Good to know, thanks! I felt fairly confident & had a hard time believing that they didn't resolve this issue with the new unibodies for customers & their own liability's sake.
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Apple says some MacBook Pros affected by faulty Nvidia chips
- Thread starter HiFiGuy528
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The only way the faulty of the 8600s became public was because of the mass failure in a short time, obviously meaning there was something wrong with them. If your GPU lasts longer than 3 years then I highly doubt it will fail since it has lasted 3 years being faulty, unless you turn on you MBP once every week or so. Why should Apple extend the warranty 7 years? That is 4 years more than purchasing Apple Care! If there is that many faults then there should be a recall.
The GeForce 8600M GT (128MB VRAM) in the 2.2 GHz MacBook Pro (3,1) is a different revision I believe.
The 128mb ones seem to be failing more because they are the older ones which have been in use for longer, meaning they have had more time to fail, making them look more faulty than the 256mb or 512mb ones.
That's what I would think. That's why I found the comment that the 2.2 fails more than the 2.4 curious. I would account for the current difference in failure rates to the age of the machine unless there is something different in the 256mb card or the 2.4 logic board that would affect failure rates. Apple's statement basically including all MBP's with the 8600 card made me think the problem was across the board.
That's not true when the 2.2ghz mbp came out the 2.2 was the lower end and at the same time the 2.4ghz model was the higher end. And after a few months all I see are people complaining about the failures of their mbp and it happens to be the 2.2ghz model and not much mentioning of the 2.4ghz mbp with the 256mb vram.
So they both have been out for the same length of time.
The ones your thinking about are the 2.4ghz mbp with 512mb VRAM that came out a year later than the 2.2ghz mbp with the 128mb VRAM and the 2.4ghz mbp with 256mb VRAM.
The penryn mbp (just before the unibody mbps) 2.4ghz mbp with 256mb vram is the new lower end while the 2.5ghz mbp with the 512mb VRAM is the new higher end and those are not the ones I'm referring to since those models have only been out not even a year or so.
I swear this was a real conversation that took place not five minutes ago. I couldn't believe what I was hearing...is there ANY truth to this? Has anyone taken apart a refurbed previous gen MBP to see what exactly they did the GPU?
After trying to get a straight answer from a sales rep about these 8600s failing, I decided to call Apple Service Support to do a little digging (those sales guys just want me to buy the previous gen, or whatever, so they downplay the faulty cards and celebrate the new ones like a broken record). The Apple support guy was really nice and willing to entertain my questions and here are the highlights:
-8600s are faulty (okay, we all know that)
-They're upgrading the 8600 to a 9400 in previous gen MBPs (what?!?!)
-If I want to, I can actually have my 8600 upgraded to a 9600 in a previous gen MBP (Huh?!?!?)
Is this guy serious? I couldn't believe what I was hearing - I've never heard this before but this was a real phone call with Apple Service Support.
Thoughts?
After trying to get a straight answer from a sales rep about these 8600s failing, I decided to call Apple Service Support to do a little digging (those sales guys just want me to buy the previous gen, or whatever, so they downplay the faulty cards and celebrate the new ones like a broken record). The Apple support guy was really nice and willing to entertain my questions and here are the highlights:
-8600s are faulty (okay, we all know that)
-They're upgrading the 8600 to a 9400 in previous gen MBPs (what?!?!)
-If I want to, I can actually have my 8600 upgraded to a 9600 in a previous gen MBP (Huh?!?!?)
Is this guy serious? I couldn't believe what I was hearing - I've never heard this before but this was a real phone call with Apple Service Support.
Thoughts?
That would be cool for you! Ask for him to confirm by email
He doesn't have a MBP lol
hell yeah, i want my 9600 gt, im taking my mbp to the apple shop tomoz, ill bring a print out of your comment so they cant refuse me.
No way. I don't think that's possible. Would be interesting to follow up on though.
You know what - In hindsight, I wonder if the guy thought I was talking about my Mac Pro. I was VERY clear with him at the start of our conversation that I was interested in his service-sided advice on the MacBOOK Pro (as I try to figure out if I should buy previous gen or the new one), but things might have been lost in translation.
If anyone else has some time today to call Apple Care and see if there is any truth behind this, I'd be interested to know what happens.
For completeness sake, I want to add that I've got my MBP back literally one second before they closed for the holidays. They have replaced the Main Logic Board and yes, it was definitely the video chip with the known problem.
It's exactly the same 3,1/2.2 GHz board with GeForce 8600M GT video chipset and 128 MB VRAM according to System-Profiler.
Wouldn't be the first time this has happened. The last apple tech I spoke to over the phone when I was having BlSOD problems asked me to "reseat the video card".. After I repeatedly reminded him that a MacBOOK is a notebook computer..
Its sad when apples "geniuses" can't tell the difference between a desktop and a notebook, especially when its their own products.
I know my card is faulty because it was doing weird graphics artifacts shortly after I got it. I haven't had it changed out yet because when it was misbehaving Apple were still refusing to admit there was a problem plus it means losing the computer I need for work for two weeks. I'm in the UK.
Now I'm having this thing where the machine won't wake from sleep. You can just about see the ghost of what was on the screen when it went to sleep and hear noises from the processor but the screen is black. I have to force restart it.
Is this the graphics card finally going?
Now I'm having this thing where the machine won't wake from sleep. You can just about see the ghost of what was on the screen when it went to sleep and hear noises from the processor but the screen is black. I have to force restart it.
Is this the graphics card finally going?
Take it to the apple store as soon as you can, theres 3 in london you could go to, and theyll fix it for you, i say as soon as you can because a new 17" Macbook Pro is about to come out, and you have the older one, so perhaps you can trade the older one in which is being faulty for the new unibody one coming out in a few days
So my MacBook pro would not show any video when I came home from work today. Called AppleCare and they told me it's most likely the video card (no kidding, really?). I have to go in Friday. Are they just going to replace the logic board with another that has an affected gpu?
According to Apple, they will replace it with a logic board containing the same graphics card (8600) that was not produced among Nvidia's faulty manufacturing period. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone knows if such an 8600 card actually exists...they all might be faulty. Only time will tell. I tend to believe that if they knew they were all faulty they would have a different solution than simply replacing it...
No. There are new main logic boards (marked with kind of "Revision 2") available since some months that definitely don't have an affected GPU according to official Apple Service Provider here in Vienna. So when they have to change it under (extended) warranty you'll get this new Revision logic board with exactly the same tech specs.
Take it to the apple store as soon as you can, theres 3 in london you could go to, and theyll fix it for you, i say as soon as you can because a new 17" Macbook Pro is about to come out, and you have the older one, so perhaps you can trade the older one in which is being faulty for the new unibody one coming out in a few days
It's a nice thought but I don't think there's a prayer...
Besides, the new 17" MBP's will probably have the hi res glossy screen which means all my palettes and preview windows will be the size of postage stamps if I can see the screen at all over the reflection of my own face!
Hey cool. Are the Revision 2 Logic Boards for the new Unibody MBP ready to ship, too?
I actually took it in today and they are shipping it to the repair depot. I asked the "genius" if they are going to replace it with a logic board that has the same GPU and he said yes it will come back with the same exact specs and said that the refurbished logic boards are put through extensive testing. I reminded him that the problem with the GPU is the materials used during manufacturing and his response was "Let's just say chances are very slim that this will happen again."
I told him if I have to come back again with the same issue I am going to want different hardware and he agreed that was a valid point of view but assured me this wouldn't happen again.
A bit frustrating since I know that no matter how much testing they do most if not all of these GPU's are defective. Here's to having Applecare and one documented instance of this issue. A part of me hopes it does happen again and at that point I will push for a new machine or new internals that do not include the 128MB 8600GT Nvidia card.
I told him if I have to come back again with the same issue I am going to want different hardware and he agreed that was a valid point of view but assured me this wouldn't happen again.
A bit frustrating since I know that no matter how much testing they do most if not all of these GPU's are defective. Here's to having Applecare and one documented instance of this issue. A part of me hopes it does happen again and at that point I will push for a new machine or new internals that do not include the 128MB 8600GT Nvidia card.
Hello again.
Well, good fortune as it was for Apple to swap my old MBP with a shiny new unibody MBP a mere 28 days ago, guess what?
Yup - its back!
Same symptoms again :
distorted text when scrolling, particularly in Safari.
white flashes when
- watching Flash video, eg the BBC iPlayer.
- browsing around the ITMS
- mousing over Events in iPhoto.
So yes, Apple seem adament / confident that new boards with 8600 chipsets are OK, but clearly these issues are still present even in the new unibody MBPs.
Of course, that assumes that these symptoms are down to the nVidia chipsets - I'm still confused over the fact that 10.5.5 seemed to fix the old MBP, and the machine apparently passed a test for the nVidia issue.
Either way, whatever is causing these symptons is still present.
I guess its just extremely bad luck to have the same issue with two MBPs, using two different chipset / board combinations a year apart....
Now where's the 9400/9600 thread...
Well, good fortune as it was for Apple to swap my old MBP with a shiny new unibody MBP a mere 28 days ago, guess what?
Yup - its back!
Same symptoms again :
distorted text when scrolling, particularly in Safari.
white flashes when
- watching Flash video, eg the BBC iPlayer.
- browsing around the ITMS
- mousing over Events in iPhoto.
So yes, Apple seem adament / confident that new boards with 8600 chipsets are OK, but clearly these issues are still present even in the new unibody MBPs.
Of course, that assumes that these symptoms are down to the nVidia chipsets - I'm still confused over the fact that 10.5.5 seemed to fix the old MBP, and the machine apparently passed a test for the nVidia issue.
Either way, whatever is causing these symptons is still present.
I guess its just extremely bad luck to have the same issue with two MBPs, using two different chipset / board combinations a year apart....
Now where's the 9400/9600 thread...
Everything's alright, because Apple says so...
Well, then Apple is definitely lying - and knowingly so.
Apple Store changed my logic board to the new 2.2ghz/128mb rev. 2 board - and it's even worse than the original...
My original logic board lasted for over 10 months before it said good night - this one started to show artefacts after a few days.. I will obviously have to take it back before it goes all black on me.
On the receipt it also says that the "extended" warranty will only last until March 2009. Which is a bit of a joke, all things considered (It's practically a new machine!).
Give us a break with the "Apple Store said" ********. All they can do is bend over backwards to the current policy, which is to lie to the customer, due to ridiculous costs if they were to take full responsibility.
Well, then Apple is definitely lying - and knowingly so.
Apple Store changed my logic board to the new 2.2ghz/128mb rev. 2 board - and it's even worse than the original...
My original logic board lasted for over 10 months before it said good night - this one started to show artefacts after a few days.. I will obviously have to take it back before it goes all black on me.
On the receipt it also says that the "extended" warranty will only last until March 2009. Which is a bit of a joke, all things considered (It's practically a new machine!).
Give us a break with the "Apple Store said" ********. All they can do is bend over backwards to the current policy, which is to lie to the customer, due to ridiculous costs if they were to take full responsibility.