After reading this thread, I came up with a longshot way to solve what seemed to be a bad logic board; I intentionally overheated the computer, while turned upside down.

My MBP 15 A1226 had signs of a bad logic board - the hard disk would sound on, the fan would start up, the MagSafe power indicator light was on, but the computer's 'power indicator light' (the one that normally pulsates when the comp's sleeping) would light up and glow steady, and the screen would remain completely dark and unlit. I tried suggested steps from iFixit, Apple, and macrumors (resetting PRAM, SMC, etc.) and there was no change in the computer's symptoms. This lasted a day.

What seems to have resolved it was this; plugged in the AC power, turned on the computer, closed it, turned it over, then put a folded-up quilt on top of it, and went downstairs and watched Pineapple Express. When I came back to it, I opened it, unplugged it, then turned it off. The power button was extremely hot and the fan was blowing very high. I held it in front of a fan and about a minute later pressed the power button and it booted up like normal.

If you experience more problems, I would take the laptop back to another Apple store, or at least try to get another tech. Apple has become more and more generous recently with replacing these machines as it becomes obvious that the video issues are a massive epidemic. Personally I've taken at least 7-8 machines in, and I've never been rejected when there is a confirmed MacBook Pro GPU issue.

I seem to have fixed my MacBook Pro yesterday, using a small iroda solderpro 50K. It's butane powered and by changing the tip you can make it into a small blowtorch.

Ran the flame just above the chip, moving it around for about 5 minutes. I put a bit of solder on top of the chip to give me an idea of how much heat I was applying. There are little pins protruding through the back of the green, larger part of the chip and I concentrated on those one by one, thinking that they should conduct the heat down to the solder and reflow it.

I was amazed when it worked. I'd been quoted over £300 by a repair company. It may break again but that could happen if I'd have gone with the repair company. Rather I was going to buy a new Mac, so I feel like I've saved myself £1,500.

I've installed smcFanControl to monitor how hot the computer is running. I ran this computer for a long time with poorly lubricated fans. It used to run burning hot so that may have been the reason that it went down originally, but I'm not sure.

I would also try taking the machine to an apple authorized service provider or a different Apple store. They would just need to confirm the issue by running a Graphics Processor Test on the machine to see if it qualifies for repair.

Also Nvidia in a class action lawsuit is offering repairs on certain models of machines with the chip issue. Details are online at:

http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/

I had a MacBook Pro 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo that was experiencing similar problems.

1. The screen was physically broken.

2. It powered on but there was no chime, the sleep light would come on but the display remained black. Nothing would get around this, even dismantling it and running it with no screen attached but connected to an external monitor, nor shorting the system reset, solder points on the motherboard.

So, I bought a replacement screen from http://www.laptopscreen.com/ it arrived in about a week, shipped to New Zealand. I dismantled the MacBook Pro and installed the new screen.

After this I was still at problem 2. It booted but the screen wasn't turning on nor was the machine progressing any further into a startup.

Following advice here I wrapped the Macbook Pro up in a blanket and left it for 30 minutes. I unwrapped it and waited a minute and tried to power it on. This worked it chimed and booted. The problem was I still couldn't restart or shutdown the machine as I'd have to repeat the heat up process everytime. So I left it in sleep mode. This became annoying as I wanted to use the laptop as a Lion test machine and rebooting often would be needed.

So, I tried dismantling the laptop and heating up the ATI video chip with a hair dryer for 10minutes as per many other guides and youtube clips. This didn't seem to have any effect. It now wouldn't turn on reliably after being heated up in the blanket and when it did I had graphic corruption on the screen.

At this point I was done with this laptop. So I decided as one last step I'd give the oven solder reflow method a go (as per many other guides for fixing solder reflow problems). As I couldn't be sure what part was actually causing this issue I decided to bake the whole logic board. I removed it from the machine, took all the stickers off, removed the emi foam pads on the ports, took of any kapton tape & plastic covers and put it in the oven at 200c for 9 minutes on balls of tin foil to keep it level. I let it cool with the door open for 5-10 minutes then for another 15-20 on the bench. I was concerned the ambient light sensor might melt as it looked plasticy but it didn't. Some of the solder points looked nice and shiny after removing it form the oven so it was definitely hot enough for some re flowing to occur.

After putting everything back on the logic board and reassembling the laptop, I powered it on. First go it chimed and booted to the Finder, so I tried a restart, that worked. So I tried a Shut Down and power on that worked. I tried a power on from battery 2 hours later, it worked. I just powered it on now, 24 hours later and it's chimed and booted. No graphic corruption either.

So anyone in a similar position I can recommend the oven method. It might not work forever but mine now boots and is usable for now!

Regards,

Matt

Thanks Matthew, You saved my MBP

I was affraid to try this but I tought... The MBP is broken anyway so wath do I got to loose... Worst case cenario is the logicboard being toasted and having to get a new one, but as things are I already have to buy one so...

I took a deep breath...

Plugged the AC power...

Pressed the power button... (No Chime and black screen as it´s been for two days)...

Closed the MBP...

And then...

I left it upside down in my bed under the blankets for almost two hours, I almost burned my hands getting it out, 10 minutes later I presssed the power button and IT WORKS!!! AMAZING!!!

After a huge quest in apple´s forums, a lot of failed attempts of everything I read there I was getting desperate... I have a site to deliver to a custumer this weekend and all software needed as well as 15 days of work without backup this little tip solved my problem.

THX IFIXIT (only found this site yesterday)

THX MATTHEW

Best regards

Nuno Melo

.SITE (Portugal)

The best solution is to reball or replace the nvidia G84-602-A2 (A1226) and it work. check my work.

This process also works in A1260 using ATI X1600

Gayle

Let the battery charger plugged in.

Mine took almost 2 hours but it´s working.

This is a perfect example of what I love about the internet! My 2007 MBP gave up the ghost back in October 2010 and I refused to pay the £750 Apple wanted to replace the Logic Board. It's been sat in it's box, unloved and unwanted until today when I decided to sell it on ebay for spares - then I thought I might try and fix it myself and had a look around for a new or refurb board (found one at £189.) Looking to check to make sure the job wasn't beyond me I found the 'Magic Blanket' post. 90 minutes later the old machine is back in action seemingly no worse for it's 18 months in exile.

Matthew, I don't know whether the solution came through deep knowledge or blind luck - but whatever it was, Thankyou!

Guys, I am out of this. I baked my MacBook twice and each time the process got it going again but after sleep mode or shut down it did not wake up in each case. I got tired putting the Mac in the oven (can't travel with a stove) and decided to "retire" it (scrap yard). Too bad, I guess I just got an Apple Lemon. But I bought another MacBook. Even after that experience nobody will get me back to a Windows box.

Over and out, Wolfgang

we do these graphics reflow repairs in shop here in the UK, I must say that there is no guarantee that 1) the reflow will work, 2) the reflow will last longer then 3 months. We do HP laptop Nvidia chip repairs seemingly all day, with high success, but the MacBook Pro work hasn't been as successful even when using different equipment procedures (heat temp, time of application etc...). If you can get a known working used logic board for a good price (they are about 250 here so around 400 Canadian after the conversion) I would 100 percent recommend that route instead ... oh one other thing, the second answer recommended against doing this repair yourself, i def agree with this, its relatively precise work and even heat on the chip is essential to good reflowing and preventing the board from warping.

Assumed from the other answer you're Canadian, if so hello from another Canadian living in the UK

Dear Sue,

My problem appears to be different to yours. My display was illuminating, but the image was scrambled and looked like the grey startup screen with lines of black squares scrolling up and down. I researched this problem on the Internet and it was clear that the solder connections on the back of the Nvideo chip had become insecure.

Your problem may be due to the same thing but I'm not sure as the symptom is different. It was fiddly opening up the MBP and disconnecting everything but you may have nothing much to lose. $3500 AU seems like the price of a new logic board but if you part-exchange your damaged one the price should go down to half of that. Still too high.

My computer is still working well so I was very pleased to have gone to the effort of opening it up and attempting this fix. Alternatively you can sell the computer for parts. Good luck!

John

not sure about laptop boards since they have a lot of other parts, but I successfully baked my friends dead 8800 GTS 640MB card, which now works perfectly: My guide

My 15" MBP, that I reflowed is still working after three months. Only problem is that it's developed a problem with automatic shutdown, seemingly when the processor heats up when it's asked to do something intensive. Encoding files to different formats being one example. Skype gives it a lot of trouble. It seems mainly useful for light use now.

I was wondering if I could have disturbed part of the cooling mechanism when I opened it up the last time. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,

John

Wanted to add my two cents. I had the problem with my logic board where the screen would either be black or show up scrambled. Similar to other people who responded to this forum, I flipped my mpb over on it's screen side, then turned it on while the fans were running and placed a towel over the vents so the computer could heat up.

Worked like a charm. The mbp is functioning and like it used to be. My mbp was out of warranty too so I saved myself a bunch of money that would of been spent replacing the logic board.

I fixed my video display problem using this method a few months ago and it's holding up well. However (and I don't know if the problem is related) the Macbook Pro has since developed a shutdown problem when I drive the processor or graphics chip hard. It seems to be heat related as smcFanControl shows the heat going up to about 120 degrees before the Mac goes dead. I can power it up again no problem but I'm not able to do many intensive tasks and the Mac is now mainly just good for web browsing, email and writing Word docs.

I'm thinking that maybe the resoldering that I did is shorting something out when things heat up. The problem seems to be progressively worsening. Any ideas of ways to fix it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks to anyone who might know

John

Wow! I had the same problems, but the logic board was replaced by apple in 2008.oct. The machine lasted till this July - when it suddenly went blank while turned on. I think they just put in the same type of logic board. Since the machine had other symptoms (broken keyboard, broken lcd frame because of the lots of rotating in/outs, power connection not always recognized, etc.) I decided to get rid of it in pieces.

Had I known that this overheating / reflowing trick works here as well like with the older xbox 360's and ps3 systems (rrod and ylod fixes) I would have given it a try - but now I am going down the hackintosh route instead.

After all such an expensive machine would not last 3 years (while once repaired in warranty) is just plain outrageous. Hackintosh building / tinkering takes some time but is much easier on your wallet...

yes i just heated the chip with heat gun put back together works fine i heaeted chip video just untill it was hot to touch then pressed it down for a few secounds put back together with 1 penney on video did efi update works fine

As a last resort fix for 2 MBP, a G5 Imac and a Ibook 4, I preheated a oven to 185 degrees F, put in the logic boards being very careful to ensure that they are as flat as possible. Ensure that all rubber parts and tapes are removed. Wrap the IO ports in Foil and any wires not removable from the logic brd (G5 had this). Bake logic board for 10 min and then switch off the oven to let the board cool. Half hour later reinstall the logic board and it all seems fine.

Not sure how long it will last but this seems to do the trick. All 4 computers up and running.

Ifixit repair manuals will help u get the logic board out and its helpful to have a ice tray to keep the screws in order.

Good luck guys.

So glad I was pointed to this site. My MBP was totally dead, and although I was sure that it was the faulty NVIDIA chip, the machine wouldn't boot for the Apple Store genius to run a diagnostic on. There was no chime, no fans ramping up, just a dim light, and a little hard drive chatter.

I tried the heat-up method 2 times... I wrapped it in a fleece blanket, and laid a pillow on top, plugged in & upside down. The 1st time it didn't get very hot even after 90 minutes, and the 2nd time it turned itself off. But the 3rd time was the charm, it got quite hot. That was the ticket! I let it cool briefly, and it booted right up just like it used to, with a perfectly functioning display.

Now it's back to the Apple Store to get the diagnostic test. Fingers crossed.

Thanks!

Worked like magic also for me:) I had to do it twice, but now my macbook pro functions properly. Frustrating is that at first it went wrong 6 month ago, and I took it to an alternative repair place, where the nvidia chip was melted back professionally. I payed about 200$.

Perhaps they have just done the same as I did :)

Absolutely incredible!!!!! I got the same experience like the one above. I tried quilt method. First time MBP heated only moderately and no success! Second time it turned itself off. No heating no success!!Third time I removed the battery and tried this method. MBP heated up quite nicely for about 2 hours. After 4 hours, MBP was slightly cooled. I don't know why. But this time when I pressed power on, the display came back up normal. Bravo!!!(I did not wait for cool down as it was not that hot after 4 hours). While on, I inserted the battery and still no issues. I hope it works now.

(Initial issues was, display used to get dim all of a sudden with pink horizontal lines across the display and used to come back up normal in about one or two minutes. Last Friday MBP refused to boot at all. No boot chime, no display, Apple care asked to pay 800$ to replace logic board, they refused to accept Nvidia chip issue saying that logic board is not booting in the first place!!!!!)

Update

Sorry guys. The trick did not last even for a day!! Now heating up again using quilt method is not reviving logic board at all.

Update

Finally I got my MBP back up again. I gave it to a non apple technician who after doing some checks found that it is not a graphic chip issue but low cpu voltage problem. He fixed it and now my MBP is up and running and that too very very cheap!!!!!

Totally awesome--I used Matthew's method--at first it only helped bring the computer (MBP A1226) to life for one session (after getting it back up and running, I put the computer to sleep, and it died again). I tried a second hot blanket session, and so far I have been able to get the computer turning on normally and running several times. I hope this fix takes this time. I'm blown away that this actually worked at all! Good work Matthew!!!! After several extended conversations with Apple repair people, it seems crazy to me that they are apparently so unwilling (or just plain oblivious) to acknowledge this seemingly common problem. BTW, I found another thread which started back in 2004, but there people were mostly using a heat gun method to fix this sort of thing in old ibooks... see http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-notebooks...

You'd think someone would come up with a more reliable way to keep BGAs (ball grid arrays--I googled and learned a lot) intact and for keeping expensive computers alive longer rather than having people wrap their computers in blankets as needed!!!!!

Additional follow-up (thought I'd add a few more cents worth):

It's a scary thought to think that BGAs are probably in tons of mission critical equipment. On the other hand, maybe it's a good thing that BGAs fail -- that should keep the Singularity in check (unless the Singularity figures out how to wrap itself in a blanket and overheat when necessary)!!! Here's a link describing the well known ways that BGAs fail:

http://www.eetimes.com/design/programmab...

Here's another showing how a BGA can be fixed from 'scratch', if you have the skills (even if you don't have all the correct hi-tech equipment necessarily):

http://the-engineer.hubpages.com/hub/bga...

Finally, a youtube video of an outfit that specifically fixes this problem (I have no affiliation with them):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gOUnddFX...

I had a similar problem, and a variation on the quilt-method worked for me.

It appeared that the screen stopped working so I tried connecting it to an external monitor and got nothing. No startup chime, resetting PRam didn't seem to work, etc. HDD spun up, power light came on and if you close the lid it pulsed.

I wrapped the bottom half of the machine in aluminum foil (not the screen), taking care to block the fan exhaust.

I plugged in power and a USB mouse so I could wake it up while closed, and closed the lid.

I clicked the mouse & made sure the machine was on (solid power light).

Then I wrapped the whole mess in a microfiber blanket to keep it very warm, and cooked for 2-3 hours.

When I came back, the machine was pretty hot. I let it cool to room temperature, turned it on, and it worked perfectly fine.

I was completely blown away that this worked, and figured I should share my experience. Now I'll take it into a genius bar to see if they will agree to replace the motherboard as a courtesy. They've done this for me on other systems in the past.

Dear Friends,

I have a similar problem with my Mac and I think I have nothing to lose by trying the method,

Can anybody out there help me with the Apple E-Mail address that I can use to see if they will agree to change me logic boards.

I have two Macs: A1226 and A1229 with similar problems.

I will try the"Deep Heat" method only after I have contacted Apple.

Thanks everybody for your invaluable tips.

Ndirangu george

NAIROBI. KENYA. AFRICA,

Hi.

Just to let you guys know... Those repair methods WILL NOT LAST LONG. Any attempts of repair with blow torch or heat gun (god bless those logic boards) are UNACCEPTABLE! You will get you Mac fixed for a short time, but then only replacement will help. It's better to get it to TRUSTED workshop for professional REBALLING or if you looking for permament fix whole NVIDIA chip replacement. BUT IF YOU PLAY WITH HEAT GUN OR BLOW TORCH the repair will be impossible at all... It's funny that you can afford £1500 for a Macbook Pro, but then trying to save £100 for professional repair ruining whole machine. Think twice. You will save money anyway. I have repaired tons of motherboards with NVIDIA/ATI/Intel GPUs, but those with signs of previous DIY attempts will almost always fail. PATHETIC

Hi all,

I had similar problems (Macbook Pro 2007): the Mac would start but no display. The behavior was random but got to the point that I just could not turn it on. The blanket trick did not work for me - it did not get hot enough or shut down. Apple repair told me to bet a new motherboard. I might as well get a new MacBook. So after it failed again I thought I can't lose much. I need to keep for a few weeks till I am back in Canada where a new one is cheaper than in Europe.So I cooked it in the oven: 90 degrees Celsius for one hour (including heat-up time. I had to use kitchen gloves to get it out. I let it cool off a bit but not enough - too hot to start. I let it cool down completely and voila, it's working again. I don't know how long that will last but I already shut it down once and it came back up which it did not do before.

Word of caution: 90 degrees for one hour may nave been too much.My keyboard melted a bit: the keys look a bit funny and the space bar is not as reliable as before. But it now looks a bit more exotic and I am typing this message on my Macbook-that's progress!

It's just a shame that the Apple product did not last longer than 5 years. Some of my old Dells still work after 10 years - but I also hate them....

So I will get another MacBook Pro and hope I won't get another NVIDIA lemon.

Good luck cooking your own MacBook, Wolfgang

Freunde, die "Bratapple" Technik ist keine Reparatur. Seit dem letzten Eintrag lief das MacBook 2 Wochen ohne Fehler aber ich habe nicht gewagt ihn auszuschalten den vorherige Erfahrung war dass er dann nicht mehr startet. Gestern hat er dann wieder den Geist aufgegeben (Maus war eingefrohren keine Reaktion auf den keyboard). Neustart brachte ihn nicht zurueck.

Also wieder zurueck ins Bratrohr, diesmal nur 70 Grad aber eine Stunde. Nach abkuehlen ging er wieder.Trotzdem, ich muss einen neuen kaufen denn so geht's nicht weiter.

Gruesse vom Apple Koch.

I am trying the blanket heat up method. I can boot and close the lid and light remains on, however the MBP does not get hot! what am I missing?

The only permanent repair is to get an updated chipset fitted like Apple do with their Rev.2 boards. These guys fitted it to mine with 6 Month Warranty http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V...

Been working for over 10months now, also runs cooler.

WOW the fact this actually worked has me shocked. I too had problems. i even had the laptop logic board replaced in 2009 but I took it earlier this month (April 2012) to the Genius Bar and they told me to bug-off it's beyond the 4 year purchase date & my AppleCare is long expired.

So I stored the laptop away, eagerly awaited (still waiting) Apple's new 2012 MBA/MBP models, whilst I sit cross-legged playing with my Legos & crying simultaneously.

I read this page and think this is among the most stupid things I've ever heard, and that It chimes on, boots, etc but no external display nor internal LCD display, & that although I could make the problem worse, I should try this. It's worth noting that one could turn it into a remote displayless server by swapping the hard drive out w/ networking & SSH even if no display yet still works with a little planning.... I did this magic-blanket trick at the risk of ruining my future server running aspirations.

I connected the battery (not sure this was good due to heat), placed it outside, plugged in on a GFCI outlet in 100 degree heat, wrapped it in a blanket, and turned it on UPSIDEDOWN & let it sit. 15mins later nothing. 30mins later nothing. 45mins later it turned itself off and wasn't hot. Warm but not hot. 1, 2, 3, 4hrs later & it always seemed to turn itself off after 45mins-1.5hrs, and i would check it and turn it back on. Finally 6hrs later I got tired of going inside and outside interrupting my Lego work & disconnected the laptop, flipped it over (again, still warm(er) but not exactly burning hot either) it chimed but nothing. I turned it off real quick and on twice more, and on the third time...

THE DISPLAY turned on!!! (i got the missing hard drive icon! AWESOME!) I was in shock!!! At this point I was scared to move an inch, and I decided more time would help, so at the time of this post writing I've decided to continue 'magic-blanket' therapy. It may only last for a day or a week or whatever, but if it gets me to the release of Apple's next laptop models instead of the old ones available now, It will be worth it.

Thank you to everyone who posted here and shared your experiences, especially the lead blanket poster, Matthew. Matthew I wish to share blankets with you tonight sir.... unbelievable this worked. Thank you so much!

I think some caution is needed with this wrap-in-a-quilt and/or heat gun cure method.

It assumes the cause of the misery lays in the degraded or partly lost connection between the logicboard and the about 2 x 2 inch nVidia board, more specific, some of the leadfree solderballs in the Ball Grid Array (BGA) have failed in one way or another.

By itself, blame on (the) leadfree solderjoints is not far fetched, many electronics manufacturers had and still have to deal with those. One could say, leadfree solder is a quite different cup of tea compared to classic lead solder.

So something wrong with the leadfree solderballs is indeed a possible culprit.

However, it is NOT the only one...

There also came to light an issue with the nVidia chip(s?) itself. There are several GeForce 8600 sub-types or versions.

The nasty and prone to failure cards, were equiped with a 602-chip, the better, or should one say more robust, ones had the 603, anyway NOT a 602.

The 602-chips failed internally, as such the 603 can be seen as the redesigned, improved version of the 602.

This implies, in case of misery and the graphics-chip appears to be a 602, any solder reflow attempt like the wrap-in-a-quilt method and/or reflow and/or reball and/or heat gun or baking will not work.

And let us face it, reballing is a skilled specialists job. One could do it oneself, as long as the proper equipment is at hand.

Apple abandoned the GeForce 8600M-series with 602-chips as soon as it became clear what went wrong and moved tot 603 and later. The Apple logicboards exchanged via the extended warranty program are/were all 603-chip equiped.

With greetings from continental Europe

Feike Hoogenbos

AMAZING! I have a dead 15 inch MacBook Pro from 2008, where Apple already has replaced the logic board (6 months ago), because of NVIDIA problem, but the machine died again. the warranty on repairs is only 3 months (but why?) - even if the repair means a new logic board. Apple refuses to acknowlege that this second crash of the machine can have anything to do with the GPU. As long as there is no chime, and the screen is black, they cannot run their test, and then the conclusion is damaged motherboard!

I have tried every trick in the book (I am a former Apple service technician) and nothing works. yesterday I pulled out the logic board, wrapped it in foil, with a hole revealing only the GPU. I gave it 10 minutes with a heat gun, with a completely shot-in-the-dark method, with no control over temperature or nothing (the heat gun produces probably arohund 200-300 degress celsius depending on the distance from the object). When I did not dare to expose it to more heat, because I could barely touch the chip briefly, I let it cool. After reassembling it, the machine works like nothing ever happened to it. I hope it lasts!