MBP 2007, no display, no chime

Royal Chewn

Royal Chewn

Royal Chewn

Associate
Joined
9 Mar 2009
Posts
38
New problem :rolleyes:

For the past 2 weeks or so my MBP has been behaving irrationally, it would fail to wake from sleep or just not turn on the display from morning cold starts. Everything else seemed to fire up, just not the display. This was overcome by several resettings of the SMC and it would sporadically boot with chime and screen around 20-30 mins later (after pressing the power button of course). I assumed it to be SL as I recently installed an SSD and upgraded to SL, SL would not play any flash content like normal leopard did, CPU temps and fan speeds shot up especially in fullscreen - viewing was a chore. Maybe SL fried the GFX?

Yesterday however nothing again, no chime or display, just the power light and sound of the drives firing.. Hours of atempts and still nothing, I opened it up had a nose around, fans, drives all seem to fire correctly just no display or chime coming on. Took SSD out and swapped to old drive, still nothing, took DVD drive out to see if that was the problem.. nope.

Other than sell it for parts does anyone have a brighter idea? I would imagine replacnig the logic board would be more expensive than what it's worth 2nd hand? :confused:

As a GFX designer it's a bit of a bummer as my good old PC is fairly ancient and productivity is less for sure. Bare in mind since ownership this MBP has been on 12+ hours a day all year round bar 4 weeks for holiday. Used intensly with CS3/4/5 After-effects, photoshop etc, logic board was replaced in 2008 from dropping it, so I've got my monies worth for sure :) but can it go on?
 
Take it to the apple store, if its the graphics card failure they do a free fix for it as the acknowledged the chip is broken in it :) (the 07 one over-heated with the 8600 in it, happened to my flat mate)
 
My 2007 MBP 3,1 died exactly like this too about a month or so ago. I've been using SL for a long time (pre ordered).

The fans turn, it gets warm, no display, no EFI boot bongs or target disk mode from another mac via firewire. Decided to do without it but eventually ordered a 2011 MBP 15" i7 to replace it as I need it for astrophotography.

You can shift it for parts but you only get a couple of hundred for it. A new logic board without apple footing the bill is expensive enough to consider just getting a new MBP at double the price..
 
pingwing said:
Take it to the apple store, if its the graphics card failure they do a free fix for it as the acknowledged the chip is broken in it :) (the 07 one over-heated with the 8600 in it, happened to my flat mate)
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the reply.. Was debating about taking it instore even though it's well out of warranty and applecare. Do you know which store your mate took his to? :) Just in case they try and fob me off..
 
NickK said:
My 2007 MBP 3,1 died exactly like this too about a month or so ago. I've been using SL for a long time (pre ordered).

The fans turn, it gets warm, no display, no EFI boot bongs or target disk mode from another mac via firewire. Decided to do without it but eventually ordered a 2011 MBP 15" i7 to replace it as I need it for astrophotography.

You can shift it for parts but you only get a couple of hundred for it. A new logic board without apple footing the bill is expensive enough to consider just getting a new MBP at double the price..
Click to expand...

Hey mate,

Yeah funny co-incidence there! At the minute a new MBP just isn't viable with other large expenses. Gonna try my luck in a store and see what they say otherwise will end up selling on ebay.

Your new MBP sounds very nice though! :cool: Would be interested to know how it handles large photo files etc.
 
Royal Chewn said:
Hey thanks for the reply.. Was debating about taking it instore even though it's well out of warranty and applecare. Do you know which store your mate took his to? :) Just in case they try and fob me off..
Click to expand...

Ah this was when I was living in Belfast so the apple store in town there.

They are all the same though, go in and innocently go its broken can you fix it for free? (maybe mention you've heard there have been problems with this gen's macbook pro)

Best of luck though you never know what can happen unless you ask :)
 
pingwing said:
Ah this was when I was living in Belfast so the apple store in town there.

They are all the same though, go in and innocently go its broken can you fix it for free? (maybe mention you've heard there have been problems with this gen's macbook pro)

Best of luck though you never know what can happen unless you ask :)
Click to expand...

Err check this out looks like I might be in luck!! http://support.apple.com/kb/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 four years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.
Click to expand...

Bought Mine 21st July 07 .. Talk about timing! Vamous! Genius appointment booked in tomorrow morning.
 
RESULTS ARE IN!!! GOOD NEWS!

Went to the genius bar today and turns out it is the nvidia gfx problem. So 10 mins later it's wrapped up ready for repair. Invoice price £630, to pay.. £0.00 :D
Complete logic board refit.. turnaround in 5-7days.. result! :D

Thanks Pingwing for pointing me in the right direction otherwise might've just sold it for spares on ebay!
 
Return of the MAC

Got mac back yesterday.. So far so good! Seems to play 1080p better now :cool: osx still hates flash though :D

Great customer service, how every compnay should be run.. Oh no wait!.. That would be too boring wouldn't it Beardy?! ;)
 
Best day! :D

Love getting really expensive repair bills back for free too!

Remember give you mac a hug now and again to make sure it knows its appreciated :)
 
I had this happen a couple of months ago.
Took it in on a Saturday and they said be ready monday.
No email/phonecall part way through monday...then checked the online repair tracker and it had been fixed about an hour after Id dropped it off on the Sat.

Was still pretty happy it was a quick turn around (and free) , just a shame they hadnt called me or anything when it was fixed as it resulted in me having to pay out for another train trip on the monday.

So if anyone else does this...keep an eye on the tracker!
 
Last edited:
The replacment boards are a different revision according to the paperwork that came back with it atleast.

Not sure if they are 100% fixed though.
2 others came in while I was there with mine and the Genius said they still fined they have days where several come in, but they could well all be ones with the original boards. Didnt think to ask.
 
TheCybermonkey said:
The replacment boards are a different revision according to the paperwork that came back with it atleast.

Not sure if they are 100% fixed though.
2 others came in while I was there with mine and the Genius said they still fined they have days where several come in, but they could well all be ones with the original boards. Didnt think to ask.
Click to expand...

Good to know you got yours sorted is it performing the same / better?

On my invoice the description is 'PCBA MLB 2.4 GHZ REV2' which would suggest it's a 2nd revision of the logic board.

Also forgot to add VAT so in total £756 saved :eek:
 
mines revision 2 aswell.
Performs exactly the same.

Laptops used for WoW a lot...supprised it took over 3 years for it to blow to be honest.

....and yeah the price on the invoice is mental.
If i had not have been covered, it would have been better to buy a brand new machine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom