MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

[Stephen]

Ok guys going to go into a little detail what's going on. I have the board view up and the schematics. So I have repaired many of these 2009 17" boards in the past month and they all have the same issue...NO BOOT which is a root cause of the Poly CAP.

So this board same issue right? NO BOOT! SO I replace the Poly CAP with the proper 330 UF cap. And voila the board boots the fans...or so I thought this was solved...then come to find out there is no chime, no USB power, and no screen display. Now I Know the screen is good by visually inspecting it...ok so what gives?

Did a little research and some have said that these have some issues with the EFI ROM Chips...ok I took a donor board swapped that out and still no post...fans still spin and no chime. The fan does do one thing though...they will turn on...then turn off then turn on again and stay on permanently. Again there is NO chime, and no post or even a display. And yes the fans turn on and the CPU is getting hot etc. Even the heat sinks are heating up as well (the heat transferring over). I am at this point lost. Can someone maybe inform me on what it could be? Part location? I am at this point lost and confused! Also I am certain this is an Early 2009 MacBook Pro 17" I can update you guys if its a mid 2009. Any advice will help.

[Stephen]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

Anyone got an idea?

[Stephen]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

Upping this one more time. Anyone online to help?

[Stephen]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

So I pin pointed the issue, its CPU V CORE issues. But I am in awe because I cannot seem to figure out where to start. I know the CPU is not getting POWER hence the NO BRAIN or Chime. Anyone got any idea what sends the power straight to the CPU on this board? I need to pin point the location and go from there.

[SMDFlea]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

You have the schematic ? ,post a link to it if its already posted here.History of the machine ? , are you using a genuine adapter or bench supply. List all power rail voltage .

[Stephen]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

Hey thanks for the reply SMDFlea posting the board schematic now!

[Stephen]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

attached the schematic would you also like the brd file? Also using a OEM power supply 85Watt.

[emestee]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

Look at pages 8 and 11 of the schematics. This shows all the voltage rails that are fed to the CPU. Next to each rail there are page numbers where that particular rail is described. Find the rail you want and where it is generated. For example, PPVCORE_S0_CPU_REG is created on page 61, by U7100. Either something in that rail is broken, or the IC decided for some reason not start the voltage generation.

[KvnTM]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

Those MacBooks have 9600M GT GPU's. 100% dead and not worth fixing.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/08...dia_chips.html

[piernov]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

Those GPU rarely die, turns out you even often have MCP dying first.
It's not like the A1226/A1229/A1260/A1261 with dead 8600M, those for sure are all dead, but new fixed chip are available on the market so if you have the equipment that can be fixed without too much trouble.

[KvnTM]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

Those GPU rarely die, turns out you even often have MCP dying first.
It's not like the A1226/A1229/A1260/A1261 with dead 8600M, those for sure are all dead, but new fixed chip are available on the market so if you have the equipment that can be fixed without too much trouble.

I had 9600M GT MXM cards from acer which all died. Maybe apple was using different chips? idk..

[Stephen]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

Odd so this board may be shot then. BUMMER.

[MAVA]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

Those GPU rarely die, turns out you even often have MCP dying first.
It's not like the A1226/A1229/A1260/A1261 with dead 8600M, those for sure are all dead, but new fixed chip are available on the market so if you have the equipment that can be fixed without too much trouble.

I got several questions?

A) these are the replacement GPU's that exist new on the market?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/new-GPU-G86...kAAOSwBahVG5KI

B) Since these New GPU's come re-balled with new solder, couldn't the DIY'er install the new GPU with some aluminum straight straps that crisscross all four outside corners of the GPU to align it(All Straps locked-in prior to removing the old GPU). The Digital board clamped to a mounting fixture along with the straps, and the straps isolated from the board with Kapton Tape. Using two industrial heat guns heating from the top and bottom. Temperature regulated by some PIC or Arduino micro-controller with a triac? Ahh plenty of that liquid flux

I know I'm pulling this out of the sky, but it seems DIYable... It is not too far-fetched from the actual reality....

Thanks,

Martin

[piernov]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

A) For A1226/A1229/A1260/A1261 the replacement GPU is G84-603-A2. There are a lot of garbage remarked chips on the market (and goldenchipset contributes a lot to that… see-ic is a tiny bit better). If it has white underfill and says "128-bit" it should be ok. "64-bit" works (they are most likely G84-53-A2) but only 128MB VRAM will be available even if the machine came with more.

B) No idea what you're trying to do there. To replace a large BGA chip successfully you need a BGA rework station. You can try to build your own but huge waste of time and will still cost a decent amount of money.

[MAVA]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

A) For A1226/A1229/A1260/A1261 the replacement GPU is G84-603-A2. There are a lot of garbage remarked chips on the market (and goldenchipset contributes a lot to that… see-ic is a tiny bit better). If it has white underfill and says "128-bit" it should be ok. "64-bit" works (they are most likely G84-53-A2) but only 128MB VRAM will be available even if the machine came with more.

B) No idea what you're trying to do there. To replace a large BGA chip successfully you need a BGA rework station. You can try to build your own but huge waste of time and will still cost a decent amount of money.

Thank you for the reply, I'm trying to replace GPUs here. Got all the time in the world, and at a "American Penney an hour" it's cheap. The Corona F'ed up my life until who knows when I can go to school again.

These boards are cheap too, but a few YouTubers made some BGA Maachines...

Thank you for your insight on the chips

Martin

[MAVA]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

A) For A1226/A1229/A1260/A1261 the replacement GPU is G84-603-A2. There are a lot of garbage remarked chips on the market (and goldenchipset contributes a lot to that… see-ic is a tiny bit better). If it has white underfill and says "128-bit" it should be ok. "64-bit" works (they are most likely G84-53-A2) but only 128MB VRAM will be available even if the machine came with more.

Question, Can I take the GPU from other WORKING Apples of the similar specifications? Or from a PC with similar GPU?

Thanks,

Martin

[piernov]

Re: MacBook Pro 17" Early 2009 Logic Board Help

If they are not the fixed revision they are gonna be dead as well.