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General discussion

Weird Video problem MacBook Pro [includes video and photos]

Jun 24, 2011 10:34PM PDT

Screen flickers and is otherwise frozen - see video [no mouse or keys active]. At first I thought it had to do with streaming video but not anymore.

Weird kind of solarization and patchwork - see photo1, photo2.

A force shutdown and restart solves the problem temporarily.

I did all kinds of maintenance: repair permissions, applejack AUTO, onyx, diskwarrior, defrag.

Model Name: MacBook Pro 2008
Build: 10J869
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
RAM: 4 GB
OSX 10.6.7

Discussion is locked

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If this thing has any kind of warranty,
Jun 24, 2011 10:49PM PDT

get it to the Apple Store, or call Apple, today.

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That one
Jun 24, 2011 11:31PM PDT

That one may well be covered under a special repair program. Take it to an AASP or Apple Store, tell them to run the nVidia graphics chip diagnostic on it. I'm betting it will fail, and you'll be entitled to a free logic board replacement.

There's also a known issue with the 15" Late 2008 model that causes screen flickering when using the integrated GPU as opposed to discrete. However, that one you'd have to pay for. But you can have some repair place look up KB article TS3562 to find out how to test for it. Only AASPs will be able to see that article. If that one fails, then the cheap work around is simply to use the discrete graphics. You'd do that by going to the energy saver preferences, and setting graphics to higher performance or something along those lines.

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looked at the vents, etc.
Jun 25, 2011 1:27AM PDT

Thanks for the suggestions.

"That a restart fixes the problem temporarily, may be an indication of a heat related problem."

smc Fan Control is installed and it indicates the temperature was not too high: 42

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I will just state
Jun 25, 2011 3:48AM PDT

I will just state that smcFanControl is not a smart thing to have installed. ESPECIALLY if you use it to try and override fan settings. It's one thing if you use it only as a monitoring tool, it's a whole other if you try and change settings. Apple will never officially say it, but I can tell you that they also unofficially frown upon its use. It's something of the bane of techs everywhere, because it can cause false-positives during diagnostics, which just wastes our time and makes the repair process that much longer.

But if it's an early 08 and you've got a known bad nVidia graphics chip, exhibiting problems, odds are real good you'll be able to get it replaced under the extended repair program. Just don't let any place try and charge you for it. Apple pays labor on this repair to the AASP, so they aren't supposed to charge you for it. If they try, you can tell them to check Apple's extended repair program list, and this will be covered. If they still try and bill you for something, take your system somewhere else and call Apple to report the place you were just at. Odds are they've been screwing over other customers, and Apple would definitely want to be aware of that to potentially revoke their AASP status.

Also, you probably don't want to wait overly long to get this looked at. I've done a couple dozen logic board replacements on these, and other afflicted models. Plenty of times, the chip just flat out gives out and you lose all display capabilities. The diagnostic program is designed to handle this eventuality but, it's annoying for you.

Finally, I do see the Early 08 with 8600GT as being one of the models indicated by this program. So if the repair place isn't aware, tell them to look up KB article TS2377 which will outline everything they need to know. Including how to get labor reimbursement from Apple. So again, if after that, they still try and charge you for anything, don't pay. Go somewhere else and report the place to Apple.