A1707 and A1990
MacBook Pro 15 inch from 2016 to 2019
The most powerful machine of this generation, and therefore the one that makes the most heat. That is exactly where its troubles come from.
Why heat plays the leading role
This 15 inch has a separate graphics chip alongside the processor. It delivers the power people bought it for, and it also delivers the heat that catches up with this board years later.
Heat does two things. It slowly fatigues the solder joints under the graphics chip, and it dries out the thermal paste, which makes everything hotter still. You see the result as stripes on the screen, as a screen that no longer works while the machine is clearly running, or as a machine that shuts down by itself under load.
What we see most often on this board
- Stripes, blocks or strange colours on screen, especially once it is warm
- It shuts down by itself during video editing or gaming
- The screen cuts out when you open the lid, or light patches along the bottom
- The fans run flat out while you are doing nothing heavy
- An external monitor works but the built-in screen does not
- The battery has swollen
What we do differently from a shop
An ordinary shop sees the image is gone and concludes the board needs replacing. We measure where the heat sits and whether the graphics chip itself is still alive. In a fair number of cases the chip is fine and a power rail around it has burnt out, and that is a few hours of component work.
If the chip itself is done, it can come off, be reballed and go back on. That is the heaviest work we do and we say honestly that it does not give an eternal warranty, because the cause is heat and heat stays.
Flexgate affects the 15 inch too, and the cable costs more there because it is longer. Hence the difference in price.
Prices
What it costs on this model.
| Repair | What it covers | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Flexgate 15 inch | Display cable replaced and routed with slack | €199 |
| Logic board, light | Charging chip, one component, one trace | €149 |
| Logic board, heavy | Short circuit, IC, power rail around the GPU | €229 |
| Work on the graphics chip | Chip off, reballed, refitted and tested | €299 |
| Liquid damage | Ultrasonic cleaning, corrosion removed, repair | €299 |
| Thermal paste and cleaning | Heatsink off, paste replaced, fans cleaned | €89 |
For an image problem we measure first. If the graphics chip is healthy and it is the power around it, you pay the lower figure and not the higher one.
Your files
On the A1990 the storage hangs off the T2.
The A1990 from 2018 and 2019 has a T2 chip, like its 13 inch sibling. Your files are encrypted and the key sits in that chip. Replacing the board means losing the files, repairing it means keeping them.
The A1707 from 2016 and 2017 has no T2 but its storage is soldered all the same. There too we would rather repair the board than replace it.
Questions about this model
Is replacing a graphics chip worth it?
That depends on what the machine does for you. For someone still working on it daily, the figure is small against a replacement. We do say the cause is heat and heat does not go away, so our warranty covers our work and not the life expectancy of the chip.
My fans run constantly. Is that the board?
Sometimes, but often not. Clogged fans and dried out thermal paste do exactly the same thing. That is the cheapest intervention there is and we look at it first.
External monitor works, built-in screen does not. What is that?
That points almost always at the display cable or its driver circuitry, not at the graphics chip. Good news, because that is one of the cheaper repairs.
Next step
Stripes on screen or sudden shutdowns?
Post it in with a short note of when it happens. That saves us measuring time and gets you a figure sooner.