MBP 1,1-10,2 Early 2008 MBP 15" with revised GPU failing?

[alectrona6400]

Hello, I have a 2.5GHz 15" MacBook Pro early 2008 with the revised GPU, but it seems to be failing. I have checked and it is indeed a G84-603-A2 with the green dot on the RAM slots. I have heard this might be VRAM related but I don't exactly know what the issue is. The machine indeed still works and I have tested it with different RAM sticks, but no dice. Attached is a video of the issues.

 

[B S Magnet]

Paging @dosdude1 …

 

[theMarble]

I have checked and it is indeed a G84-603-A2 with the green dot on the RAM slots.

Have you checked the revision number on the GPU die, or just that it has a green dot in the RAM bay? Some of the earliest green-dot replacements used the failure-prone 602 rev. chips.

If the GPU is indeed a 603 rev., then that is very strange.

 

[B S Magnet]

Have you checked the revision number on the GPU die, or just that it has a green dot in the RAM bay? Some of the earliest green-dot replacements used the failure-prone 602 rev. chips.

If the GPU is indeed a 603 rev., then that is very strange.

The reason I copied in dosdude1 stems from my own experiences with buying a 603 revised board in 2021, only to have it fail almost immediately, while dosdude1 also reported seeing the failure (albeit a different kind of failure) with another 603 on a different 2008 unit. It could be the above glitching is a product of poor BGA soldering of the 603 replacement showing issues with heating cycles revealing a weak BGA solder point.

 

[rampancy]

Hello, I have a 2.5GHz 15" MacBook Pro early 2008 with the revised GPU, but it seems to be failing. I have checked and it is indeed a G84-603-A2 with the green dot on the RAM slots. I have heard this might be VRAM related but I don't exactly know what the issue is. The machine indeed still works and I have tested it with different RAM sticks, but no dice. Attached is a video of the issues.

Glad to know I'm not the only one. I've spoken at length about how excited I was to find a green dot 2008 MacBook Pro, only watch it suffer a horrible GPU death a few months later.

You could try to hunt around for a replacment green dot motherboard on eBay (and pray it doesn't have a 602 chip, or a poorly soldered/heat damaged 603). Or, ideally, pay to send it to dosdude1 to fix your board (which is an all but a guaranteed fix).

 

[tecto]

I can second this. I ordered a replacement board for my 4,1 with a green dot and 603 rev GPU, installed it and got the pink/green vertical lines on the screen. Should note it's a very early 603, week 37 of 2008 to be exact, and the underfill substrate is the darker color of the 602.