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2007 Macbook Pro 17" - Motherboard is Dead (Kernel Panic)

Hi guys,

This is kind of frustrating as it seems like I now have to pay 5000 HKD to replace the entire motherboard after 2.5 years of usage.

I turned on the MBP the other day and got really intense flickering on the monitor, followed by scrambled video. After turning off the computer and re-booting, I get the dreaded Kernel Panic.

Investigation this issue leads me to an apple support notification that several 2007-2008 manufactured MBPs with an NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT M video card may cause this problem and that Apple will fix this free of charge.

No problem - I send this to my nearest Apple repair centre and they charge me 600 HKD to diagnose the problem, only to come back 2 days later and say that the MBP's motherboard needs to be replaced. After pleading with them that my MBP displayed classic signs of problems related to the GeForce 8600GT, they told me that it was the motherboard that was at fault.

I then asked them to issue a diagnostic report, and it was basically a company slip with typing on it reading "kenral panic cause by logic board defective, need to replace" (sorry for bad English, I'm translating word-for-word what was typed on the note).

Calling Apple directly and asking them about this issue resulted in them simply saying that if the repair centre believes its a motherboard failure, then I will have to pay the 5000 HKD to replace it.

I was HOPING that a "diagnostic report" would be a computer generated log which will show officially where the problem lies - and not my repair technician randomly writing down on a slip what he believes the problem is.

For those that have more knowledge of this, can anyone shed any light as to whether or not the video card could have made the motherboard defective? Or is this something that is not realistic?

Sorry to sound cheap, I understand a lot of people may be in my position and will have to pay, but I would like to explore all options before I pay 5000 HKD to replace a motherboard on a computer that I purchased on March 2008.

The only suggestion that Apple gave me was for me to take it to another appointed repair centre and get a second opinion. Of course, this will cost another 600 HKD just for them to look at.

Am I being unreasonable for asking all these questions and bothering Apple so much?

Message was edited by: tekara

powermac dualcore 2.0, Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Posted on Apr 12, 2011 3:06 AM

Reply
1 reply

Apr 12, 2011 6:44 AM in response to tekara

This is kind of frustrating as it seems like I now have to pay 5000 HKD to replace the entire motherboard after 2.5 years of usage.


This is a user to user forum. All we can say is to bring a copy of the exchange/repair program documentation to the repair center and let them know that this has been covered free before.

2007 Macbook Pro 17" - Motherboard is Dead (Kernel Panic)

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