Applies to:

• MacBook Pro (17-inch Mid/Late 2007, 2.4 GHz)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid/Late 2007, 2.4/2.2GHz)
• MacBook Pro (15 & 17-inch Early 2008)

Component affected:

• NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT

Symptoms:

• Distorted or scrambled video
• No video on internal or external display

Apple Repair program:
Started: November 10, 2008
Ended: December 7, 2012
Archived URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20081114121527/http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377
Current URL: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203254

The affected models were manufactured between ~May 2007 and September 2008. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within two years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty. It is estimated the last of the Early 2008 MacBook Pro’s was sold by Early 2009 (model discontinued in October 2008). To account for units sold through partners and internationally after Apple sales ended, the program was left active until December 2012.

Repair Program Issues:
To be eligible for a free repair, an affected Mac had to be taken in to an Apple Store or Authorized Service Provider. Here a test would be run to see if the GPU was eligible for replacement under this program. If the tests showed the unit was not eligible, the repair was at full charge. If Apple was unable to run the test (which required the Mac to power on and show a picture), the unit was not eligible and repair was at full charge. The test that was used to determine eligibility could of course also say a unit was NOT eligible. Even if a GPU was clearly demonstrating signs of failure, the user would have to pay for the repair out of warranty. Historically the vast majority of NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT chips have failed, even those that were deemed not eligible for repair by Apple.

This is not the only issue affecting these models, click here to read the next issue.