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User profile for user: Colpat
Colpat Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

MacBook Pro (Early 2011) White Screen of Death and No Diagnostics Available

Hi,


I have a Macbook pro (early 2011) running High Sierra.


* Problem:

Tried to boot and got white screen of death.

Rebooted several times and always ends with white screen of death.


I tried several things to fix it (see below).

But I always end up to the page showing the Apple logo and progress bar. At about 30-50% progress the screen turns grey and the computer is stuck for ever (I can hear the fan running though).


I took the mobo out and cleaned/replaced thermal paste but still white screen of death constantly.


Any suggestions or ideas are welcome !

Thanks !



* What I have tried:

# Recovery Mode (CMD + R)

=> 30% progress bar => grey screen

[stuck]


# Internet Recovery Mode

=> globe spinning until progress bar finished

=> 30% progress bar => grey screen

[stuck]


# Safe Boot (SHIFT)

=> 50% progress bar => black screen => grey screen

[stuck]


# Safe Boot Verbose (SHIFT + CMD + V)

Terminal returns:

[AGPM Controller] build GPUDict by Vendor1002device6760

en2: promiscuous mode enable succeeded

MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: d8:c7:c8:e9:89:b9 MAC AUTH succeeded

wlEvent: en1 en1 Link UP virtIf = 0

AirPort: Link Up on en1

en1: BSSID changed to d8:c7:c8:e9:89:b9

en1: channel changed to 40,-1

en1: IO80211 Interface::postMessage bssid changed

[stuck]


# Reset NVRAM (CMD + OPTION + P + R)

=> 30% progress bar

[stuck]


# Reset SMC (SHIFT + CONTROL + OPTION + POWER)

=> 30% progress bar

[stuck]


# File System Consistency Check (CMD + S)

$ /sbin/fsck -fy

[...]

** The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK.

$ reboot

=> 30% progress bar

[stuck]


# Boot from OS X Sierra Installer on USB

$ sudo /Applications/Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia \

--volume /Volumes/sierrainstaller/ \

--applicationpath /Applications/Sierra.app \

--nointeraction


Terminal returns:

Erasing Disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 30%...100%...

Copying installer files to disk...

Copy complete.

Making disk bootable...

Copying boot files...

Copy complete.

Done.


Then I reboot + OPTION key down

Choose Install OS X Sierra

=> 75% progress bar => black screen => grey screen

[stuck]

Posted on Feb 28, 2019 12:32 PM

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
60,362 points

Posted on Feb 28, 2019 2:01 PM

Do you notice if Verbose Mode showed any I/O Errors? Usually if they appear, you will see them just before the output you posted. When I see behavior like this I usually suspect a failing hard drive which can slow things down and even cause the system to stall out. You can try booting using Internet Recovery Mode with the hard drive removed. If it works, it does narrow things down to the drive, cable and Logic Board.


To confirm the drive is the problem, connect it to another system using a USB to SATA Adapter, drive dock, or enclosure. If connected to another Mac, use DriveDX to check its health. You will need a special driver to make it work when the drive is connected using USB. If you connect it to a Windows system, then use GSmartControl to check the health of the drive. Feel free to post the SMART Attributes (Health Attributes).


The 15" & 17" MBP (2011) (both early & late variations IIRC) had the NVidia GPU issue which could manifest in ways besides just display related.

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
60,362 points

Feb 28, 2019 2:01 PM in response to Colpat

Do you notice if Verbose Mode showed any I/O Errors? Usually if they appear, you will see them just before the output you posted. When I see behavior like this I usually suspect a failing hard drive which can slow things down and even cause the system to stall out. You can try booting using Internet Recovery Mode with the hard drive removed. If it works, it does narrow things down to the drive, cable and Logic Board.


To confirm the drive is the problem, connect it to another system using a USB to SATA Adapter, drive dock, or enclosure. If connected to another Mac, use DriveDX to check its health. You will need a special driver to make it work when the drive is connected using USB. If you connect it to a Windows system, then use GSmartControl to check the health of the drive. Feel free to post the SMART Attributes (Health Attributes).


The 15" & 17" MBP (2011) (both early & late variations IIRC) had the NVidia GPU issue which could manifest in ways besides just display related.

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User profile for user: Colpat
Colpat Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Feb 28, 2019 2:08 PM in response to HWTech

Well, I just tried Verbose mode again and the white screen of death happened in the middle of the boot sequence right after a line of fuzzy multi-colored pixels went across the whole screen.


But as far as the hard drive is concerned, I did pull it and connect it to another MacBook to run a health check from Disk Util which did fine and correct some errors. I also pulled all the files off of it (Samsung EVO 850) and stored them in the case of failure. The statement above does lead me to believe that it's still a graphic IC issue either from the AMD GPU chip on the motherboard or some other bridge. Either case isn't good as it would require component replacement which I can't do.

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User profile for user: Colpat
Colpat Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Mar 1, 2019 10:31 AM in response to HWTech

Yes, that seems to be the issue. It does really stink that there's nothing I can do about this, but the laptop did nearly last a decade. I just hate to create more e-waste in throwing this computer out because everything else works on the machine. The hard disk was replaced with a SSD so it was quick and the processor is still good.


I wish it was easier to replace the GPU chip on the motherboard but I also understand that it needs to be soldered to the board to maintain the form factor. I'm just disappointed and now have to drop >$1300 on a new machine.

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MacBook Pro (Early 2011) White Screen of Death and No Diagnostics Available

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