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Stuart Lyon

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Stuart Lyon

Any hardware IT guys available to give me advice on sourcing a replacement GPU for my 13 year old MBPro! Tried Google but not being a techie I need help.

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Is it the Integrated or Discrete (Dedicated) GPU that's goosed?

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I might be wrong, but finding a compatible GPU for a MacBook Pro of that age is going to be a real difficulty - definitely for new ones, so I think you'll be looking at the used market.   

 

Have you thought about salvaging one from another MacBook of the same age/serial number?  I've done something similar on old laptops, where I looked for a broken model on eBay and just used it for parts for my own one.  Could be a good option to explore if you're having problems.

 

Unfortunately, if it's really buggered, it might also be time to take it around the back, and shoot it.

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Stuart Lyon

tian447 thanks for your replies. The first one exposes my ignorance of GPUs! I have no idea which one it is! The problem i have is that it has developed the dreaded white screen. I Googled it and tried the 2 suggested solutions for restoring the MBP. An early attempt worked briefly but thereafter the white screen returned. I use a guy who specialises in Macs for repairs/upgrades and it was he who suggested the GPU (didn't mention there were 2) might be the problem. He cannot source the required part. He suggested eBay as a source of a replacement MBP not as a source for the part. I have never used eBay.

 

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8 minutes ago, Stuart Lyon said:

tian447 thanks for your replies. The first one exposes my ignorance of GPUs! I have no idea which one it is! The problem i have is that it has developed the dreaded white screen. I Googled it and tried the 2 suggested solutions for restoring the MBP. An early attempt worked briefly but thereafter the white screen returned. I use a guy who specialises in Macs for repairs/upgrades and it was he who suggested the GPU (didn't mention there were 2) might be the problem. He cannot source the required part. He suggested eBay as a source of a replacement MBP not as a source for the part. I have never used eBay.

 

I don’t think the 2007 has the discrete GPU yet. And it was a shitshow anyway, great idea but the processors struggled with the swap over. 

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1 hour ago, Stuart Lyon said:

tian447 thanks for your replies. The first one exposes my ignorance of GPUs! I have no idea which one it is! The problem i have is that it has developed the dreaded white screen. I Googled it and tried the 2 suggested solutions for restoring the MBP. An early attempt worked briefly but thereafter the white screen returned. I use a guy who specialises in Macs for repairs/upgrades and it was he who suggested the GPU (didn't mention there were 2) might be the problem. He cannot source the required part. He suggested eBay as a source of a replacement MBP not as a source for the part. I have never used eBay.

 

 

No problem at all.  The GPU is probably integrated, i.e. it's part of the main board - meaning repairing it is impossible for your standard home user.  @Tazio mentions that the dedicated/integrated split may have come in later than the 2007 model MacBook, so if there isn't an actual replaceable unit you might be stuck with this bit.

 

If you start the MacBook up (remove anything that might be in the USB slots, like keyboards or flash drives first), whilst holding down the Options button (the one with ⌥ on it), does anything happen (i.e. the Apple logo appearing).  Does it allow you to Boot into the Menu, and does anything else appear on the screen, or does it remain blank?   You mentioned that a previous fix worked for a short while, which means there is at least hope of this being salvageable and you aren't the proud owner of a flat silver brick!

 

After an admittedly very quick series of Googling and forum browsing, I've found that the "white screen of death" at start-up *could* be related to a RAM seating issue which could be worth having a check.  You could have a go by taking the back panel off and unclipping and reseating the RAM modules and seeing if that helps.  If this doesn't solve anything, you can very easily replace the RAM with similar spec'd ones and see if that makes any difference, but it could also lead nowhere, so be aware that this might be a "money out the window" approach.  Unfortunately, there are many other possible causes of the same issue, so it can be hard to pinpoint without trying quite a lot of steps.

 

Edited by tian447
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Stuart Lyon
1 hour ago, tian447 said:

 

No problem at all.  The GPU is probably integrated, i.e. it's part of the main board - meaning repairing it is impossible for your standard home user.  @Tazio mentions that the dedicated/integrated split may have come in later than the 2007 model MacBook, so if there isn't an actual replaceable unit you might be stuck with this bit.

 

If you start the MacBook up (remove anything that might be in the USB slots, like keyboards or flash drives first), whilst holding down the Options button (the one with ⌥ on it), does anything happen (i.e. the Apple logo appearing).  Does it allow you to Boot into the Menu, and does anything else appear on the screen, or does it remain blank?   You mentioned that a previous fix worked for a short while, which means there is at least hope of this being salvageable and you aren't the proud owner of a flat silver brick!

 

After an admittedly very quick series of Googling and forum browsing, I've found that the "white screen of death" at start-up *could* be related to a RAM seating issue which could be worth having a check.  You could have a go by taking the back panel off and unclipping and reseating the RAM modules and seeing if that helps.  If this doesn't solve anything, you can very easily replace the RAM with similar spec'd ones and see if that makes any difference, but it could also lead nowhere, so be aware that this might be a "money out the window" approach.  Unfortunately, there are many other possible causes of the same issue, so it can be hard to pinpoint without trying quite a lot of steps.

 

I've actually been having a go at using the Command + shift and the Command + R suggestions for this problem. I got as fas as being able to log-in and opened up KB for a look around probably for about 3/4 minutes. I cam out of kickback and the cursor stuck on and icon in my Dock and then it all went pear shaped again. I will try your suggestion later. Thanks for the help.

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