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2008 MBP + Nvidia 8600M GT failure rate

R

redlemon

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 26, 2011
9
0
i'm wondering how common the, apple acknowledged, display issue is with the 2007/8 macbook pros? do they all fail, or just some?

i've got a lightly used 2008 MBP that's working fine, but what are the odds it will stay that way?

i'm trying to decide whether to get rid while it's still fine, or hang on to it and hope for the best? the 4 year GPU warranty is due to expire fairly soon.
 
I'm pretty sure it's ~100%. Check the thread out that's up to 1435434602493452 pages of people complaining about the 8600.

Yes, that many pages :p
 
I sold my 15" early 2008 MBP in December. Extended AppleCare ran out in October and since I was getting close to the 4 year limit for free replacement of the GPU I chose to sell the Mac while it still had enough value to finance the purchase of an early 2011 13" MBP, which I snagged for $900 during an Amazon sale last summer.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
I'm pretty sure it's ~100%. Check the thread out that's up to 1435434602493452 pages of people complaining about the 8600.

Yes, that many pages :p
Click to expand...


yeah, i read that. well, some of it. it was pretty much 100% posters who'd had the issue. i guess owners who are unaffected don't post.

i'm getting twitchy though.
 
I'm sure it's nowhere close to 100% fail rate.

My guess is that it's a few % over 5 years, with the possibility that it increases over time (which is normal for all electronics stuff).
 
Yeah, not 100% but who knows where that data is. You would need to model it based on repair data. BUT, my GF had 3 replacements that all failed. Eventually Apple gave her a new unibody version because of the hassle she endured.
 
Its a manufacturing defect that causes the GPU to fail, so I think the failure rate is rather high. Basically its not a question if it will fail but when
 
maflynn said:
Its a manufacturing defect that causes the GPU to fail, so I think the failure rate is rather high. Basically its not a question if it will fail but when
Click to expand...

Everything will fail if you wait long enough.

A question that could be answered if we had access to Apple/Nvidia repair data is what the probability for a failure after 4/5/6 years.

The first affected models are now getting 5 years old. I read a few cases now where the first failure occurred outside the 4 year repair window, which clearly shows that the failure rate is not 100% over 4 years.

Beyond this I can only speculate. I can't imagine the 4 year failure rate being above a few percent - this is already a lot for a single component of an electronics product. Most electronic devices are discarded and replaced before they even have a chance to fail.
 
thundersteele said:
Everything will fail if you wait long enough.
.
Click to expand...
The problem is, the GPU is failing within the excepted lifespan of the laptop and from what I've read in the past, its a given that it will fail long before any other component nears end of life.
 
It's maddening that even the replacement GPUs have the defect; the woman who went through three repairs deserved that new MBP. Unfortunately, most people aren't so fortunate to get a new MBP out of the deal.

IMO Apple really dropped the ball regarding the defective GPUs. Apple refused to acknowledge that there was a problem for months before it finally confirmed what thousands of MBP owners already suspected. If you called Apple tech support prior to the announcement Apple reps would deny that they were experiencing an abnormal number of GPU failures. After this appalling failure my positive impression of Apple's much-vaunted "customer service" dropped several notches.

If Dell had treated its customers in a similar fashion Apple fans would have savaged the company.
 
I recently posted my experience with apple over the Nvidia issue, my MacBook pro is older than 4 yrs though I bought it from the refurb store on 02/04/2008 and they replaced the logic board no problems.

Also read the wording on the apple site:


"Apple will continue to evaluate the repair data and will provide further repair extensions as needed."


That to me reads that it will be over 4 years that they are offering replacements for.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2377
 
For what it's worth, mine will be 4 years in 2 months although I stopped using it at the beginning of the 3rd year. It's wasn't fun using it in fear of the thing dying any day.
 
I know of 3 people with that generation MBP, myself, and two friends.

All of them died at least once.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

FuNGi said:
Yeah, not 100% but who knows where that data is. You would need to model it based on repair data. BUT, my GF had 3 replacements that all failed. Eventually Apple gave her a new unibody version because of the hassle she endured.
Click to expand...

Same happened to me. In early 2010, Apple replaced my failing Santa Rosa with a 2.8 Unibody because off all the bs i went through. Couldn't believe it.
 
FuNGi said:
Yeah, not 100% but who knows where that data is. You would need to model it based on repair data. BUT, my GF had 3 replacements that all failed. Eventually Apple gave her a new unibody version because of the hassle she endured.
Click to expand...
And I had 3 replacements too... Apple just acted like I should be grateful they are fixing it for free :rolleyes: Never mind my inconvenience.
 
nikhsub1 said:
And I had 3 replacements too... Apple just acted like I should be grateful they are fixing it for free :rolleyes: Never mind my inconvenience.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I was the one doing all the calling and negotiations with APplecare as well. my girlfriend was about to pull her hair out because she had to do without her computer on three separate occasions. I just remained calm but firm on the phone until they bumped the issue up the ladder to where someone could actually offer us a new computer. She was sure happy to get the unibody i5 machine but was somewhat shell-shocked by the experience. Now she also has an 11" MBA for "backup".
 
Mine hasn't died yet, but I waited for a backup to finish before posting this in case I jinx it.
 
I had to have the logic board replaced in my 2007 SR MBP because the 8600M GPU died.

It took knowledge and pressure on my part to get the repair completed for free - ridiculous really to have to go through that to get a manufacturing defect resolved that is widely acknowledged and documented.
 
Mojo1 said:
It's maddening that even the replacement GPUs have the defect; the woman who went through three repairs deserved that new MBP. Unfortunately, most people aren't so fortunate to get a new MBP out of the deal.

IMO Apple really dropped the ball regarding the defective GPUs. Apple refused to acknowledge that there was a problem for months before it finally confirmed what thousands of MBP owners already suspected. If you called Apple tech support prior to the announcement Apple reps would deny that they were experiencing an abnormal number of GPU failures. After this appalling failure my positive impression of Apple's much-vaunted "customer service" dropped several notches.

If Dell had treated its customers in a similar fashion Apple fans would have savaged the company.
Click to expand...

It was NVIDIA's fault, not Apple. HP, Dell, and any laptop that was using an 8600gt was defective. HP and Dell didn't handle the situation any better than Apple did.

I'm sure Apple was not happy about this, which may be why there's an ATI GPU in the MBPs today.

As for the failure rate of the MBP with the 8600gt...its close to 100%. The manufacturing process of the 8600gt was seriously flawed and its the heating and cooling down of the GPU that weakens the soldering points.
 
MrX8503 said:
It was NVIDIA's fault, not Apple. HP, Dell, and any laptop that was using an 8600gt was defective. HP and Dell didn't handle the situation any better than Apple did.

I'm sure Apple was not happy about this, which may be why there's an ATI GPU in the MBPs today.

As for the failure rate of the MBP with the 8600gt...its close to 100%. The manufacturing process of the 8600gt was seriously flawed and its the heating and cooling down of the GPU that weakens the soldering points.
Click to expand...

While NVIDIA may have manufactured the defective GPU, it's ultimately up to Apple to do the right thing for its customers. And it doesn't matter that HP and Dell didn't handle the situation any better than Apple: three wrongs do not make a right.

Apple is sitting on billions of dollars in the bank; the company can easily afford to make its customers whole. Many of the affected customers are students and others who lost real money as well as lost productivity. They cannot easily absorb those costs. The arbitrary four-year limit for warranty repairs is adding insult to injury.

Apple really dropped the ball this time. :rolleyes:
 
MrX8503 said:
It was NVIDIA's fault, not Apple. HP, Dell, and any laptop that was using an 8600gt was defective. HP and Dell didn't handle the situation any better than Apple did.

I'm sure Apple was not happy about this, which may be why there's an ATI GPU in the MBPs today.

As for the failure rate of the MBP with the 8600gt...its close to 100%. The manufacturing process of the 8600gt was seriously flawed and its the heating and cooling down of the GPU that weakens the soldering points.
Click to expand...

Those brands aren't exactly well regarded on this forum. All it really says is not to trust the oems.
 
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