MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

I haven't been a customer of this Apple Authorised Service Provider. https://foursquare.com/v/apple-authorized-service-provider/4e8f87d9f79014e2ce280 7c6

In Los Cabos, Mexico, the AASP offered to replace the logic board for $1,200 USD, or reball the GPU for $250.

I got the $310 depot repair in the USA through Apple Stores. The third logic board replacement is going strong. They refunded the original repair price. Mine went to the depot 4 times.

A guy in Germany, saramwrap, was initially pleased with reballing a while back. It looks like he has had logic board replacements since then.
https://discussions.apple.com/profile/saramwrap

Karl Ihrig wrote:

A guy in Germany, saramwrap, was initially pleased with reballing a while back. It looks like he has had logic board replacements since then.
https://discussions.apple.com/profile/saramwrap

I think you have me confused with someone else - I'm neither a guy nor in Germany, but more importantly, I've never had my GPU reballed. I've just had replacement logic boards through Apple - two in-store, one depot repair (which is going strong after 4.5+ months now). 🙂

I am sorry. Saramwrap is correct. I did confuse him with someone else. The guy in Germany who got his GPU reballed is hnrk, who poseted above sramwrap on this discussion page. 🙂

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2768351?answerId=23360430022#23360430022

hnrk - It looks like he has had logic board replacements since then.

Could you tell me where can I find this information? All I found was 3 posts, 2 talking about the successful reballing and one about problems that may arise with Apple's repair program, once reballed.

<Link Edited By Host>

Please take a picture and share so we can help each other i have a 15' very expensive paperweigth too.

<Link Edited By Host>

http://www.macworld.com.au/news/gpu-failures-in-2011-macbook-pros-117933/#.UumcA XddWi8

Just a helpful recap of a post buried in this marathon debacle.

Heres a workaround

1. re-start and when computer starts to race. put in plastic bag and then in sleeve or blanket tightly wrapped.

2. it will auto shut down form heat

3. start up and it will boot.

also - my computer got real bad for a couiple weeks - would never boot. then after not trying tit for a weel while using a friends, it got alot better.

Yeah its a mess under the hood Apple - a fricking mess.

Problem resolved. Had logic board,hard drive and connector cable replaced. Installed 10.8.5 and updated all software.Machine is running very smoothly with no freezes or spinning beach ball of doom since new hardware and software.

About hnrk's repair:

I bought his "repaired" MBP 15" on eBay, like totally working computer. After one month from repair (GPU reball with leaded solder) I installed Mavericks and since then, I experience hard freezes with blue vertical stripes etc. when use discrete GPU.

If I use smcFanControl and fans spinning on full I can use discrete GPU but that just helps to have hard freezes a bit later, when discrete GPU gets around 55-60°C

I can use my MBP with no problems if it is not using discrete GPU. I can normally boot and I would say, that now I experience less trouble than most people here. Right now I have opened AutoCAD 2011 that uses discrete GPU for 12 hours constantly, but I just browse in Safari.

Back to sollution... My MBP has reballed GPU with leaded solder. But since it was heated for around 150°C for three times (1st when manufactured, 2nd when taken off logic board and then again when reballed) it is ruined and needs to be replaced with a new one and reballed with leaded solder. Check also this link: http://www.springerimages.com/Images/RSS/1-10.1007_s10854-006-9031-5-0

I am not an real expert, but I would say that a new design of logic board in a MBPs is faulty. If you compare them with its precedents you would notice that the position of CPU and GPU has changed. CPU gets hotter than GPU for most of the time, so it should be closer to heatsinks radiator (where fans are blowing trough). With a new design all heat from CPU goes over GPU to exhaust and this is just too much for GPU that has unleaded solder.

Also after repair I am going to use smcFanControl to have a bit more cooling. I am also thinking about making several holes on a bottom case like retinas have.

I think that Apple knows about the real issue behind the problem, but they just don’t know how to solve it on a budget. In a 2011 27” iMacs, they just changed the GPU board. It was costly but not that much as would be in MBPs, changing whole logic board...

I posted this (below) on the now infamous discussion group:

2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?start=0&tstart=0

Maybe it is also helpful here:

Dear all 2011 MacBook Pro wallahs,

I thought I should add my two pennies’ worth to the great dGPU debate or what I have become accustomed to calling my macLife crisis (the stress and anxiety my early 2011 MBP has caused me is not quantifiable). I am a self-employed designer from the UK currently residing in Sweden and I am exclusively dependent on my early 2011 17” MBP for my livelihood.

I should start by saying I've been an ardent Mac customer for 20 years (I’ve spent small personal fortune on Apple products in that time) and I am writing this from my trusted 2003 PowerBook G4 17" running OS X 10.5.8, slow but it works. Up until 2011 I used this PowerBook as my workhorse from morning to night 7 days a week (running CAD and modeling software). I have owned various Macs since 1994 and all outlived their functionality (that is why I have never bothered with Applecare), hence my decision to part with large wad of cash in my next investment which I purchased from the Swedish online Apple Store with the following spec:

• Model Name: MacBookPro 8,3
• Model no: A1297
• Currently running: OS X Mavericks (Supplied with OS X 10.6, this version was installed when first logic board failed)
• Processor: 2.3GHz quadcore intel core i7
• Memory: 8GB
• Hard drive: 750GB @ 5400
• Disp: 17" with antiglare
• SMC Version (system): 1.70f6
• iGPU: Intel HD Graphics 3000 graphics processor
• dGPU: AMD Radeon HD 6750M, 1 GB dedicated GDDR5 memory
• Keyboard: Swedish
• Purchase date: 26th March 2011 (or 34months old, less 1 month repair time)
• Paid: 27,545SEK (4,317USD or 127USD a month)

At this point it is import for me to highlight that I am a very cautious individual. I have been very meticulous with the administration of and general upkeep of all my Macs to help eliminate any mishaps. Since the first day I received this machine I have had it propped up on a cooling pad(purchased from Apple store) to ensure adequate air circulation to prevent overheating and plugged it into a surge protector. In fact, I move this machine maybe twice a year (when traveling to and from summerhouse an hour away), it has remained stationary (akin to desktop) for most of its life. All of which only compounds my frustration. Also, as work has been scarce I have never really had a chance to work this machine the way I did my PowerBook. I would say I use around 20hrs a week (less still post logic board replacement) for mostly admin stuff (nothing that I can think of that has pushed the graphics performance). From day one this MBP crashed at least once a week, compare this to my 17”PB which crashed 3 times in 7 years, amazing. Then the first major incident, on starting the MBP one morning the apple logo came up and then suddenly disappeared as if going into sleep mode. As the keyboard lights were still on and I could still hear the processor cooling fans I assumed it may be a display problem, so I shone a LED lamp through the apple logo (behind display) and I could see the login window. I managed to connect an external monitor and the innards worked fine. As I live on an island (5 hrs by ferry and coach from Stockholm, 1 direction), an Apple Genius Bar was not an option (I don't think we have one yet in Sweden anyway), but luckily I found an Apple Authorised Service Provider 20mins away. They ran some diagnostic tests and found some faulty fuses that had something to do with the displays background lighting (‘Felet ligger i backgrundsbelysningens säkring på moderkortet’, make of that what you will). After some haggling they managed to convince Apple that these repairs had to be carried out at their expense due to Swedish Consumer Laws, which requires 2 years guarantee on all electrical components. This resulted in the following:

• Logic board replaced: 25^th Aug 2012 (or after 17months, now 17months old) 11050SEK or 1732USD
• Display assembly replaced: 25^th Aug 2012 (or after 17months) 7550SEK or 1183USD

Incidently, I was told that if I had to pay for this it would have cost me 20000SEK or 3135USD. Since this repair I have been even more cautious with it. Seven months later my hard disk died (hence the crashing):

Hard disk replaced: 19^th March 2013 (or after 24months, paid 1280SEK or 200USD) by the same Apple Authorised Service Provider.

I had read about the AMD GPU problems a week or two ago and thought to myself ‘luckily I have a new Logic board in mine, this won’t affect me’. How foolish do I feel now? Last Saturday night, having 'shared to file' a 10min home movie (low res) in iMovies, it suddenly appeared, the dreaded black screen. I then forced shutdown and got the grey screen on restart. I tried booting from the recovery disk but got a deep blue screen instead. I then shutdown and tried a number startup functions which I have learnt over the years. These included the following:

• Reset NVRAM (Option-Command-P-R).
• Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC: Shift-Control-Option and power button).
• Start up in Safe Boot mode and temporarily disable login items (Press Shift during startup)resulting in deep blue screen.
• Start up in Verbose mode (Press Command-V during startup).

All of the above had no impact. The next morning I tried booting again and it worked. I quickly did a time machine backup and then, having read this now infamous discussion group, downloaded and installed the ‘gfxCardStatus’ app and set it to integrated only. I also deactivated the Automatic graphics switching option in the energy settings for both Battery and Power Adapter(switching seems to be the instigator here). Later in the day the problem reappeared, this time instigated by the Display sleep option, which I later set to ‘Never’. By Tuesday I was permanently stuck in the dreaded grey screen (in my case things have deteriorated very quickly). I had by then discovered the following options:

• Booted in Single-user mode to check for possible file system issues (/sbin/fsck -fy). All seemed fine and still no joy!
• Booted in Single-user mode again and managed to move the AMD extension files (for dGPU) to another folder and eureka!!!

I had managed to devolve my MacBook Pro into a Macintosh Portable (showing my age, very slow refresh rates). It now thinks I have an external screen connected (hence blue tint to everything) but I was finally able to Zero my private files, music, photos, etc so that I can eventually hand it in to the same Apple Authorised Service Provider. I have now spent the best part of 3 days perusing the web to find a feasible solution, preferably endorsed by Apple and have found nothing. I have found plenty who have paid a lot of money for a new logic board only for the problem to reoccur either immediately or progressively, but return it does. This would make sense as, I am guessing, the logic boards they are installing were manufactured at the same time as the ones in our MBPs. Other clever individuals have managed to bake their AMD Radeon Chip with a hairdryer (I guess this closes fractures in the solder), curing the problem for the short-term, but this is way beyond something I would dare. I am a layperson when it comes to the complexities of computers but the following questions need to be answered by Apple:

• Has the performance of the AMD Radeon Chip been tweaked through the various OS X revisions causing it to generate higher temperatures? This may be why the lead-free solder is failing (if it is).
• Is there a problem with the performance of the lead-free solder the AMD Radeon chip (dGPU)is seated on? Fractures in the lead-free solder would make sense of why this problem is instigated when switching from the iGPU to dGPU and why it gets progressively worse (like small tear in jeans, it is inevitable it will get bigger). I also wonder if great temperature shifts would exacerbate such a problem.
• And my last question may be really stupid, so clever techies out there please excuse me. Would it be possible to reduce the performance rates of the dGPU so that it generates less heat? This might help before the logic board is replaced.

I’m not really expecting Apple to answer these because doing so would admit guilt, but I am hoping an Old-timer at Cupertino may advise us anonymously.

I honestly believe Apple Computers would have addressed this issue by now but I am not expecting an olive let alone a branch from Apple Inc. One thing that is very evident is that Apple Inc has been very quiet! I am really none the wiser as what to do. We really need Apple to look in to this and come up with a viable economic solution (they’ve had over a year to do this). Changing the logic board prior to this would be futile.

A dream solution would be for Apple to offer, for a limited time, those who are still under guarantee to exchange their MBPs for a new equivalent and the same to those out of guarantee but for the price of a new logic board and installation.

I was hoping next year to invest in a Mac Pro but now I am just paranoid it will end up being a very expensive waste paper bin (might go well with my new expensive paperweight).

One place I think I will start is by drowning my sorrows :’(

Problem was one year ago, local service fix it by heating up logic board (After 2 month waiting logic board for 17 mbp early 2011 - i am refuse to wait more). Day ago it split screen and make chaos lines in splited desktop with no cursor. reseted. Right now run on integrated gpu. I call to local service again - 1-2 month and may be they find refubrished logic for 17-inch, Early 2011. price - 900$

What do you think?

It is with great sorrow that I write the following lines of text:

add. me. to. the. list.

When I bought my first macbook in mid 2008, it was the 15'' pro. After a sweet sweet honeymoon, that computer failed for me eight times (a computer costing some $2100 that is repaired eight times and still malfunctioning is unheard of in my book). Luckily it did so within the confines of my apple care protection plan. Apple Inc gave me a brand new computer for my troubles.

Behold, my current expensive paperweight:

Macbook Pro 15'' early 2011

MacBookPro8,2, Intel Core i7, 2,2 GHz

Boot ROM-version: MBP81.0047.B27

SMC-version (system): 1.69f4

This computer did come free with my last apple care protection plan. Now, I have experienced 'minor' glitches with this bad-boy since the first time I booted it up. For example; my external monitor simply will not play ball with this computer. No matter I thought. It can't be that bad. A year back I had some minor graphical glitches similar to the ones shown in this infamous thread, requiring restarts. Then the piece of turd seemed to work without further hitches.

Fast forward to today: simply unacceptable behavior. For starters, the screen has gained miscoloured corners during the last year(similar to burned-in screens I've seen in very cheap laptop computers prior to this one). This is far from the worst problem however: Black screens, blue vertical scanner lines, deep blue screens and white startup screens, all associated with hard freezes. I've read through the majority of this thread, written to apple feedback and all I can say is this:

The apple stock has lost a majority of a years worth of growth last week. Serves them right. Mind you, Apple puts on a good show and has better than average customer support. However, it is not even close to acceptable to purposefully avoid handling such obvious design flaws with entire product lines like Apple does in this instance.

I have truthfully followed this company for six whole years. I know many others have done so much much longer than I have. All I can say is that before I buy another piece of hardware from Apple, I will be very very very careful and critical.

To anyone stumbling upon this thread that thinks about buying an Apple computer; Seriously consider buying other brands. There is a side of Apple which only these kind of threads can make apparent. The 'premium' price is far from worth it when buying their top-of-the-line portable computers. My conclusion from eight years of searching and studying similar issues is that these product are simply not stable and should be avoided.

Strawberrybacon,

Since you've the 15" model and not the 17" model - the title of this thread - you may want to look at -> https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?tstart=30 - describing the various problems that 2011 models are having with the GPU.

I had to have my logic board replaced because of this issue - I have AppleCare so it didn't cost me anything - but others have not been so lucky.

Take a look at the thread cited and add your name to the growing list of those having similar problems.

Clinton

@victorherrera:

Dear Victor, I'm sorry not to answer you before, but It's been a while since the last time I checked this forum. I'll be glad to give you a hand with anything I can, but I'm not currently in Mexico (I live in Venezuela), so feel free to post here all your questions.

Mucha suerte!