Blank screen on startup

OK guys just wanna confirm something.

I've got a late 07 macbook pro with those faulty 8600 nvidia gpus. My macbook pro was working fine last night and now this afternoon its got a blank screen upon startup. I can still hear the chime and it still boots into the OS as i can still change the volume and backlit brightness etc.... Is it confirmed to say that my luck has ran out and the GPU is dead?

My warranty has expired and have no extended applecare + I bought the macbook in one of those education apple store. Will I still be able to get the free repairs as stated by apple and even if I do, won't they still replace the logic board with another unused faulty one and down the track my macbook pro will still be prone to that same failure?

 

blank how? just like the screen is off? Can you look closely in bright light to see if its just the backlight out?

Have you tried an external monitor? both turning on and booting up with the screen open and closed?

 

blank as in no bright light, so its basically like turning on a desktop without turning on the monitor but this is for a laptop,

yes I've tried all the above and resetting pram etc.. to no avail

 

being an 8600 .... try calling Apple and explain to them... or ask in a store if one is local to you. They have been known to service some of these for no charge out of warranty... they ran a program to do it for awhile, not sure if they still are.

 

Yeah thanks for your replies, I just dropped my macbook pro in my local apple store, genius bar was fully booked so I'll have to wait for their call tomorrow.

Well if the program is no longer running, then my macbook pro will just become a paper weight, and apple will be off my Christmas list this year.

 

If I remember correctly they are replacing any that have a problem, I think I remember reading that nvidia has put money aside just for this.

 

Yes, but they may charge me a diagnostic fee which might be separate from repair fees. And whats not to say, even if they do replace the logic board for free, won't they just replace it with one off the same line as the ones that are having this kind of problem, so down the track something like this could happen again and by then apple won't be obliged to fix it.

 

yeah, they are either replacing the mobo and if there's no mobo available, they are giving you a brand new unibody mac!!!

Edit:If you are under warranty, there's no diagnostic fee....besides that, i know apple has been giving a 2 year warranty to all previous gen macs because of their deadly 8600m gt.

 

This is the Apple section, Try asking for help in the HP section.

No, Apple is not Dell XD

 

So even if on my receipt it says 1 yr warranty, its automatically extended to 2 yrs because of the faulty 8600 gpus?

Does Dell treat their customers like that, I wouldn't know, this is my first laptop or any computer that's from a company specific line up.

 

I wouldnt think that there would be a diagnostic fee if you took to the genius bar and they saw that it was faulty there.

I've had mine replaced twice, both with confirmations at the bar (though it was under warranty)

 

Just an update on what's happened,

There won't be a diagnostic fee even though I'm out of warranty and it is being repaired for free. They did say that they will be replacing my logic board with a revised one that has a 3 month warranty and 'supposedly' has fixed the gpu issue.

I'm bit skeptical on these revisions, as seeing they will be using the same nvidia gpus, there is still potential to fail down the track.

 

I've had 2 friends get replacement boards with "fixed" 8600s, and they have been running fantastic... nvidia did fix the issue, and newer boards were made with fixed chips... its not a faulty design, it was a problem in manufacture

 

How long has your friends been running the "fixed 8600's"? Is there an article or an official news press that says nvidia has fixed the issue?

 

I dont want to sound pessimistic, but I doubt after 3 months the cards would die. Unless you were doing heavy GPU work, it probably wont happen.

I'm supposed to have the updated one in my mbp, and mine have generally lasted about 11 months before this, so I'll have to wait a while to see if mine dies.

 

Yeah, I run the gpu heavy daily. With this kind of a problem, it just becomes a waiting game now.

EDIT: Got my macbook pro back today, everything seems to be working as it should, not data loss. On the invoice it has part number 661-4955 and the part name PCBA MLB 2.2 GHZ REV2 which obviously is the reivised logic board.

Can anyone confirm that this is what they have and does anyone know what changes they've made to the revisions?