Here we have a video of me bringing a beautiful 17-inch MacBook Pro back to life with a heat gun. It did revive this particular machine. That is the firsthand result, and it should not be confused with a proper repair procedure.

These MacBook Pro models were among the machines Apple identified as potentially affected by failures involving the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT. Apple’s notice directed affected owners to Apple or an authorised service provider for evaluation and repair.

Back when I made this video, I wrote that the heat treatment might keep the machine running for somewhere between three and twelve months, and suggested that adding flux could make the result last longer. I do not have evidence for a predictable lifespan like that. Adding flux also does not turn uncontrolled heat-gun treatment into proper BGA rework.

A handheld heat gun provides broad, poorly controlled heating and can damage nearby components, warp the board or create additional faults.

For this attempt, I didn’t use the suggested foil shielding. I couldn’t be bothered, and the machine still came back to life.

The heat treatment temporarily revived this particular failed MacBook Pro.

I had also tried the same approach on a PC video card, and that came back to life too. In the original write-up, I was planning to try it on a PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the coming months, with flux and possibly foil shielding.

That remains part of the historical experiment. It is not a recommendation to repair those machines this way.

Still, temporarily seeing this MacBook Pro come back to life was rather satisfying.

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