Falling victim of failing nVidia M8600GT

[kolax]

I've had my MacBook Pro a year and 2 months. The past few days, I've noticed the screen flickering, and had a flashing white line across the middle a few times. Earlier today, the whole bottom half of the display went all fuzzy and coloured and nothing in that region of the display moved, while the top half still worked fine.

I shut the lid, waited a few minutes and opened it again, and everything is back to normal. However, this is obviously the warning signs that my GPU too, is going to fail soon. I've finished backing up all my stuff, and I'm just literally waiting until the GPU pops.

I bought my MacBook Pro from John Lewis, which offer a 2 year guarantee (first year with Apple, second with a third party UK vender Scotsys). I have 8 months left of my final year, and I'm hoping that new MacBook Pro's are released soon, so I can go in, give my case, and either demand a refund or the new MacBook Pro (hoping that it doesn't have a nVidia GPU).

Last thing I want is them repairing it through Scotsys, and ending up with another failing GPU in a year's time. What is my customer rights (since I didn't buy through Apple) here, and what can I demand?

 

[johngordon]

Have you upgraded to 10.5.5 yet?

There's some optimism on the Apple forums that this may have fixed this issues.

(Although its been premature in the past, so time will tell...)

 

[hajime]

I recommend you to backup your data immediately. Your MBP may fail anytime.

 

[MowingDevil]

Agreed, 10.5.5 seems to have addressed some of the graphics glitches you're experiencing. Not every graphics problem is nVidia related.

Also, I highly doubt you have any case to get a new computer for free. Until Apple comes out & admits this issue you're pretty much going on message board posts which mean diddly squat. Its going to either take an admission from nVidia/Apple or a class action lawsuit to get you a new comp. That store would have to eat the cost of a replacement themselves as Apple won't beyond the warranty...and your computer might be just fiine w/ the update.

 

[kolax]

It happens while running 10.5.5.

John Lewis has a good reputation for meeting customer requirements, and nVidia have officially come out and said it is faulty. I'm going to do a clean installation of OS X anyway, and see if that helps.

It is to note, that for the past few weeks, I've been encoding a lot of video, and the over all temperatures are hot, and the GPU diode is reporting 80'C constantly when I'm encoding.

Last thing I want though, is for the GPU to fail and get a replacement with the exact same problem. I really wish Apple would speak up on the issue. This is an expensive laptop, and I can't afford to replace it should it go bust again.

 

[blurfonz]

You have apple care? Time to ring apple?

 

[alphaod]

If part of the display is going fuzzy and closing the display fixes it temporarily, it could just be a display cable that's loose.

 

[kolax]

If part of the display is going fuzzy and closing the display fixes it temporarily, it could just be a display cable that's loose.

The laptop went to sleep when I closed the lid.

I think it might be a loose cable though - when the bottom half started flickering earlier, I moved the panel back and fourth lightly and it went away.

However, I've done a reinstall of OS X so hopefully this issue won't arise again.

And I hope my GPU doesn't fail.

 

[alphaod]

And I hope my GPU doesn't fail.

I hope so too.

I also think the issue has been overly exaggerated.

 

[kolax]

I hope so too.

I also think the issue has been overly exaggerated.

Yeah, I know nVidia made an official statement, but the Revision ID (0x00a1) differs, or along those lines, to the other manufactures like Dell who used the same GPU.

I just wish Apple would come out and let us know what the situation is, whether there is a fault, or their chips are immune since they have a different revision.