MacBook Pro Repair Extension Program for Video Issues | Hacker News Reader

MacBook Pro Repair Extension Program for Video Issues

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247 pointslstamour144 comments

I had this model, and the graphic issues started to appear during the last summer. After having acknowledged the situation [1] (Apple doesn’t officially admit there is a problem, and chances are that I will have to pay for a new logic board since I am out of warranty), I went to an Apple Store in the UK for a diagnostic.

I was about to pay for the new logic board, and the person confirmed to me that in case of a recall happening in the future, I would be refunded by Apple. Nice surprise when he asked me where I bought it: since I ordered it on the Apple website, even if it was on the french Apple Store website, they proposed me to replace it using the UK warranty, which is 6 years (!) instead of 1 year in France [2] (I didn’t take the Apple Care).

A few hours after having my computer back, the exact same graphic issues started again. I went back to the Apple Store, and they changed it again. Everything was working fine…

Until two months later, when the sound chip just died: no errors in OS X, but no sound at all (from speakers, microphone or jack plug). I went back to the Apple Store, and they changed the logic board again (it wasn’t a problem because all replacements are covered by warranty).

A few days later, the graphic issues started again. I went back to the Apple Store. Since they changed the logic board three times already, they proposed me to replace the MBP by a brand new one: the latest and high-end model (since they have to replace it with an equivalent), and I even received an external drive since the new models don’t have one, and despite having said that I don’t need it.

I think I have been really lucky: I just wanted to repair it so I could sell it and buy a new model. I ended up with the latest model without paying anything except a few hours spent at the Apple Store.

Lessons learned:

- Buy your Apple computer from Apple if you can.

- You have a 6 years warranty in the UK.

[1] http://www.mbp2011.com/

[2] http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

Edit: the legal warranty is 2 years in France, not 1 year.

> instead of 1 year [of warranty] in France

Didn't you mean 2 years? In the whole Europe you get at least 2 years of warranty

Cit. EU directive 1999/44/EC "A two-year guarantee applies for the sale of all consumer goods everywhere in the EU. In some countries, this may be more, and some manufacturers also choose to offer a longer warranty period."

Yes sorry, the Apple warranty is 1 year, but the legal warranty is 2 years.

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev...

A quick note: Apple has you covered for two years in France, due to european regulations: the first year is handled by the manufacturer, the second one is handled by the reseller. This is important as in terms of resellers an Apple Retail Store is not considered the same as the Apple Online Store, and even mode important if you're not buying it through Apple.

That said, every time I went to an Apple Retail Store I've had the thing handled nonetheless, sometimes even when out of the 2 year warranty.

It doesn't even need to be an Apple Store. When my SSD died after the 1 year apple warranty I called Apple and was given an option of several Apple certified shops around me.

They told me there that it usually takes a few days for apple to authorize the repair after the 1 year vendor warranty, but I was able to pick up my laptop again on the next day in the morning.

My Macbook died last month after 15 months, outside of the 1 year warranty. I had bought it from Apple's website.

The local certified shop wanted £99 to diagnose the problem. Apple weren't particularly helpful when I asked for help to get the fee waived (their staff in the US don't know about the UK Sale of Goods act, understandable perhaps), so I had to take a 40 minute train journey to my nearest Apple store.

The Apple store diagnosed the problem and immediately offered to repair it for free 'under UK consumer law'. I was pretty happy with the experience, but would have preferred if the local certified shop had been able to diagnose and repair the laptop for free instead.

The EU warranty regulations are always about the relationship between the customer and the retailer, never with the manufacturer.

Manufacturers are free to offer an additional warranty, and many of them do, but it's got nothing to do with EU regulations, and can be better or worse than the retailer warranty (e.g. in terms of who needs to pay for shipping, covered problems, proving who's to blame).

If your device breaks in the first months, you often have the option of either going to the retailer or the manufacturer.

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/shopping-abroa...

Similar story on an entirely different model.

I bought an iMac 21" some years ago from the online store, received quickly via UPS. Bootup, start doing stuff, and progressively comes a yellow tinge. I call Apple Care, which places a replacement order. To minimise downtime, they send the replacement ASAP and order a return to be completed later. This means you get the new computer before you return the broken one. Nice, especially if you didn't use Time Machine (it was all new and shiny) and wanted to do a Mac to Mac transfer via Firewire.

The new one arrives, power on, and straight from the boot screen here's a yellow tinge, even worse than the first one. Round trip with Apple Care, order a new replacement, arrange pickup, go. Same tinge again, but more subdued, and it seems to be slowly going away, but how to be sure?

Not willing to take risks, I call Apple Care again, which orders a new replacement and arranges a pickup. Replacement arrives and now I have three iMacs on my desktop (of which two are due for return). Seriously. And that one, too has a yellow tinge. I call Apple Care again, and this time they say to me that while we could continue with this little game endlessly, that may not be the wisest thing to play what is essentially lottery. So they offer me to get my money back, plus a coupon if I were to order a computer again.

Forum searches learned me that there seems to be much less 27" affected than 21", and with that coupon I could now afford one. So after pondering the situation, I choose to go for it. The thing arrives and hurray, it's tinge free!

For the record, a few years later, the thing is out of warranty and I receive an email that the hard disk is eligible for a preventive replacement, for free, even if out of warranty. Yay.

Good point for Apple. But I wouldn't call having your computer fixed 4 times in ~2 months lucky... Every brand seems to be having reliability problems with their products nowadays (in software as well as hardware). More than in the past. Or maybe it's just me, unlucky as you are... I really have no idea what my next laptop will be...

John Lewis are also a good option to buy Macs (or anything, really) from if you're in the UK. On, I think, all electrical goods, definitely including Macs, you get a two-year warranty (ie. double Apple's).

John Lewis are also very nice to talk to on the phone, in my experience - I ordered some flowers through them recently for next day delivery, which unfortunately they were unable to fulfil: they phoned me to apologise and the guy said to me, "I really am so sorry about this, it's a dratted nuisance!" The day after, they sent a much larger bunch of flowers than I'd originally ordered.

In the UK, all goods must be "fit for purpose" and must be fixed or replaced if they break within a reasonable time frame. For things you'd expect to be of reasonable quality, this is usually 6 years (if your £5 Argos blender breaks after 5 years then it's probably not covered, if your Apple laptop breaks after 4 years then it really should be).

> - You have a 6 years warranty in the UK.

It's worth remembering this, however it's not always 6 years. There's no fixed time, but 6 years for electrical goods is a fairly good point.

This all comes down to the sales of goods act, which means good must be "fit for purpose". If an expensive laptop breaks after 4 years, then you can argue it wasn't fit for purpose and therefore must be fixed or replaced (or a full refund issued). As long as you haven't caused the problem through misuse, you're covered.

> since I ordered it on the Apple website, even if it was on the french Apple Store website, they proposed me to replace it using the UK warranty

If you'd ordered it through someone else, you would have to have gone through them instead (it's up to the seller to sort out, not the manufacturer).

This is a very powerful piece of consumer law, and it's a shame it's not as well known as it should be.

> - Buy your Apple computer from Apple if you can.

Unless you'd bought it from another person rather than a business, you should have received the same treatment. This isn't Apple being nice, this is them fulfilling their legal obligations.

Some vendors are better about it than others. I've had a bad experience with O2 denying my guarantee rights under the Sales of Goods Act, for what was clearly an "unfit for purpose" phone (iPhone 5 with a faulty sleep button[0]). Apple replaced it for me of their own accord, though.

[0] - https://www.apple.com/uk/support/iphone5-sleepwakebutton/

I am not surprised, these big telco's have nothing to gain by being customer friendly.

That's why I buy my phones straight from Apple. It feels a little pricier that way, of course.

> If an expensive laptop breaks after 4 years, then you can argue it wasn't fit for purpose and therefore must be fixed or replaced (or a full refund issued). As long as you haven't caused the problem through misuse, you're covered.

My understanding is that under the Sale of Goods Act you are entitled to a partial refund [1], which reflects the use that you got out of the product. For example, if a laptop broke after 4 years, and 6 years was a reasonable lifespan, that suggests a 1/3 refund.

I believe that the new EU directive entitles you for a full refund for the 2 years of the warranty. In this regard, it's a stronger protection than the UK Sale of Goods act. In other regards, the Sale of Goods act is stronger (5 years to make a claim in Scotland, 6 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland).

> Unless you'd bought it from another person rather than a business, you should have received the same treatment. This isn't Apple being nice, this is them fulfilling their legal obligations.

Some retailers might be quicker to fulfil their obligations than others, so that's worth considering when choosing where to buy the product. My recent experience at the Apple store after buying from the Apple website was pretty positive.

edit: re-reading your post, I realise that you already pointed out that your rights are against the retailer, not the manufacturer.

[1] http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/sale-of-go...

> My understanding is that under the Sale of Goods Act you are entitled to a partial refund

You are entirely correct, I'd misunderstood things and possibly got confused with a shorter timeframe (if it's very early on, you're entitled to a full refund). Thanks for the correction, I'll update my post to point out the error. (edit - oh, I'm now unable to edit the post :( )

> I believe that the new EU directive entitles you for a full refund for the 2 years of the warranty. In this regard, it's a stronger protection than the UK Sale of Goods act.

Very interesting to know, thank you.

Well I had one of those 2011 MBPs that failed in this way...this was after my warranty expired and clearly before this repair was issued. They told me it would cost me like $350 or $400 or something to replace the motherboard on the thing. Ended up buying a new MBP and selling the bricked one for $100.

There was an enormous thread spanning several years on the apple support forums, so it's a good thing they waited until 4 years later to address this problem...

Same exact sentiment here with 2012 rMBP. Had to sell it for much lower and grabbed a new one. The NVIDIA GPU was faulty and it worked fine on Intel only. No way they reimburse the damage.

I got someone at the Apple Store to replace my board a couple years ago.

I'd made a couple trips over a year. Initially, I stopped the reboot by not using the discreet card then I foolishly upgraded to a Mac OS X beta at WWDC then my machine rebooted quite frequently. Tried to grab an engineer to demonstrate the problem but the kernel guys were the only ones who I thought could track it down but I missed them.

My MBP had this fault and was out of warranty (I'd taken too long to take it in). They replaced the logic board and screen free of charge. I think the amount shown on the zeroed invoice was close to $1k.

Same Apple Store, my wife showed that her iPhone with cracked screen had dust in the camera, assured them the dust predated the screen smashing and they gave her a new phone.

I suspect newly opened Apple stores are granted a budget to go above and beyond in order to build local reputation.

My local Apple store, however (Eplehuset in Bergen, Norway) flagrantly violates Norwegian warranty law unless you show up multiple times, cite the specific chapter of the law they are violating and then threaten legal action. So it's clearly not a global policy.

But Eplehuset are just authorized resellers, not Apple's stores. We also have Humac and Eplehuset in Denmark (however, Humac just bought all Eplehuset's stores), and that's the same story.

Nope - the Apple store I go to is over 10 years old and I have plenty of stories along these lines spanning its whole existence.

Unfortunately, I have a Mid 2010 MBP that is not covered under this warranty extension.

It crashes/restarts all the time with a GPU panic that is caused by the nVidia card, and triggered by the OS. It never crashed with Snow Leopard (the stock OS for my model), but ever since I upgraded, it crashes consistently (Mountain Lion & Mavericks).

I use gfxCardStatus to force the computer to use the intel graphics card. This allows me to work without random restarts.

Same here. It's a shame since otherwise this ~5y old computer still is holding up well.

Same. It makes an otherwise totally fine computer worthless. There was a recall for this problem too (http://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT203554), but it already ended.

Yes. I had the same problem and Apple did a free out-of-warranty logic board replacement for me.

same, unfortunately I wasn't aware of the recall until after it ended. I am stuck with the defected board. I also use gfxcardstatus to keep my sanity.

I had exact same problem and got my motherboard replaced for free 2 years ago.

Do you get the same problem still if you boot off a USB Snow Leopard disk or dual boot into Windows?

If not, I wonder if you could report it as a bug or something?

Yep, my Mid 2010 15" started doing the same thing. Not disappointed to get five years out of a laptop, but still...

I had the same problem with my mid 2010, they replaced the motherboard/logic board for free last year and it never happened again.

I have given up on buying laptops with dGPUs - Post Sandy Bridge Intel's GPU is more than what a non-gaming machine needs and I certainly don't need the battery loss and added heat.

(These dGPU related repair issues seems like the are an Apple only thing though - my work laptop has a Nvidia GPU and it is running most of the times due to sleep/wake issues - no other problems in the past 4 years. Haven't heard of any other manufacturers having similar issues recently either.)

Various HP laptops have also had major issues with dGPUs, Nvidia ones to boot.

Hmm, there was a class action settlement in 2011 for that it appears. No repair programs that I can find - may be Apple's the most proactive in issuing repairs and other manufacturers' issues are swept under the rug because of relatively low visibility.

I believe the root of the problem, lead-free soldering joints, was common to all portables of that time

Nvidia and AMD GPUs probably generate more heat than Intel chips and so have likely been more badly affected. Has there been some breakthrough in the alloy used for solder that makes this less of an issue now? Also interesting that I've never heard of this issue with desktop GPUs, which get insanely hot. My guess is the solder pads are bigger and more widely spaced?

I'm not aware of any major breakthroughs in the past few years, but lead-free solder alloys are an active research area right now. Here's a SANDIA report from 2012 that has some context and some cool micrographs; you can find lots more by searching the web for tin whisker growth in lead-free solders.

(edit: pdf warning) http://prod.sandia.gov/techlib/access-control.cgi/2012/12051...

Well, well. Just as with the iMessage switching from iPhone issues, it seems that sometimes it takes a class action lawsuit to get results from Apple: http://9to5mac.com/2014/10/28/apple-class-action-lawsuit-201...

Full disclosure: I'm pretty sure my wife is owed a reimbursement over this.

I have worked on 6 units of 2011 MacBook Pro that had this issues. Two of them were repaired out-of-warranty, which cost $210+tax for parts and $100 for labor.

I talked to AppleCare rep a few hours ago and Apple will refund me the repair cost.

Wonder if they will still reimburse me. They only noted "Computer will not turn on and there are no signs of power" for the repair, since I didn't take it in until the logic board died (did reboot randomly, and random colours on the screen).

17 Days later I had another repair on the new part for "Mac shuts down unexpectedly during use with battery".

Think my bill was around $600-$800 for the logic board replacement.

They keep a more extensive internal work log regarding your repair than what is listed on your invoice, so if you call there's a good chance they can look through your history and see whether they identified it as a graphics issue.

sadly the senior support support guy told me since it doesn't clearly state "graphic problems or random reboots" there's a good chance his request will be denied.

Didn't take it in during those problem since it "worked" and was out of warranty, but did when that last reboot wouldn't 'reboot'.

Lesson learned :S

Late 2011 Macbook Pro here, and I had to get my logic board replaced twice. Thankfully, it was still under Apple Care, but had it not been I definitely would not have paid for the repair TWICE and would have ended up selling the bricked laptop like others did.

Given that virtually everyone would have taken their MBP to an Apple Store (even those who decided to not get the repairs), Apple has a list of most people who experienced this issue.

If they want to maintain their reputation for quality, it would be wise to find a way to reimburse people who they can confirm (with said previous apple store appointments for this issue). They don't need to reimburse everyone, but they could definitely find a way to rebuild some trust here.

They will be reimbursing those people. If you read the additional information at the bottom of the site:

"Additional Information Apple is contacting customers who paid for a repair either though Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider to arrange reimbursement. If you have not been contacted, but paid for a repair that you think was due to this issue, please contact Apple."

I don't really think this damaged their reputation, even in the slightest way. I had never heard of the problem, and it seems that even the people that suffered it went ahead and bought another mac: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9079010

I downvoted you because you simply can't draw that conclusion just based on the evidence of one anecdotal account from an affected user and from your own ignorance of the problem. Of course this has damaged their reputation in the minds of some affected users.

I absolutely agree. Having to bring my laptop in on a yearly basis to get it fixed due to this issue definitely lowered my expectation of hardware quality in Macs. I will absolutely still be buying another Mac, but that is primarily because of the operating system and ergonomic design principles -- all of which make me a much more productive developer.

Because Apple bundles everything (and refuses to unbundle the OS from the hardware in any way), you are likely right that the effect will be minimal because the benefits of all the goods (bundled together) outweighs the costs (and consumers have no choice -- if they want any part of the bundle, they must buy all of it).

I got a £100 store credit the second time mine failed. The yosemite update makes it crash less hard, but my current one is failing too.

This is great news, even though it's frustrating that they took so long to "do the right thing."

Last year my 2011 MBP failed literally the day before its extended AppleCare expired. Had it failed a day later, I'd have been in some trouble.

At least it was not a rMBP. My mid-2102 rMBP coverage expires this June, and I'm seriously thinking of selling it and upgrading just to get Apple care back. The whole computer is almost a single piece at this point. Any kind of damage is super expensive to repair out of warranty.

> it's frustrating that they took so long to "do the right thing."

Par for the course.

I was bit by logic board problems on the dual USB iBook (2002 model), which eventually got covered under a similar warranty extension. Then I had to pull teeth when my MacBook's plastic discolored in 2006.

Mine failed literally the day after the AppleCare expired and thankfully the guy let me get it repaired as if it were under AppleCare. My understanding is that the store managers actually get a fair amount of leeway on this. Were that not the case, I would have had to think hard about spending $350 on a repair for a computer that was no longer my primary.

I'm glad they took care of you! I'm curious: had you bought the extended AppleCare?

Reason I ask is because the general consensus seems to be that they cut you a lot more slack if you've paid for the 3-year warranty, even if it's expired.

That's been my experience, but... I'm not rich enough to buy two identical MBPs (one without extended coverage) and use one as a proper control sample. :)

>> This is great news

Right now, this is only -good- news for me, because it's not clear what the fix is.

My main concern is what they're replacing the defective boards with. When I replaced my motherboard under AppleCare, they basically gave me a new board with the same design defect. In less than 6 months, I had the same problems, and then my MBP died over the XMas holidays. Lucky me, I replaced it with a Lenovo that came with Superfish installed.

For the news to be great, they'd have to replace my current board with a redesigned board that won't fail again in 6 months. Until more information trickles in from people who have gotten their MBPs fixed, I'm going to reserve judgment.

In any case, I'm very happy that Apple finally decided to make whole the people who have suffered with this problem for the past few years. It was the right thing to do. I do feel badly for the people who sold their units at a significant loss though.

I had similar problems with a 2009 MBP about a month after AppleCare expired and they repaired it free of charge. They seem to be pretty good about that.

I have a 2010 MBP that experienced system restarts from a Apple-known video issue and they fixed it out of warranty (required complete motherboard replacement). They should extend this to the 2010 models as well.

EDIT: (this was 2 years ago)

I'm curious to know why is this a hardware fix. The problems on my mid-2012 mbp only started after the upgrade to Yosemite, and this seems to be the case from many reports on forums out there.

Had the same experience on updating to Mavericks. Ended up having to replace the logic board while abroad and didn't want to update to Mavericks for a long time (although I recently did)

There might be something related to the update or not, difficult to say, but most likely it is just a coincidence.

Apparently the MBP runs super hot, weakening the solder links to the discrete GPU.

The problem is that there seems to be a design defect either in the chassis, logic board or both. Replacing the logic board basically just resets you to day one. If you're a heavy user, you'll soon encounter the same issue, which is why a lot of people -- myself included -- have had the problem recur.

While I'll be taking advantage of the fix (I can't even boot my Macbook Pro, even the post screen is messed up), I'm hoping they've actually made a fix to the logic board design as opposed to giving me a replacement logic board with the same problematic design.

Ah, that would explain why it happened twice to me! To be fair, the replaced logic board lasted about a year.

This is doubly good news for me, because it makes it sound like my early 2011 MBP is likely to be covered, and I can reasonably hope the fix will last longer than a year, as my main development work has been moved to a mid-2014 MBPR.

Strange, the problem occurred on my rMBP 2012 right after I upgraded to Yosemite (literally the same day). I also thought it was more of a software bug, so I downgraded to Mavericks. I still had the issue on Mavericks, so I thought it was a just a coincidence. Also, at that time, Apple wasn't aware of the problem and I wasn't on Apple Care, so they didn't want to test more my laptop. The only option was a straight 600 bucks repair... I still find it really strange that a lot of us had this problem after a software upgrade...

I have never seen the visual glitches, however I have had my computer restart spontaneously and upon reboot would state "A graphics problem has been detected". I called Apple Care several times about this, and filed tickets on bugreporter.apple.com but made no progress. Glad they're finally getting around to fixing this.

My model is: MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013)

Great news! Been struggling with this for a long time and thought I was the only one!

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/709328/geforce-driv...

Just last month I finally sold my 15" MBP (early 2011) for $500 after whining on reddit, and having no chance of repair, except the apple auth. guy said, I need to change motherboard.

http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/2ka0h0/yosemite_cripp...

Also I voted this. http://www.change.org/p/timothy-d-cook-replace-or-fix-all-20...

I wish I had not sold it. :/ because for $500 I could only get the HP pavilion :/ as a replacement., you know that alone is the most terrible fact about this whole episode. that Had to use a HP lappy. :/

If I were apple CEO, I would be sending a personally signed, apologizing note to each of these customers, with a bag carrying a new MBP.

In my case it took 45% of my fortune to buy that machine. :/

> In my case it took 45% of my fortune to buy that machine.

Maybe that's not a great idea for a device that has a 3-5 year lifespan anyways?

I had the same exact model, except I bought mine Refurb'd from Apple with Applecare so it was going to run out this March. Rather than risk having a brick I sold it on Craigslist for $850. This is after having the logic board and hard-drive replaced twice by Apple a few years earlier.

If you paid Apple, maybe ask for a refund anyway. They have a record of your service/transaction, and it's not like the computer is required, just ID and perhaps a credit card statement or the like.

As someone who's owned a lot of cheap but reliable laptops, are those of you with MacBook Pros commonly needing to return to an Apple Store after purchasing for service? In my mind I've been on the verge of giving a MBP a shot a few times because my associates are always going on about how great the hardware and build quality is, but then I read about an issue like this and see what feels like a billion people chiming in about how "yeah mine does that too" and change my mind.

Perhaps this is a case of brand loyalty (e.g. "I'd rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford"). I acknowledge that of course the horror stories will come out in the comments for a thread about a common failure, and that a very popular brand is likely to have more people to comment, positively or negatively. I guess I'm just concerned I'll splurge on a top-end MBP and end up with something less reliable than a $450 Toshiba that refused to die.

I don't know how much a few anecdotes matter, but to answer your question, no. My MacBook from 2009 is running perfectly fine today. I used it quite heavily throughout college and always keep it on sleep mode so it's been running pretty much continuously for years. I did replace the hard-drive with an SSD, but I still use the original as a small portable drive.

After giving that MacBook to my dad, I upgraded to a 13" Retina MacBook Pro, which is amazing. I used it for a few months before selling it to my brother and switching to the late 2013 15" one. Both laptops are running great and there are no screen issues.

And for what it's worth, I had a positive experience when I needed to bring the 15" into the Apple store. I had stupidly used a cheap wireless mouse with a plastic USB connector and a piece of plastic got stuck in the USB port. Apple removed it free of charge.

I had a similar problem with a Macbook from around 2009. The graphics became defective right after the 3 year Apple Care expired. This was a known motherboard issue with extended coverage, but I didn't know, so I went out and bought a new Macbook.

What I would like to know is, why doesn't Apple inform the owners of affected hardware? It's not like they don't know, since they have everything they'd need for that in their customer database (Apple ID and contact info, Macbook serial numbers).

I suspect they happily leave the onus on the consumer to discover that their out of warranty hardware has a serial defect who's repair is covered. I've seen this behavior with other manufacturers (Onkyo). I think that we need better laws to force the manufacturers to contact their customers, similar to safety recalls in the automobile space.

Personally I go to the Apple Store even if I know I am out of warranty because they will lay out all of the options you have. Sometimes they offer free services because of recalls

I have a late 2011 MacBook Pro that has this problem.

I called Apple this morning and they told me that I'd have to bring it in to an Apple store. The page on Apple.com offers a postage paid "Mail In Service" option if you are in the US but the customer service rep didn't know anything about that.

I have an early 2011 and have had this problem twice. The latest time I was working in SF and didn't think they would replace the logic board again for free, it being three years out of warranty. They did, which suggests to me that internally Apple has been aware of this problem for quite some time. This program gives me relief because I can see the problem happening again.

If I remember correctly the store said it was due to loose connections between the logic board and the discrete graphics. It originally manifested as lockups as soon as the discrete GPU kicked in. For anyone else seeing this problem, I was able to manage that using a tool called gfxCardStatus which disables the discrete GPU.

I'm pleased that Apple is doing the right thing by their customers and offering to reimburse historical repairs.

I had a 2007 MacBook Pro, it had the original round of Nvidia issues. I got one from a friend in 2013. Originally I was going to use it as a parts machine because I wanted the CD drive, but instead I realised it may have the Nvidia issues. I brought it into Apple and it popped for the issue, so they sent it off, I got it back and it was fully functional again. No charge.

To this day it still works without issues :-)

I have an Early 2011 Mac Book Pro which has had the motherboard replaced twice because of this issue. The first one was 3 years out of warranty so I had to pay $700 (Aus). The second time it happened only 6 months after the first motherboard replacement. I'm currently on the phone with their support to get my money back hopefully. Although it has been 28 minutes waiting so far... Perhaps I'm not the only one calling Apple tonight.

Edit: ok all sorted out. Refund is in the mail ;) Turns out I was the first one to call them apparently so they weren't sure how to process it. I ended up getting transferred to someone that sounded UK'ish with a nice 80's phone time delay. Woohoo Nice present for the weekend me thinks!!

They are way too late with this.

I imagine that most people who experienced this failure have gotten their device repaired out of pocket or moved on to a different laptop. I got mine repaired by some dude on eBay and it only worked for about a month after that, that $150 is gone. But at least I can finally have a usable MacBook Pro to possibly sell, as opposed to just a really expensive paperweight.

However, I would like to know if they've actually fixed the fundamental design flaw that caused this problem to begin with. If they're merely going to replace the faulty parts for free with the exact same part, then it won't do much but give you an extension on the life of your advice until the same thing happens again.

Damn it, I just new it was the GPU! So glad I held on to it! Its been in a couple of time and they offered to change the MB for too much money. I've tried different RAM, different SSDs. Its an old 2011 17" with the AMD GPU. Made my appointment already!

Oh nice. My 2001 anti-glare MBP has been flickering when trying to display purple for some reason. Visiting getbootstrap.com puts scan lines across the screen. I was thinking it might be the display, but now I'm thinking it's the GPU.

Where do you stand if you have an Early 2011 15" MacBook Pro that has a faulty GPU but is long out of warranty?

Even with this extension program, you aren't any better off since you would still have to pay for the repair according to Apple's website?

I guess this is where your statutory rights come into play if you live in the UK (like I am) since these entitle you to the free repair or replacement of the defective goods up to six years after purchase.

http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

The second paragraph says "Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will repair affected MacBook Pro systems, free of charge."

Thanks! I misread the text at the bottom of the page (due to tiredness). You're right though, the repair would be free of charge.

"This worldwide Apple program does not extend the standard warranty coverage of the MacBook Pro."

In the last 6 months, I've had my 15" late 2011 model MBP repaired three times for this exact problem. After the first failure, they haven't charged again for the subsequent motherboard replacements. I guess so many are failing all at once that they couldn't ignore the problem anymore.

Interestingly, the first time I had it repaired, I was charged $550 by a third-party "repair" shop who told me up front that it the motherboard needed to be replaced, then took it to Apple and payed them $330 to fix it. Caveat emptor.

Yeah the standard flat rate fee for motherboard related issues from Apple is just about $300. With this in mind it's usually a better idea to take them to Apple then use third party shops. I've had the exact same issue happen to me on Apple laptops all the way back to my 2008 Macbook Pro and eventually Apple made the same extension for that model as they are with these newer models. After a few years the video chipset seems to have connection issues that may or may not be solved with a reflow attempt (baking the logic board in the oven)

I'm delighted they're finally doing this. I've a 2011 Macbook Pro sitting on a shelf for the last year because the graphics went haywire and eventually it wouldn't start at all.

Yep, happens to me too, random freezing is especially annoying.

Also, random weird black screen flickering, and grey/old-TV-like screen glitches are just ugly but not really a problem.

The occasional screen freeze with Macbook Pro late 2013 model here. Too bad its not covered by this program. Oh well, have to restart it manually here and there.

It would be nice of Apple to disclose exactly what has been causing the problem on older models, and to explain in detail what lucky accidental change they made to their manufacturing process in late 2013 which supposedly fixed a problem they implicitly claim they were unaware existed until now.

Same here, rMBP late 2013. Problems happen most frequently when plugged into an external thunderbolt display.

Has anyone else had issues with Macbook Air having marks on the screen which won't come off? These look like tiny scratches, but are in a line and roughly where the screen touches the top of the trackpad when closed.

I've had it with both the 11" and 13" models of the current design. Apple replaced the screen on both, but the same happened and then my warranty expired.

Yes! I had this exact problem with my MBPr 15" (2013). I used to bike with it in my backpack, and I believe the pressure from that pushed the screen in, causing it to scrape the metal near the trackpad. Any pressure should cause this to happen, given that they're so thin.

The Air does not have a glass cover on the screen, so yes, I have the same issue and I think it's normal. I've had the some marks on my glassless iBook G4. Still better than the glossy screen on the non-Retina MBP :)

Same problem here [0], I was calling apple about that problem for at least 5 times and they always refused and blamed it on me using it wrong. I called them again last week because I wanted to give it another shot before my apple care protection plan expires and after sending them a bunch of pictures they escalated the case to a higher-level rep, called me back and agreed to replace it.

The only reason they did that was that I also had these marks on the border of the display, not just in the center and they said then it's an issue with the anti-glare coating and not just scratched from using it wrong (even though it's clearly the same kind of wear). There's also a huge thread in the apple support forum.[1] and it got featured on a big german IT news site. [2]

I'll get a new display next week.

[0] http://i.imgur.com/9BAfZQP.jpg

[1] https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6068947

[2] http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/MacBook-Pro-Berichte-...

Yes, same issue on retina Macbook Pro 15, bought 2013. Apple refused to repair the screen. It is clearly that the scratches match the structure of the keyboard. Previous model does not have this issue and is used identically. I bought the laptop in Japan and requested repair in Czech Republic. Apple refused my claims because "international" warranty is only for 1 year (I asked for repair after 2 years). The result? Screen is not repaired and difficult to use unless completely dark. This issue is quite common and It would be nice if Apple change its policy in this case as well.

We had one MBP Retina 15" that had that issue in the office, Apple replaced the screen instantly when we took it to an Apple store.

This happened to my early 2011 15" MacBook Pro sometime mid-2013. Apple repaired it for a $300 flat-fee via their "Repair Depot" option and luckily I haven't had the issue happen again yet (but it did come back with some extra scratches and a 3 month warranty, I think? - can't remember now.)

Hopefully the refund process isn't too difficult.

I had the same issue happen to me about a month ago, and also paid the flat $300 fee. I called Apple Support yesterday, and explained to them my situation and their current program. The employee that was helping me put me on hold a few times and eventually had me talk to his 'Senior Supervisor'. I then had to re-explain what was going on, and to my surprise, this was the first time the 'Senior Supervisor' heard of the Video Card warranty/program. He asked for my serial number and called my back to 'look into it'. About 25 minutes later, he explained the refund process to me. It will take about 4 weeks total, and you will have the option to get refunded via check or bank deposit (you'll need to give them routing number etc. if you choose this route).

I am experiencing some similar issues with my 15" mid2012 rMBP.

Whenever I work on some canvas/webgl game, after some refreshing in the browser (reproducible with Safari and Chrome) the entire screen freezes, without any chance for recover and I have to power it down, manually.

Has anyone had this problem and do you know if it qualifies for the Repair Extension Program?

I have exactly the same problem and still wondering if this repair extension program will change anything.

I've definitely experienced (and still do) this. After a bit of digging I found this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6602046?start=105&tstar... which points to "discrete GPU and/or the switching to and from it".

Not sure if it's the same issue, but worth inquiring for sure :)

Hoping this covers my issues with an early 2013 retina - the system crashes whenever I let it use the discrete graphics, and it's got to the point that I can't let it sleep or power down or it's touch and go whether it comes back. I currently use a combination of NoSleep, gfxCardStatus and blind hope to keep it going.

Just taken my 15" 2011 MBP in - as luck would have it I had a 0930 appointment. Even tho the replacement programme doesn't start here in the UK until the 27th Feb, they were happy to do a gratis repair "under consumer law". Without me having to shout at all. "You'll beat the rush!" said the guy.

I have applecare for my 15 MBP w/retina (THANKFULLY), and I can attest that I've had to have Apple replaced the logic board twice. Both times, the screen's backlight would just go out.

Great to hear Apple is doing this, but then disappointing that it's even an issue for a $2k+ laptop.

I don't have a 'video issue' as explained here, but I do have a problem with my my 'iSight' camera frequently not being recognized by Facetime (or anywhere else). The issue goes away upon rebooting.

Any ideas? It's a 2012 edition MacBook Pro with Retina Display 15"

I have the same issue on the mid 2012 13" model. The camera seems to stop being recognised whenever the macbook goes into sleep mode... no solution found so far.

It's really annoying and reminds me of Windows where such issues were routine and rebooting was not a big deal. I moved to a Mac to get away from such issues, and largely have, except this one niggling issue.

I have that with my MacBook Air - instead of rebooting, try running this in your terminal:

sudo killall VDCAssistant

Works for me every time.

Thanks, will try it out!

It worked! Thanks a ton

Great, my girlfriend just sold hers last week for 100€ after enduring a year of the video card crashing.

Same thing basically happened to me - I just bought a new rMBP in lieu of throwing good money after bad on a logic board repair. Literally, I'm days out of the return period.

Thankfully I still have the bricked 2011 MBP, so I'll get it fixed and keep it as a backup machine I guess.

Nice. This problem started happening more than a year ago on my early 2011. I just had it sitting collecting dust as I got the 2013 version. Last week I decided to take it to get repaired... and now they announce this. Hopefully this will save me the $300 repair.

I have a mid-2010 13" MBP (wrong year, wrong size) that's doing stuff that sounds like their listed symptoms. Not sure if it's just randomly going bad or if they haven't determined for certain that other models are affected as well.

Have the same model with the NV graphics, and have had occasional video glitching since I bought it refurbished. Crashes were rare until Yosemite, and perhaps my DP port is getting funky. I've wondered if these are also semi-defective, but it hasn't been well publicized. In any case I've gotten a ton of mileage out of it.

It would be interesting to see what Yosemite is doing with the GPU. If you could download and install Quartz Debug, you can get it to flash areas that are drawn with accelerated graphics in comparison to CPU drawn graphics. It would make an interesting comparison with Mavericks and previous.

Interestingly, the one change they did make in Xcode 6 was that the build progress bar at the top of the screen is now drawn in software - it used to be the only thing in the entire IDE that was GPU accelerated!

I've had this for quite a while now, went through 2 motherboard replacements one after the other for this exact defect. It's good to know that they'll still change it for another couple of years in case things go sideways.

Consider me another Macbook Pro owner (late 2011) that had this issue. I've now gone through two logic boards. Luckily, the second was covered under the warranty of the first replacement.

Has anyone here been contacted by Apple for Reimbursement yet?

The program 'officially' started today. I called them yesterday for my reimbursement, check my other reply explaining the process.

I'm on my 3rd logic board with my early-2011 15". To Apple's credit they covered it every time. I'm confused though.. does this news mean if it happens again, they'll cover it? And if so, for how much longer?

> And if so, for how much longer?

Apple stores stop stocking parts and offering any support 5 years after the model date. After that the only thing they will do is offer to clean your screen. If they have parts you can still mail it into Apple, or else you can look for parts at a third-party supplier, but that's about it. Not entirely clear what will happen in this case.

Nice, as of this morning, I couldn't get video out of my mid-2012 rMBP after about 20 GPU Panics I've reported over the last week. I imagine they must have thousands of them coming in as they start to fail.

I've got a 2011 Macbook Pro, and sometimes video refuses to play, but I always assume it's because I've got way too much stuff open, and it's low on memory.

If you have this problem, you definitely know about it. Complete system lockups, glitches all over the screen, you name it. It's not just a simple software error.

Does anyone have a link on how to diagnose whether your machine exhibits this crash? everything that I can find that was available has been removed by Apple or expired.

My rMBP has had choppy, crap video the whole time I've had it. Had one replaced for free, and going to get this one replaced as well (or try).

Huh, I was having all these issues after upgrading to Yosemite but 10.10.2 seems to have fixed it. Wonder if this is still worth looking into?

Well, at least now you have until early 2016 if anything does come up...

THANKS FOR POSTING THIS.

I was affected and had a repair done. Looks like they're reimbursing customers for past repairs for this issue. Woop!

i got a retina mbp 13" , i'm having all sort of problems , random logouts .. black screens with the computer on etc. started to happen 2 months after upgrading to yosemite. I'm seriously considering buying a normal laptop and install linux on it .. i love macs but it is affecting my productivity.

It's a lemon... Apple is somewhat better quality-wise, but not perfect. Personally, if you have the funds, I'd get another one and bring in the old one for diagnosis. System logs (accessible via the Console app) often show kernel panics and other stuff.

My Late 2013 rMBP restarts randomly all the time. Should I go to Apple and ask for a replacement?

Check the serial number. Either way, I've yet to be completely disappointed by a trip to the Apple Store (with a pre-scheduled appointment and something to do on my phone while waiting). Even if out-of-warranty, they'll give you a free diagnosis and tell you how much it costs to fix. It wouldn't surprise me if it's entirely covered by this repair program.

My 15-inch Late 2013 MacBook Pro Retina has had the same problems since day one: Restarts, graphics glitches, hard system freeze every other day, etc.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that similar manufacturing flaws are presumably present, we are not covered; our laptops are slightly too new.

You should. I have the late 2013 model that I got in Jan'14 and I ran into the random restarts, freeze ups. This happened last week and I was out of warranty, they made me pay for the repair and I just picked it up yesterday. This is good news for me but I think regardless, this issue does show up sometime during the lifetime of the product. I would recommend getting it checked out.

Well...looks like I missed the fine details, my model is not covered. wth

Just checked, mine is late 2013, shewww...

This is why I like Apple. Issues are inevitable, but to stay put with customers in tough times and provide free service shows their class!

Note that this has been a "known issue" for a long time for a bunch of high end $2000+ products and they have only announced this after years since the incident happened. Not so classy.

It is good but it took a lot of complaining to get this done, and a class action lawsuit. I consider myself fortunate that I got a mid 2012 MBP without retina and it is (so far) free of these issues.

This is too little, too late if you ask me

You realize this only came out after a lawsuit was initiated, right?

-- owner of a maxed out early 2013 15" rMBP whose laptop can be counted on to freeze up once a day (and to rub salt into the wound, on reboot, "You restarted your computer due to a graphics problem", which is a funny way of saying "I crashed because of a graphics problem")

Support fail.

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