So are all MBP owners with the 8600m GT cards screwed?

[TakezoKensei]

You would be doing other MBP owners a favor if you contacted the other Apple Store manager and let him/her know about how the tech botched the hardware test.

It turned out OK for you but some people may not think of going to another store.

Good idea. Will do.

There were actually two techs that didn't know what they were talking about when I went to the first store. The first tech was the one that ran the test and shut it down prematurely. After I verified the 8600M GT was the faulty card, I went back and that was when my machine wouldn't boot. This second tech said it didn't matter if my machine would boot or not because it was a 2.5 Ghz model, so I assumed mine was actually a late 2008 not an early 2008 model. I shouldn't have assumed these guys knew what they were talking about.

 

[Mojo1]

I'm happy to hear that you are willing to take the time to contact the store; these days a lot of people couldn't be bothered to go out of their way to do something that doesn't directly benefit themselves.

A note to Apple wouldn't hurt either; the company needs a heads-up that some of their in-store techs aren't doing their jobs properly. I don't mean a complaint about the specific techs; something along the lines of a suggestion that the company should distribute a memo reminding them of the proper procedure for testing suspect MBPs.

 

[TakezoKensei]

I'm happy to hear that you are willing to take the time to contact the store; these days a lot of people couldn't be bothered to go out of their way to do something that doesn't directly benefit themselves.

A note to Apple wouldn't hurt either; the company needs a heads-up that some of their in-store techs aren't doing their jobs properly. I don't mean a complaint about the specific techs; something along the lines of a suggestion that the company should distribute a memo reminding them of the proper procedure for testing suspect MBPs.

Honestly, I think Apple makes it difficult on purpose in order to save money not repairing the faulty boards. If they really cared about customers they would physically inspect all the 8600 GT failures instead of just denying all repairs on machines that won't post. Luckily I found out about the warm up trick to get it to post, otherwise I would have definitely had to pay out of pocket.

 

[thundersteele]

Honestly, I think Apple makes it difficult on purpose in order to save money not repairing the faulty boards. If they really cared about customers they would physically inspect all the 8600 GT failures instead of just denying all repairs on machines that won't post. Luckily I found out about the warm up trick to get it to post, otherwise I would have definitely had to pay out of pocket.

No, you wouldn't have had to pay for it.

My MBP wouldn't boot up, and I didn't know about the heat up trick, so the genius had no possibility to determine what caused the MBP to fail. I agreed and signed a repair order for $310. When it came back, the repair report listed the logic board replacement due to GPU failure, something about being covered by warranty, and a total repair cost of $0.

The only unprofessional was the specialist that was confused having two bills, one with $0 and one with $310, and to be safe, wanted to make me pay... I asked her to double check, she called a tech guy, and he confirmed that it was $0.

Of course, I'm still confused that Apple and Nvidia could get away with this so easy. They produced and sold millions of machines with a defect, but instead of recalling them, they just ask people to wait until they break and promise to fix them after that, but only if it breaks within 4 years.
I understand that it's not something as critical as the braking system in a car, but it's quite disappointing for a premium product.

 

[Signal-11]

My replacement MLB, from 2.5 months ago, is starting to go.

I'm getting weird artifacts and screen breakup all the time.

A completely different set of problems from the first time around, which was pcie bandwidth going up and down between 16x and 1x (and presumably 0x when the screen would blank) but my video definitely isn't right.

I'm going overseas again this Jan and I'm not looking forward to this thing failing 2-3 months from now when I don't have access.

 

[thundersteele]

My replacement MLB, from 2.5 months ago, is starting to go.

I'm getting weird artifacts and screen breakup all the time.

A completely different set of problems from the first time around, which was pcie bandwidth going up and down between 16x and 1x (and presumably 0x when the screen would blank) but my video definitely isn't right.

I'm going overseas again this Jan and I'm not looking forward to this thing failing 2-3 months from now when I don't have access.

Oh, that's annoying. They should give 90 days warranty on repairs, or is that only if you pay for it? I would bring it in immediately.

 

[EmlynDewar]

Macbook decided to give up last night. I'm assuming it'll fall on deaf ears at Apple store.
Do Apple do any sort of trade in on old equipment?
This couldn't come at a worse.time as I'd just sold off parts of the PC after it died.

 

[AnonMac50]

Success!

I was able to get my MBP to boot up again so the Apple tech was able to run his sw test. My problem at the last Apple store was when the tech was running the test, the screen displayed a green/black grid pattern and the tech said, "Oh the test doesn't work because you have an ineligible model for repair." Then he did a force shut down by holding down the power button and told me I was SOL. He was suppose to keep waiting.

Today, the same screen came up and the tech told me that's normal, then we waited 60 seconds and the computer booted up with the Apple logo, OS X started and a test program started running tests with several polygons all over the screen in order to stress the GPU i assume. The test failed as it should on these defective models and gave a code.

I know I probably shouldn't be surprised at how some of the techs can be so incompetent, it almost cost me $310. I'm glad I decided to get my MBP before they shipped it out for repair and got them to test it again.

That's good. Did they take the computer for repair yet?

 

[TakezoKensei]

That's good. Did they take the computer for repair yet?

Yeah they were able to fix it and get it back to me the next day.

It's crazy how cool this thing runs now. Before it would get so hot that you couldn't top the bottom of the laptop for more than a few seconds. I read years ago that these MBPs run hot but I always thought it was unusually hot, now I know it was due to the faulty nvidia chip.

 

[EmlynDewar]

Bad times for me today, Apple Store in Glasgow don't want to know about my poorly Macbook unless I am willing to pay for new logic board.
Curse being outside the 4 year window.

Looks like it'll be ebay for the Macbook and a winter of misery and poorness for me!
Merry Christmas Apple!

 

[AnonMac50]

Bad times for me today, Apple Store in Glasgow don't want to know about my poorly Macbook unless I am willing to pay for new logic board.
Curse being outside the 4 year window.

Looks like it'll be ebay for the Macbook and a winter of misery and poorness for me!
Merry Christmas Apple!

Oh well. Do you have another computer instead? If not, you might want to keep it until you get another one.

EDIT: Oh wait. It gave up? As in completely stopped? Uh-oh.

 

[thundersteele]

Bad times for me today, Apple Store in Glasgow don't want to know about my poorly Macbook unless I am willing to pay for new logic board.
Curse being outside the 4 year window.

Looks like it'll be ebay for the Macbook and a winter of misery and poorness for me!
Merry Christmas Apple!

How far outside the 4 years are you? What was the price tag on the logic board replacement given in the store?

I would try to call Apple support. Can't hurt...

 

[EmlynDewar]

The replacement board cost was somewhere around the £285 mark. I was too disappointed to actually pay attention.
I expected the cost to be worse than that from the Apple store.

It's a few months outside the 4 year window, possibly if you kicked up a fuss, they'd put it through to keep you quiet. Think the store was quiet today due to quite bad weather so it would maybe have been a possibility.

I had to get to work though, 9 appointment and half 9 start, I'm also not the type of person to moan to staff members who're just doing their job.

Took the thing apart tonight looking for a temporary fix, cleaned the chips and put a ceramic hairdrier over the GPU for about 10 minutes... Nwe paste and rebuilt afterwards.
Boot up fine and has been working away for the last hour or so.

It'll go again, I'm just dragging it kicking and screaming into 2012.

 

[kdum8]

Took the thing apart tonight looking for a temporary fix, cleaned the chips and put a ceramic hairdrier over the GPU for about 10 minutes... Nwe paste and rebuilt afterwards.
Boot up fine and has been working away for the last hour or so.

It'll go again, I'm just dragging it kicking and screaming into 2012.

Wow, impressed that you managed a self-repair and got it working again for the time being. On which part exactly did you add the new paste?

And what's a ceramic hairdryer when its at home?!

 

[EmlynDewar]

There are 3 chips that make contact with the heatpipe cooler.
CPU/GPU and I guess the northbridge... No sense to only re-apply to one when they are all exposed.
Clean them off and you'll see the Nvidia chip by the writing.

I have no idea what the deal is with the hairdrier, setting it to ceramic + heat mode seemed to kick the temperature up to the high end of the scale. It's the girlfriends, but she was out tonight so figure I'll get away with it.

Figured it was a similar idea to xbox 360 temporary fix, and since it was broken anyway (couldn't even boot into OSX), there was nothing to lose.

 

[Risasi]

Yeah, I've done it before. Once to an Xbox 360, and also a laptop with the Quadro NVS 110M. The Xbox I got a few extra months out of it. The laptop didn't last more than a few days. Good luck...

 

[peapody]

I just put my machine up for sale on eBay because I'm jus outside of he 4 year mark. Sad though because I loved that thing.

 

[shonofear]

I just put my machine up for sale on eBay because I'm jus outside of he 4 year mark. Sad though because I loved that thing.

gotta play it safe now as im also out of the 4yr bracket.
my first logic board fail came from gaming via bootcamp, so on my 2nd and havent gamed on it since.

 

[DrNoellyG]

I just put my machine up for sale on eBay because I'm jus outside of he 4 year mark. Sad though because I loved that thing.

I've been using one as my HTPC with Plex and other goodies, powering my tv. I will be outside the 4 year mark next March. Time to get that mini!

 

[whitesedan]

Well, My MBP finally died on me a week ago, 2 stores later + 2 hours of apple support(phone) last week, they denied of repairing my MBP. It showed all the signs of a bad 8600M GT but still refused to do anything. Even when they ran their idiot proof USB nVidia thumb drive that says "No Graphic Process Found" Code 2. I was outside the window by 3 months of the 4 year.

Since I had free time today, pulled out the logic board, cleaned everything up and threw the sucker into the oven for 8 minutes. Cooled down, and applied new thermal paste and been working for a few hours. Hopefully this could last me another 3-4 months.

 

[charlieroberts]

Well, My MBP finally died on me a week ago, 2 stores later + 2 hours of apple support(phone) last week, they denied of repairing my MBP. It showed all the signs of a bad 8600M GT but still refused to do anything. Even when they ran their idiot proof USB nVidia thumb drive that says "No Graphic Process Found" Code 2. I was outside the window by 3 months of the 4 year.

Since I had free time today, pulled out the logic board, cleaned everything up and threw the sucker into the oven for 8 minutes. Cooled down, and applied new thermal paste and been working for a few hours. Hopefully this could last me another 3-4 months.

Lol, how many Celsius (or F) did you preheat the oven to... might be handy info....

 

[JamesGorman]

@Charlieroberts

This is off topic, but you weren't a running back for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were you?

----------

Well, My MBP finally died on me a week ago, 2 stores later + 2 hours of apple support(phone) last week, they denied of repairing my MBP. It showed all the signs of a bad 8600M GT but still refused to do anything. Even when they ran their idiot proof USB nVidia thumb drive that says "No Graphic Process Found" Code 2. I was outside the window by 3 months of the 4 year.

Since I had free time today, pulled out the logic board, cleaned everything up and threw the sucker into the oven for 8 minutes. Cooled down, and applied new thermal paste and been working for a few hours. Hopefully this could last me another 3-4 months.

Ive actually heard of the oven method before. Cool to see that it worked lol.

 

[charlieroberts]

@Charlieroberts

This is off topic, but you weren't a running back for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were you?

----------



Ive actually heard of the oven method before. Cool to see that it worked lol.

LOL... That's weird... no, I don't even know what those bombers play hehe... googling right now

 

[whitesedan]

Lol, how many Celsius (or F) did you preheat the oven to... might be handy info....

I pre-heat the oven to 375F degree and it did the trick. I dont know how long this method will work but I'm hoping it will last until the next macbook air refresh.

P.S: After cleaning everything inside + New Thermal compound, I notice the laptop runs a lot cooler by using SMC fan reading the temp.

 

[EmlynDewar]

I was going to throw mine in the oven originally but wasn't sure what it'd do to the plastics on the ram slots.

Did you cover any sections of the mobo in foil?

Once my hairdrier fix gives up I'll go for the oven I think.