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Who's got long-term experience with re-balled MBP?

B

Beliblis

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 31, 2011
241
11
Hi,

I am now 90% certain that the reason for my graphics artefacts is down to radeongate / defect discrete gpu. MBP 2011 i7 quad core. (System is running fine when forced to integrated gpu via gfxCardStatus).

Reinstalling OS 10.7 didn't help solve the problem either. So unless there was a hidden GPU firmware update that came with OS 10.9: Radeongate.

Apple doesn't acknowledge the problem. Many reports of Apple's logic board replacement not solving the problem. So I am thinking about re-balling the gpu.

Two questions:
1) How difficult a job is re-balling for a good technician, provided they've got appropriate equipment? I mean: is it more or less a "standard job" for a dedicated laptop technician? (In medical terms: is it like healing a broken leg – or is it more like "brain surgery", where doctor's skills are probably more important than the actual equipment?)

2) How many people here have had their gnu re-balled? And how long ago? Would you do it again?
 
L

librarian

macrumors regular
Sep 24, 2011
107
3
1)You need proper equipment and skill for this kind of repair. There are many third party repair centers that provide this kind of services. Most of them are advertised on E-Bay, average price is around 120-150 euro but can be higher if the GPU is damaged beyond repair and needs to be replaced.

2) I've sent 2 units for repair in total. One was sent 9 months ago and still works fine if not better, because they also cleaned up the thermal paste disaster from Apple factory standard.
Both units run about 10 C° cooler compared to original condition, hopefully the units will go for a few more years.
There is no other solution to fix this. Officially, from Apple you should trash the unit or give em money for an equally busted replacement.
I recommend you to send the computer for a reballing service as soon as possible, GPU replacements will eventually be gone soon.
 
T

triplelucky

macrumors regular
Sep 30, 2012
153
0
Tucson, Arizona, USA
1) How difficult a job is re-balling for a good technician?

The best of the best with the best equipment and years of experience specializing in Macbook logic boards might be able to achieve an 85% success ratio.
 
B

Beliblis

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 31, 2011
241
11
triplelucky said:
1) How difficult a job is re-balling for a good technician?

The best of the best with the best equipment and years of experience specializing in Macbook logic boards might be able to achieve an 85% success ratio.
Click to expand...

What makes you say that? Have you got a background in rebelling / laptop repairs? (Not that I don't believe you –*just curious).

85% sounds a bit too much like a hit and miss...

What's the worst that could happen during a reballing (again: by a proper technician)? Problem worse than before? Logicboard fried? Would Apple ever notice that the logic board was worked on? (If they ever recognise this as an Apple problem)...
 
T

triplelucky

macrumors regular
Sep 30, 2012
153
0
Tucson, Arizona, USA
I have a pretty good background in component level Macbook logic board repairs plus I “sit in” on the dialog of a worldwide group of repair tech’s as they deal with the technical issues of component level laptop repairs on a daily basis.

The worst that could happen is your logic board could be ruined.

Apple would probably know its been worked on because, unless the tech’s rework station had optical alignment common practice is to try to “mark” the position of the GPU prior to remove as there are no provisions on the macbook logic boards for realignment of removed components.
 
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