[11011001]

I have a MBP Core 2 Duo.

It's the 15" with the 256 MB ATI X1600.

Last night I noticed graphical anomalies while playing WoW. Tonight when I tried to play, it suddenly locked up. I restarted, and was getting weird graphical artifacts all over the place. (for instance, the blue background on startup was checkered and striped in shades of blue)

I thought, perhaps it was a RAM issue. I've swapped both RAM sticks, and tried all combinations of slots (4). This seemed to work, however, it locked up again. Now it won't even make it past the login process (hangs on loading the menu-bar). Oh, it's a pretty hard lock-up.. no kernel panic message at all.. just frozen.

I've removed some stupid 3rd party kexts I had (a VPN kext for instance). No dice. Disabled airport, and bluetooth, no dice.

Booting in safe mode works. Which suggests I have a dead GPU.

I have a programming project that needs to be running by next week... and it's a freaking OpenGL based modeling program. Me = screwed.

Still have to run the hardware tests from the install CD, but I'll do that when I get home.

Two questions:
- would be people agree it's the GPU?
- wait time on getting a replacement computer (or mobo)?

This totally sucks.

Oh yes, sorry for the crappy subject, I shouldn't have hit submit so quickly (MBP 2 GPU Issues would be appropriate should a mod come across this)

[Tomchu]

Yes, it's either the GPU, or the video RAM. The video RAM are also independent chips on the logic board. They're not removable.

If you call Apple early in the day or in the evening, and the product replacement request goes through (which it most likely would, since you're a paying customer of a product that's SUPPOSED to work without such issues), then I'd probably say that you would have a replacement MBP making its way to you on the same or next day. Then just count the days based on however long it took for it to get there the first time around. :-P

[11011001]

Replacement? Can they just swap motherboards if I take it to a certified repair place?

If they do replace, do they send a new one out before I send mine in? So that I can copy the data across?

[hldan]

It's not always the hardware that's the problem. Before you go through all the trouble to have Apple repair (yes repair if it's beyond your return policy) or replace the machine you should always try some simple steps first, and believe this Apple will try these steps first B 4 even considering replacing your machine. Try these steps:
Reset Pram. This almost always repairs the problem. The ram gets screwed up in the system sometimes and results in the issues you mentioned. To do this, restart your computer, after you hear the chime then immediately hold down (Command+Option+P+R). Hold them down until you hear the chime play again and then let them go and your Mac will restart.

Repair Permissions. This remedy doesn't always do much but it clears blocked gateways that prevent programs from running correctly. To do this, Open "Applications" then "Utilities" then double click on "Disk Utility", highlight the HDD in the left column, then click "Repair Disk Permission" at the bottom.

Archive and Install. This is a last resort and may not be necessary however any issues with your system folder will be fixed on the fly after doing this. Pop in the install DVD, double click "Install Mac OSX" then after restart choose Archive and Install.
Let us know your experience whichever way you go.

[Tomchu]

Yeah, or that.

If you tell them that you can't spare the time and that you need a working machine RIGHT NOW, they might send a new machine

[doctorb]

I concur. Sounds like a GPU problem.

[11011001]

Originally Posted by Tomchu 

Yeah, or that.

If you tell them that you can't spare the time and that you need a working machine RIGHT NOW, they might send a new machine

I will see if I can do this (going to see if a friend of mine will talk to the guys at my university repair place, who he knows pretty well). Since this machine is not even 2 weeks old, it's frustrating to say the least.

Originally Posted by hldan 

Archive and Install[/B]. This is a last resort and may not be necessary however any issues with your system folder will be fixed on the fly after doing this. Pop in the install DVD, double click "Install Mac OSX" then after restart choose Archive and Install.
Let us know your experience whichever way you go.

Ya, I've done all that. Aside from the Archive and Install (not necessary, as I tried booting from 3 other external sources with the same result). The hardware test CD didn't come up with anything however, but this totally looks like a hardware problem. Makes me wonder if it's because they clocked the GPU a lot higher and it's getting too hot.

Boo, GPU it is.

Originally Posted by doctorb 

I concur. Sounds like a GPU problem.

Thanks Doctorb! I feel much better.

[hldan]

Originally Posted by 11011001 

I will see if I can do this (going to see if a friend of mine will talk to the guys at my university repair place, who he knows pretty well). Since this machine is not even 2 weeks old, it's frustrating to say the least.



Ya, I've done all that. Aside from the Archive and Install (not necessary, as I tried booting from 3 other external sources with the same result). The hardware test CD didn't come up with anything however, but this totally looks like a hardware problem. Makes me wonder if it's because they clocked the GPU a lot higher and it's getting too hot.

Boo, GPU it is.



Thanks Doctorb! I feel much better.

After reading what you have been going through and while it's likely that your GPU is having issues it's highly unlikely that the reason for the problematic GPU is because Apple overclocked it causing it to run too hot.
This issue hasn't been mentioned much so most likely your replacement or repaired machine should be fine.

[11011001]

Originally Posted by hldan 

After reading what you have been going through and while it's likely that your GPU is having issues it's highly unlikely that the reason for the problematic GPU is because Apple overclocked it causing it to run too hot.
This issue hasn't been mentioned much so most likely your replacement or repaired machine should be fine.

Ya, total speculation. One has to be careful about such things.

This MBP has been running much, much cooler than my 1 Ghz PB G4. I am very impressed in this regard.