And this time it’s permanent! Took this baby to the newly opened Apple Store in Paris (it’s in Carousel du Louvre) and one Nvidia test later (approx. 5 min.) the verdict was video chip failure, free mainboard replacement. Now that’s service, you hear that Apple Authorized Service Provider in the 5th arrondisment? Not 1000EUR for “mainboard failure, the video card works”. Lesson to be learned here: if your Mac is out of warranty yet still covered by some warranty extension program, don’t bother going to an AASP.