“Apple said this week some of its more recent MacBook Pro models may contain faulty Nvidia graphics chips that produce distorted video or fail completely,” Kasper Jade reports for AppleInsider.
“‘After an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected,’ the company said. ‘If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within two years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty,'” Jade reports.
“Among the models affected are those that were manufactured between approximately May 2007 and September 2008. They include the MacBook Pro (15-Inch, 2.4/2.2GHz), MacBook Pro (17-Inch, 2.4GHz), and MacBook Pro (Early 2008),” Jade reports. “Customers who own one of these systems should look for instances of distorted or scrambled video on their screen, or the absence of video on the screen (or external display) when the computer is running.”
More details and links in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Judge Bork” for the heads up.]
I had a similar thing happen with my iMac. Got a brand new one as replacement, shiny aluminium, faster processor, more ram, lovely.
A 2-year repair window. What a fraud. If it is a faulty chip, a reasonable repair period, reflecting the reasonable life of the laptop should be assessed. Say 4 or 5 years. I’m usually on a 18-24mo upgrade cycle, but someone in my family gets the hand-me-down. Totally unreasonable. I know this isn’t Apple’s fault… but they need to work with their vendor to make good on a defective product.
There is a clear difference between a defect and a product that goes bad on its own.
@ JRA
AGREED. When it’s a bad part and not just something that might die one day the window for repairs should be much longer.
I would think NIVIDA is to blame here, at least I hope.
reminding us of the G3 iBook problems, Apple (here in Canada) yesterday replaced the logic board on the just out of warranty MacBook Pro. Initially we negotiated that they’d cover parts and we’d cover labour, but to our surprise they covered everything when I returned to pick it up.
Hey, it’s much better than what Dell would offer. They’d offer a 10% discount on a new computer.
Am I so glad of this!
My machine died 2 weeks ago but it was 3 months out of warranty so Apple wouldn’t repair it and quoted me £650 to fix, luckily I hung on for the new Macbooks that are to be released next week before splashing out on a new one or to get it fixed!!!
FINALLY!!!
I’m on logic board #3 (including the original), for this very issue. Got it back from the shop yesterday…. Sigh.
Perhaps TPTB at Apple can’t remember how to pronounce recall.
“…or the absence of video on the screen (or external display) when the computer is running.”
Are they absolutely positive that this might indicate some sort of video problem?
Since Apple got all the high quality Nvidia chips for their notebooks, leaving only the low quality ones for the rest of the PC market to use, I’d hate to own a Dell now, they and all other PC vendors must be just about to announce much worse problems. And I’m sure it’s all Steve Ballmer’s fault anyway. Apple Rocks!
@The Great Apple blah blah blah
I suppose you expect omniscience from all of your vendors. Apple expects NVIDIA to deliver high-reliability products. NVIDIA is responsible for life cycle testing, including environmental testing and accelerated aging.
If all of the defective units are reasonably expected to fail before the end of the extended warranty period, then its length is fine. If that turns out to be a faulty expectation, then Apple will revise that date.
” If that turns out to be a faulty expectation, then Apple will revise that date.”
And they will send Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and an Apple Genius (three imaginary creatures) out to repair your notebook personally.
My MacBook Pro fits the model description for this fault. My screen occasionally stays black on startup from sleep and requires a reboot to get it functioning properly again. Anyone know if the problem is intermittent like mine, or is the problem they describe terminal (ie, a reboot doesn’t fix it)?
“My screen occasionally stays black on startup from sleep and requires a reboot to get it functioning properly again”
You must be running Vista on it, not superior Mac OS X. Mac OS X laptops never fail to restart from sleep. Did someone load Vista on it for you? It’s hard to tell the difference between Vista and Mac OS X. You might be running Vista.
“NVIDIA is responsible for life cycle testing, including environmental testing and accelerated aging”
But don’t forget. Apple uses higher quality components than everybody else. Their deal with Nvdia would be to only get the best most reliable chips Nvidia makes. So Nvidia must have messed up big time with the normal quality ones.
“My screen occasionally stays black on startup from sleep and requires a reboot to get it functioning properly again”
Try disabling “safe sleep” (google disable safe sleep) and see if the problem goes away, as it should.
So, safe sleep is a feature designed to make your screen go black on re-start? Why would I want to use an unsafe sleep mode? just because the safe one is broken?
@ Fanboy Frigtard
You say that “…Apple uses higher quality components than everybody else.” Please provide proof.
“Apple uses higher quality components than everybody else.” Please provide proof”
No proof is necessary. Everyone knows that Apple gets better processors, hard drives, memory and video chips from all their suppliers. If they didn’t they’d just be charging way too much for a standard laptop. And since Apple laptops provide better value for money than PCs, yet charge more for the same specification, it just must be true that they’re putting better quality components into them.
What other explanation could there be?