Macbook pro 8,2 blue pinstripe lines on boot even in safe mode.

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Macbook pro 8,2 blue pinstripe lines on boot even in safe mode.

I was using my macbook last night not doing anything crazy just using phpstorm. The screen froze and I had to do a hard reboot. ever since I've been getting a blue pinstrip screen right after the apple logo on boot, even in recovery and safe mode. So far I can only boot in single user mode or run a hardware test.

I've seen people having probems with the same model and graphics card (Radeon) but they were able to at least run in safe mode which might mean that neither my discrete nor integrated chips are functioning. I've done the Apple hardware test and it shows no problems. Even picks up both chips.

I've been able to boot the disk in target disk mode using another machine so I'm fairly sure its not a software problem. I'm worried that the logic board might be fried or a solder point on the GPU.

Has anyone had this happen or know of a solution?

I'm running the more in depth hardware test at the moment and will post results when it is finished.

Posted on Feb 18, 2014 7:10 AM

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Answer 1

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Ralph Landry1

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Feb 18, 2014 7:14 AM in response to krosullivan

Variations on this behavior has been questioned on here for the past year or so in the iMac, as well as MacBook Pro. It has usually resulted in replacement of a logic board or graphics chip(s) by Apple. I have yet to see anyone report this being caught by AHT, that operates at too high of a level. The Apple techs have diagnostics that will catch it, however.

Take it in to the Apple store genius bar and have the techs run their diagnositics.

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Answer 2

krosullivan Author

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Feb 18, 2014 1:05 PM in response to Ralph Landry1

Yeah the AHT didn't show up anything. I'm getting a diagnostic done tomorrow. Sounds like the the issue is with the logic board alright. Would this kind of thing just come from heavy use? As in not from faulty ram or sata connections or anything internally connected to the board? I don't want to replace it and have it happen again.

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Answer 3

Feb 18, 2014 2:42 PM in response to krosullivan

Those that have been discussed and reported back, always helpful, have just been a chip failure and the Apple techs have been able to replace the chip instead of the entire logic board.

One person had this occur while using Windows in a BootCamp partition...boy was that tempting to blame it all on Windows :-)

But no, from the cases discussed here there does not seem to be a correlation between any particular usage Nd a chip failure. From the number of units Apple has built and sold vs the number posted on here with a problem, the percentage that fail is extremely small. The kind of thing for which you cannot get any meaningful correlation.

Tying it to something like the SATA connectors or RAM is not likely...possible a failure in the display itself but still doesn't seem too likely. My bet would be on a chip in the graphics part of the system.

Take it in, see what the techs find and suggest as a remedy. And if you have time, please post what happens. These things are interesting from an engineering point of view...understanding what kinds of failures cause the behavior you are seeing.

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Answer 4

krosullivan Author

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Feb 26, 2014 4:51 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

So I got it back from the techs yesterday. It was a failed logic board and they managed to get it replaced under EU waranty so I just had to pay the repair charge of €40, great. However, I was in work this morning and everything was working perfectly until I upgraded to 10.9.2. I let the computer upgrade, it rebooted into the update prgress screen so I went and got myself a coffee. When I returned the machine was unresponsive. Nothing on the screen. Solid white status light on the front. I left it for a few minutes to see if it was just working through things but no. I did a hard shutdown and now it wont boot. When I press the power button I can hear the harddrive starting but nothing on the screen. Keyboard is unresponsive and after about five seconds everything loses power. From experience building desktops this sounds like a power problem to me. Or the new logic board was a dud. I've handed it back into the techs anyway so I'm waiting again.

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Answer 5

Feb 26, 2014 5:37 AM in response to krosullivan

Thanks for the update...and boy, what a mess, but you sure did the right thing. I would not even begin to try and address that after it had just been worked on...that is repair's job to get it right, and test all components this time one hopes 😟

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Answer 6

Feb 26, 2014 5:46 AM in response to krosullivan

Many users with the same problem (myself included) have had to have their logic board replaced up to four times, so it's not unusual to see the problem resurface yet again.

The problem is with the way the discrete GPU was soldered onto the logic board. Apple has no admitted to the defect and countless users have suffered. I, luckily, have AppleCare until April of 2015, so if mine fails again, it will be another logic board replacement.

Take your machine back to the Apple service center and have the logic board replaced again. You shouldn't have to pay labor costs this time as Apple repairs have a 90-day warranty.

Sorry - but good luck,

Clinton

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Answer 7

krosullivan Author

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Mar 4, 2014 8:47 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Got a new logic board fitted and everything seems to be good. I've been using it for the last 2 days without any problems. The repair guy was stumped. I've no idea what could have caused the second one to go. Had a thunderbolt display in at the time but that hardly would have done it. Fingers crossed this one stays alive.

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Answer 8

Mar 4, 2014 9:03 AM in response to krosullivan

Thanks for the feedback, hope things continue to work this time.

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