MacBook Pro (2007) -- Screen Goes Black without Warning

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MacBook Pro (2007) -- Screen Goes Black without Warning

Hi Apple community -

My MacBook Pro from 2007 has recently been having a problem where the screen will go black without warning. It's been getting progressively worse, staying black for a few minutes, then staying black for many minutes, and now it can't be woken up (writing this on yet another computer!). I had a similar problem with an iBook from way back when, but can't remember whether I solved the problem by some series of keystrokes or by buying a new computer.

I tried [Apple]+[Option]+[P]+[R] until it start-up chimed, then start-up chimed again. And I tried holding [SHIFT] while it rebooted. I can hear the volume increase and decrease popping-like sound and it reboots fine (as far as I can tell). This MacBook Pro runs Snow Lion (I think).

Please advise!

Posted on Mar 30, 2012 5:51 PM

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Answer 1

eww

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53,052 points

Mar 30, 2012 5:53 PM in response to heartsmfc

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377

Good luck.

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Answer 2

heartsmfc Author

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Mar 31, 2012 1:04 PM in response to eww

Thanks, "eww." This seems to be a perfect fit. What do you think are the chances they'll fix the problem at not cost?

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Answer 3

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

Mar 31, 2012 4:28 PM in response to heartsmfc

If it's been less than four years since the date of purchase, take the machine in to be tested right away. If it fails the specific test for the GPU, it should be fixed free.

If it's more than four years after the original purchase -- which is likely to be true now -- or if the GPU test doesn't disclose the specific defect NVidia has agreed to cover for Apple, you'll be out of luck, and it will probably be most sensible to replace the machine if you can swing that.

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