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

[ibd]

Help!!

Tonight when trying to start my early 2008 MBP, it wouldn't boot. It was working just fine yesterday, no issues at all, I was happily watching videos on it and browsing.

When pressing the power button, I can hear the DVD drive whine for a bit, then nothing. No startup chime, nothing happens with the screen, it stays black. The sleep light glows faintly, then flickers and disappears.

Can you tell me how I should go about fixing this problem? Is it probably related to the graphics card, or are other failures likely (RAM, logic board...)? Alas, I bought this computer just over 4 years ago (Feb 08)..

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
-ibd

 

[xumatrix]

Had my mbp in early 2008(model mbp 133) and meet some problems during usage and it goes well again. When i noticed the issue, i have to reduce using it to watch flash or any other things increase the temperature,what a pity. Hope it will last long....

 

[charlieroberts]

Tonight when trying to start my early 2008 MBP, it wouldn't boot. It was working just fine yesterday, no issues at all, I was happily watching videos on it and browsing.

When pressing the power button, I can hear the DVD drive whine for a bit, then nothing. No startup chime, nothing happens with the screen, it stays black. The sleep light glows faintly, then flickers and disappears.

Can you tell me how I should go about fixing this problem? Is it probably related to the graphics card, or are other failures likely (RAM, logic board...)? Alas, I bought this computer just over 4 years ago (Feb 08)..

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
-ibd

Hi, this is a logic board failure, but not the NVIDIA related one. So you are screwed. Replacements cost 300$ at the apple store so you may wanna look into that.
Or else, if you are technically inclined, look at the last pages of this thread, you will find instructions on how to bake your motherboard and that will almost certainly help you.

 

[thundersteele]

Hi, this is a logic board failure, but not the NVIDIA related one. So you are screwed. Replacements cost 300$ at the apple store so you may wanna look into that.
Or else, if you are technically inclined, look at the last pages of this thread, you will find instructions on how to bake your motherboard and that will almost certainly help you.

It is still very likely that the logic board failed due to the GPU problem. The symptoms (dead, except for 1-2 seconds of DVD drive starting noise and a flickering sleep light) are the same that I experienced, and I got the free replacement.

Since ibd is outside the 4 years extended warranty, baking is probably the only hope, but it might be worth a trip to the apple store if one is nearby

 

[Queen6]

My 4.1 2.4Ghz from early 2008 is still running like a trooper, one fan finally quit after two deserts and the tropics runs hot as hades, but still gets the job done. No sign of any graphics meltdown so far, it`s rarely off so aside the high temperatures the lack of thermal cycling from shutting down may have just saved the day. Well I guess will how long it runs, I may even replace the fans once I have a chance

Admittedly it`s replacement is already on the desk, another 2.4 albeit faster by several magnitudes

 

[charlieroberts]

It is still very likely that the logic board failed due to the GPU problem. The symptoms (dead, except for 1-2 seconds of DVD drive starting noise and a flickering sleep light) are the same that I experienced, and I got the free replacement.

Since ibd is outside the 4 years extended warranty, baking is probably the only hope, but it might be worth a trip to the apple store if one is nearby

Well I must ask, did they run the NVIDIA boot program to get the ¨code¨?
I had the same issue and I'm well within the 4 years. But since they can´t run the NVIDIA diagnostics and they can't get the code, they haven't been able to help me, and I went to four different apple stores.

 

[thundersteele]

Well I must ask, did they run the NVIDIA boot program to get the ¨code¨?
I had the same issue and I'm well within the 4 years. But since they can´t run the NVIDIA diagnostics and they can't get the code, they haven't been able to help me, and I went to four different apple stores.

The diagnosis didn't work on my machine. They offered me a $330 flate rate repair, with the promise to fix it until it works again, no matter what the source of the problem was.
When I came back to pick it up, the receipt said something about "logic board replacement due to GPU failure", and the cost was reduced to $0.

For me $300 to get a $3000 machine back to life was acceptable, and of course getting it for free was even better. Note however that if Apple finds some other defect in addition to the GPU, they will fix both and charge you the flat rate repair.

 

[charlieroberts]

The diagnosis didn't work on my machine. They offered me a $330 flate rate repair, with the promise to fix it until it works again, no matter what the source of the problem was.
When I came back to pick it up, the receipt said something about "logic board replacement due to GPU failure", and the cost was reduced to $0.

For me $300 to get a $3000 machine back to life was acceptable, and of course getting it for free was even better. Note however that if Apple finds some other defect in addition to the GPU, they will fix both and charge you the flat rate repair.

Same thing here, I also took the flat repair thingy... but alas I did have to pay.

I got a free upgrade to 4GB of RAM though... lol

I just finished baking my MBP for the second time, this time I made a video, and thought to post it here... I know barely anyone is interested in seeing me open my MBP... but I had a lot of fun and edited the video on this very machine.
Baker's gonna bake

 

[PUTALE]

took my macbook (santa rosa) to the apple store as it has issue that hte pcie shows x1 as oppose to x16. Sadly they could not replace it for free as it's about over 4 years. They offer to repair it for a discount of like 300, I said no.

I cannot believe that apple do not repair it as it's not something that I have done but it's a manufacturering defect.

 

[ibd]

Well I must ask, did they run the NVIDIA boot program to get the ¨code¨?
I had the same issue and I'm well within the 4 years. But since they can´t run the NVIDIA diagnostics and they can't get the code, they haven't been able to help me, and I went to four different apple stores.

Yes, it went exactly as you described. I took it to the store, they couldn't run the nvidia diagnostics => no code. Which meant no gpu defect but general logic board failure, so no free repair. I even had to pay for their diagnosis

I'm strongly considering baking it, I have nothing to lose at this point. I've read that most people had to bake it several times, which discourages me a bit.. I'd prefer a more definite solution.

 

[charlieroberts]

Yes, it went exactly as you described. I took it to the store, they couldn't run the nvidia diagnostics => no code. Which meant no gpu defect but general logic board failure, so no free repair. I even had to pay for their diagnosis

I'm strongly considering baking it, I have nothing to lose at this point. I've read that most people had to bake it several times, which discourages me a bit.. I'd prefer a more definite solution.

DO it, you are gonna have a LOT of fun! Learn a lot about your MBP and yes, its not permanent but if your moral code allows it maybe you can use best buy trade in to get decent money for you MBP and maybe look into getting a newer one. trade in
The way I see it, its better than selling it to some poor guy.

 

[smithy1185]

I was recently going to post on here saying that my early 08 model MBP is still going strong (knock on wood) but I'm afraid that it's on its way out now. I bought it in August 08 and have used it how I wanted even though I knew it could go at any time. I had my first kernel panic about a month or so ago out of the blue. Yesterday, in OS X some white vertical lines appeared on the screen briefly while I was browsing the web. Kinda freaked me out but they vanished after about a second.

Today using Windows via Bootcamp, the white lines returned. Flashed briefly and were gone and then came back and stayed there. I could still see everything but it just looked really distorted/low res. I restarted but they were still there until I powered off. They briefly came back in Windows and I haven't seem them since I've been in OS X. I assume this is the beginning of the end? No point taking it to the Genius Bar until it's really screwed up/dead right?

*Edit* Oh boy, now every so often the screen gets really distorted and the colors look off/inverted. Guess it's just a matter of time now.

 

[smithy1185]

Ok, so since my last post it had gotten really bad to the point of being unusable with lines and colors all over the place but not really square artifacts. I took it into the Genius Bar today and the guy says "Yep, looks like your 8600 went." and tells me that it would have cost me $526 including labor but that I was covered. He says one minute let me check something and takes my MBP away. Comes back and says nope it's the display that's broken and since we'll have to send your computer away it'll be $400.

All of the lines/distortion don't show up on screenshots and my MBP does work with an external monitor. Guess it will just stay put at home now as I'm not putting anymore money into this thing what with the refresh being right around the corner.

 

[Signal-11]

Ok, so since my last post it had gotten really bad to the point of being unusable with lines and colors all over the place but not really square artifacts. I took it into the Genius Bar today and the guy says "Yep, looks like your 8600 went." and tells me that it would have cost me $526 including labor but that I was covered. He says one minute let me check something and takes my MBP away. Comes back and says nope it's the display that's broken and since we'll have to send your computer away it'll be $400.

All of the lines/distortion don't show up on screenshots and my MBP does work with an external monitor. Guess it will just stay put at home now as I'm not putting anymore money into this thing what with the refresh being right around the corner.

If an external display works fine, then it's definitely not the 8600M GT problem. When the 8600M GT problem manifests, external displays will display the same artifacting as well.

 

[afawcett]

While playing a video game, a thin green vertical line appeared on my monitor. I have a 2007 MacBook Pro, and I suspect the NVIDIA 8600M GT is the culprit. The technician at the Apple Store believes it is my LCD is faulty because the artifacts weren't captured in a screenshot. I was skeptical of his logic, and I came here to see what diagnostics I can run to provide a conclusive answer.

 

[biohead]

While playing a video game, a thin green vertical line appeared on my monitor. I have a 2007 MacBook Pro, and I suspect the NVIDIA 8600M GT is the culprit. The technician at the Apple Store believes it is my LCD is faulty because the artifacts weren't captured in a screenshot. I was skeptical of his logic, and I came here to see what diagnostics I can run to provide a conclusive answer.

The genius is right - if the graphics card is failing, the artefacts will usually be captured in a screenshot.

...Not 100% the time, but usually.

 

[smithy1185]

Well since my last post in early April about the display going out, my machine died last night. It ran fine hooked up to an external monitor but I was using it last night and came back about 3 hours later and nothing. Took it to the genius bar today and they claimed it was the logic board since they could not run the gpu test.

Said it was $580 to do it in store and $310 to send it away. If they sent it away I might get the display and ODD repaired too but no guarantee they said. I'll wait until the new machines are unveiled hopefully next week. Doubt it would do any good to try another Apple store.

 

[ibd]

since my last post, I baked my MBP twice successfully.

I broke the ambient light sensor in the process, but eh, whatev's

I hope it will work a bit longer this time, first time worked for exactly 1 month. I'm still getting the hang of well applying thermal paste, it's running about the same temp's though.

 

[smithy1185]

I tried the baking method today, but no luck. Guess I'll just wait till next week when the new ones are hopefully released.

On a side note, my Time Machine backup was about a few days older than the current data I want. When i get a new MBP, can I put the old harddrive in an enclosure and boot from that to get my data on a new machine?

 

[mscriv]

On a side note, my Time Machine backup was about a few days older than the current data I want. When i get a new MBP, can I put the old harddrive in an enclosure and boot from that to get my data on a new machine?

That should work just fine. I'd suggest using target disk mode and the migration assistant.

 

[zyr123]

What model does the effect?

i have the late 2011 15 inch pro stock model 2.2 ghz 512 mb video ram

 

[mscriv]

What model does the effect?

i have the late 2011 15 inch pro stock model 2.2 ghz 512 mb video ram

Wrong model my friend. The MBP's affected were the aluminum models that came with the 8600m GT graphics card. They came out around 2008. Your model does not have this graphics card.

 

[EmlynDewar]

Mine is still struggling on after it's trip to the oven a few months ago, even running Diablo 3 on it just to give it something to think about...

Graphics have been fine, annoyingly the right speaker channel has died though, even changed the speakers out but no change.

No sense treating these things like glass, will keep using it in anger until it lets go.

 

[limo79]

damn! me too...

Few days ago I turned on my MBP after a weekend: everything worked except LCD screen, keyboard, LED indicator pulse like during sleep, no video signal via DVI. My APP ended year ago and I am highly disappointed that Apple do not replace these faulty logic boards.

Explanation: http://semiaccurate.com/2010/07/11/nvidia-chips-show-underfill-problems/

The problem lies in underfill material. Please notice that some guys just obstructed the vents and kept MBP power on during few hours. This trick worked.

Quick test on HP dv6: G84 chip heated up to 100 Celsius degrees (to melt solder bumps typically we need temperature about 220 Celcius or 260 Celsius degrees according to solder formulation). Trick worked which confirmed underfill theory.

Also baking logic board in oven in most cases do not melt soldering like many think (it is an easy to see it).

It seems that G84 chips since 2009 have different color of underfill (white compound).

G84 DC 2007:

G86 DC 2010:

G84 DC 2011:

According to unofficial sources:
G84-600-A2 - chips with defect (it seems that there is no DC10 version)
G84-601-A2 - chips without defect (revised chip G84-600-A2)

G84-602-A2 - chips with defect (it seems that there is no DC10 version)
G84-603-A2 - chips without defect (revised chip G84-602-A2)

Unfortunately, scammers quickly found an opportunity to take advantage of NVIDIA G84 chips affair:

• Reballing in most cases is not required at all and helps because technician during reballing process technician heats up a whole chip (remember that problem still lies in underfill -> solder bumps under between die and laminate!!!)

• Also many of G84 chips are re-marked - some users noticed that after reballing the system detects 128MB instead 256MB VRAM or 64-bit instead 128-bit bus. There are also G84 chips from 2012 which is rather suspicious. I do not believe that TSMC manufacture these chips so long for NVIDIA.

Apple replace logic boards with G84-602-A2 chips. All posts confirm that this a roulette. But remember that in warranty Apple can use parts as long as they OK (used and repaired). I believe that they use all parts that they had in stock and currently they do not manufacture these logic boards at all. So it seems they had all logic boards with old G84 versions.

 

[MacModMachine]

not that this will make much of a difference to anyone now ,


i have seem to have made a fix for the g84 issue , i used double sided tape on the gpu and cut it out around the gpu and when sandwiched between the heatsink and chip puts pressure on it stopping the bga from unsoldering.

i had to reflow every day because the gpu would come undone , i have been running for 2 weeks now with no issues.

i can post pictures for anyone interested.