was able to work around by deleting the drivers as discussed previously in this thread, although this meant I have a weird box next to where ever the cursor is displayed.

I decided to go to the Apple store to moan / see if they could replace or repair. It is now "vintage", so they can't.

I had been to the apple shop a few months after buying it (in 2007), to complain about it overheating (it was BSOD ing in Windows and when I told them about this all those years ago they said they didn't support Windows haha (yeah of course Microsoft are to blame for this Apple-ATI mess)).

Now, of course, I realize it's just because the thing is poorly made (either ROHS lead free solder, crummy ATI X1600 chip-set or insufficient cooling).

It is a poor show - I thought Apple were supposed to be good engineers? To me this is clearly a manufacturing design and Apple should fix... boo.

I did the above rant to the "Genius" I spoke to at the Apple store today, but while he apparently sincerely assured me he "did give a darn", said the best he could do is to give me a 10% discount off of a new laptop of my choice.

However, to put it into perspective, I recognize this is 8 years old, which is pretty ancient now. It never was "right" though, sigh.

Have spoken to UK company that insists the only way to properly fix is to reball the ATI chipset, using better solder. They also give the option of putting a slightly better graphics chip in (like a version 2 of the same thing?).

Am tempted, it seems a shame for this thing to be left unstable when it can be fixed... I am sure there are flaws in that. Perhaps I'm just a bit obsessive?

Later dudes.

Any one fancies class action, I would be happy to provide receipts etc.