MC371 Macbook Pro 15.4" logic board fail

I once wondered why we have more 2010 A1286 Macbook Pro logic boards with catastrophic failures, than any other board combined for a while. Even the 2007/2008 A1226/A1260 machines with the bad GPU. They are not always physically damaged or ruined by liquid, and they are fairly new, so they have not had time to be put through the ringer yet.

I sat here testing a board after its repair, and noticed the fans weren't coming on properly. Crap. What have I done wrong!! Let me try a new fan. Still no dice, it's at minimum RPM with 100% CPU load on all cores. Let me double check the temp sensor and CPU usage to make SURE what I am doing is actually stressing the CPU. No increase in fan RPM. The heatsink is hot enough to burn me at this point.

I must've broken something with my shoddy work. Let me try a confirmed working board from before.

SAME THING. For the first five to ten minutes, the fan stays at a low RPM. Regardless of CPU temp, or CPU usage.

I blink, and try an honest to god new Macbook Pro. 2010 model, in an original box. Unused. Right now I am really hoping that this is an error in my work that can be fixed by going back and doing it right. I am worried sick that every 2010 board worked on has this mistake of not allowing the fan to rev up all the way on it.

SAME ****. With the new, never used machine.

Unfortunately, it seems like every MC371 machine I find, for the first 5-10 minutes of the machine's boot, do not allow the fan to rev up. And the CPU BOILS. 93, 95, 100c and beyond. In a hot room, over 100c, before it eventually shuts itself off. If you leave the machine on for 30 minutes, THEN do something CPU intensive, the fan will come on like clockwork, but for the first 5-15 minutes after the machine's initial boot, the fan stays silent and the CPU burns.

I've tried at least a dozen machines now at this point, they all exhibit the same behavior. For the first five-ten minutes post boot, you can use the CPU as much as you want and the fan speed will remain low. I've only tried MC371 so far, I'll have to double check again in the morning.

Has anyone else with a 2010 machine experienced a similar issue? I wonder how Apple will respond to people since these have come out of warranty for most customers by now. Am I missing something, some firmware update or recall that everyone has heard of but me? I do live in a bubble, working all day and night.

I'd love some insight from owners of the machine.

P.S.

IF YOU LOVE YOUR MACBOOK, DO NOT TEST TO CONFIRM ON IT. I DO NOT WANT YOU TO KILL YOUR MACHINE ON MY ACCOUNT.

Thank you.

It seems like 820-2850 is the board that is doing this. Luckily, 820-2850 is compatible with 820-2915, which is much better. Unfortunately one would have to replace the battery as the connector is different.

Has no one else run into this? I am surprised the 820-2850 isn't recalled.

zsrhusain said:

Do you still have apple care? My brother had a Mid 2010 MBP like you. His logic board failed 3 times. First 2 times Apple replaced the LB. Then in December the logic board failed again. The Genius said that they were going to replace the laptop. There were no refurbs left so it was replaced with a brand new late 2012 (non retina) MBP. Try going to the Apple store and see what they can do.

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I don't. To clarify, I do not own any Apple products for work or personal use. I was posting our collective experience servicing this machine - that 820-2850 boards have an incredibly high failure rate from a flawed cooling system.