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Late 2007 MBP - Out of warranty, with smashed screen -- nvidia gfx failure...

A

ajthomason

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 20, 2007
359
0
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern I
I have a 17" MacBook Pro (3,1) - the 'Late 2007' one that has fallen victim to a faulty nVidia graphics card. Now I'm sure you all know that Apple extended the warranty to 3 years for this problem because of all the bad publicity it received back then.

The thing is that this is no ordinary case, I smashed the screen on this laptop accidentally over a year ago and since then it has been happily working with my external monitor (it's on all day when I'm awake, every day, so I'm surprised that it's lasted this long to be honest).

I can't call Apple until Tuesday (as it's a bank holiday tomorrow), so thought I'd ask on here if anyone has a similar instance when the laptop has a smashed screen and Apple have still honoured the warranty (or lack of in this case) for the rest of the machine?

I've had some great experiences with Apples warranty and repair system, and I really don't think I'm out of my rights asking them to repair this machine even though it has a smashed screen because I know that the screen had nothing to do with the graphics card failure - but are they going to accept that?

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
ajthomason said:
I have a 17" MacBook Pro (3,1) - the 'Late 2007' one that has fallen victim to a faulty nVidia graphics card. Now I'm sure you all know that Apple extended the warranty to 3 years for this problem because of all the bad publicity it received back then.

The thing is that this is no ordinary case, I smashed the screen on this laptop accidentally over a year ago and since then it has been happily working with my external monitor (it's on all day when I'm awake, every day, so I'm surprised that it's lasted this long to be honest).

I can't call Apple until Tuesday (as it's a bank holiday tomorrow), so thought I'd ask on here if anyone has a similar instance when the laptop has a smashed screen and Apple have still honoured the warranty (or lack of in this case) for the rest of the machine?

I've had some great experiences with Apples warranty and repair system, and I really don't think I'm out of my rights asking them to repair this machine even though it has a smashed screen because I know that the screen had nothing to do with the graphics card failure - but are they going to accept that?

Any advice would be appreciated.
Click to expand...


It does not sound as if you have any repair coming. The video chip failure is terminal, and includes the external video function. If you are able to use it with an external monitor, you do not have a video failure that would be covered by any extended warranty.
 
lcseds said:
It does not sound as if you have any repair coming. The video chip failure is terminal, and includes the external video function. If you are able to use it with an external monitor, you do not have a video failure that would be covered by any extended warranty.
Click to expand...

I don't think you're understanding the OP's question. They're not asking for a repair on the screen and their point is that the fault is a separate issue, ie the Nvidia problems that blighted that model.

His argument is that Apple should still honour their promise to make good on that fault - Despite the smashed screen as the machine was functioning perfectly well with an external monitor, ergo the GPU was completely unaffected by the event that broke the screen.

OP....All you can do is state your case and hope for the best. I imagine the outcome is going to depend on the character of the Apple representative that you deal with. Tip: Be nice, honest and gently remind them of Apple's undertaking to repair machines with the GPU fault. Also make it clear you have no expectations that they'll do anything about the screen without payment.
 
Gomff said:
I don't think you're understanding the OP's question. They're not asking for a repair on the screen and their point is that the fault is a separate issue, ie the Nvidia problems that blighted that model.

His argument is that Apple should still honour their promise to make good on that fault - Despite the smashed screen as the machine was functioning perfectly well with an external monitor, ergo the GPU was completely unaffected by the event that broke the screen.

OP....All you can do is state your case and hope for the best. I imagine the outcome is going to depend on the character of the Apple representative that you deal with. Tip: Be nice, honest and gently remind them of Apple's undertaking to repair machines with the GPU fault. Also make it clear you have no expectations that they'll do anything about the screen without payment.
Click to expand...

I understand the OP completely. He has a broken screen. Not covered, no argument there.
But.....his video is normal using an external monitor. The nvidia chip failure would cause a no video or distorted video on external also. It's the video chip, not the target display device that indicates a failure. Since he is using it normally with an external device, I fail to see how the OP determined the video chip has failed and a replacement logic board is warranted. The OP has not described any anomalies with external video.
I service these all day long. If there is video through the external display, there is no failure. Cracked screen has nothing to do with it.
 
He meant it worked fine since the smashed screen incident, but now the Nvidia issue has shown up.

OP: I recall reading somewhere that Apple's policy is to repair a machine fully, or not at all, so I'm not sure they'd be allowed to just swap the logic board and leave the screen, but it is worth a try.
 
lcseds said:
I understand the OP completely. He has a broken screen. Not covered, no argument there.
But.....his video is normal using an external monitor. The nvidia chip failure would cause a no video or distorted video on external also. It's the video chip, not the target display device that indicates a failure. Since he is using it normally with an external device, I fail to see how the OP determined the video chip has failed and a replacement logic board is warranted. The OP has not described any anomalies with external video.
I service these all day long. If there is video through the external display, there is no failure. Cracked screen has nothing to do with it.
Click to expand...

He said the card failed, thus not allowing him to use it with an external display. The cracked screen only has to do with the question of whether or not Apple will honor the warranty on the card.
 
Your warranty was void when you smashed the screen.

Your choices are to buy a new logic board or sell it for parts on ebay. Apple won't replace your logic board despite the 'extra' warranty.

Apple doesn't know (nor care) if the computer was working with the screen smashed.
 
Not entirely true. The warranty on that particular piece was voided, along with any part that might be affected by the damage.

Depending on the person he talks to, and how he explains the situation, he has a chance.
 
They should fix it, if not, you'd have a good case to argue.

The screen won't be covered. But they'll cover the NVIDIA GPU failure.
 
Good Luck with the logic board replacement.

Ps: I believe that Apple will cover your GPU faillure but you have to replace the screen too. You cannot choose what they will replace.
 
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