Old man's macbook pro - blank screen

MikeHunt79 · 27 Jul 2009 at 18:05

My old man's macbook pro no longer seems to work, the screen is just blank. The caps lock light goes on and off, and when plugged up to a monitor nothing is on the display either.

What's wrong? \dead gfx card?

MagicBoy · 27 Jul 2009 at 20:50

GeForce 8600 model?

MikeHunt79 · 27 Jul 2009 at 21:03

MagicBoy said:
GeForce 8600 model?

Yep i think so, 8600m maybe, were these dodgy?

MagicBoy · 27 Jul 2009 at 21:32

There's a known manufacturing fault with "some" nVidia 8600M GT chips. nVidia won't say how many or which are affected, but it's pretty certain that Apple, Dell and HP got burnt and are not amused.

Apple have extended the warranty on affected machines to 3 years. I'd suggest taking it to your local Apple Store for assessment.

it usually manifests itself as a sort of rainbow static effect when woken from sleep. If there's no output on internal or external displays then it's likely totally failed. Requires a new logic board - can't be repaired.

MagicBoy · 27 Jul 2009 at 21:35

Oh, here's the Apple KB article : http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377

MikeHunt79 · 27 Jul 2009 at 21:41

Cheers, I'll tell him to give it to the apple shop to repair. It is over a year old, and he was expecting to pay thru the nose for the repair as it's no longer in warranty, so when I tell him this I'm sure he'll be glad it's a free repair.

MagicBoy · 27 Jul 2009 at 21:46

A new logic board basically means it's a write off. The one in my Core Duo MBP was replaced under warranty and the quoted parts price was around £700! I'd reckon closer to £450-500 now, but that's a good chunk towards a new laptop.

MikeHunt79 · 27 Jul 2009 at 23:05

So would it be worth telling him to back up his stuff from the HD before taking it in if it's going to be written off?

MagicBoy · 28 Jul 2009 at 01:10

Sorry, I meant a write-off were it not covered under extended warranty. I believe Apple get to charge these back to nVidia so it will be repaired rather than replaced. I certainly wouldn't spend £500+ repairing a 2 year old laptop.

Backup the data anyway if you can (hint - target disk mode) as Apple won't guarantee data retention.