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Apple says some MacBook Pros affected by faulty Nvidia chips
- Thread starter HiFiGuy528
- Start date
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So is the consensus that this cant be fixed or are they now offering better replacement logic boards that wont fail.
I just got my laptop checked out and yep the card failed the test which was annoying because everything else about the machine is perfect. The genius offered to replace the logic board for me but i declined seeing as people said the replacement boards dont fix the issue
In which case there's no point going without my laptop for days if i'm just gonna get another bad card
So are the replacement boards being issued now good ones that fix the issue or is the issue not fixable period?
I just got my laptop checked out and yep the card failed the test which was annoying because everything else about the machine is perfect. The genius offered to replace the logic board for me but i declined seeing as people said the replacement boards dont fix the issue
In which case there's no point going without my laptop for days if i'm just gonna get another bad card
So are the replacement boards being issued now good ones that fix the issue or is the issue not fixable period?
How long does it take for them to test it?
I am wondering whether to bring mine in, just to see if it fails the test.
I guess even if your computer is fine, you should bring it in when the 1 year extended warranty is almost up. At that point you may as well get the logic board replaced if it fails, because that's the last chance you're going to get.
I am wondering whether to bring mine in, just to see if it fails the test.
I guess even if your computer is fine, you should bring it in when the 1 year extended warranty is almost up. At that point you may as well get the logic board replaced if it fails, because that's the last chance you're going to get.
About 2 mins...its a very quick test. My card seems to be kinda newer.
GeForce 8600M GT:
Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 512 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0407
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 3212
The ROM is not the 3175 which apparently seems to die quicker
what spec is your machine, and when was it manufactured?
apparently the faulty GPUs are only in machines up to the end of sept 2008. thereafter Apple says they are not affected
my ROM revision is the same as yours, my machine was made in mid october of this year
I've got that same ROM number but my card has 256mb ram. My MBP was manufactured in April according to my serial number, which is listed by Apple as faulty.
I cant really say there's a discrepancy between my serial number and actual hardware. The serial number says i have a 2.5GHz/2GB RAM/250GB HDD and this was manufactured in week 33 of August. However my actual hardware is a 2.6GHz/4GB RAM/200GB 7200 RPM
So i dunno. The card is definitely faulty...the question now is how much faulty
I'm going to visit an Apple Genius this weekend hopefully. Will he/she give me any sort of information or will he/she keep his/her mouth shut?
I think you'd have to inquire other wise they'd keep sut even though its a well known issue
did you run your serial number through coconut identity card?
when did you actually purchase your machine, and do you know the methd/software the genius used to test your GPU?
BTW it's the main reason I'm going lol. If I'm going to an Apple Genius, do I have to have a problem or can I just ask them questions?
This week election day delivery. He pulled out one of their external drives, connected it to the MBP and ran the test software which seems to put the card through its paces and come up with a result of PASS or FAILED. Mine showed a big FAILED in red...twice
Just tell him you heard about the Nvidia issue and would like your laptop tested to see if its vulnerable
hey i just got a new mbp 2 days ago, its the 2.4 ghz, 8600gt 256 mb version, i got it brand new from the store at the reduced price, how can i tell when mine was manufactured to see if it could be faulty
Download Coconut Identity Card, as for the GPU, no one knows which revision is not faulty.
So i went to see a genius today to get my logic board replaced but the genius advised me not to...saying, since the computer isn't actually displaying any symptoms i might be setting myself up for trouble for all i know the replacement board could be worse than what i have now (true). He also said i have two years extension warranty anyway so its better i actually wait for the card to fail (if it does fail).
He said the GPU test isn't necessarily accurate and is only used as a formality to confirm GPU symptoms and since i don't have any symptoms the test result in this case maybe a false negative (i thought this was BS)
But he does have a point. My machine hasn't exhibited any symptoms i wouldn't even know if i hadn't requested the test. Although i do think the card is defective (apparently all of them) the thing is i don't know how bad...for all i know it may be one of those ones with a slower failure rate that'll chug along for years and if i did replace it i might be tinkering with something that really didn't need fixing per se in the first place.
I also don't trust logic board replacements from Apple...it always seems you have to do several replacements before getting a decent one since the boards are refurbished as well.
Anyhue i decided not to proceed with a replacement and actually wait till the card exhibits symptoms...who knows...it may never happen and it may happen 2 yrs on or tomorrow
Its probably a specialized test written by either Apple themselves...hence proprietary or Nvidia for Apple/hardware vendors. I doubt consumers have access to it. After all all companies involved are trying to keep the issue hush hush as much as possible.
He said the GPU test isn't necessarily accurate and is only used as a formality to confirm GPU symptoms and since i don't have any symptoms the test result in this case maybe a false negative (i thought this was BS)
But he does have a point. My machine hasn't exhibited any symptoms i wouldn't even know if i hadn't requested the test. Although i do think the card is defective (apparently all of them) the thing is i don't know how bad...for all i know it may be one of those ones with a slower failure rate that'll chug along for years and if i did replace it i might be tinkering with something that really didn't need fixing per se in the first place.
I also don't trust logic board replacements from Apple...it always seems you have to do several replacements before getting a decent one since the boards are refurbished as well.
Anyhue i decided not to proceed with a replacement and actually wait till the card exhibits symptoms...who knows...it may never happen and it may happen 2 yrs on or tomorrow
Its probably a specialized test written by either Apple themselves...hence proprietary or Nvidia for Apple/hardware vendors. I doubt consumers have access to it. After all all companies involved are trying to keep the issue hush hush as much as possible.
So thats basically just said that the replacements are faulty too, great so I'm now officially suppose to let my FIRST ever Mac which was expensive to die after 2 years. Looks like I'll never buy an expensive laptop again. The cheaper ones seem to last longer, at least for me...
I visited an Apple Genius today. He went through my list of questions while I was unpacking my MBP for other questions.
Question: Are all the 8600M faulty (have a shorter than usual lifespan?)
Answer: No
Question: Is the extended warranty added on to Apple Care?
Answer: No
Question: If my 8600M packs in will it be replaced by a tested and certified one that does not suffer from the same problem?
Answer: Yes
Question: What is the max safe temperature for the 8600M when playing games?
Answer: About 130 degrees
So it looks bright if he was telling me the truth. If he wasn't I could claim against him if my replacement fails.
Thanks.
Question: Are all the 8600M faulty (have a shorter than usual lifespan?)
Answer: No
Question: Is the extended warranty added on to Apple Care?
Answer: No
Question: If my 8600M packs in will it be replaced by a tested and certified one that does not suffer from the same problem?
Answer: Yes
Question: What is the max safe temperature for the 8600M when playing games?
Answer: About 130 degrees
So it looks bright if he was telling me the truth. If he wasn't I could claim against him if my replacement fails.
Thanks.
Question for those bringing their MBPs in to the geniuses at apple for testing, are you guys having actual symptoms of your GPU failing? If you're not, has their been an occurrence where the owner of the MBP has had no symptoms but yet the so called test that the Apple Geniuses do to the system show that the GPU HAS failed the test?
In the year and a half I've had my MBP, it has only showed visual anomolies once, which was a bunch of blue vertical lines going across both my External Display and the screen of my MBP itself. This happened months before I even knew there were issues with the GPU, and knowing what I know now, I should have taken a picture of the horizontal lines and kept it as proof of an ailing GPU card.
I'd like to get the GPU/Logic board replaced, but I do want to wait till it's closer to the end of the extended warranty that apple has applied. I really don't want to have to go through this mess now, since I rely heavily on my MBP for Nursing school, it contains all my notes and lectures, and with finals coming up, I can't be without it.
I'm just wondering if the Apple GPU tests that they do fail cards that do not currently show symptoms. Any input on this is greatly appreciated, thank you.
In the year and a half I've had my MBP, it has only showed visual anomolies once, which was a bunch of blue vertical lines going across both my External Display and the screen of my MBP itself. This happened months before I even knew there were issues with the GPU, and knowing what I know now, I should have taken a picture of the horizontal lines and kept it as proof of an ailing GPU card.
I'd like to get the GPU/Logic board replaced, but I do want to wait till it's closer to the end of the extended warranty that apple has applied. I really don't want to have to go through this mess now, since I rely heavily on my MBP for Nursing school, it contains all my notes and lectures, and with finals coming up, I can't be without it.
I'm just wondering if the Apple GPU tests that they do fail cards that do not currently show symptoms. Any input on this is greatly appreciated, thank you.
Mine has shown a few symptoms but I didn't get mine checked. Next time I'm in I will show them evidence and ask them to test it. By then hopefully things will have moved on and repairs will be more clear whether they are fixed or not.
BTW does anyone with an 8600M get a yellow backing on some webpages and then it vanishes when the website has fully loaded? Mine does this sometimes and I'm sure its GPU related as it's inconsistent.
BTW does anyone with an 8600M get a yellow backing on some webpages and then it vanishes when the website has fully loaded? Mine does this sometimes and I'm sure its GPU related as it's inconsistent.
I wasn't exhibiting any symptoms when i went in for the test, i only went in purely to satisfy my curiosity and it turned out that the card was inherently faulty. TBH i think ALL 8600M GT cards that take the test will fail it. I haven't heard of a case where a user passed the test
Even though the card failed the test i still hadn't gotten any freezing/artifact symptoms. So i set out to stress the GPU to try and make it freeze. I have to admit it wasnt easy to do, i ran several tests (Coverflow browsing, Aperture, Screen Savers, Quicklooking hi-res images etc in succession and repeated the cycle and the card kept chewing through them.
I had almost given up but i decided to do the Quicklook test one more time and this time i got the freeze and NV Graphics timeout log...i guess the GPU was pretty stressed out at this point and finally caved and froze requiring me to do a restart
Even after the restart i've been unable to get it to freeze again even though i didn't push as hard this time (got bored) leading me to think the card is still for the most part resilient and it probably won't even sweat my general day to day use and would chug along just fine for a while.
However now that i know it failed the test AND i can get it to crash if i try REALLY hard, it's become difficult to justify keeping it which is a shame cos i really like the machine.