Q: Mid 2010 MacBook Pro crash - screen goes black

I don't think it's been solved.  My monitor (mid-2010 MBP) failed.  I took it to an Apple authorized repair facility and it failed the test indicating that the logic board had to be replaced.  Thank goodness I have AppleCare (more on that later).  That was on a Thursday.  They told me that if the board were ordered by by 3:30 p.m., it would arrive the following day.  I should add that 2 months ago, the same machine experience both a hard drive crash and an optical drive failure.  Both were replaced under AppleCare, but what the **** is wrong with the components used in MacBook Pros?

On Friday I was told that Apple had informed them that the logic board was on back order with no ETA. 6 days later, the logic board arrived, installed and I got my machine back.  What does it say that the logic board is on back order exactly as all mid-2010 machines are approaching the end of their AppleCare?

I much prefer Apple authorized repair facilities over the Genius Bar because at least at an authorized facility, you have a shot at honesty.  There are literally thousands of posts all over the internet addressing this problem and thousands of machines have been repaired.  Ultimately, Apple acknowledged the problem with mid 2010 machines. 

Still, you can walk into an Apple Genius Bar and they will tell you insane things like  they are unaware of the problem, haven't hear anything about it and will look into.  It reminds me of the scene from Star Wars: "These aren't the droids you're looking for, Apple is perfect, now move along."

The authorized repair facility, on the other hand, was very honest about the widespread nature of the issue and the fact that the repair would be with the identical, and defective, board so that I'd probably see the same problem sooner or later outside my AppleCare period.  For me that is irrelevant because we replace machines after 4 years.  Still, this single MBP required both a hard drive replacement and an optical drive replacement two months ago.  Under AppleCare both were handled quickly and without additional charge beyond the $300 I had to spend for AppleCare, something I've never had on any non Mac computer ever because failures were so rare on PCs.

Indeed, upon checking my MBP when I got it back, the defective board was replaced with the identical board, including the identical NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M GPU that caused all the trouble in the first place.  So, indeed, I fully expect (but at the same time need) only to get another year out of the machine.

I came from decades of PC purchases for my business.  I've never purchased an extended warranty and if it weren't for Window Vista, I'd probably still be running PCs.  I have found that the excess cost of Apple Machines is offset by the reduced cost of software so that my IT budget for machines and software is lower with Apple.  BUT, reliability with Apple is a major concern given that this has happened with all Mac Book Pros since what, around 2007?  I mean, seriously, this is not an acceptable situation.  Moreover, Apple's active concealment of the issue since 2007 right up through 2011 is inexcusable.  That reminds me of "My Cousin Vinny": "Go ahead, you can say it, everybody already knows."

Beyond that, replacing defective parts with known defective parts is beyond unacceptable.  It's fraud.

In short, we have a substantial investment in Apple through iTunes, iPhones, iPads, apps, Apple software, etc., we will be thinking long and hard about what we will do next year when we reach the planned replacement date of our Macbook Pros and will be questioning whether we will replace them with Apple hardware that can't get through 2-1/2 years of normal use without a warranty costing more than 10% of the cost of the machine (which does not cover downtime for even business accounts while the machines are being serviced).

  Just want to chime in and say that I have had this exact same problem since probably February or March 2013. I guess it occurred the most during the summer months when I was working on an important project building 3d models in maya.  I got in the habit of saving every 5 minutes.  I just woke up the machine this morning and barely touched the trackpad when this happened again.   Honestly it only happens once a week or so but it's a ridiculous thing to worry about my machine freezing when barely touching it. I could understand if it only crashed while running it too hot but barely breathing on it seems to set it off sometimes. I'm very hesitant to bring it to an apple genius to have to spend hours of my life trying to convince them to help me fix it.  Maybe if I bring a thick stack of printouts of other users' complaints that might help.  Anyway, thanks for posting so much information on this issue.  I guess I'll back up my hard drive and schedule an appointment...

Same issue. Do you guys know how to make Apple take responsibility?

I did schedule the appointment and took my MBP to the Genius Bar. The guy looked it over and ran tests and recommended a logic board replacement for several hundred dollars. I then mentioned this thread and that I thought it was a known issue. After hearing that he ran another more specific test. Within seconds a big red banner with the word FAILED appeared across the screen. This meant that they would repair it for free. Took about two days. My laptop runs like new now.

Thanks for the reply.

This is a well known issue indeed:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4088?viewlocale=en_US

I'm going to tallk again to the Technical Support guys and I hope they will repair it for free. And I also hope Apple Spain will apologise for hiding that information from me and trying to avoid any responsibility. I'm very dissapointed, to say the least.

When did you purchase your MBP? Were you outside of the 3 year period? I just got back from a Genius bar appointment and they said because mine was purchased in June 2010 (i.e. more than three years ago), it might not be covered. I say "might not" because I wasn't able to leave it with them for the few days they said they needed to fully diagnose it, but were doubtful that it would be covered if it were this known issue. Before I make a plan to send it into Apple, I was wondering if you could offer any insight on your circumstance and advice on how to get a successful resolution like yours. Thanks in advance.

Hi guys,

This is himalaya from micro online in sydney , australia.

the issue you all are facing related to BDOS, Freeze , no boot,  black screen. its all related to graphic card for the model 2010 15inch.all these randon issue have will go away after reflow.

This whole production of macbook pro series of 2010 15inch have this issue which is related to NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphic card, which needed to be reflow.

I Have fixed 9 of them in last 6 month and 17 of them in last 1 year.  some poeple use the heating gun, for them chances of damaing the board is high and fix last for short time only. Here , i use machines to reflow which is more reliable and accurate and maintain the temperatures according to my experience.

if you looking for right resolution of this issue .. visit my website www.microonline.com.au and fill a quickquote form.

or e-mail me on info@microonline.com.au

Thanks