Subscribe Feed (RSS)Macbook Pro Display or Video gone dead
May 27th, 2008 by eyal | Filed under Techie. |
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Update - I’ve received my MBP back from the Apple Service Centre. They replaced the Logic Board (part number 661-4341). While at the service centre I tried my best to reproduce the problem, putting it to sleep, closing the lid, shutting down, rebooting etc. but couldn’t get that blank screen again. I suspect it has something to do with the external display more than the sleep. In fact prior to the problem occuring I didn’t even use the OS X for at least 2 weeks, I use it almost exclusively in Win XP over bootcamp and have rebooted Win to Win many times over those 2 weeks. So who knows what’s really going on. One thing I am planning on doing as a result of this is make sure I get one of these
I’m out of commission today, trading wise. I was restarting my machine early morning before the day starts like I normally do to get a fresh Win and that was the last time my MBP displayed anything. Looks like this is becoming a VERY common problem. If you have an MBP and haven’t upgraded to the latest firmware you’re probably safe, if you did upgrade, even weeks ago you’re at risk that the next boot up won’t go through.
Apple – Support – Discussions – MacBook Pro Blank Screen (Built – in …
Yeah, I also find it interesting why it just happened all out of sudden. I’m pretty sure that I restarted the computer many times after installing the latest firmware update, and everything was fine. Then at the worst time, kaboom, black.
I’ll be taking my mac to a service centre tomorrow. I’m not very hopeful though that it’ll be repaired in less than a week or two. My old acer notebook can’t support 2 monitors across 3200 * 1200 so I’ll be back to trading from one screen only. Will be interesting to adjust back.
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Tags: apple service, apple support, blank screen, bootcamp, dead, display, logic board, MacBook, macbook pro, macbook pro screen wont turn on, mbp, notebook, os x, problem, repair, Video
Interesting problem with the MBP.
I presume you read through the entire thread and saw the text below – might be worth taking your MBP to a store that sells Macs and trying it out.
1) connect the nonworking computer to another mac with a firewire cable
2) turn the nonworking computer and hold down T – will let you access it as if it is an external hard drive
3) access the /private/var/vm/ directory on the nonworking computer from the working computer. This is invisble so you will have to press cmd+shift+g in the finder and go to /volumes/YOURHARDDISKNAME/private/var/vm to get there or use an application that lets you view invisble folders like PathFinder.
4) delete the sleepimage file
5) delete the /system/library/extensions.mkext file
6) eject the drive (drag to the trash)
7) press the power button to turn off the non working computer
8) turn the nonworking computer back on normally(cross your fingers) then if it works,
9) open up the the terminal.app in /applications/utilities
10) type sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
11) make sure there is no sleepimage file again
Yeah I saw it, although someone said it was a temporary solution, can’t remember whether it was on this same discussion or elsewhere. My machine is still under warranty so I took it to the authorised service centre and gave them a printout of the discussion thread. I doubt any apple store would let you just hook up your machine to their display unit and sit there to troubleshoot things.
Hi,
I have the same fu**in problem. I’m really screwed up with it.
Did you misused your laptop? I don’t want them to use that as an excuse to not fix mine…
Regards,
MVeloso
MVeloso – how do you mean misuse? I didn’t open/upgrade it or do anything that isn’t supposed to be done with a notebook. I’ve just received a call btw that it’s ready, the lab here went for the same solution everyone else reported – changing logic board.
I was searching the web all day and finally this post actually sounded as the same problems I’m having with my MacBook Pro at the moment.
I certainly do hope it has something to do with the ‘sleep’ image.
Were you able to get your MBP fixed?
I’m going to visit a Apple Store this afternoon.
Gijs – I just got the MBP back from repair. See update the at the top of this post.
Thank you. By misuse i refered to mbp being drop down to the floor – on an accident, of course…
Well, next monday let’s see what they say about mine…
Regards
Great! I just dropped the MBP at an Apple service center. I have a strong feeling it has to do with overheating. Not sure, but before I had problems I was running parallels that really heats the machine. I closed the lit in the morning and after I got back the MacBook didn’t work anymore. Also an external monitor gave not even a glimpse.
The machine did boot up. After turning it on
I could use the volume buttons and it gave a sound.
I’m lucky there is still a month waranty left.
Cheers
MVeloso – there was no misuse or abuse. In fact 90% of the time the MBP just sits on my desk as a desktop replacement.
Gijs – same thing for me on the buttons responding etc. It is possible that it’s due to extended period of time of over-heating. With so many people reporting this problem around this time I’m sure Apple is aware and should know what is the cause. Hopefully they’re going to do something about this otherwise they will be ordering many more Logic Boards ;-)
LOL,
I’ve installed the 10.5.3 update recently (maybe that has something to do with it!!?).
Anyway, I’m going ahead with a AppleCare program now I can still get it :-)
Gijs, curiosly i’ve installed it recently too… On saturday i guess and then it stopped working on sunday…
Just curious…
Regards
I’m reading a lot on forums about screens not ‘waking up’ and that sort of stuff, but not really about the problems we are/were experiencing.
IE.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1545605&tstart=15
It seems a little weird to be just a coincidence.
I’ve also updated to 10.5.3 last Saturday, problems started Tuesday morning..
Well I’m still on Tiger..
eyal,
Were you also running Parallels?
No, I’m on bootcamp.
Well, i guess you got the “wrong” problem on Apple Discussion Foruns :p
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1478474&tstart=0
Why so? There are people on that thread reporting the exact same problem and symptoms who are still on 10.4.x.
Yo, it’s happened to me too. On my 17″ 2.4 MacBook Pro, this has happened TWICE. After repair the first time, it lasted eight days, eight days before having to send it back in for another logic board replacement.
Funny part is I had used it for a year with no troubles. Does it again, they said they would send a new one. But what about the 3 weeks of workflow lost?
ri – Twice? This sucks. Luckily I didn’t have this problem again after the repair, so it’s been holding up for about 3 weeks now. I bought the extended AppleCare warranty just in case since it’s now 1 year old. I would also recommend getting a back up machine. 3 weeks of work lost is a long time.
Well, i got mine back from repair and it works fine… let’s see if it can keep it up…
Ditto, got it back from repairs and it’s running fine now.
Did had a few crashes though (when coming out of sleep mode).
Deleting the sleep image solved that problem.
I’m huge fan of my MBP – but the failing of my screen spooked me :-(.
That’s true. It’s my first Mac and i’m having some problems but… I’m just not seeing using another kind of computers to do my job… Only for gaming, maybe…
It looks like this problem is becoming more widespread – here’s a post at MacNN about it:
http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/06/27/macbook.pro.video.glitches/
Thanks Tim. Looks like a very common problem. I helped fill the details in the google spreadsheet.
Yep, mine is a Santa Rosa, and that’s 2 logic board replacements now. Should have it back on monday.
Am I correct in getting the impression from that article that there isn’t a permanent hardware fix?
I have the identical problem, and Apple already paid to replace the motherboard (logic board) under warranty. That was not the issue.
When my 17″ MBP wakes up from sleep, it will not power up the screen, or any external monitor.
The “fix” that seems always to work thus far is to SHUT DOWN, REMOVE THE BATTERY, PLUG IN AC CORD, WAIT FOR AT LEAST A MINUTE, and then RESTART WITHOUT THE BATTERY. I then reinstall the battery, and the computer functions fine, until it goes to sleep again.
Now, we just have to figure out WHAT is wrong. Battery output too low/drawing too much power from charger/charger weak output…
Randy – thanks for sharing this solution. I’ve not had that problem again since I got the machine back so hopefully I won’t need to try this :-) but if it happens again I’ll give it a shot. Also if anyone else comes across this and tries it out let us know how it turned out.
I just ran into this problem today. Unfortunately, my MBP is OUT of warranty, and I do not have AppleCare.
Randy – I tried your method but it didn’t seem to work for me.
It looks to me like the entire graphics card is shot, which of course means a logic board replacement, like everyone else here has gotten.
From what I’ve read on some other forums about another graphics-related problem I’ve had recently, the entire line of Nvidia graphics card that the MBP sports had miscellaneous manufacturing defects, or something of that nature. From the post that I saw, Nvidia said it would pay for all of the repairs, so hopefully I can get a new logic board for free out of warranty, but I’m not counting on it X_X.
The 1984 Super Bowl hammer throw TV commercial, served notice of a new age of Innovation and high profits for Apple. Forward thinking and the Buzz of surprise releases have bolstered their public persona ever since but now there is a graying under way. When Marketing starts to outpace engineering & customer support resources, the wheels start to wobble. For Customers involved in business computing and networking for the last 20 or so years, the cycle is very familiar. Qualified, helpful technical support people are
replaced by rule spouting customer service drones. The company then oversteps their design / configuration abilities, releases a flawed product line. The house of cards starts to fall in.
Such is the case with the display failures on the Macbook Pro (MBP) line of notebooks. One needs only to visit discussions.apple.com and review the display issues for MBP’s. Blank screen… Vertical stripes… Display ripples… Display freeze… Weird screen… The grand total of posts to the first (10) pages on this Apple forum is 36,035 ! The worse news is that there are over 98 more pages, full of display issues and that is just for the last 30 days!!! That equals close to 400,000 posts in the last month
for MBP display problems. When I called Apple on 9/6 related to the 3rd complete failure on our MBP in (15) months no one there acknowledged a real problem. Detailed questioning lead to my being cut off. Call backs and tier -2 techs stated plainly that they were unaware of such problems. I was told to just to give the unit to the Apple Store and/or complain to Customer
Relations.
We own a MBP for very specific reasons, it does the things it does very well. When it is working it does those things but each time it fails I
spend 5 hours on the phone and the MBP gets a week in the shop. So far we have not had a successful display repair. Apple refuses to replace the unit. I have owned, built and maintained personal computers of every
stripe since the 80′s. Have solved hardware and software problems large or small. I know when I am getting good technical assistance and when a
Company is convinced it is more important than a lowly Customer.
I can only say I agree with what you’ve written and have seen these problems with the products and company attitude myself, which is a shame. By the time they realize they need to do something drastic about it the damage would have been done. Too bad.
Glenn:
From the post that I saw, Nvidia said it would pay for all of the repairs, so hopefully I can get a new logic board for free out of warranty, but I’m not counting on it X_X.
Where exactly is that post?
As with everyone else, my MacBook Pro wont wake up from sleep and my warranty has expired. GULP!
I started an online petition. Let´s make Apple hear us.
http://www.BadMacBookProGPU.org
Spread the word.
The site doesn’t load for me.. I’ll check it again later.
[...] for them to recognize this and issue a statement and a promise to repair the machines. I was lucky I got mine repaired under warranty as it failed just before its end so I don’t have to go through the process of [...]
Don’t all traders keep backup equipment so they are never “out of commission”
I’m using a Unibody MBP that I recently put an X-25M in and so far it’s working out pretty well for me.
You say you’re on bootcamp. Is there any reason you’re on that and not in something like VMWare Fusion or Parallels. Can’t those programs give you the same screen real estate without having to boot windows native?
i’ve been through 2 logic boards so far and the problem is far from solved. 2 days after getting the first replacement i had to get a new one. The reason? They said it was a faulty motherboard that was installed. What a surprise!
I didn’t have Applecare and warranty had expired. They didn’t mind and were more than happy for me to buy it still.
*Just call Mac if you don’t have it.
So far the repairs total almost 3 and a half grand!!!
That is more than the cost of the machine.
It’s all a big scam.
btw: the petition above doesn’t work
There’s something about Thailand (the heat most likely) that’s bad for Mac notebooks. I had 3 major repairs performed all under warranty on my Titanium when I was in Thailand during one trip. I think it was the screen once, logic board second and top case third. All very well taken care of by Apple Center when they were out by Modern Home Building. Nothing but first class service from them. I could bring my machine in and wait at Tesco Lotus whilst they did the repairs and then simply pick it up later. I suspect it doesn’t work that way anymore as I’m sure they have longer queues to deal with.
Robert: On Backups – the backup I have is designed to allow me to handle situations where I need to take immediate action if my main machine fails and to make sure I’m not out of work for more than a day. It’s not a hot-swappable full redundancy type of backup. The cost-benefit doesn’t justify this.
I’m the sure the heat doesn’t help the machine but these logicboard failures are clearly not an issue of heat. Btw, I’ve been running pc’s in Asia for a long time. Never had something over-heat.
B’jea: Did you see my trackback above called “Apple biting the bullet”? Apple said they’ll replace LB for free for models they identified as affected. If I had to spend that kind of money of fixing it I’d paint it blue and throw it to the sea and get another PC instead :-)
@Alan at the top of the thread:
I tried your method to fix my laptop display and it worked like a charm! Many thanks.
David
Well, it happened to me again in early december. Just got it back by 21 dec. 3 weeks without laptop was a HUGE problem.
But i’ve learned the lesson. Never play games with your mac.
Regards
Alan!
Thanks a million mate!
It bloody works!!!
YEAH!
I tried
4) delete the sleepimage file
5) delete the /system/library/extensions.mkext file
but when i reboot i still got no display and the files, when i check again the files are again there.
I got leopard, it a 17´ MBP
any suggestions? any more files to be deleted?
I have a 15″ MacBGook Pro, Nvidia failure, took it to Apple store repair 6/30/09. Estimated turnaround time 3-5 days. Today is 7/19. Not even the courtesy of a call to let me know what’s going on. I had to call tech support myself to track down my computer. 3 weeks with no contact is unacceptable. Fuck apple up their righteous asses. At least when a pc breaks down microsoft doesn’t have you by the balls the way apple does.
I found out that they’ve already put in 2 new logic boards, neither have worked.
My MacBook Pro is now with a blank screen; num lock, chime.The unprofessional ‘Genius’ at auth service center and I was told they tried running some damn GPT test and it didn’t work; which means the nvedia card is not faulty and the actual faulty piece is my MBP’s logic board.
My MBP is jus 1yr and 3months old and I had already changed the HDD 1s. Now this display issue. I paid a huge amount to get the MBP. I paid 1 lac 29K INR for this damn MBP and now this. I am majorly disappointed. I curse myself for choosing this damn MBP.
Hi by looking at people’s issue. I also have the same problem as well. Last night I shut down my mbp and turn it on next day and it went black screen and the keyboard light is not on. I can hear my mac is running normal. I tried everything by unplug AC and battery then putting them back again and turn it on, but no joy. I’ve done some research based on mbp and the black screen issues.
It appears that “People with the 17inch or 15inch Mbp may face this problem when they use it more than 15months or so on” This is what I picked from someone’s forum and I’m not sure whether this is true.
After doing research. All I can see is “Logicboard failure” or “NVIDIA Graphic problem” issue.
The only way to find out is to goto the retail store and ask them what the problem is. Which I’m going to do tomorrow.
Had the problem again about 3 months ago.
My MBP is now more than 2,5 years old (no applecare). They fixed my unit with no extra costs because the Apple retailer I went to acknowledged it had to do with the nvidia issue: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377
They even loaned me a replacement MacBook with no extra charge. The fix took a week (logic board replacement).
To check if you have the issue, read the steps on this page:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377
I at least did the following to confirm:
- Reset SMC, RAM and NVRAM (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411 and http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379)
- Attach an external monitor and confirm that there is no display.
BTW. I was the first (and only one) the retailer saw retuning a MBP with this specific issue.
I certainly hope it won’t break down again…
I’ve had my MBP (2.4/15″/8600M GT) for about two years without any problem. But the other evening the screen just went blank. If I adjust the brightness I can see the back light get brighter and darker but the screen is just black. Confusingly, If I plug into an external monitor everything appears fine?? So I now have a very non mobile laptop! It seems I have the dreaded 8600M GT Nvidea on board but from what I’ve seen on Apple’s page, posted above, neither monitor or screen should work for it to qualify as a graphics card problem? Any ideas? I’m way out of warranty!
Well… I think you got yourself a dead display. As the price of a new one maybe kinda huge, i will advice you to think about buying a new laptop…
Thanks for the response.
“So Apple, from reading volumes of info regarding SO MANY different modern day MAC failures I reckon you’ve really dropped the ball”.
My current MAC nicely spec’d cost me about £1800…
and lasted 2 years. Nice.
Yes – the issues you describe do not ‘match’ the NVIDIA chipset issue. If I were you, I would go to an Apple reseller (or store) that also handles repairs. Ask them to diagnose the problem, and let them give you an indication of the damage. Make sure you mention the NVIDIA chipset failures (show them the Apple support page).
If you require a display replacement – you are capable to do it yourself (that might limit the costs): http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Core-Duo-Display-Assembly/492/1 A new display unit costs you around $600.
My MBP costed about 2200GBP at stock specs. But i bought it in middle 2007. About two years and a half from now. My display is a little damaged but i wont go to buy a new one. With the price of a new one, i will buy a EEEPC that gives me enough certains to my duty needs.
I like MACs. But they are too overpriced for today’s quality.
Thanks gijs, I will follow your advice and take it to a reseller with my fingers crossed. If I’m lucky it might just be a bizarre software problem.
I’ve had a quick look around and have found various screens which have the right spec and resolution but for much less:
http://www.lcds4less.co.uk/ppc-special-macbook%20pro%20panel.shtml
Anyone got any thoughts? I’m quite good at repairing things in general but an online guide would be useful.
I have to agree MVeloso that as generally excellent that MACs usually are, they can be incredibly over priced..
I’ve recently upgraded my MBP’s hard drive using the guides over @ http://www.ifixit.com/ They were clear and easy to follow.
This is likely the inverter, part of the screen hardware in the lid (aka clamshell) of the laptop. Essentially the backlight fails to function and dims the screen to near blackness.
It is sadly not uncommon, and requires the replacement of the screen (not cheap!). Mine was intermittent for a long time, only failing every third day for months. It was very irritating.
In my view, the MBP (mine is a 2007 2.3Ghz Core 2 Duo) has fatal design flaws in its video components.
Hmm.
Got a black screen today.
Rather than march in and shell out for a new logic board i’ve taken Alan’s advice above (1st post)
I now have my screen back but it seems to be doing a lot of thinking as it restarts…
wish me luck…
hmm – it seems to have lit up and the icon is chugging around but it won’t boot???
any ideas?
Hi all,
I ran into the same problem and solution suggested kinda half-worked. For me instead of rebooting and executing the pmset command, I launched a terminal and edited the configuration file for hibernation file directly:
sudo vim /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD\ 1/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist
“Macintosh HD 1″ is the volume mounted on the “working” mac, if the names of the main volumes are the same.
I then set the hibernation value to 0. Mine was set to 3
I had to boot twice before my macbook pro came back alive.
I had the unfortunate experience last night of the display going dead when put to sleep. There had been many instances this would happen and doing a hard power-off/on would solve the issue. Not this time. If I powered up after waiting a few seconds, it would not boot up (no sound, no disk noise etc). If I powered up quickly after a power down, it would boot up (still dead display) and make the familiar boot up sound. Tried this about 10 times. Nothing would make the display wake up. Tried removing battery, let it cool off etc. No nothing. This morning, tried to boot up by holding down the “T” and remote boot of a Mac book, didn’t see my disc on the host machine. Tried again, after jiggling the firewire cable which was intermittent, this time suddenly the Macbook Pro fired up!!! The display came on and everything started up as if nothing had happened. Still working fine now. I am not sure what will happen the next time, but I plan on going using full power-off for the next few days instead of sleep or hibernate. I enabled remote management using the Vine Server, so I can access the machine anytime from PC/Mac.
Perhaps I am lucky and I have used up the my 9 lives for this Mac. I am coming up on 3 years so I will try to find out from Apple what recourse I have if it fails after the 3 years. Thanks for the info on this thread.