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User profile for user: nrj45
nrj45 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Macbook pro retina 15 mid-2012 display problem : solution :)

Well. This topic is not really a question, I hope this could be a solution for both users and Apple. Its free, but if Apple wants to offer me a full options Mac Pro, or hire me as consultant we can discuss ^^


The story is long, but is worth. Sorry in advance for my swissy english. I hope you'll enjoy.


As many of retina mid-2012 owners (and perhaps other versions) I encountered the symptom of my machine crashing more and more frequently (from once per week to more times per day). Crash usually with a message of "read error" or some display related crash dumps, often linked to the switching of graphic card (integrated<->dedicated).


For a long times a suspected some burnt chip (because of using 1-3 external screen all the day) and seeing istatmenu with crazy temperatures of 90-105°C. I was disappointed because of the evolving symptom (crashes more and more frequent and sometimes no display at power on)


It took me ages to discover what exactly did my MBPR crash, as it was crashing "randomly" for me. Sometimes after crashing, hard shutdown and restart, it wouldn't display or even power on the backlight, for one hour or one day and suddenly it would display again !!


I tried all the solutions found here and there including replacing the thermal paste, smc or pram reset -> no luck.


I took it to my local Apple provider and I was told I would have to change the motherboard. An expensive operation, since the warranty was expired by 2-3 months.


So I bought a 13 inchs retina as replacement and continued to diagnose my 15 inchs in parallel.


I discovered that it would crash if I bend it : Power on, one hand on each side applying a light bend in the two directions made my MBPR crash. So suddenly the problem wasn't random anymore. Mouhahahaha. This could be motherboard or chip related (de-soldered solderings here or there), or case related. Let's hope the problem's not mobo related.


I opened the case and tried to see in the dark if I could see a mini lightning when bending (because of a bad ground somewhere). -> No luck

So I tried to put paper here and there to try to locate the potential bad ground. Booting, bending, hard shutdowning, papering, booting, bending,...


And suddenly the darkness became light : If I put a paper at the right place, my MBPR will resist to the bend test. Was my mobo alive, and was this nightmare only a progressive bad ground ? Yes.


Here me good : the progressive symptom of random crashing of my MBPR (which I imputed for a long time to an old chip since the symptom was the same under windows 7 bootcamp + because of the graphic switching behaviour) was in fact only a bad contact at a very given place.


The very given place (my diagnose and my solution) ?

The screws of the left's fan (thunderbolt's side) or/and the fan case itself are screwed through the motherboard. For a reason (temperature, mecanic constraints or corrosion) this stuff entered in contact with each other, the redox gained the near electronic motherboard tracks (especially the thunderbolts one I guess).


Proof :

If I put a piece of paper between the motherboard and the case, I can bend my MBPR without it to crash and use it as before (except for external screens).


My diagnose :

once the material of the screw/fan case/motherboard track enter in direct contact, there is a corrosion effect that affects more and more the neighboor.



Here is a pic of my repair :

User uploaded file


I can now :

  • play hours in windows 7 bootcamp
  • switch between graphic cards with gfxcardstatus (even with a playing itunes animation)
  • sleep and wake up with integrated or dedicated graphics


I can't :

connect a screen through thunderbolt since it activates the corosionned part of my MBPR, so it will work for a period of time but will assure me that a crash is awaiting (perhaps after a wake up or randomly from this time)


I'm confident that this problem is conceptual and that a big part of 15 inches retina mobo's exchanges are due to this question.


Hope this helps 😉


Kisses from Switzerland

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Jan 28, 2015 5:30 PM

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8 replies
User profile for user: nrj45
nrj45 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Feb 12, 2015 2:16 AM in response to nrj45

I tried to diagnose this mid 2012 retina 15 inchs for a couple of month now. With a very similar symptom of a lot of people :

  • some that exchanged the motherboard more times and experienced again the same freezes / shutdown again
  • some that installed mavericks by believing it workarounded the problem (but majority also says after a while that actually the problem was only differently reproduceable)
  • some hoping Apple to release a sowtware fix for that or a recall of the concerned machines


I now think to have isolated one of the cause of such symptoms. At beginning I thought that the fan electric insulation had worked but actually not.


Solution for me :

  • open the under case
  • dismount a bit the two fans
  • insert paper bands under the motherboard (between the black bottom and the motherboard, I used ~120gr/m2 paper and cut it into bands of 10-13cm by 2-3cm).


I would have dismounted the motherboard if I had the right screwdriver, but this seemed to be a too long/hard work, so I went into this idea that my motherboard was ok and that the problem was only caused by a supposed short-circuit under the motherboard.


My thoughts :

  • The more big the hole in the black tape under the motherboard, the more frequent the freezes / shutdown due to a short circuit (electronics grounded at the false place because of the mobo entering in contact with a grounded metal part through the black tape)
  • I also thinks this short circuit is more dedicated graphics linked than integrated and that this is the reason why the symptom persists or reappear even after multiple motherboard exchanges for a lot of people and the reason some people use their machine with forced integrated graphics
  • This solution should apply as self doable for a lot of people
  • If I should bet, I think that the black insulating tape under the keyboard is scratched by the time (mecanic constraints on the chassis) by some mobo component until a false contact is created through the insulating tape


I can now (mid-2012 retina 15 inchs I7 8go 256go, osx 10.10.2) :

run firefox or VLC with integrated or dedicated graphics

  • sleep/wake with integraded or dedicated graphics (forced or auto-switching) with such programs running
    • run multiple screens (2x TB + HDMI at the same time), sleep the machine, unplugging 1 of the 3 screens during the sleep, wake the machine + bending the machine during the process without it to crash. \o/


The goal of this post is to share this amazing experience with both Apple and the users facing such a problem.


Problem solved without motherboard exchange and with a quite easy workaround 🙂

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User profile for user: nrj45
nrj45 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Feb 12, 2015 10:25 AM in response to delook

Hi Delook,


If your apple care is still alive, I would recommend to let Apple do the job (as you may break your warranty by doing such things) and let them know if you think to have the same problem as me.


Mine was out of warranty, so I had nothing to lose in opening it.


I just pointed this own thread from another threads where symptoms were very similar as the ones I encountered (freezes or hardshutdown more and more frequently, seeing a difference when only using integrated graphics but not 100% working workaround,...)


I now have 2 notebooks because I bought a retina 13 in parallel as I couldn't trust the 15 inchs anymore for using it in my professional life until I found this workaround and now recovered full graphic functionality.


I now have 2 days of uptime with my first machine (with a lot of screens plug/unplugs and a lot of wake and sleep + bending the machine). I'm writing this from it and have the same feeling as if it was new 🙂

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User profile for user: ntennies
ntennies
User level: Level 1
0 points

Feb 12, 2015 10:30 PM in response to delook

I think your safest bet is to just take the MacBook Pro to the Apple Store for repair, since it's under warranty, and then if you have the problem again when it's out of warranty, try nrj45's fix at that point. If you do take your laptop to the Apple Store, you'd benefit by being able to reproduce the problem while there. I've found that downloading and setting gfxCardStatus to the discrete GPU and then downloading and running the "fuzzy donut" stress test in the "GPU Test" app consistently caused a GPU panic within 5 minutes. You should see if it does the same for you.


Note that some people have had Apple reject their logic board repair under warranty for "liquid contact". If you find this happen to you, or if you are interested in trying out nrj45's fix without voiding your warranty, I recommend you take your laptop to an independent Authorized Apple Service Center in your area and get them to look at it for $50. They'll tell you if they see signs of liquid contact -- you should take lots of photos of the inside of the case and logic board to show Apple if they don't -- including looking at the liquid contact sensors. In my case, I was able to use this info to prove to Apple there was no liquid contact (see my documentation here http://imgur.com/a/cHDOS). They may also be willing to help you test out nrj45's fix, which would be a good datapoint to share here.

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User profile for user: nrj45
nrj45 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Feb 12, 2015 11:06 PM in response to ntennies

Hi Ntennies,


I'm in contact with the high technician of my local apple store and already discussed with him 2-3 times during the months of passive diagnose I made on the 15 retina.


A repair would cost me around 1000$ and wouldn't give me any warranty such as a new machine. That's the reason why I bought a retina 13 and considered for a time my 15 inchs as a wreck.


The photo in my first post did not actually solve my problem as stated in the third one, the one marked as answer. At the beginning I believed that this little corrosion around the fan screws holes on the mobo gained some thunderbolt tracks or something like that so I tried insulating the fan from the mobo and believed for a time it was ok. But after that I saw that it didn't solve the "bending problem".


So I decided to put paper under the mobo from the other fan location until I could bend my MBPr without it to crash and this worked 🙂

So at this step I'm pretty sure of the hardware (false contact) issue of my machine. There is also a big chance that there are other cause resulting in comparable symptoms or 2 or n causes superposed.


About temperatures, I also replaced my thermal paste on the 2 chips and saw a big difference in temperature evolution as you. I think the high running temperatures (especially with screens attached) or when doing something CPU hungry has "fried" the original thermal paste, making it crispy and unefficient.

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Macbook pro retina 15 mid-2012 display problem : solution :)

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