Late 2008 Macbook Pro seems to be almost dead.

[Simbad54]

Hi all,
I have a late 2008 Unibody Macbook Pro. Over the years, I have fixed or replaced almost everything. It has a new HD, that I installed a few years ago, new fans, a new heatsink, If I remember correctly, and certainly, I cleaned and replaced the silver thermal paste. I also replace the Logic Board approximately a year ago, as it failed and I was unable to restart it.
I have had good service out of it since, and it runs very well for my needs.
However, in the last month, it started crashing for no reason now and then, just a little more than I would expect, and in the last few weeks, perhaps every other day, it would die with out warning. There was no sound of fans spinning out of control etc, and nothing especially happening onscreen.

Last night, when I booted it up, when it finally loaded, only the top 5cm had anything in them, and that was a very messy, constantly changing kind of static and white noise mess, with the menu bar visible underneath. I rebooted, and it almost never even makes it to the login screen, but hangs, then tries to reboot.

I thought it was the screen, but realised, that the loading screen, grey with the apple, and the spinning gear all look fine.
I've tried booting up in Safe Mode, but no luck, and I tried from the Recovery HD, but I don't have one, for some reason.
I unfortunately don't have a Clone at the moment, so can't boot up from outside and do some diagnostics on it.

My feeling is Logic Board again.
I checked the SMART status just earlier this week, and all fine.
I'm pretty sure my HD is fine, with everything on it, and I have a TM backup back home in Amsterdam.
I am currently in Norwich, on a job.

So, I could simply buy another Logic Board, but of course, all these replacement boards are as old as my Mac, and won't last for ever.
I could buy a second hand Macbook Pro, but a newer one: I found some on Ebay around the £700 mark.

Any thoughts?

I'm not in the market for a new one because, A, too much money, and B I kind of don't like them now, don't want a retina screen, I want to be able to upgrade RAM and don't want Yosemite, etc.

Sorry for long post.
Here below are screen shots of the last time I booted her up.

 

[chscag]

Looks like another Logic board replacement is going to be required. I don't know what a second hand board would cost where you are but weighing that against buying a used MBP is not an easy decision to make. You might want to consider buying a refurbished MBP from Apple since that would be fully warranted for one year. Of course that will be more expensive.

 

[johnodd4]

i would honestly purchase a new one the model you have has known graphics card issues and apple even had a replacement plan for the logic board but that ran out two years ago so i would just think about upgrading to a different machine

 

[Simbad54]

Thanks for the info.
I've just had a chat with an Independent Mac repair guy in my area, and he thinks it's the NVIDEA graphics processor. He couldn't remember if there were issues with my model, but now you say there were John, then I'm more inclined to get something newer.
Problem is i'm skint right now.
I could probably afford something closer to Xmas, but right now, not, and I need a computer.
I might just have to get a new board for now, then a new mac later which is a greater expense, but can't see much of a way out right now.

Thanks again!

 

[johnodd4]

yea sorry to here that though it sucks it only happens with the 2008 and alimunium macbook pro's the nvidia chipset was a prototype chipset the nvidia sold to apple for use in these models and it turned out to be more trouble then what there worth.

For future reference:

if you ever run into a friends or family members macbook and you press the power and all you hear is the hard drive spinning up and the cd drive coming on same thing nvidia chipset has died.

this is how you can diagnose other MacBooks that have this failure i would also look online at ebay you might be able to find a 2008 with a bad screen but a good board and get it cheaper

 

[Simbad54]

Ah, John, thanks for that. I've had a really good run with my Mac TBH. No problems really for about 5 years. I always thought it was pretty good. I never even knew about that graphics issue, and with the RAM at 8gb, it runs pretty well.

I'll see what I can find on ebay, as the logic boards are pretty expensive online, at a part supplier.

 

[Simbad54]

Quick question: if I bought a new Logic board from the USA, would it work in my UK laptop, as long as all other specs matched?

 

[chscag]

As long as it's the same exact part number, yes it will work.