macdavid pro

I got my MacBook Pro back via FedEx this morning while I was away getting my car repaired. (kinda funny)

To recap, my NVIDIA graphics processor/logic board died and the reason was due to a defective shipment of processors sent by NVIDIA between the period of Fall 2007 to mid-2008. I purchased my Mac within that time and showed symptoms that matched the problems outlined in the article on apple.com. So I called Apple phone support to confirm, they agreed, mailed a box to me, and I shipped it off approximately two weeks ago.

Now that I have it back it came with a “AppleCare Service Product Repair Summary” that lists a whole bunch of good news I didn’t request.

Apple covered your repair as described on the left…There is no charge for the service that we performed.

We replaced these parts:

• Optical SuperDrive – optical drive read/write data error
• Keyboard – inoperative key(s) [I didn't even know this!]
• Left In/Out Board – audio alarm/prefailure notice [I also didn't know this. lol]
• Top Case – trackpad button issues
• Logic Board – No video [This is the only reason I contacted Apple for repair.]

I am ever so grateful to Apple for doing more than I asked for, and for free no less! Folks, the cost of this repair is, in the very least, equivalent to a brand new 15-inch MacBook Pro! Furthermore, my Mac’s warranty expired months ago and I have no AppleCare service plan–which I need to get on top of by the way. So, thank you, thank you, thank you Apple, Inc!

-MacDavid

This is the latest news that I have received about my MacBook Pro since I shipped it last Tuesday. But more importantly, I was told long before I shipped it that I would be notified immediately if the problem that I claimed wasn’t the case and would be charged for anything otherwise. So, this appears to be proof that I was right. My Mac’s GPU was defective and do not have to pay a cent for it’s replacement. And let me add that this is roughly a $1,200 dollar repair job (the cost of a 13-inch MacBook Pro). I’m still crossing my fingers about this repair.

Now while I’d love for this process to be expedited, I will remain grateful for the present outcome.

Stay synced for further updates on this issue.

P.S. If you own a MacBook Pro that you bought between Fall 2007 and Summer 2008, this same thing could possibly happen to you, if not already.

So, Saturday night I was prepping my MacBook Pro for shipment to Apple for repair, transferring important files and allowing Time Machine to backup the hard drive. I decided to do any necessary software updates too, and that’s where things got interesting. After the update finished the computer restarted and *cue choir of angels* my screen came back on and I was shocked, but happy. I immediately figured, “Okay, perhaps the issue isn’t based in the hardware (GPU) but it’s maybe a firmware issue. (For a little backstory on this read Part 1 of this “saga” lol)

I checked the box that Apple sent to me to see what my deadline was for shipping my computer and it was Tuesday September 15. Perfect! I went for all of Sunday and Monday to see what would happen, until later last night it happened again…black screen. I was very disappointed but at the same time relieved that I can still send it to Apple and get a diagnostic done to see if the problem is what I concluded it may be or otherwise. I am really, really, really hoping that my conclusion is the issue because that means the fix is free of charge. Otherwise, I will be one of the people standing on the corner of the street with a sign begging for money, only in this case a working MacBook Pro.

But as I said before, here’s hoping for the best!

Stay synced!

Yesterday afternoon when I got home, I saw this big box sitting at my front door and was kinda shocked at how fast Apple support got it out to me. So I’m going to pack it up today and send it off on Monday.

I really hope that I am right about my NVIDIA graphics processor. I mean I do know that it’s dead, no doubt about it. But you know, I want to be absolutely sure and what’s killing me is I won’t know until an Apple technician gets my mac and takes look at it. Anxious, anxious. But that’s typical me 24/7.

Here’s hoping though.

Stay synced!

The video card in my MacBook Pro died, and I mean dead! But it wasn’t due to anything out of the ordinary on my behalf. Although, I have been doing a great deal of video editing.

On Tuesday at 3:36am, after spending the whole night editing a lot of video footage and doing a little graphic animation, I finally resigned to take myself to bed. I shut down my laptop as usual and placed it in its carrying case. Later that same morning at about 7:40am I arrived to work and set my computer out and turned it on (black screen). My adrenaline kicks in and my heart literally goes from 0 to 60 in all of a few seconds, so to speak. All I could think was, “Work goshdarnit, work!!” as if shouting, “Don’t you die on me!” Anyway, I put my ear to the machine and could hear it functioning and booting as usual.

In a panic I rushed to a co-worker’s classroom to borrow a dongle to see if maybe my laptop got confused and didn’t come out of the secondary display mode or something–it didn’t work. Neither my laptop screen nor the secondary display showed an image or any sign of illumination. I flew, or so it seemed, to see an on-site technician and he concluded that my video card may have gone kaput. “Kaput” echoed in my mind and I imagined an Apple Genius saying…

Back in my classroom, I plug an ethernet cable into my MacBook and my MacBook Pro and opened Screen Sharing to see if the rest of the computer is, in fact, okay, and it was.

Fast-forward to that evening and I’m on the internet feverishly typing all kinds of combinations of search terms: Black screen, gpu, macbook pro, external display, snow leopard, firmware, you name it. When I was about to quit my searching and give up on finding any other possible fix that didn’t bring me to believe my video card died, I came across this in my final search:

MacBook Pro: Distorted video or no video issues
Last Modified: May 29, 2009
Article: TS2377

In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within three years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.

What to look for:

• Distorted or scrambled video on the computer screen
• No video on the computer screen (or external display) even though the computer is on

Specific products affected:

• MacBook Pro 15-inch and 17-inch models with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processors
• MacBook Pro (17-Inch, 2.4GHz)
• MacBook Pro (15-Inch, 2.4/2.2GHz)
• MacBook Pro (Early 2008)

These computers were manufactured between approximately May 2007 and September 2008

One can only imagine that I literally leapt for joy after reading through this article, especially since I have no Apple Protection Plan and my laptop is well beyond it’s 1-year warranty.

I called Apple support, in spite of not having complimentary phone support, and confirmed the authority of the article. Yes, it is an official apple.com article, but I had to be sure. I spoke with two people, the second of which patiently and kindly asked very pertinent questions about my computer’s technical symptoms and agreed that it meets the criteria of the article. A box is being mailed to me and if all my detective work is confirmed, it will be fixed, FREE-OF-CHARGE!

But even after all this I wasn’t absolutely sure that my MacBook Pro is suffering from the symptoms outlined in the article above. So I made sure to look up my computer’s specific make and generation to see if it does have the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M graphics processor. It in fact falls into the category of MacBook Pros that were shipped with the faulty NVIDIA graphics processor. But more importantly, I went back into the Screen Sharing application through my MacBook to try to launch Final Cut, and a window immediately popped up saying to some effect–I can’t remember–that I need to have a video card or processor of some sort to run Final Cut.

For now I am calm and somewhat relieved, but still anxious.

So stay tuned and I’ll keep you updated on what is up with this whole repair and it’s process. *crossing fingers*

Stay synced!