MacBook Pro Logic Board Failure

what happened with yours marysplacestudio? i have the same symptoms at the moment. completely dead, no start up, no lights (1 light flash then nothing), no fans, no nothing! would like to know the outcome of yours? did you have it fixed for free?

Oh sorry John, I didn't explain myself properly. I took it into apple last night before i did any of my own research. The genius took one look at it and told me it was the logic board and it would cost $2200 to fix it or $2099 for a new one. That was it. Then I went home and did my own research and found pages and pages and pages about 2007/2008 MBP's. I am going back into apple on sunday to tell them i know that there is a known issue with my model and i want them to fix it. He probably didn't mention it because they a) want me to buy a new one and b) it doesn't fit exactly into the symptoms as it isnt powering up. but having said that it was having the screen symptons before it died which i didnt really go into with him because i didnt know what it meant at the time. thanks for the luck, im going to need it on sunday!

UPDATE:

So I look my MBP into Apple on Sunday. I explained that I had been in on Thursday and the guy had told me I needed a new logic board, so I did my own research and found the graphics card issue. I explained that I was having the screen issues/symptoms before it completely shut down and wouldn't turn on. I guy a spoke to on Sunday was so good, he's like yep no worries I'll put it through under the graphics card issue and see what we can do.

Got a call on Wednesday night from the technician that had been working on it all day. He said he thinks all it was was RAM creep (?), but he had never seen it this bad. He explained what RAM creep is and I said oh well that was me, Apple tells you to take the RAM out and put it back in trying different combinations, so I musnt have put the RAM sticks back in properly. He said as soon as he put the RAM back in properly it started up fine!!! (opps!) Anyway, he ran a number of tests, including the NVIDIA test but there is nothing wrong with it.... Good news, but don't I feel a bit silly!!! I need to learn how to put my RAM back in properly in case it ever happens again!

The tech recons my MBP will only last another 6 months to a year before I have to buy a new one. I hope not, I love my MBP! And other than this last issue, I have never had a problem with it in 4 years.

I've bought a shinny new 1TB external hard drive today and I'm going home to back up all my data (especially my photos which is what I've been worried about loosing!!)

Thanks for all your help guys, a good outcome 🙂

Ps. Can anyone explain in simple terms how RAM creep occurs and how/if it can be avoided? All he said was over time the RAM works its way out of its socket. My MBP gets REALLY hot, so hot I can't have it sitting on my legs. Is there a way to cool it down? Does the RAM creep have to do with it getting hot? Thanks

My early 2008 MBP (2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo, A1260) died last week. Refused to wake up from sleep. A week earlier I had this issue of display going dim all of a sudden and pink horizontal lines across the display. It used to come back up in a minute or two. Then one day only black screen. MBP not booting up. AASP asked to pay 800$ (33000/- IRS) for logic board replacement!!! I spoke to Apple care guy who said if Service provider gives them a report saying its a nvidia issue they will replace it for free. But service provider says MBP is not booting at all and they can not confirm nvidia issue. I am sure its the nvidia chip which is causing MBP to not start up but Apple care won't accept it!!!!!!!!! 1500 £ (UK Pounds) machine won't even run for 3 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shame!!

Hi there

My macbook pro 15" (summer 2008) died last week. Refused to wake up from sleep. AASP asked to pay 700€ for logic board replacement!!! I spoke to Apple care guy who said if Service provider gives them a report saying its a nvidia issue they could discuss it!!!!

How the service can recognize that it's motherboard failure and not nvidia failure????.????.???.

Shame!! We spent more that 2400€ for an apple product (plus for iPhone, iPad, macmini) and this was died for known to apple reason

I have had exactly the same issue with my 2008 MBP this week - one morning it just wouldn't wake from sleep, fan on, drives spinning, latch light on, but nothing. Had it with me at work and a colleague managed to get it to come on by removing the battery for 10 sec and then resetting p-ram - went back to sleep, woke up again fine that evening, but since Thursday morning, same problem, and nothing will get it to boot up.

Took it to an apple store yesterday - he said 'this sounds familiar' and tried running the nvidia test, but of course the machine wouldn't boot up enough to be able to run it. He came to the conclusion that it was logic board failure, and quoted me over £400 to fix it. Basically told him that there's no way I can afford that at the moment, extremely frustrating as only a couple of months out of apple care.

Came home, googled MBP logic board and of course all of this about nvidia and multiple MBPs from that period with logic board failures came up. Called apple and spent about an hour on the phone to two different people who told me they'd had no reports of logic board failures and that there was absolutely no way that the nvidia issue could cause logic board failure. Going to send them an email now, also try calling customer relations this week, and then maybe just start calling them repeatedly until they agree to do something.

Anyone got any advice on how to go about getting them to agree that the two issues might *possibly* be related and fixing it? Any tips would be much appreciated!

I also find it somewhat ironic that if I wasn't such a fan of apple and also have an iPad, I'd now have no way of doing this research/sending them an email...

Keith,

My early 2008 MacBook Pro, died the same way. I tried all the start up resets you mentioned and you described the condition I found it, "The only signs of life are the white light on the screen latch that is now on, the fans are spinning and the DVD drive seems to work."

The solid sleep indicator, as opposed to blinking, is the give away. The MLB, mother logic board, is dead.

The route I took was to call AppleCare, run through the resets again with the rep, who then set an appointment for me at the nearby Apple Store. The Genius tried resetting the NVRAM and observed the solid sleep indicator. He declared the MLB dead within minutes of us starting. I was also having problems with the "stage light effect" in the display, so he is also having the display replaced, even though he could not observe it.

I don't think I was with the Genius for 10 minutes. I should have it back in 5-7 days even with a long weekend. Thankfully, I had another 62 days on the AppleCare.

I'm sorry to hear of the troubles you went through trying to get your's fixed, but you may have blazed the trail for me.

I have a mid-2010 macbook pro. Had the blue screen several times. It would freeze and hang-up. Started to run hot. Brought it to Apple one month out of warranty and they changed my main logic board and thermal assembly FoC...thank you Apple! Question is, what the heck is really going on with these high-end machines and catastrophic failures? It sounds as if this repair will not be the end of my macbook worries.

Wow. I can't believe how widespread this issue is. My early 2008MBP died on Sunday with all of the same issues as op. My computer wasalso extremely hot when I picked it up on Sunday morning (it had beenrunning pretty hot for some time actually but usually when I pick it upfrom sleep it's cool). I took it into Apple yesterday and after theyperformed all of the tests that I had already performed (removing thebattery, resetting CMS) they decided to look at it overnight. I got acall this morning and they quoted me about $310 as a flat-rate for thelabor and any parts they might need during the repair. Includingparts!? Compared to other people's stories it seems like I might belooking to pay a lot more once I hear back from them (or did I just geta "great deal"?).

That's an interesting thing about the isight. Mycomputer's isight hasn't worked since about three months after I boughtit and it's been fixed twice. I've also had a few blips on my screenand it appears that there is some kind of fading in some parts of theLCD screen for the last few months. I am also disappointed with this. I'm not in a situation where I can just buy a new computer and I paid aton of money at the time thinking that my machine would be prettyrobust. Three years is not much time for a computer to go from a fullyworking top of the line machine to a lifeless hunk of metal...

As an update to my original post:

After being told in apple store it would be £400 for logic board replacement, and on the phone that there was no way the logic hoard failure was a result of the NVIDIA issue, decided to take it back into the store for a second opinion. Only one apple store in the are, so had to go back to the same one, but this time went in armed with a dossier of info on the topic and basically said 'it's a 2008 MBP from the batch with NVIDIA issues, the logic board has failed which, from what I can ascertain, is a fairly common issue, a couple of days before it failed I had issues with scrambled video (hadn't occurred to me to mention that the first time I went in as didn't know about NVIDIA)', he had a quick look at it, confirmed what I'd said and said that the repair would be covered by the quality program.

Amazing. Very happy with that, although somewhat livid with the fact that they originally tried to charge me £400, and a lot of people would have just agreed, and the fact that they were so unhelpful on the phone.

Don't know whether it was just because I saw a different person, or because I went in knowing all about the issue, but either way, second opinion is definitely the way to go.

Just had a call saying it's ready to pick up, and also that their diagnostic tests show my hard drive is failing - not overly happy with that not lasting more than 3 years, but much cheaper to fix compared to LB!

Hope some of you can manage a successful outcome as well...

Same problem with everyone too. Mine is an early 2008 MBP. Black screen but the white light in the power button is lit (but not blinking). The AASC told me the problem is with the logic board and I can choose whether I can get it exchanged for $700 or get a new one for $1400. I asked if they checked if it's under the NVIDIA issue and they said they can't test it for that because there's no chime when they turn it on. I asked them WHAT IF the NVIDIA problem is what caused the logic board to fail and they said they'll check again.

Hope I can get the same results with the others who have their units exchanged or fixed successfully. A new logic board is just way too expensive and seeing how this is a very common probem, I'm a bit hesitant to buy a new Mac.

= UPDATE =

I pulled out my MBP from the AASC because they insisted that the problem was in the logic board and that I needed to replace it. I brought it to a generic laptop technician instead. He cleaned the insides a bit, re-aligned the graphics card and here I am now using my newly-fixed MBP. I only had to pay $100.

Oh dear.

I have a 2008 macbook pro that I've ALWAYS had problems with. I've had a lot of display problems, and recently, my laptop started becoming unresponsive and boggy. Sometimes shutting itself off or not turning itself back on.

Fast forward 3 months. I put my laptop to sleep and left for work. I come back, and I can't get it to do anything. The hardrive and fans spin up, but there's nothing on the screen and no sound. I take it in to the retailer, and I'm told that because of cosmetic damage to the case that it would cost 1200 to repair just the logic board- despite NEVER having had the problem or being warned about the damage of my case before.

Worst thing is, I live an hour and a half away from the closest apple service place- and I'm a full time student, so I don't have time or energy to deal with this. My mom and I have been on the phone all week with apple care customer service reps.

Does anyone have any advice? My symptoms are EXACTLY the same as the graphics card issue- and it would explain a lot of the problems I've had over the years with this laptop. I'm rather dissapointed in apple.

During May this year my 15" macbook pro failed. The Aberdeen Apple Store told me that the motherboard had died and would cost £800 to replace.

Now since it was out of warranty (purchased Oct 2007) I decided to look elsewhere. Found a reputable repairer, who told me it sounded like a common fault with these particular models and they would attempt a repair. After a few days away it returned fully working, however after a couple of weeks it died again with the same fault. Sent it back to the same company on the understanding that they would attempt to repair once more. Returned repaired for the second time, however after a week it died again with the same fault. I again discussed this with the repair company. They explained there is an inherent fault with these models and even to replace the motherboard could be an issue since its the boards that are faulty and a new board could fail within a day, week or of couse last a lifetime, and do I wish to take that chance at that cost?!!

So what happens now??? Give up and buy a new one? Or try and speak to someone within Apple?

My personal opinon, if it is critical to your computer usage, then replace it. If it is a second computer or not critical, then I would give it another try.

With a 4 year old MBP, I would give it one more try, but with a different repair shop, depending what you have already spent. After that I would invest your money in a new MBP. There are apparently several different issues with the mobo on this model, one being the GPU and the other the mobo itself.

At this point, your current speed is within the current speed range, it should accept the next one or two major OS upgrades, but it does not have the current new port.

Brent