So are all MBP owners with the 8600m GT cards screwed?

I've been pleased with the momentus XT in my 2011 MBP.

Its not totally SSD speed, but it's not 750 GB SSD price, either - and WAY faster than a regular hard drive in day to day usage.

Funkmasta said:

Is there any way to check for the machine's total uptime? I'd be interested to see the number on that one

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About This Mac>More Info>System Report (If using Lion/Mountain Lion)>Software

As exampled below

I checked the total hours on the 500gb 7200rpm I put in about 3 years ago and it says 16,000 hours. I think it's safe to say the total life of the MBP is over 30,000 hours, and not babying it either, I'm talking HD video editing, loads of 24 bit music recording and editing, and some heavy gaming at times to boot.

I can only hope my next MBP will stay relevant this long, this is part of why I'm waiting for Haswell to max out the graphics muscle on my new machine.

kdum8 said:

Thanks for your thoughts, they are good points to remember. Would installing this hybrid drive speed things up?

http://storage.toshiba.eu/cms/en/hdd/hard_disk_drives/product_detail.jsp?productid=525

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I would put in the momentus xt. I have the 2.4ghz version of this mac and the first thing I did when I got this machine was put in the hybrid drive. Simply speeds up things, application launches etc.

I would get rid of this machine because of all the talk of the graphics card, but it has been my daily driver without issue. Guess I will see it down the road soon, but I got the machine for just $375. Well worth the risk.

Ledgem said:

I'm not familiar with Toshiba's hybrid drives, but I would keep away from that one and go with the Seagate Momentus XT instead. The specific reason is the rotational speed: the Toshiba is running at 5,400 RPM (the same as your stock hard drive) while the Momentus XT line runs at 7,200 RPM. That alone makes a big difference.

I'm using a 500 GB Momentus XT. I felt the speed difference even before the flash memory came into effect. The flash memory just makes repeated tasks even faster.

A faster drive will make your general computing tasks feel more responsive. Opening programs, navigating files through Finder... a big one for me was searching through Spotlight, which was unbearably slow on the stock 5400 RPM drive and is now worth something with my Momentus XT. A faster hard drive won't help with all tasks, though. Video encoding tends to be limited by the processor, for example; photo editing can be limited by the processor and RAM. A faster hard drive wouldn't help at all, unless your system has to start accessing the swap file - but even then, you'd benefit much more from having more RAM in a case like that.

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peapody said:

I would put in the momentus xt. I have the 2.4ghz version of this mac and the first thing I did when I got this machine was put in the hybrid drive. Simply speeds up things, application launches etc.

I would get rid of this machine because of all the talk of the graphics card, but it has been my daily driver without issue. Guess I will see it down the road soon, but I got the machine for just $375. Well worth the risk.

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The Momentus XT looks really good I have to admit, but I was really hoping to up my storage capacity to 1 TB. Granted however a rotational speed of 7200 RPM in addition to the hybrid nature is very desirable if I want to help up the speed of the machine.

Does anyone know if there are any 1 TB hybrid drives out there with 7200 RPM rotational speed available? That would be the drive to get.

kdum8 said:

Does anyone know if there are any 1 TB hybrid drives out there with 7200 RPM rotational speed available? That would be the drive to get.

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Hitachi/HGST has a 1TB 7200 RPM model that's 9.5mm tall and will fit in a MacBook Pro. http://www.hgst.com/travelstar-7k1000
EDIT: I now see you're looking for hybrid drives, but this one is just a regular spinning disk. Still quite fast though.

Logic board going to oven...

Hi,

My old MBP 3,1 (2,4Ghz Core 2 Duo) started to suffer Nvidia 8600GT's defect (screen goes green, sometimes white) and text on screen is not readable.

Found from internet that several persons has managed to fix problem by baking logic board. Since my MBP is more or less already dead, I have nothing to loose so I removed logic board (instructions from ifixit.com) and board goes to oven today. Decided to preheat oven to 200C/392F with "air-circulating-mode", and planned baking time is 7 mins and 30 seconds and after that oven's door open, stop heating but keeping fan running to cool down oven and logic board.

Has anyone here done this kind of fixing? Is my plan going to work and MBP starts to work, or should I tune plan before try?


Cheers,
-miha

It worked! Screen is now again clear

I used my initial plan, like told above. I hope that 8600GT chip lasts until Haswell rMBP's are available

I'll open now one beer..

Cheers,
-miha

miha said:

It worked! Screen is now again clear

I used my initial plan, like told above. I hope that 8600GT chips lasts until Haswell rMBP's are available

I'll open now one beer..

Cheers,
-miha

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Wow congrats. Mine early 2008 is still running strong after a replacement.

miha said:

It worked! Screen is now again clear

I used my initial plan, like told above. I hope that 8600GT chip lasts until Haswell rMBP's are available

I'll open now one beer..

Cheers,
-miha

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Wow, good for you. It's approaching five years since the OP on this thread and just when I think I've forgotten that this issue existed, someone pops in.

Apple replaced my late 2008 MBP with a late 2011 MBP the third or forth time I developed this problem.

if you have a G84-602-A2, you're screwed.

There is the G84-603-A2. This chip will last much longer, and run cooler. However, when Apple warranties this, they give you the same 602, just burned onto the board. It's one step above the youtube dudes with a heatgun. Sad.

Yell0w said:

Wow congrats. Mine early 2008 is still running strong after a replacement.

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My Early 2008 is still on the original Logic Board, still runs great. My daughter uses it now, mostly for school assignments, internet and of course games. I fully expect the HD to give out before the GPU, then she can have my Late 2011 15" or Early 2012 Retina. This Early 2008 has easily over 35K hours uptime, if it`s doomed, it`s doomed, equally it owes me nothing, nor has it for a long time after over five years of continuous use

My wife's late 2007 maxed 17" Santa Rosa got the black screen just few months after the 3 years applecare ended. I took it to applestore, they told me the repair program has ended and I have to pay 429€ to repair it . Is it worth?

I tried to connect to an external monitor, but after the startup chime, no display... Would putting the logic board into the oven revive the gpu?

Cheers

EDIT: I have booted it in target disk mode and I can access the disk from FW from another MBP. What conclusions could I draw from this result?

sofianito said:

My wife's late 2007 maxed 17" Santa Rosa got the black screen just few months after the 3 years applecare ended. I took it to applestore, they told me the repair program has ended and I have to pay 429€ to repair it . Is it worth?

I tried to connect to an external monitor, but after the startup chime, no display... Would putting the logic board into the oven revive the gpu?

Cheers

EDIT: I have booted it in target disk mode and I can access the disk from FW from another MBP. What conclusions could I draw from this result?

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Shot graphics card, everything that you've said it consistent with that. You have nothing to lose by putting the motherboard in the oven. As to whether it's worth it to pay the repair fee, that's up to you. Personally I don't feel that it is, unless you can't afford a newer replacement system.

Ledgem said:

Shot graphics card, everything that you've said it consistent with that. You have nothing to lose by putting the motherboard in the oven. As to whether it's worth it to pay the repair fee, that's up to you. Personally I don't feel that it is, unless you can't afford a newer replacement system.

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Thanks!

Would using a hairdryer be as effective as the oven?

sofianito said:

Would using a hairdryer be as effective as the oven?

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I strongly doubt it.

...about two weeks ago I finally retired my Early 2008 MacBook Pro as my main "production" machine—not sure what I'll use it for now (leaning against selling it since it could still serve as a backup machine in a pinch), but I managed to get by without my GPU failing (thought I'd share that apparently not every MBP owner with the 8600m GT is screwed) ...good luck to everyone on this thread and I'll keep following it in case there are any new developments!

I went today to my local apple store to put some pressure on them. The genius bar guy told me the 8600m gt does not affect the late 2007 17" macbook pro santa rosa, but after searching in the knowledge base, he found out he was wrong!. He then told me the repair program had ended in december 2012, but after insisting that it costed me $3000+ plus the applecare I never used, he escalated the issue to applecare to find out if they could make an exception. As a summary, to not make it any longer, they agreed by phone they would escalate the issue if they could run the validation test and retrieve the GPU error codes. It took the genius bar guy 40 minutes to install the test program on a USB, then he inserted it and did a double PRAM reset, then pushed the 'D' key. According to him, the light indicator had to blink, but it didn't happen. He then inserted the usb in another computer to check if something was dump, but nothing. The 3 partitions on the usb were empty . He suggested there was something wrong with the motherboard, but I am not convinced since I have been able to boot it in target mode and access the disk @home. The speaker, backlight, and caps lock buttons work properly when I hear the startup chime after powering it up.

What should I do now? Try again in another applestore or ASP?

I wonder what Apple Service Diagnostic he installed and run on the USB? I read here that the GPU test name is: ASD GPT3TL08-1. Where can I download it? Is it a specific Apple Service diagnostic or is it included in a bundled ASD such as 3S116 or 3S123?

I read that someone sued and beat Apple in court over faulty 8600M GT!

Any help appreciated!

Ledgem said:

I strongly doubt it.

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Apparently, someone fixed the issue using a quilt: link

I tried it, but mine doesn't heat up...

I have some good news . I went to a AASP and they were able to retrieve the nvidia GPU error code on the first try!

I am not sure what to think about the "Apple genius bar folks". Are they really noobs or did they do it on purpose??....

Applecare escalated the case to another department, so I have to wait until monday to get the final response...

sofianito said:

I am not sure what to think about the "Apple genius bar folks". Are they really noobs or did they do it on purpose??....

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I don't think it's malicious, the Genius bar guys are probably following set algorithms and it's an imperfect process. My early 2008 MBP wasn't experiencing any problems but I noticed that the PCI lane width was being reported as an unusually low speed, so I brought it to an Apple store to get it checked out. They tried to run their test but couldn't get it to work at all; it was either freezing up or behaving improperly very early on, despite two or three tries. It was probably luck of the draw that the representative helping me went ahead and decided to replace my motherboard despite that.

Ledgem said:

I don't think it's malicious, the Genius bar guys are probably following set algorithms and it's an imperfect process. My early 2008 MBP wasn't experiencing any problems but I noticed that the PCI lane width was being reported as an unusually low speed, so I brought it to an Apple store to get it checked out. They tried to run their test but couldn't get it to work at all; it was either freezing up or behaving improperly very early on, despite two or three tries. It was probably luck of the draw that the representative helping me went ahead and decided to replace my motherboard despite that.

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After getting the GPU error report from the AASP, I went to the apple store to share the result and good news, but the weird thing is instead of suggesting to pass the test again to confirm the results, the useless genius bar guy who did the test the day before insinuated in front of the store manager that the AASP provided me a generated code from another tested notebook... I can't believe Apple could hire such nasty minds, unprofessional, and condescending pricks!!!

sofianito said:

After getting the GPU error report from the AASP, I went to the apple store to share the result and good news, but the weird thing is instead of suggesting to pass the test again to confirm the results, the useless genius bar guy who did the test the day before insinuated in front of the store manager that the AASP provided me a generated code from another tested notebook... I can't believe Apple could hire such nasty minds, unprofessional, and condescending pricks!!!

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Try going to another Apple Store?

sofianito said:

After getting the GPU error report from the AASP, I went to the apple store to share the result and good news...
... I can't believe Apple could hire such nasty minds, unprofessional, and condescending pricks!!!

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Good news to who? Good news to you, bad news to Apple. They will have to pay a few hundred dollars all so that you can continue to avoid purchasing more of their products for a few more months or years.

I'm not trying to defend lack of professionalism, but I have a bit of sympathy for what the Apple store guys have to put up with. Read some of the threads in this forum and you'll find dozens of people returning perfectly fine products over and over. You'll even find some people outright looking to scam Apple's warranty and return policies, and I have no doubt that there are plenty of people doing the same even outside of the forum. Your problem is legitimate, but how can Apple know that? How can they set you apart from everyone else who is just trying to get something for free out of them?

As was suggested above, I would try going to another Apple store. That, or try going back during a different hour, when the workers and managers are likely to be different. Regardless, recognize that Apple owes you nothing at this point. They generously extended their warranty period for those of us with the affected GPU chipset even if we hadn't purchased AppleCare, and in fact the warranty period exceeded the standard AppleCare period. As of now we're beyond that extended warranty period.

Ledgem said:

How can they set you apart from everyone else who is just trying to get something for free out of them?

As was suggested above, I would try going to another Apple store. That, or try going back during a different hour, when the workers and managers are likely to be different. Regardless, recognize that Apple owes you nothing at this point. They generously extended their warranty period for those of us with the affected GPU chipset even if we hadn't purchased AppleCare, and in fact the warranty period exceeded the standard AppleCare period. As of now we're beyond that extended warranty period.

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I have neither received an email or call from Apple announcing a repair program, nor I was aware of it. Don't you think they had the obligation to acknowledge customers about this issue, and by not doing so they acted in bad faith?

In my case, I purchased the $349 apple care but never had to use it. I purchased the laptop on January 2nd, 2008. Unfortunately, the black screen happened few months (April 2012) after the 4 year repair program ended. Some or many people didn't purchase the apple care but were "fortunate enough" to experience the issue during that interval. Why Apple is discriminating against customers?

As for re-doing the test in another apple store, does it mean the test done in the AASP is not valid?
The store manager told me they cannot repair it for free unless it is approved by apple care. They didn't give a **** to the AASP's report!. On the other hand, after reporting the GPU error code to apple care, they told me it is up to another department to take the decision on Monday. Who has the power to take the decision? Are they lying to me?