2011 overheat

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Level 1

8 points

2011 overheat

I am curious about the reason amd hd 6000 series MXM A gpus in 2011 macs die the way they do, and why you can so easily temporarily fix them by heating up the processor die with a torch or heat gun. My macbook pro 15" 2011's gpu died and I fixed it and it's been working ever since (about 5 months so far), but I am cautious with letting it heat up so I installed macs fan control and its staring temperature to 50°C and max temp to 60°C. My other question beside the origin of this problem is if the mac will be fine if I allow it to heat up more and have quieter fans.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Nov 15, 2020 8:59 AM

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Answer 1

HWTech

Level 9

68,678 points

Nov 15, 2020 10:20 AM in response to 80GB-HDD

There are actually a couple of issues with the various GPU failures on these MBPros from 2008-2011. Some of the issues are the lead-free solder used on the GPU itself (some may be the solder to the Logic Board, but IIRC the NVidia GPU chips had internal soldering issues as well). Other problems I've seen reported are insufficient support electronics for the GPU and the display.

With the soldering issues it is actually the drastic changes in temperature which will crack the solder joints.

You can also force the laptop to use the Intel GPU instead of the discrete GPU by using gfxCardStatus:

https://github.com/steveschow/gfxCardStatus/releases

If the laptop is unable to boot normally or into Safe Mode to install gfxCardStatus, then you can force the laptop to use the Intel GPU using this alternate method:

http://www.dosdude1.com/gpudisable/

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2011 overheat

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