MacBook Pro NVIDIA Recall Extended
MacBook Pro: Distorted video or no video issues
In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected.
If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within four years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.
Since I have been affected by this issue, I thought I’d throw up a quick post for anyone else who may get bit by it. Apple has extended the NVIDIA 8600M GT graphics processor recall on MacBook Pros manufactured around 2007/2008 to four years from date of purchase.
Update: My son’s machine was in fact covered under the recall, and the local Apple Genius Bar was able to diagnose and replace the motherboard in the unit in a day, no questions asked. One thing to note, your video has to have failed before they will fix it though. If your MacBook Pro from that time period is still running okay, you’ll have to wait for it to fail before you’re covered.
Yasu 2.6.8 Final Released
And on the heels of yesterday’s beta, we have the final Yasu 2.6.8 release thanks to some great beta testers. Not much changed from the beta other than cleaning up some of the code.
But to make it official, here is the complete list of changes:
- Failure to clear all system & browser cache files if there were an overly large number of files to be removed.
- Adding the “-r” (recursive) switch to the reset launch services option for Snow Leopard which was mistakenly omitted.
- Fixed an issue where the maintenance preferences were not being written to disk when Yasu was quit.
- Other minor UI fixes and code factoring.
As always, you can grab the latest from the Yasu page, or fire up your current installed version for an automatic update if you have that option enabled.
Yasu 2.6.8 b2 Available for Download
A new public beta of Yasu is available for download on the Yasu page.
This version addresses the following:
- Failure to clear all system & browser cache files if there were an overly large number of files to be removed.
- Adding the “-r” (recursive) switch to the reset launch services option for Snow Leopard which was mistakenly omitted (Thanks to Gregory Swain for pointing this out).
- Fixed an issue where the maintenance preferences were not being written to disk when Yasu was quit.
Even though it’s a beta release, this version is a recommended update for those who want to live somewhat on the edge. On a test machine that had Yasu 2.6.7 run on it only seven days earlier, version 2.6.8 b2 was able to recover 4.66 GB of disk space…
That’s a lot of files that were being missed…
If no issues are reported, this version will most likely be released as the final version within the next day or two. Please feel free to drop me a line if you try it out and find something wrong.
New AppleScript to Post to Twitter
I’ve hacked together a quick little AppleScript that will let you post quick one-off tweets to Twitter without the hassle of dealing with a full-on client.
I originally created it to fire off quick to-do’s to Remember the Milk. Combined with FastScripts from Red Sweater Software, it takes me 2 seconds to get that to-do reminder out of the way and back to work. It also keeps me from browsing through my Twitter feed, which my ADD nature tends to want to do.
If it sounds like something you could use, go check it out. The code is totally open source, so add to it as you have need. If you come up with something cool, let me know.
MacFixIt ‘General Maintenance’ recommendations
There are many times when in our articles we will mention “General Maintenance” as part of a troubleshooting routine. If you are having software issues, either with third-party applications or the Mac OS itself, giving the computer a virtual scrub-down will many times help, or at least give you a cleaner slate upon which to do more in-depth troubleshooting.
Via MacFixIt.
A good general maintenance article from MacFixIt, which includes a mention of Yasu. Worth a read if you’re at all in the dark about how to maintain that beautiful new Mac you just switched to.
-
Search
Flickr
 |
 |
 |
 |