abelliveau
Level 1 (9 points)

Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

I have an early 2011 MacBook Pro (2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 memory) running OS 10.8.2.  It has two graphics components: an AMD Radeon HD 6750M and a built-in Intel HD Graphics 3000. Since I've had the computer, the screen would get a blue tint when the computer switched between them.

 

However, as of two days ago, the problem has become substantially more severe.  The computer was working fine, when all of a suddent the screen when completely blue.  I had to force restart the computer.  Since then, the screen has gone awry on numerous occassions - each time necessitating a hard reset.

 

I installed gfxCardStatus, and have discovered that the computer runs fine using the integrated card, but as soon as I switch to the discrete card - the screen goes .

 

I am just wondering what my options are (any input on any of these would be appreciated!):

 

1) Replace the logic board.  Would this necessarily fix the issue?

 

2) Is there any way to "fix" the graphics card? 

 

3) Keep using gfxCardStatus and only use the integrated graphics card.  This is definitely the easiest/cheapest option, but to have such a computer and not be able to use the graphics card seems like a real shame.

 

4) Is there any other alternative?

 


MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB memory

Posted on Feb 1, 2013 4:45 PM

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Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

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  • by MJSfoto1956,

    MJSfoto1956 MJSfoto1956 Oct 23, 2013 11:34 AM in response to Orcinus
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 11:34 AM in response to Orcinus

    I agree with the above -- I too am running only on the AMD chip (no switching) and most of the wierdness has disappeared with one exception: I am no longer able to reliably use any external monitor for more than about 5 minutes or so before it goes brain dead (although truth be told, on occassion, I've simply unplugged the external monitor and it stopped being wierd).

     

    So now I am left with a machine that is stable, cannot reliably use an external monitor and uses more battery than before. This is definitely an improvement, but is still not satisfactory (especially given that I have already had a logic board replacement care of the apple geniuses).

     

    I'm leaning towards moving everything to an external boot drive and leave the laptop sdd bone-stock Mountain Lion and keep returning it to apple until I get a logic board that can plug into an internal monitor.

     

    M

  • by nudoru,

    nudoru nudoru Oct 23, 2013 12:02 PM in response to Orcinus
    Level 1 (34 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 23, 2013 12:02 PM in response to Orcinus

    Mine still crashes on the AMD only. Not a fix for me.  The behavior of the crash is different, however.

  • by buzzart,

    buzzart buzzart Oct 23, 2013 3:13 PM in response to Orcinus
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 3:13 PM in response to Orcinus

    Orcinus wrote:

    The ATI* kexts aren't what your mac is using. It's the AMD* ones. You're doing exactly nothing by moving the ATI* kexts to a different folder. If you don't believe me, check what's loaded like this:

     

    kextstat | grep ATI

    kextstat | grep AMD

     

    You'll see it's the AMD drivers that are actually getting loaded, not the ATI ones.

     

    Since I removed my ATI kernal extensions I've been running smoothly (for over a month) without any crashes or graphics glitches (haven't tried an external monitor though).

     

    macbookpro:~ user$ ls -l /System/Library/Extensions/ | grep ATI

    macbookpro:~ user$ ls -l /System/Library/Extensions/ | grep AMD

    macbookpro:~ user$ ls -l /System/Library/Extensions/ | grep AppleIntelHD3000Graphics

    drwxr-xr-x  3 root  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 AppleIntelHD3000Graphics.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 root  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 AppleIntelHD3000GraphicsGA.plugin

    drwxr-xr-x  3 root  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 AppleIntelHD3000GraphicsGLDriver.bundle

    drwxr-xr-x  3 root  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 AppleIntelHD3000GraphicsVADriver.bundle

     

    And all my disabled extentions:

     

    macbookpro:~ user$ ls -l /System/Library/Extensions\ \(disabled\)/

    total 0

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATI1300Controller.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATI1600Controller.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATI1900Controller.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATI2400Controller.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATI2600Controller.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATI3800Controller.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATI4600Controller.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATI4800Controller.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATI5000Controller.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATI6000Controller.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATIFramebuffer.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 10 Apr  2012 ATIRadeonX1000.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 10 Apr  2012 ATIRadeonX1000GA.plugin

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 10 Apr  2012 ATIRadeonX1000GLDriver.bundle

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 10 Apr  2012 ATIRadeonX1000VADriver.bundle

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATIRadeonX2000.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATIRadeonX2000GA.plugin

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATIRadeonX2000GLDriver.bundle

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATIRadeonX2000VADriver.bundle

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATIRadeonX3000.kext

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATIRadeonX3000GA.plugin

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATIRadeonX3000GLDriver.bundle

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATIRadeonX3000VADriver.bundle

    drwxr-xr-x  3 mike  wheel  102 18 Apr  2012 ATISupport.kext

    macbookpro:~ user$ kextstat | grep ATI

    macbookpro:~ user$ kextstat | grep AMD

    macbookpro:~ user$ kextstat | grep Intel

       14    0 0xffffff7f8185c000 0x29000    0x29000    com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement (195.0.0) <7 6 5 4 3 1>

       20    0 0xffffff7f81858000 0x3000     0x3000     com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient (195.0.0) <7 6 5 4 3 1>

       71    0 0xffffff7f817a0000 0x3b000    0x3b000    com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB (7.3.2) <70 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 1>

       73    0 0xffffff7f817db000 0x64000    0x64000    com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD3000Graphics (7.3.2) <72 70 9 7 5 4 3 1>

     

    Both kextstat commands for ATI and AMD strings return no results.

     

    So according to kextstat I'm not using either AMD or ATI drivers. According to gfxCardStatus I'm always on the integrated and even apps that normally push me onto the discrete GPU are not doing that. For example Photoshop warns me with a message that my GPU is underpowered (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1383484/photoshop-gpu-warning.png).

     

    So although I cannot use my AMD Radeon HD 6750M I have no other problems currently. Even games like Minecraft run but they use the Intel HD Graphics 3000.

  • by Orcinus,

    Orcinus Orcinus Oct 23, 2013 3:29 PM in response to buzzart
    Level 2 (210 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 3:29 PM in response to buzzart

    Hmmm. On my machine, the AppleIntelHD3000Graphics.kext is *never* loaded.

    Mine uses AMDRadeonX3000, AMD6000Controller, AMDSupport and AMDFramebuffer.

     

    Model A1286, running Mavericks GM.

     

    I believe the kexts changed in Mavericks, and what you're seeing used to be in 10.8.x

  • by buzzart,

    buzzart buzzart Oct 23, 2013 3:32 PM in response to Orcinus
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 3:32 PM in response to Orcinus

    I'm running 10.7.5 on a:

     

     

      Model Name:          MacBook Pro

      Model Identifier:          MacBookPro8,2

      Processor Name:          Intel Core i7

      Processor Speed:          2.2 GHz

      Number of Processors:          1

      Total Number of Cores:          4

      L2 Cache (per Core):          256 KB

      L3 Cache:          6 MB

      Memory:          8 GB

      Boot ROM Version:          MBP81.0047.B27

      SMC Version (system):          1.69f4

  • by buzzart,

    buzzart buzzart Oct 23, 2013 3:34 PM in response to Orcinus
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 3:34 PM in response to Orcinus

    I might try disabling AppleIntelHD3000Graphics.kext and enabling the ATI drivers and see if I can run exclusively on the descrete. When my work isn't too urgent

     

    Kinda don't wanna rock this boat now that it's smooth sailing on the integrated graphics.

  • by buzzart,

    buzzart buzzart Oct 23, 2013 3:37 PM in response to Orcinus
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 3:37 PM in response to Orcinus

    Has Apple renamed the kexts from ATI to AMD after 10.7?

  • by Orcinus,

    Orcinus Orcinus Oct 23, 2013 3:58 PM in response to buzzart
    Level 2 (210 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 3:58 PM in response to buzzart

    Seems like it. Also, seems like AMDRadeonX3000 is now handling the Intel GMA X3000 now.

     

    Killing both that and AMD6000Controller results in the system booting with a safe mode video driver, that doesn't support color profiles, doesn't have Quartz Extreme acceleration, shows up as an external screen in Displays preferences pane and gets (erroneously) recognized as "discrete" by gfxCardStatus.

  • by Orcinus,

    Orcinus Orcinus Oct 23, 2013 4:08 PM in response to abelliveau
    Level 2 (210 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 4:08 PM in response to abelliveau

    Wow, weird. I just had the image get offset by some 600 px, so that the left end of the screen was overflowing to the right. This time, just putting the laptop to sleep and waking it up cleared it.

  • by buzzart,

    buzzart buzzart Oct 23, 2013 4:13 PM in response to Orcinus
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 4:13 PM in response to Orcinus

    That's happened almost every time my Mac has glitched. This is not the best photo of the glitch but you can see the graphics from the top right of the screen are appearing on the left of the screen: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1383484/discrete-glitch.jpg

  • by Orcinus,

    Orcinus Orcinus Oct 23, 2013 4:17 PM in response to buzzart
    Level 2 (210 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 4:17 PM in response to buzzart

    Sorta similar, except in my case, there was no actual corruption (i.e. the image was perfect except for being offset). The only thing corrupt was the cursor.

     

    That's a first for me, with switching on, i used to get an utterly scrambled screen.

    e.g. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151603956371404&set=vb.677376403&type=3&t heater

  • by rguerran,

    rguerran rguerran Oct 23, 2013 5:07 PM in response to Valmorion
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 5:07 PM in response to Valmorion

    Thanks Valmorion. Your suggestion worked like a charm. Now I can boot my mbp. However the display is blueish and the graphics performance is very very slow. Is that the same to you ?

     

    Thks.

  • by Orcinus,

    Orcinus Orcinus Oct 23, 2013 5:17 PM in response to rguerran
    Level 2 (210 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 5:17 PM in response to rguerran

    As mentioned before (multiple times), you've booted with a safe mode driver that doesn't really support neither the integrated nor the discrete GPU. There's no acceleration (hence very very slow), no color profile support (hence bluish tint) and no support for external screens and the like.

     

    It's a non-solution.

     

    It's like using your windows machine with the default safe-mode SVGA driver.

  • by MJSfoto1956,

    MJSfoto1956 MJSfoto1956 Oct 23, 2013 6:59 PM in response to abelliveau
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 6:59 PM in response to abelliveau

    ok. something very odd just happened. I upgraded to the latest patch of Mountain Lion, ostensibily for Safari and VPN (no need for reboot) and suddenly my 2011 Macbook Pro is running 20° F cooler. I'd like to see if anyone else is seeing something similar.

     

    M

  • by Orcinus,

    Orcinus Orcinus Oct 23, 2013 7:00 PM in response to MJSfoto1956
    Level 2 (210 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 7:00 PM in response to MJSfoto1956

    Give it time. It takes a while for MBPs to heat up to their "working" temps.

     

    If you still think that the issue is with overheating and that lower temps will solve the issue with the GPU, sorry, but i sincerely doubt it. Like i've previously said, i've dropped temps on my machine by about 15 deg C (by cleaning the old thermal paste gunk and replacing it). There was *no* change in behaviour. It has nothing to do with heat.

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