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My (Discrete, not Unibody) MBP (2007-ish) just started to kernel panic on boot.

Pulled the HDD, which boots via USB on my Mini - hopefully ruling out a HDD or data/OS issue.

I've disconnected the Airport card as well as removed the memory SO-DIMMs and booted with one at a time. Still kernel panics.

Tried the Apple Hardware Installer/Diagnostic DVD and it froze near the end (logic board testing...)

Wasn't able to get it to boot to try Tech Tool Pro diagnostics.

All signs are pointing to a logic board failure - am I missing anything?

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2 Answers

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I don't think you're missing anything. This all makes sense if you assume a dead logic board.
What makes you think that isn't the problem? Seems like plenty of evidence for it to me.

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no, just figured I'd go for a 2nd opinion here :) - have a 'diagnostic' appointment with the Genius Bar tomorrow, but this machine is out of warranty, so dead logic board means it's a write off... – Josh Newman Feb 23 '11 at 4:18
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@3rdparty In that case, my second opinion confirms your first :). – Nathan Greenstein♦ Feb 23 '11 at 4:47
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Turns out it's a known nVidia GPU related issue, which is covered under a recall.

It appears to be related to this service notice: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2377 , although it doesn't talk about Kernel Panics as a symptom.

The Apple 'Genius' ran a video diagnostic and confirmed that the GPU had failed - he likely knew it was the issue as the whole diagnostic took about 5 minutes.

Thankful as it means a new logic board for free! Hope to have the machine back sooner than the quoted 7-10 days.

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