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Has your MBP GPU failed?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 15.8%
  • No

    Votes: 48 84.2%

  • Total voters
    57
  • Poll closed .

jcandrada

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 11, 2008
70
8
Paraguay
This poll is for current MacBook Pro users only! It seems that a lot of MBP users are reporting problems with their MBPs about the GPU failing... but is the problem really as bad as it seems or are only the ones with problems posting topics and the ones that works perfectly fine not? let's see what the poll says...
 
Yup, mine killed itself 2 weeks out of warranty (no apple care). Fortunately Apple did fix mine under warranty. Weird thing is, the machine would boot and I could VNC to it or target mode it but no video whatsoever.
 
Oh... so very few. There's a small chance I'll get the current MBP and not the new one if I just can't stand the wait, and I'd rather not have a GPU that's going to fizzle out on me in a couple years. That would suck.
 
Oh... so very few. There's a small chance I'll get the current MBP and not the new one if I just can't stand the wait, and I'd rather not have a GPU that's going to fizzle out on me in a couple years. That would suck.

I'm in the same boat as you... I really want to buy the current MBP, but after reading all those posts about GPUs failing I'm not sure what to do... That's why I started this thread, because only people with problems tends to write here in the forums and the ones that doesn't usually don't.
 
Is it the penryn one thats failing a lot? B/c thats what I have and whenever there is video playing there is like white squares all over the video.
 
There was a thread that I created about 3 weeks ago on this topic. It has more detailed choices...try digging that up, has quite a few results.
 
2 MBP's, including one logic board exchange.. YES!

Mine doesn't die straight away, it dies a slow death by going crazy with it texture and pass out whenever it wants to..
 
I did a get a video corruption for 1 split second when I was loading Front Row; it was just once and it didn't happen again…
 
I did a get a video corruption for 1 split second when I was loading Front Row; it was just once and it didn't happen again…

Oh well, mine started with a random blink of corruption, and look where it's at now..:rolleyes:

@OP
You should make it clear that the poll is only for MacBook Pro users with NVIDIA GPUs only.
 
I have the original Core 2 Duo MBP with the Radeon X1600 and I had problems with the screen not coming back up after putting it to sleep. The backlight would come one, but the display was just black. I did get that fixed though.
 
Around 20% says their GPU has failed... that's a pretty big number, and after reading all the other threads about the MBP GPU, some of that 80% that said NO, will cross over to the other side...
the question now is... should apple be doing something to fix this problem??
 
Around 20% says their GPU has failed... that's a pretty big number, and after reading all the other threads about the MBP GPU, some of that 80% that said NO, will cross over to the other side...
the question now is... should apple be doing something to fix this problem??

Of course Apple should do something about the problem; they sold defective materials, and they should be held accountable for it. I think that nVidia should be footing the majority of the bill, though, given that it's their chips at fault.

But the other thing to remember is that the members of this community, given that many probably came here to find information about existing problems they were experiencing, does not comprise a fair sample of the general market. Granted, I'd say that the majority of casual users wouldn't think to independently investigate any possible graphics issues they experience, instead opting to either contact Apple or simply buy a new system, so there are likely numerous other instances of GPU failures that this community will never so much as hear whispers about. By the same token, though, there are many positive experiences that will never be mentioned here.

You're right, though, that the numbers are disheartening - especially for those of us who might have no choice but to purchase the current model. The internal debate over whether to buy the current model is beginning to cost me sleep, which isn't terribly fun, but paying $3000+ for a product known to be defective is kind of scary.
 
You're right, though, that the numbers are disheartening - especially for those of us who might have no choice but to purchase the current model. The internal debate over whether to buy the current model is beginning to cost me sleep, which isn't terribly fun, but paying $3000+ for a product known to be defective is kind of scary.

Of course it isn't fun to buy a $3000 product that you know there are big chances it will fail! I know someone that works in a high position in Apple who helped me with a previous problem with my iMac's GPU, I just wrote him/her an email about this issue, this is the email (I replaced the names with XXX:

Dear XXX,

After all the problems I went through with my iMac, specially with the
GPU, I decided that instead of repairing it, I will spend that money
in buying a new Mac. I am about to buy a new MacBook Pro but after
informing myself and reading several mac forums, it seems that a lot
of MacBook Pros with the 8600m GT GPU are failing, and I'm not sure
now about buying it. Is this a known problem in the MacBook Pro that
Apple is going to take any action to solve it? Other companies like HP
and Dell are aware of this problem with this Nvidia GPUs. I know it is
recommended to buy AppleCare, but in this case it seems that it is a
known problem that a lot of MacBook Pro users are facing and having to
pay extra for AppleCare just to solve this problem when it shows up
seems a little unfair for the user.
Thank you XXX and I'll be waiting for your advice!

Sincerely,

XXX


Now let's see if I get a reply...
 
I refuse to vote.

Knowing my luck, if I clicked "no" my GPU will end up failing soon.
 
I refuse to vote.

Knowing my luck, if I clicked "no" my GPU will end up failing soon.

This poll is just a "photo" of this moment... I guess many MBP users that voted "NO" will eventually have GPU problems... like jaduffy108 said, whe should repeat this poll in about a year to see how it goes... I hope by then Apple will have a solution for us...
 
Well, I voted no.

I do really intense GPU things as well (had this MBP for a year now) - playing games via Boot Camp (such as Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 and NFS Pro Street) the GPU temperature reaches close to 100'C.

I'm considering exchanging my MBP for a BlackBook more and more now.
 
I had problems, that I wouldn't think were related to the gpu, but they replaced it, so I guess there was a problem with it.
 
Agreed. I won't be overly bothered as long as it fails whilst my applecare is still valid! Make me kind of think that I should start pushing my GPU harder now though to ensure that it doesn't fail outside of warranty or is that just madness :confused:

The thing is that if your GPU fails and it is still under warranty, they will probably replace the logic board, but my concern is that it is just a temporary solution, it will probably fail again later and probably you won't be covered by the warranty anymore... we need a real solution here!
 
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