Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple says some MacBook Pros affected by faulty Nvidia chips

Can anyone tell anything from this? Looks like my ROM is 3175. My machine was ordered 6-07 the night of the new MBP release.

GeForce 8600M GT:

Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0407
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 3175
 
soLoredd said:
I was always under the impression that the ROM is only upgradeable via hardware - it's a firmware that is hardcoded into the unit.
Click to expand...
True ROM is. But the definition of firmware is that it's not hardcoded; it will stay on the chip permanently (hard) but can be updated if needed (soft). Hard + soft == firm. Generally it's some form of flash memory on the device.
 
Yeah, I rec'd an unsatisfactory response from apple as well just trying to get info on their refurbs with the 8600 gpu. They sure don't have anything in place to address this, in spite of the fact that it's a known problem. They only are prepared to deal with it once it's failed. (although there were a lot of horror stories here by people who were given a runaround at the genius bar before this was admitted by apple).

This thread should be a sticky. Every day there are people coming on, asking about buying the refurbs and clearance machines. I'm surprised apple is not being upfront and honest about these faulty gpus.


Romanesq said:
So since I just received a MacBook Pro 2.4 yesterday, I called today to see what's what. They aren't giving any real answers to this issue. We all want to know if there is a new Nvidia card made to fix this.

Well they "pretended" there was one by saying my machine was get this, made in the 41st week, re: October. Of course I don't believe that as when I asked what is different then about the Nvidia card, they can't give you an answer.

Not one that makes any sense. There was mention of a "patch" and I just flung that down and said software isn't going to do it or it would have been done for everyone. Told the nice person on the phone they weren't getting the right support.

Bottom line: I have 14 days to decide.

It looks like we have our answer though. 2 years of replacements until this card(s) dies a horrible death. :eek:

Darn.
Click to expand...
 
I had my appointment with the Genius bar today, I had explained to my Genius that I had returned to my macbook pro after two hours to find it having a black screen while everything worked. He spent a good 10 minutes trying to hook up the external hard disk to test if it would pass the graphic test, but to no avail he could not get the screen to come up. He then tried to connect my mbp to an external monitor but that didn't work either. I then asked him whether or not it was the graphic card or just the logic board itself, he said he had no idea since he could not test it, but he kindly said he'd file it under the graphic card situation so I would not be charged! That absolutely made my day.
 
phantac, can you find out from someone in the know there, whether they are replacing it with something other than the 8600? The point being, th 8600s are known to be faulty so why not put something newer and better inside so you won't have to be back again in a year?
 
bushbaby said:
This thread should be a sticky. Every day there are people coming on, asking about buying the refurbs and clearance machines. I'm surprised apple is not being upfront and honest about these faulty gpus.
Click to expand...

I'm not surprised, in that I'm sure Apple doesn't want to swap out the logic board on an entire generation/revision of MBP's.

They are not saying much else, because I doubt the problem can be easily isolated to a certain serial number range. Unless that serial number range encompasses every Penryn MBP ever made.

Boy this has sure been one big clusterf*%k. Does anyone know how other notebook makers with 8600's are handling this?

bushbaby said:
phantac, can you find out from someone in the know there, whether they are replacing it with something other than the 8600? The point being, th 8600s are known to be faulty so why not put something newer and better inside so you won't have to be back again in a year?
Click to expand...

There's nothing other than 8600's to replace them with, they likely can't just substitute some other GPU. The hope is that the replacement boards won't have the same inherent defect though.
 
Dell seems to be doing the same thing as Apple- 12 months:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=289274
http://direct2dell.com/one2one/arch...*****to-all-affected-customers-worldwide.aspx

HP- 24 months:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c01087277&dlc=en

Also this widely reported quote from Nvidia:

The news director of Nvidia, Derek Perez, said “We’ve been diligent in our analysis with Apple, as with all our OEM partners.”

Perez goes on to say that “Our analysis is that failure in a MacBook Pro is remote, but Apple is going to decide its warranty or replacement procedures based on their own quality guideline”
Click to expand...
 
Started to have problems with my MBP in the past week. Note the green vertical line extending all the way down the screen. It seems to come and go. Not sure if its the GPU but that's the only thing I can think of...

gpufk0.jpg

By henhowc, shot with iPhone at 2008-10-18

I also had a different symptom more similar to what other people are posting but it went away by itself before I could capture it on my iPhone. Anyhow here are the specs for my GPU:

Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 128 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0407
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 3175
 
I hear you, Madmax, about Apple not wanting to do a massive recall.

But Nvidia's ceo's assurance is not to be trusted in this day and age when ceos are lying through their teeth to save their skins. The Macworld article stated that Nvidia first lied to Apple saying it didn't affect them. They later had to change that.

And regarding the severity of it, which many of the buyers of the refurbs and clearance seem to be casting a blind eye to:

from appleinsider:

"Despite Nvidia's claim that its graphics chip failures were limited to a certain number of chips manufactured for a certain number of notebooks, the Inquirer in July charged the company with masking the severity of the problem, alleging that "all the G84 and G86 parts are bad. Period. No exceptions."

"All of them, mobile and desktop, use the exact same ASIC, so expect them to go south in inordinate numbers as well," the publication said."
 
OK, I'm off to the Genius Bar for my appointment. I am going to ask them nicely to replace the 8600M GT in my MBP with a Rev. 2, even though my machine is not yet showing symptoms. I'll let you all know how it goes. Keep your fingers crossed for me! :cool:
 
Phrasikleia said:
OK, I'm off to the Genius Bar for my appointment. I am going to ask them nicely to replace the 8600M GT in my MBP with a Rev. 2, even though my machine is not yet showing symptoms. I'll let you all know how it goes. Keep your fingers crossed for me! :cool:
Click to expand...

Ask for proof that you are getting a new non-8600, as all the 86s are bad. Good luck!
 
Denied.

I just got back from the Genius Bar. I made a very polite and impassioned plea for a preemptive replacement of the 8600M GT with a Rev. 2. They refused. They took the computer in for a few hours and ran some tests on it. It didn't show any symptoms (I told them to begin with that it was very new and not exhibiting symptoms). They said they would not replace the GPU and gave the computer back to me.

[Edit: By the way, they told me that the repair costs $1200 if it happens out of warranty.]
 
Phrasikleia said:
When did you have the repair done? Before or after Apple supposedly got a hold of these "Rev. 2" 8600M GT chips?
Click to expand...

I got my Macbook Pro back around the beginning of September '08. The logic board was replaced. The specs I posted were what I copied of the system profiler after the repair. It's supposedly the same chip as before.
 
Phrasikleia said:
100%, according to the Inquirer: "The flaw is a downright idiotic choice of multiple materials coupled with poor chip design and inadequate testing. It is a case of errors compounding errors. They are all defective."

So: a "really long extended warranty period" would cost Apple a fortune, not "less dough".

It's highly unlikely that they will extend the warranty to match or exceed what AppleCare covers (i.e. three years).

I think they would rather cross that bridge when they come to it than commit to the financial losses right away.
Click to expand...

This warranty will cost Apple nothing (unless they receive no reimbursement for labor from NVidia) because NVidia is going to pay for the logic board replacement (hence the $200 million write-off recently). I think the reason that Apple is limiting the coverage to one additional year is because they can't afford to sink NVidia now that they are relying on them for new chipsets.

Personally, I think NVidia lied to Apple about the problem because they wanted to sell their latest chipset to Apple and needed to assuage Apple's fears, but Apple needed to do something when they were able to verify the truth. Thus, the additional one-year warranty.
 
Phrasikleia said:
I just got back from the Genius Bar. I made a very polite and impassioned plea for a preemptive replacement of the 8600M GT with a Rev. 2. They refused. They took the computer in for a few hours and ran some tests on it. It didn't show any symptoms (I told them to begin with that it was very new and not exhibiting symptoms). They said they would not replace the GPU and gave the computer back to me.

[Edit: By the way, they told me that the repair costs $1200 if it happens out of warranty.]
Click to expand...

Finally a genius does something smart.

Why bother them when your computer is working fine? It's unrealistic to expect them to fix something not broken. Be content in knowing that if/when a problem does arise, it will be appropriately addressed. It's not guaranteed your computer will even have these problems. Wasting their time and asking for repairs on a perfectly functional computer is asinine. :rolleyes:
 
ATimson said:
Is there any source for this besides the sensationalist, unresearched, and frankly unprofessional Inquirer?
Click to expand...

How about the fact that all major computer manufacturers have extended their warranties on this part? I think that speaks volumes; it's an exceedingly rare occurrence. The massive thread on Apple Discussions is also very revealing. They had to shut down the first thread because it got too long and are now on a second looooong thread, full of people with failed GPUs. When you consider that the majority of the computers with this part are still under a year old, the already large number of failures does not bode well for the final stats.

Etrain said:
Finally a genius does something smart.

Why bother them when your computer is working fine? It's unrealistic to expect them to fix something not broken. Be content in knowing that if/when a problem does arise, it will be appropriately addressed. It's not guaranteed your computer will even have these problems. Wasting their time and asking for repairs on a perfectly functional computer is asinine. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Dear rude individual,

Someone else on this thread was offered a preemptive repair, so I would be foolish not to try to get the same offer. And I can hardly "be content" about the prospects of getting the repair done for free when reports are flowing in of people being denied warranty coverage (Apple has told a number of people that it must be something other than the GPU and is therefore not covered). And I certainly can't expect the part to be covered if it dies just outside of its warranty (which in my case would be 14 months from now).

Moreover, when I put this MBP up for sale, I can now say that it passed the special GPU test at the Genius Bar.

Uninformed, unthoughtful, and rude comments like yours are most unwelcome.
 
I have..

Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0407
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 3212

So am I free this problem?
 
I'm still waiting for htis problem to kick in. I run folding@home whenever I'm at home and i frequently close the lid (putting it to sleep) and taking it to wherever and starting it back up and yadada. Still 0 problems after 2 months of doing this.
 
Phrasikleia said:
Dear rude individual,

Someone else on this thread was offered a preemptive repair, so I would be foolish not to try to get the same offer. And I can hardly "be content" about the prospects of getting the repair done for free when reports are flowing in of people being denied warranty coverage (Apple has told a number of people that it must be something other than the GPU and is therefore not covered). And I certainly can't expect the part to be covered if it dies just outside of its warranty (which in my case would be 14 months from now).

Moreover, when I put this MBP up for sale, I can now say that it passed the special GPU test at the Genius Bar.

Uninformed, unthoughtful, and rude comments like yours are most unwelcome.
Click to expand...

My comment was far from rude, uninformed, or unthoughtful. It is idiotic to bother them with this unless there IS a problem with yours. I would have refused it also. You're cluttering a forum with nonsense when people who actually are experiencing a real problem are seeking relevant solutions. I'm tired of reading crap from people like you who seek replacements and repairs for such asinine things. Like people who return a product for a single dead pixel on a screen with millions. Furthermore, as a stockholder of Apple you bothering a busy Apple store with unrealistic demands based on speculation is directly my business as an owner of Apple.

For the sake of all those seeking relevant information in this thread, this will be my last remark regarding this matter. I ask you also clear the crap for those with a real problem.
 
Etrain said:
***snip*** a whole bunch of invective
Click to expand...

If you want a thread without discussion of the issue from owners of affected units, I suggest you start one yourself and call it something like "Post here only if you've had a GPU failure"--and then direct people who show up there wanting to discuss the issue to this thread, where we've been at it now for some 12 pages.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back