Macbook Pro 2008 Aluminum Acting Weird

[tabrown4]

I know that there are posts regarding this issue and I have read most of them but I wanted some feedback from those who have actually had a similar problem. I have an Aluminum Macbook Pro and this weekend it started exhibiting problematic behavior.

On Friday the machine would not boot at all... well it had the fans going and the light on the front of it was lit but that was all. I googled and turned the machine upside down and put a pillow on it and by Saturday it booted and worked for a few hours...long enough for me to use time machine to create a current back up... and then after I put it to sleep the monitor wouldn't wake up... when I pressed keys on the keyboard the CAPS LOCK would illuminate but nothing else would happen.

On Sunday the machine reverted to not working at all for the first half of the day but a few hours later booted up like there was no problem. Today I am typing on the machine and there seems to be no problems except that the fans are running full blast even though all that is open is Safari for this website.

Ultimately my question is how do I know if this is the graphics issue or if this is a logic board issue. My next question is how difficult will it be to get Apple to make the repair if it is the graphics (ie haggling). My last question is if it is a logic board issue I have read on some of these forums about a flat rate depot repair. How do I get that? I am planning to get a new macbook pro anyway but I am not ready to give up on a machine that I have only had for two years.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[snaky69]

I know that there are posts regarding this issue and I have read most of them but I wanted some feedback from those who have actually had a similar problem. I have an Aluminum Macbook Pro and this weekend it started exhibiting problematic behavior.

On Friday the machine would not boot at all... well it had the fans going and the light on the front of it was lit but that was all. I googled and turned the machine upside down and put a pillow on it and by Saturday it booted and worked for a few hours...long enough for me to use time machine to create a current back up... and then after I put it to sleep the monitor wouldn't wake up... when I pressed keys on the keyboard the CAPS LOCK would illuminate but nothing else would happen.

On Sunday the machine reverted to not working at all for the first half of the day but a few hours later booted up like there was no problem. Today I am typing on the machine and there seems to be no problems except that the fans are running full blast even though all that is open is Safari for this website.

Ultimately my question is how do I know if this is the graphics issue or if this is a logic board issue. My next question is how difficult will it be to get Apple to make the repair if it is the graphics (ie haggling). My last question is if it is a logic board issue I have read on some of these forums about a flat rate depot repair. How do I get that? I am planning to get a new macbook pro anyway but I am not ready to give up on a machine that I have only had for two years.

Any advice would be appreciated.

The genius will plug in an external hard drive with the hardware test on it labeled "nVidia", if an error shows, you'll get a replacement for free, no haggling necessary.

If they cannot get it to boot and run the test, they will not replace the logic board, since you can't prove that the graphics card is at fault.

It most likely is though.

 

[tabrown4]

Thanks for the reply.

As soon as I posted I set the laptop down in sleep mode and went about doing some stuff around the house. A couple hours later I come back to it and I had to go the whole routine of turing it upside down, putting a pillow over it, and letting it heat up. The one difference this time is that as it was shifting from the white apple screen to the desktop for about two seconds there were some black lines in the transition that have never been there before. When the desktop loaded there was no problem.

I am going to see if I can get a genius appointment for tomorrow. The only thing that scares me is that I am going to drive to the store only to have the computer decide to a). act normally without flaw or b). not go through the boot routine.

Hopefully it displays the behavior it has been and I can get this taken care of.

 

[snaky69]

Thanks for the reply.

As soon as I posted I set the laptop down in sleep mode and went about doing some stuff around the house. A couple hours later I come back to it and I had to go the whole routine of turing it upside down, putting a pillow over it, and letting it heat up. The one difference this time is that as it was shifting from the white apple screen to the desktop for about two seconds there were some black lines in the transition that have never been there before. When the desktop loaded there was no problem.

I am going to see if I can get a genius appointment for tomorrow. The only thing that scares me is that I am going to drive to the store only to have the computer decide to a). act normally without flaw or b). not go through the boot routine.

Hopefully it displays the behavior it has been and I can get this taken care of.

It doesn't even need to display the odd behaviour, mine had no symptoms of anything apart from the occasional kernel panic and beach balls, yet my graphics card was dead.

They just plugged in the test hard drive and it failed immediately. Had it bad in about 3 days.

 

[digiphantom]

Last week my Early 2008 MBP wouldn't turn on (would boot for 2 seconds and turn off). I tried to convince the Genius on the nvidia issue, but he said since it doesn't boot, it's a logic board issue. Since my Applecare had expired, I will be charged $310 for the repair w/ 90 day warranty after the repair.

 

[tabrown4]

Last week my Early 2008 MBP wouldn't turn on (would boot for 2 seconds and turn off). I tried to convince the Genius on the nvidia issue, but he said since it doesn't boot, it's a logic board issue. Since my Applecare had expired, I will be charged $310 for the repair w/ 90 day warranty after the repair.

Thanks for the replies. I took it to the apple store today and it was the nvidia problem. They are ordering the part and they are fixing it for no cost to me

On a side note I had to take the mac outside and sit it in the sun before I could get it to boot but for some reason the heat seemed to help. Before when the fans would come on I could wrap it in a blanket and warm it that way but today the fans would not turn on until the sun warmed it. Weird I know but I thought I would include it in case anyone else finds themselves in a similar situation. And the genius confirmed that they can't do anything to help if the machine won't boot.

Thanks again for the replies.