Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

How to prove that the logic board was actually replaced?

Options
  • 06-08-2017 5:23pm
    #1
    galwayguy85
    Registered Users Posts: 395 ✭✭


    Hi Guys

    Recently I managed to get a free repair from Apple on my out-of-warranty MacBook Pro 15-inch (2015, MacBookPro11,5). I was having intermittent flickering from the screen. I was able to isolate this down to  the Intel graphics chip (the AMD chip was OK). I used gfxCardStatus v.2.3 for this. No amount of PRAM and SMC resets would alter the issue.   The problem also persisted on a fresh install. I already have several hardware and software certs from Apple, so I reckoned my diagnosis was pretty accurate - the logic board would need swapping out. Moving the cursor would cause the problem to go away for a few moments, so I was also able to rule out the actual display as the source of the fault.

     424405.png

    Took the machine off to the service provider. I got it back a week later and the problem was still there! 
    Called up Apple and the store who did the repair and brought it back for another repair... This time around they replaced the logic board (again) as well as the display itself. I checked the Console.app to deduce how many times the machine was powered on. Only a handful of times. I had set up the machine for auto-login, btw. It was a clean install and the password was stored in a text file on the Desktop if they ever needed it (I know already that it is very easy to reset a password on Mac in single user mode, if needs be.)


    I took it to a local cafe and logged into the wifi. I was immediately surprised by how many websites refused to load due to certs being expired. I initially put this down to the local network but then checked the date and time. It was the 4th of Jan, not the 5th of Aug. No wonder! I quickly changed the System Preference's 'Date & Time' panel settings back to 'Set Date and Time Automatically'. This requires an admin password to be entered. All good again with loading websites. 
    What dawned upon me quickly was that I never had to do this step after the first repair (where the logic board was supposedly replaced). A brand new logic also having the same issue, which instead of taking two years to manifest, happens within days??? Strange.   It's early days yet after the second repair, but the machine is running perfectly. 

    Does a new logic board replacement always require updating or setting the local time (by the user)? Am I right to deduce that no logic board was ever replaced the first time around? Perhaps they could not replicate the issue and instead did just a bunch of futile PRAM and SMC resets? Apple would've been billed in any event, so it's not all bad! :)

    Does anybody know a way of verify the logic board history of a given Mac?

    I know it's not going to change the outcome of anything at this point, I just would like to be bit better informed. 

    Thanks.


Advertisement