macbook pro 4,1 early 2008 has no video output

R

rrob

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hi i live in ITALY
i found that my macbook pro 4,1 early 2008 has no video output, after a while i was not using an external monitor
i' read the article TS2377 regarding the NVIDIA 8600gt problem and went to the authorized apple service
they did the test and the result is that my MBP did not qualify for the free of charge repair
because they said that there is a problem but not on the NVIDIA chip
there is a problem probably on the logic board, so if i want to fix it i have to pay 500euros plus labour.
this left me very disappointed , because APPLE will do it for free just for the NVIDIA chip but not for the logic board which is relatively much more serious than the NVIDIA chip.
after looking around online i found out that i can use the APPLE HARDWARE TEST with the result of:

Alert! Apple Hardware Test has detected an error
4VDC/1/40000003:videocontroller

NOW IS THIS RELATED TO THE NVIDIA OR NOT ???

what can i do? to make apple repair it for free? any ideas or tips

and also if the logic board is replaced will it have the same faulty NVIDIA chip or a different version?


i hope you have some advice
thank you
Roberto
 
It does look like the problem lies with the video controller, but as you've already found out, your video controller is not part of the batch of video controllers that qualifies for a free repair.

Your computer is 3 years old (almost 4) -- there is nothing you can do to force Apple to repair it for free. It is well out of warranty, and even if you purchased AppleCare (which extends the warranty another 2 years), you're still out of the timeframe of the warranty.

It looks like your only choice is to pay for the repair. You can holler and scream at Apple some more and try to get them to repair it, but it likely won't do much good. Your best bet is to print out any documentation you find online that describes the problem and the steps taken to rectify the problem (Apple repairing the video card, etc.) and bring that documentation with you to the Apple Store when you give it another go-'round.
 
Understand that you have a computer that is more than three (3) years old. Although Macs usually last much longer than three years, three years is considered a lifetime for computers. When you purchased your computer, you had a one-year warranty. If the computer had a known defect, then you may have been able to get free repair or replacement past the warranty period. Apple is quite good about this sort of thing. As reliable as they are, Apple computers are man-made contrivances. They have a finite probability of failure. This is why you should purchase AppleCare. There is a low-probability that you will need it. If you need it, however, then you will be glad that you have it.

Effectively, you are asking for free AppleCare. I would like free AppleCare as well. Unfortunately, we both have to pay. Because you did not pay for the maintenance insurance, you will have to pay for repairs.
 
THANK YOU FOR THE REPLIY ElDiabloConCaca

_________________________________________

dear MisterMe i not asking for free apple care

if you read this article ( http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377 ) you can see that apple offer free repair to affected MacBook Pro with the NVIDIA 8600 GT

i thought that my case would be eligible

but when i went to the apple service provider my MBP didn't pass the test for the free repair

after this i ran Apple Hardware Test and found this error:

Alert! Apple Hardware Test has detected an error
4VDC/1/40000003:videocontroller

now i think this is related to the NVIDIA, but i don't understand why apple says that my NVIDIA has no problem and so they don't want to do the free repair

i'm suspicious about this, and trying to find out if someone else had a similar problem and may be they were able to solve it

that's it !

thank you
 
It is entirely possible that your NVidia graphics card just simply failed.

Think of it like a car recall: sometimes Ford will recall a subset of their cars because of faulty brakes -- in the affected cars, some brakes will have failed, some won't have failed -- but Ford will replace them because they know of a problem with that certain batch of cars' brakes.

Now, does that mean that EVERY failed braking system on EVERY Ford car should be replaced for free? No, sometimes systems just plain fail.

Apple recalled a certain subset of graphics cards on a certain subset of Mac computers because they know of a problem. Some people who owned these specific Macs had their graphics cards fail; others had NOT had their graphics cards fail. Either way, Apple will replace those specific cards in those specific Macs because of a known, specific problem.

Your Mac is not one of the Mac models that Apple has identified as being faulty and needing an out-of-warranty replacement. In short, that means that there are no known issues with your Mac, nor any known issues with your graphics card. Does that mean that your Mac will never fail? No, it does not -- things fail, and not everything that fails is due for a free, out-of-warranty replacement.

It does not matter that you have the same graphics card model. It only matters whether Apple has identified a specific problem with your specific Mac model, of which they have not.

Your graphics card has likely failed NOT because of the same problem that caused those specific graphics cards within a certain range to fail, but because of an unrelated issue that is not covered out of warranty. Maybe the computer was dropped. Maybe the exhaust ports were inadvertently covered, causing an overheating. Maybe the cat peed on the keyboard. Maybe someone tried to stick a bologna sandwich in the optical drive slot. Maybe the card just reached the end of its useful life. None of those things, though, would be free-of-cost to fix, and as such, your situation is one where the graphics card failed after several years of use, and to fix it, it's going to cost money.
 
rrob said:
...

dear MisterMe i not asking for free apple care

...
Click to expand...
Call it what you will--you want Apple to repair your computer free of charge. Complaining here will do you no good. Perhaps if you spoke really sweetly to Apple's people, then you may be able to persuade them to waive the repair fee.
 
This might be a little late BUT!!
I have the same computer with the same issues. My apple care had just expired (2 months ago) when this issuer came about. I took it to the Apple Store, they took it over night to run diagnostics and told me my HardDrive had failed.

I thought i'd do more research to see if anyone else had had the same problem and how they resolved it. I found how to "boot to HardDrive test' mode and ran that and got the

Alert! Apple Hardware Test has detected an error
4VDC/1/40000003:videocontroller

I googled this result and that's how i came upon this forum.

From the http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377 article i learned about this whole NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor issue. I took my mac back to the Apple Store armed with a copy of the TS2377 article to take up my issue with them again and they connected some device to it to test the graphic processor specifically.... which it failed.

According to the Apple Article TS2377

"If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within four years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty".

I've had my laptop just over 3yrs, my Apple Care expired about 2 months back, but i am still with in the 4 yr period stated, so they took it in for repair. I'll be picking it up later today.

I just wanted to let you know, it looks like i have resolved this issue thanx to your original post.
Hope this helps in your case as well... and thanx and good luck!
 
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