Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

My computer worked perfectly well for 27 months. Things do wear off and that's it, no ?

I don't agree with that - mine started a few weeks ago after only 19 months and I'd planned on it working well for at least 4 years until I was able to budget for a new one. Hopefully onward after that so that I could give it to my daugher who will be 9 then.

If i pay $600 for a Dell or HP or whatever at the local discount store, I'd expect it to fail quickly (but last atleast a year) but when I pay $2,400 for a "top of the line" Apple, I expect it to last YEARS. Why else pay the premium?

I bought a Dell Latitude back in 2007 that's still working well. My grandmonther is using it now, but still - that's 6 years.

This is affecting my whole life... I was working on my final and Im just about to finish college and I just lost all my work because of this problem. I can't handle this, if I fail I'd lose a whole year, the stress is going to kill or am if i kill myself its gonna be apples fault and their stupid negligence. Dont know why weve paid so much for a quality product  and yet receive NO answer regarding this...

This is affecting my whole life... I was working on my final and Im just about to finish college and I just lost all my work because of this problem. I can't handle this

It certainly isn't lost.

If you have a problem with the GPU and/or the MB that prevents your computer from working normally/at all, your HD and its datas are most probably fine.

I"ve been working on multiple computers for a while and my strategy has been to use Dropbox for all of my work and personal stuff. Been great for keeping it all in sync and backedup in the cloud. Not ideal for some but for $99/yr it's well worth it for me.

Your theory is severely flawed.

1) people have been experiencing glitches and crashes on cool machines

2) cooling pads don't help

3) i've replaced the thermal paste on mine twice - no change despite a severe drop in temperature

4) the failures would not start popping up almost simultaneously for multiple people if it was anything related to usage patterns

5) i'm getting the same behaviour as you without smcfancontrol and fan pumped up

And finally...

6) the left fan has nothing to do with the GPU - the GPU is situated above the CPU, not left of it

Now try what you did without the fan control and see what happens ;)

dissapointing thig happend to macbook pro 2010 13 inch. some day it got shutdown i went to AASP they told me it was logic board failure and quoted me for price of $410. which is approx half the price of new macbookpro i bought it in 2011 its just 2 years how could a world class machine like this could fail in just 2 years . why these replacement costs are too much expensive. why dont they take failure logic board which is not physically damaged and provide new one for somewat low price. they could refurbish it. they could know what is exactproblem is and they couls rectify it also it wil cost them few bucks only. why apple is not concentrating on this issue intead of conducting wwdc meets and releasing  new macbookpro's /air,

very frustating thing is apple care costs aroung $300. this is like direct responce from apple saying pay us 40% of macbook price again or other wise your macbook will fail after one year. and in some countries like india they don't have apple shops they are just giving buying permissions to  AASP. these guys just rip you wallet even for a small issue. even we pay $410 for new logic board they dont give warranty more than 90 days. even after you buy new logic board there are so many complaints regarding new logic board failure after 90 days of limited warranty. i dont know why is not focusing on this major issue. they are just screwing 2009,2010,2011 macbookpro buyers.  come on guys lets make this issue major so apple could implement some programs regarding logic board repairs am not asking apple to replace logic board's for free. am just asking them to implement some programs about "REPARING LOGICBOARDS WHICH ARE NOT PHYSICALLY DAMAGED BY CUSTOMER" which costs low price than buying a new logic boards to previous macbook users. i think apple should concentrate on this major issue

Ah well, I spoke too soon. Even though my new settings allow me to use DxO and Photoshop and Photomatix reliably (so far) without crashing, sadly it does nothing to assist with external monitors. To wit: I just plugged in my Cinema Display and within 5 minutes got the black screen of death (requiring the "usual" several boots and screen wierdness).

So I think there are two (related?) issues:

1.) general overheating causes the GPU and/or CPU to suddenly shut down in the middle of doing any GPU-related work

2.) some component of the GPU fails after 18-24 months, preventing the ability of driving an external monitor.

Note: the last item "might" be some patch we all installed from Apple? Does anyone know if a plain-Jane (unpatched) Mountain Lion behaves badly?

M

btw, anyone have any trick to how to get this thing boot into the login screen without giving me a bank screen, stripe blue screen?.....i have try reset the PRAM, booting into window 7 via boot camp, try to boot into safe boot, try to boot into recovery mode....and all have ended me up in neither a blue stripe screen or bank screen....

Can't seem to get this macbookpro to boot anymore.sighhhhhhh

The only thing that work for me is pres cmd+s to enter single user mode (terminal) and then i move the all the ATI* file in the /System/Library/Extensions to some other place so it force to not use the amd gpu but some apps dont work like google chrome and the finder crash

I have the same problem. We are waiting solution apple.

I don't have pay 2400 euros for two years of computer, this is inadmisible!!!

Valmorion wrote:

 

The only thing that work for me is pres cmd+s to enter single user mode (terminal) and then i move the all the ATI* file in the /System/Library/Extensions to some other place so it force to not use the amd gpu but some apps dont work like google chrome and the finder crash

Can you put up a step by step guide on how to boot? A lot of us are having trouble booting and in desperate need of accessing our computer.

YMMV, but here is what I do when my 2011 MBP does its "blue screen/grey screen/black screen" weirdness:

I boot in safe mode

(it typically black screens either before or immediately after login)

I boot again in safe mode

(it may or may not black screen)

I reboot again, this time "normally" -- ususally it takes on the third try

if not, repeat the above.

Sadly there's quite a few posts in these forums of the issue re-occuring after the logic board was replaced. One assumption is that Apple is using factory refurbished boards that were replaced for this exact same reason. And since diagnostics don't show the GPU error the boards are just circulated back.

 

What some people suggest is running your laptop hard once you get it back, trying to make it fault within the 90 days. This could backfire on you and the laptop faults at 100 days... it's a tricky situation.

 

I'm holding out on paying for a replacement untill Apple does acknowledge there's a common fault and some form of re-engineering is performed on the logic board as I'm wary that any replacement will just result in the same issues and multiple payments for repairs.

 

Although if they did offer up an extended repair I'd be there in a flash even if the solution was just a logicboard swap. When/if that will happen... who knows. It seems our issues haven't reached "critical mass" yet...     

Thanks for the reply.

And ah ****. I have already had my MLB replaced once, and I paid a lot of money for it. But atleast in the hope that it would solve the problem! It's scary to think that this could happen again, even after the second replacement. The diagnosis on my machine is supposed to come in tomorrow, is there anything I should be saying to the AASP people? They probably would not know about this though.

Ok I went thru many of the posts on the thread but I'm still a little unclear,

--> What do you mean running my laptop hard? As in, using it regularly? I was using it regularly and the part failed after approximately 40 days (I was not aware that the graphics switching was the reason at that time). But seriously, what should I do when I get my laptop back? Using it as I do regularly (with switching) or run only on integrated/discrete? Don't some applications NEED discrete? I'm a little confused.

And if this is not 'critical mass' then I dunno what is. I really wish Apple is listening!

I submitted the feedback, and I think I will go on chat to let them know. Whether it works or not, need to try it atleast.

MJSfoto1956 wrote:

 

YMMV, but here is what I do when my 2011 MBP does its "blue screen/grey screen/black screen" weirdness:

 

I boot in safe mode

(it typically black screens either before or immediately after login)

I boot again in safe mode

(it may or may not black screen)

I reboot again, this time "normally" -- ususally it takes on the third try

 

if not, repeat the above.

can't get safe mode to work. bascially anything I do results in a blue screen with strips. I don't know if i should keep trying the same thing or try something different. thanks for the feedback anyway.

Ok some one did post it before i'll rewrite so dont remember de page:

1) Turn on presing (cmd+s) this will boot in single user mode so no graphics you will see ":/ root#"

2) Type the next sentences in order:

     1-     fsck -fy                                                             (to check the disk)

     2-     mount -uw /                                                      (permision read/write)

     3-     mkdir DisabledExtensions                              (Create a place to move the drives)

     4-     cd /System/Library/Extensions                      (Go to where the drivers are located)

     5-    sudo mv ATI* /DisabledExtensions                (move all ati stuff to the place made before)

     6-    sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions        (updates the access and modification timestamps                                                                                       for the Extensions folder)

     7-     reboot

Then it should boot, in my case it goes where you type the password but it only shows the gry background and cant see the box but i typed the password and it works, and then you have a half working macbook pro, finder crash for me, i managed to enter with shift+cmd and there the finder works. Im still looking to really force it to dont try and use the amd gpu.