Q: Early 2011 Macbook Pro 15' - Logic Board Failure

ljonesATL wrote:

...Hopefully someone will see the value in having a machine that has this issue resoved..

 

...Why are you guys being qouted such high prices? Apple gave me a flat rate repair fee, and the device returned in about 3 days. Good luck.

"Resolved" is a pretty strong word when discussing this topic.  As a buyer, I'd see some value in having a few weeks to test the machine, though.  And kudos to you for wanting to err on the side of honesty.

The flat rate isn't available in all countries.  Also, the $310 that you paid implies that yours is in near perfect physical condition and there were no signs of accidental damage.  A small dent would bump to the next tier.  Signs of water damage, even if it had never caused you problems, would bump to the highest tier ($1200 or so).

I have started having problems with my MacBook Pro Late 2011, which I bought in March 2012. It is a 15" MacBook Pro 2.5GHz Quad-core Intel i7. Today I have received a letter from the local Apple authorized service provider. As per their information the logic board needs to be replaced, the price is $ 770.00 plus I have paid the fee to get it checked - for the first hour $ 136.00. I took my laptop home. Now is it reliable to send it to wpbcomputertech, who claims can fix the logic board? I do not have an AppleCare, the warranty has expired. I have contacted the Apple support; of course they are not aware of any problem and could not help me. Apple's Senior Advisor said cannot help; the only thing would be is to take it to GeniusBar. In past, I owned a couple of MS laptops, none failed in the first year. More than $ 2000.00 down the toilet.

<Edited by Host>

"the only thing would be is to take it to GeniusBar."

Have you done so, as directed?

No, have not done, yet. I am afraid they will come up with the same decision, as it is noted in my customer invoice "Confirmed symptoms and troubleshooting with Apple and they agree the logic board needs replaced.

"I took my laptop from the local Apple authorized service provider around 05:00 pm, today, eastern time. I need to wait until this weekend to be able to take it to GeniusBar, since they are at least 1.5 hours driving distance.

I was thinking, since I do not have any kind of hardware warranty, AppleCare plan, perhaps it is better to go with a third party and get it fixed. Otherwise I would better spend $ 770.00 for a new desktop.

I recently had a similar problem with my early 2011 MacBook Pro as the original post. The quote to fix the logic board was $800.00 dollars so I decided to hold off and do some research first.  I wonder if this is a recurring problem with this model?

Look at this web https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?tstart=120

Many people have this problem,I insist it's Apple's fault.You can do a feedback to apple,enough feedbacks maybe make apple recall this machine.

Had my early 2011 Mbp logic board replaced two months ago $600, today it shut down on me again. I can't afford to play games with apple anymore. Does anyone have suggestions for a new machine? I do a lot of photo/video production with Adobe cs6.

I had the exact same thing happen. I've got the same MacBook Pro that you have and about 10 days ago - poof. I took it in and it was diagnosed with a Bad Logic Board. The only difference between my situation and your situation is that I bought the AppleCare warranty. I just received my MacBook back and it works as good as new. The moral of the story is the AppleCare warranty. Although this is the best computer on earth, computer failure of parts is just something that happens. As a course of major purchases, I always buy extended warranties. My only regret is that I wish that the AppleCare warranty provided for a loaner computer. It was tough working without my MacBook Pro for 10 days. I know you hate paying the cost but before you get too mad at Apple, ask yourself this: What other computer maker would you consider over Apple? I don't think there is even a close 2nd option.

carl wolf,

Thank you for your suggestion. Visiting the store helped to solve the problem.

colegrove,

I never had any kind of care or support with my previous computers. When my HP Pavilion died, I bought my first Apple product. I could never imagine that a laptop would die in little over a year period of use. I have never abused it, did not say a bad word, never spilled liquid or etc. Now I know, I have learned my lesson, but still angry for the laptop worth over $ 2000.00 cause problems this soon.

I am not going to praise Apple, I am not a happy customer. I do know there are other computers worth checking.

I am happy that I went to Apple Store. Store employees and the manager were helpful. Their first response was  - the probelm with the logic board. It must be a common issue. Then when we called to see if it has been fixed, they said there was no problem with the logic board. The problem was with the top cover and the power button. Anyways, it did not cost me much and I am thankful for the fact they waived a portion of the fee.

The most interesting thing is that before going to Apple store, I had contacted an ebay seller, who fixes Apple computers. Informed him of my problem. He wrote back to me with a note saying there should not be any problem with the logic board, according to him either there was a liquid damage or the shorted keyboard/top cover or the power button. Another ebayer strongly suggested before sending the laptop for his service to go and get the laptop checked at Apple.

Hi all, first I want to say that I know the pain everyone is going through here since I too own an early Macbookpro with the 6750M. For me all started 3 days after I update to Mavericks when everything went south, I tried everything from resetting the SMC, NVRAM, AHT and at last a fresh installation back to 10.8.5 & no luck. That was till I decided to rip my mac apart & get to the cpu & gpu to do the all famous reapplication of the thermal compound to both. I dont know if I was lucky or the problem really is just a bad case of thermal compound. What I did was clean the entire cpu & gpu (when I say clean I meam spotless) reaply just the necesary amount of the paste (a really small amount about the size of a rice grain for the gpu and a bit more for the cpu) I reset the SMC and for my surprise the machine came back to life. As you can see in the screen shot those are my new temperatures after I was done. I hope this will give some of you some hope and a way out of this mess.

<Personal Information Edited By Host>

Hi -- do you have information on which Apple Store this was? The one where the employee said they were seeing an abnormally high volume of logic board failures?? I posted this on another thread but I am having the same issue with my mid-2010 MBP 13 inches.

--

This sounds very similar to a problem I have. Macbook Pro mid-2010, 13 inches

Processor  2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Memory  4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

Graphics  NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB

Software  OS X 10.9 (13A603)

Apologies for the detailed narrative that may not be useful to anyone. But since the manifestation of the problem varies and I want to take a poll of people to understand if their MBP mid-2010 is having logic board failures, I wanted to put this as much detail as possible (and take out my frustration).

Last week, my MBP emitted beeping noises (one beep, continuous, every 5 seconds). This problem occured suddenly - earlier in the day I'd woken up, checked emails, put it to sleep, and took a bus/tram to the office (this is key, transit). Apple online support diagnosed it as a RAM issue, and asked me to (take out and) reset the RAM. With IT support at my office, reset the RAM + PRAM, and then SMC as well. It started up fine and I logged in and then put it sleep. But as I was bringing back from IT, it must have frozen. So reset the RAM + PRAM again, and everything worked find. That is, till I put it in my bag and came back home. First, it was very slow and I realised that it was detecting only one RAM (a problem described in these forums). And then, it shut down in the middle of my Skype call without reason. Everything went to ****. Beep re-started.

Next day, did the same RAM+PRAM re-set. Computer worked fine all day along. I come back home (transit!), and the beeps return. This time three beeps followed by a pause and three beeps. I gave up - thats when the link to transit hit me - and went to the Genius Bar. RomaEUR Genius Bar folks said it would take 5 days. So took it to the other one today. Daniele @ RomaEST was convinced it is a logic board problem and that it would require replacement (EUR 340!). I suggested that he try resetting the RAM - sure enough, it worked. So he said he put a special tape in after resetting the RAM and PRAM to make certain the RAM does not move around. I shut down before transit and am very afraid to put it to sleep before transit. They are convinced its a logic board problem because it is not seating the RAM OK. Can anyone explain how this is even possible?! Since I understand the issue better now, I am just starting to dig into this. I also intend to call Apple headquarters in Ireland (for Europe) and try and lodge a direct complaint.

I can confirm that there have been NO accidents whatsoever in the recent years. Two years back, my MBP fell to the floor (inside its very cushioned case) when my bag split open. But it woke up from sleep fine, and worked as good as ever except for a few bumps and scratches. All was well till the last 2-3 months.

What makes all this worse is that these problems have started AFTER the extended warranty expired in April 2013. One month or so back, my MBP died without reason. Battery was full. I tried everything - safe mode, hardware tests, disk utility, PRAM, SMC. The Genius Bar guy did the hardware diagnostics and concluded the same thing I did - could not find any hardware fault. And when he re-did the PRAM and SMC, the laptop sprung back to life and was fine until the above happened. We figured something fixed it. We don't know what fixed it or what the problem was.

Did I also mention that I have been having the wireless connectivity problem referenced here?! https://discussions.apple.com/message/23967573?ac_cid=tw123456#23967573

I agree that we need to get Apple to accept this as their fault. Please see my post above.

But I have a feeling Apple is not listening. There is another thread with almost 200 pages - wireless drop complaint - I am a part of. No attention from Apple thus far.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/23967573?ac_cid=tw123456#23967573

Anyone knows anyone inside Apple??

It was at the Eaton centre location in Toronto, Canada.

I'm glad to report that while swallowing the cost was unfortunate, I haven't had any issues since the repair.

Anyone who tweets use #logicbrdfail - unless someone comes up with a better tag. Lets get the word out!