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Going to Apple Store tomorrow... Macbook Pro screen black

R

RRmalvado

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 27, 2010
352
25
So while using my MBP (A1226) today, I had to run a few errands so I shut it down closed the lid and went on my way. Came back about 20 minutes ago and when I try to turn it on, my screen is completely black. Tried resetting PRAM, taking out the battery, etc.

I immediately called the local Apple Store and made an appointment for tomorrow. I'm thinking its that video card issue, so hopefully it gets resolved. The Apple logo in the back doesn't even light up.

Is there anything else I can try in the mean time?
Any tips to ensure I don't get the run around?
 
E

Excluse

macrumors member
May 18, 2010
84
0
Well, I wouldn't recommend going tomorrow unless you absolutely have to considering that's when iPhone 4 pre-orders start.
Even if not by a lot, that could mean increased traffic in the Apple store.
 
R

RRmalvado

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 27, 2010
352
25
Well I made an appointment with the genius in the afternoon, busy or not they will not turn me away. I may just pre-order my iPhone 4 at the same time, now that you mention it.
 
RHVC59

RHVC59

macrumors 6502
May 10, 2008
397
0
Eugene, Oregon
Any Luck? No video on mine this morning either. The closest Apple store is over 600 miles away. And the darn Support site is down.
ARG my photos are all there. and I just upgraded the memory and hard disk.
:mad:
 
R

Reapur

macrumors regular
May 5, 2010
185
0
RHVC59 said:
Any Luck? No video on mine this morning either. The closest Apple store is over 600 miles away. And the darn Support site is down.
ARG my photos are all there. and I just upgraded the memory and hard disk.
:mad:
Click to expand...

Time to hire a bush pilot !
 
B

bov

macrumors 6502
Aug 21, 2007
384
0
San Francisco
Yea, sounds like a video card problem... same thing happened to mine :(

But, it was a fast fix, brought it in, took about a day to replace the logic board, and they even upgraded my original 2.2 GHz to a 2.4 GHz board, and all my files intact :)

Blessing in disguise?
 
I

ishopukisfake

macrumors regular
Jul 31, 2008
247
0
Sounds like what happened to my MBP a few days ago, no screen at all and not even reaching the chime, looks like this is a very common problem.

I dont know if it is the hard drive or logic board though, is the logic board the mother board / processor / CPU/ GHZ ?
 
R

RRmalvado

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 27, 2010
352
25
Update... they took it in and ordered a Rev 2 logic board/video card.
It was free as well.

Just waiting for them to call me to go pick it up.

:D
 
R

RRmalvado

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 27, 2010
352
25
Well got a call today and the genius mentioned that since I (best buy) replaced the hard drive, since it was not an authorized Apple retailer/service center, that he needed to get authorization from his team lead in order to proceed.

Has anyone experienced something similar? How should I handle this situation if the team lead says no?
 
S

stillageek

macrumors newbie
May 4, 2010
21
0
I replaced my own hard drive in my 2.4 MBP with the dreaded 8600GT card. When the video card failed the "genius" (I hate that term) paused when I said it now had a 500 GB hard drive, then kept going. Fixed free.
 
R

RRmalvado

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 27, 2010
352
25
stillageek said:
I replaced my own hard drive in my 2.4 MBP with the dreaded 8600GT card. When the video card failed the "genius" (I hate that term) paused when I said it now had a 500 GB hard drive, then kept going. Fixed free.
Click to expand...

I figured that it wouldn't be an issue either, but now I have to wait an extra day because the team lead is not in until tomorrow. So if the team lead says no... what can I do?

I mentioned that the issue itself, based on the knowledge article by Apple, has nothing to do with the hard drive.
 
RHVC59

RHVC59

macrumors 6502
May 10, 2008
397
0
Eugene, Oregon
Reapur said:
Time to hire a bush pilot !
Click to expand...

I'm Hoping that FedEx will will save the day... because I don't think my wife will let me spring for the Alaska Air Line ticket to Seattle.

On another note I had a nice conversation with two Apple Tech this morning. It seems the was the dreaded Black Screen of Nivida Death has hit my machine. So, my formerly Trusty MBP gets to take a trip to the repair shop. If it turns out that that it is just the Video, the fix is should be free. That makes it feel a little bit better.... Wonder how many more MBP are going to be dropping soon.

I know everything but the video is working. I was able to use my daughters macbook to "share the screens" and remote into my machine over our home network. I was able to remotely rip a DVD, run time machine, copy files over to the Drorbo-FS, check email, and do some general disk cleanup. Everything worked well, if only from a different machine's monitor.
The Skype login chime sounds once the machine is fully booted up.

The video properties in the shared screen were those of the macbook host, It seems that there is no video at all from the MBP at all.

Other troubleshooting steps I have taken:
I know it is not the RAM, tried switching in know good RAM..
Tried to enter Diagnostic mode with the install disk, still no video.
Reset the PRAM multiple times.
I noted that all functions keys except those deal with video work and light up.
 
B

bward24601

macrumors newbie
Jun 22, 2010
6
0
Same Boat

I just dropped off my MBP yesterday with the same problem. Just out of the blew after two years the logic board blew. It just annoys me that so many people are running into this issue and everyone gets stuck with the bill. That is not a cheap fix. It normally runs 600 to 800.
 
B

bward24601

macrumors newbie
Jun 22, 2010
6
0
How to Tell

RHVC59 said:
I'm Hoping that FedEx will will save the day... because I don't think my wife will let me spring for the Alaska Air Line ticket to Seattle.

On another note I had a nice conversation with two Apple Tech this morning. It seems the was the dreaded Black Screen of Nivida Death has hit my machine. So, my formerly Trusty MBP gets to take a trip to the repair shop. If it turns out that that it is just the Video, the fix is should be free. That makes it feel a little bit better.... Wonder how many more MBP are going to be dropping soon.

I know everything but the video is working. I was able to use my daughters macbook to "share the screens" and remote into my machine over our home network. I was able to remotely rip a DVD, run time machine, copy files over to the Drorbo-FS, check email, and do some general disk cleanup. Everything worked well, if only from a different machine's monitor.
The Skype login chime sounds once the machine is fully booted up.

The video properties in the shared screen were those of the macbook host, It seems that there is no video at all from the MBP at all.

Other troubleshooting steps I have taken:
I know it is not the RAM, tried switching in know good RAM..
Tried to enter Diagnostic mode with the install disk, still no video.
Reset the PRAM multiple times.
I noted that all functions keys except those deal with video work and light up.
Click to expand...

You can tell the difference between the logic board and the NVIDIA issue by seeing if your keyboard is responsive. If you can adjust the volume and change the backlight chances are you don't have a logic board problem.:D
 
T

that1dj

macrumors member
Jun 24, 2009
40
1
CA
RRmalvado said:
So while using my MBP (A1226) today, I had to run a few errands so I shut it down closed the lid and went on my way. Came back about 20 minutes ago and when I try to turn it on, my screen is completely black. Tried resetting PRAM, taking out the battery, etc.

I immediately called the local Apple Store and made an appointment for tomorrow. I'm thinking its that video card issue, so hopefully it gets resolved. The Apple logo in the back doesn't even light up.

Is there anything else I can try in the mean time?
Any tips to ensure I don't get the run around?
Click to expand...

I believe I'm in the same boat with this too. I just posted in another thread regarding replacements, but I was wondering if anyone else here might be having any suggestions.

I tried resetting PRAM, SMC, and have seen nothing. I held down power button to shut it off, then turned it back on and still had a black screen, but with what sounded like some hard drive activity. Waited to see if anything popped up, but I got nothing. After forcing it off again then turning it back on, I heard the startup sound and what I thought was HD activity and still had nothing on screen. This would be a fourth repair on the laptop. Sadly, I hadn't backed up in the last few weeks (I know, my fault). I'm wondering,though, if I did take it in, if they would let me keep the hard drive if they replaced it or if they replaced the MBP altogether, so I could at least try to recover what was on it.
 
M

mallom

macrumors regular
Jun 21, 2010
103
2
that1dj said:
I believe I'm in the same boat with this too. I just posted in another thread regarding replacements, but I was wondering if anyone else here might be having any suggestions.

I tried resetting PRAM, SMC, and have seen nothing. I held down power button to shut it off, then turned it back on and still had a black screen, but with what sounded like some hard drive activity. Waited to see if anything popped up, but I got nothing. After forcing it off again then turning it back on, I heard the startup sound and what I thought was HD activity and still had nothing on screen. This would be a fourth repair on the laptop. Sadly, I hadn't backed up in the last few weeks (I know, my fault). I'm wondering,though, if I did take it in, if they would let me keep the hard drive if they replaced it or if they replaced the MBP altogether, so I could at least try to recover what was on it.
Click to expand...

They will fix it for free. :)
 
R

RRmalvado

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 27, 2010
352
25
Well I got it back and it's working perfectly... which I am very glad.

BUT I did purchase the 15" MBP today on my way out and i'm planning on selling the older MBP. It should allow me to recoup a little.
 
D

diehldun

macrumors 6502a
Nov 15, 2003
674
0
bward24601 said:
It just annoys me that so many people are running into this issue and everyone gets stuck with the bill. That is not a cheap fix. It normally runs 600 to 800.
Click to expand...

You shouldn't be charged, this particular issue is (normally) covered by Apple. It happened to me too.
 
T

that1dj

macrumors member
Jun 24, 2009
40
1
CA
mallom said:
They will fix it for free. :)
Click to expand...

I hope so since I'm still under AppleCare. With all of my other repairs, I've had the opportunity to backup my stuff and clear it off the system. Have any of you had an issue with any personal documents being compromised? I know when you sign the repair forms they state something regarding not being responsible for "lost or compromised data".


UPDATE:

I'm able to get the chime to sound and get some response from the keys (num lock lights up). Let me see what else happens.
 
RHVC59

RHVC59

macrumors 6502
May 10, 2008
397
0
Eugene, Oregon
bward24601 said:
You can tell the difference between the logic board and the NVIDIA issue by seeing if your keyboard is responsive. If you can adjust the volume and change the backlight chances are you don't have a logic board problem.:D
Click to expand...

That is pretty much what i figured. It must be what happened as it left here yesterday morning, and last I checked it was on its way back:D from Texas tonight, Alaska by way of Indiana...

I am hoping they will let me know what they did.
 
RHVC59

RHVC59

macrumors 6502
May 10, 2008
397
0
Eugene, Oregon
Well it is back and works fine.:D
:apple: Service techs replaced the logic board due to video issues. Not sure what revision logic board they used, But I will check when I upgrade the hard disk this weekend. Best of all there was no bill, since apple care ran out some time ago. And it was a very fast turnaround. Received the shipping box on Tuesday, Fedex picked picked it up Wednesday morning. :apple: Fixed it two hours after received it Wednesday night,. It shipped back on Thursday, and I got it back today by 2 p.m.
Hope the the video lasts longer than the last one;)
 
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