Q: MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

My Feb 2011 MacBook Pro 15" got hot last week and blew up its video card, too!  I now have a new logic board.

Wow. Power supply, why not. Not sure to undestand all well due to my bad english, but i guess that a bad power supply could damage the logic board. Strange thing here is that if it's the case i don't understand why this would just impact the amd gpu. And next, i always thought that, on a labtop, batteries were acting like a kind of UPS, providing a clean / smooth electrical signal. But i don't know much about electronic stuff.

But now that you are talking of it, i remember that a few years ago i had one of the two CPU of a PowerMac G5 that was chronically burning. After several replacement of that CPU, Apple ended by replacing the internal power supply, and it seemed to be the solution. I say "it seems", because, for the story, as i had no more trust in that machine and had lost a lot of time too, Apple offered me to replace this dual G5 by a brand new MacPro 1.1 at no charge. I guess that was an other era of Apple's customer service. I hope i'm wrong.

Back to the topic, few things i can mention:

- due to my use of this machine, i was always with the amd gpu on.

- first time i had these "special effects" it was just after unmounting a niftyDrive (SD slot), and i messed up because i forgot to close a PSD document within photoshop that was in that drive. Stangely, i had no message saying that i could not unmount that drive because of an opended document, like it's generally the case when using a usb or fw drive.

- as i mentionned it on another thread, at first when i had this problem i was able to restart the system only when reseting the PRAM. A simple reboot was generally not ending well (white screen and fans at full speed). But it's now no more the case, PRAM reset does not temporarily solve the problem anymore.

- something i just remember now: 3 weeks ago i've launched a system update threw the system preference update panel. This update was including SMC 1.7 (1.69F4). At the end of the update the computer did not restart normally, i had a freeze. When i finally could restart the computer, i saw that nothing was updated ("about this mac"). I decided not to insist. But when the gpu problem occured 10 days ago, i finally attempt to do it again, and it seemed to work. But it has not resolved the issue. Just saying, because SMC is controlling fans, power / battery, video stuff etc... (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964)

- here it's summer, and it was hot (but not overing Apple's usage conditions). Power supply was sometimes very hot, and so was the mbp. I'm now using intel gpu, but when i open IStat Pro, temperature of "GPU Diode" says -128°C (-199°F). Kind of strange.

puresoindguitar >  are you based in Canada?   my MacBook late 2011 15"  is not booting.  

<Email Edited By Host>

MBP 15-inch (early 2011) here.  With not much notice (iPhoto freezes and graphics distortions) my Mac stopped booting (anything) alltogether, unless I removed a couple of AMD kernel extensions in single user mode.

A knocked corner months earlier and no extended warranty kept me from going to Apple - bought a used late 2011 model instead and am now going to try some DIY.

Got the Logic board & RAM replaced by Apple, last week.

Today, the fans started running fast because of some web game kid was playing on bed. Immedetiatly I decided to start a restart to kill the load on graphcs card. When the "laptop" started the screen was all blank. After couple of hours did a hard restart and things look ok.

Is there a log which can be shown to the stupidos in  the "genious bar"?

I beleive the MBP can't really be used as a lap-top, as it blocks heat desipation and in the long run burns out the graphics cards.

From now on I will use the laptop only on a desk as a desktop, no more on the pillow, bed or lap.

Did they charge you for the logic board and ram or did they offer it to you?

$310 - flat fee. Took 12 days to come back.

Sadly, this is all covered in the "Last but not least" section of the manual, page 69:

Proper handling The bottom of your MacBook Pro may become very warm during normal use. The MacBook Pro complies with the user-accessible surface temperature limits defined by the International Standard for Safety of Information Technology Equipment (IEC 60950-1).

NOTICE:  Incorrect storage or use of your computer may void the manufacturer’s warranty.

WARNING:  Failure to follow these safety instructions could result in fire, electric shock, or other injury or damage.

To operate the computer safely and reduce the possibility of heat-related injuries, follow these guidelines:

• Set up your MacBook Pro on a stable work surface that allows for adequate air circulation under and around the computer.

• Do not operate your MacBook Pro on a pillow, blanket, or other soft material, because the material can block the airflow vents.

• Never place anything over the keyboard when operating your MacBook Pro.

• Do not push objects into the ventilation openings.

• If your MacBook Pro is on your lap and gets uncomfortably warm, remove it from

your lap and place it on a stable work surface.

Water and wet locations Keep your MacBook Pro away from sources of liquid, such as drinks, washbasins, bathtubs, shower stalls, and so on. Protect your MacBook Pro from dampness or wet weather, such as rain, snow, and fog.

Saramwrap, I was tired of reading of your woes.  So, I am very glad they decided to help you.  : )  I hope after the repair you never have any more problems!

It could be that Apple fixed my computer better this time, that the higher tier of repair had a better result.  I replaced the power supply to remove a factor that might contribute to the same thing happening, to reduce unknown risk.  This was my third power supply for this computer.

I have three itemized lists of the parts replaced, from my three repairs.  I just looked at them today.  My compuer was fixed just over 9 weeks ago.  I have left the video camera on for days running photo booth.  The weather has been in the 90's (Fareinheit) lately, and it has braved use in the heat.

After the Apple "repairs":

After a few minutes of normal "lap-top" use, the fans start running fast and the bottom gets very hot.

So using gfxCardStatus, I have forced it to use the integrated graphics. I need discreet card only when connected to the cinema display and then the laptop is on table & not on lap. This has basically solved the heat issues & hopefully will not make the chip melt the solder or burn the chip.

Does anybody knows if it's possible to revert back to an old smc version ? I now have a doubt if this could be part of the solution. I'll try to explain why here:

- few weeks ago i've launched a system update, including SMC 1.7 update. But at reboot i had a freeze (blank screen). I'm not talking about the normal behaviour when updating SMC, i know this kind of update is a bit special, but here it was obvious that the update failed.

- when i finally could reboot the system (hard reboot, PRAM thing etc), i noticed that nothing was updated. But here is the doubt i have now: SMC 1.7 real version number is 1.69f4. So perhaps the SMC was updated at that moment, but seing this number i thought it was not. And prior to this update attempt i never had any issue with this mac.

- then now that i'm thinking about it, right after that i started to have some little video freeze when watching movies (online or offline, so not a bandwith issue), but nothing compared to system freeze / strange lines effects / kernels / and other reboot problems that has started 2 weeks later. Perhaps it was the real start of the problem.

Jeremix, unfortunately it does not seem to be possible to undo a firmware update, unless Apple releases a newer firmware update that overwrites it. 

However, if you trace this thread back to the beginning, you'll find many users had this problem well before that firmware update was release.  In fact, there were users experiencing similar problems to what we're dealing with just days or weeks after this product line was released!  Looking at the data I've collected from 120 owners of 2011 MacBook Pros, problems have begun from 2011 to present, and affected pretty much every possible combination of OS and firmware versions.  So I have a hard time believing this was induced globally by a firmware update - the problems have been so widely distributed since the start that it really points to bad hardware over anything.

Well I wrote Apple feedback again, I feel so helpless and foolish. I don't have gambling money which obviously the logic board replacement is a bandaid. Oh well! I am at a loss here and gfxCardStatus is not working 100% - just another bandaid.

Hi,

The similar problems have iMac 2011 with AMD Radeon 6970M Video Card,

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5167?viewlocale

in the service of Apple computers, they said they have 1-2 such cases every week. Apple to have not yet admitted, but it is the same problem as with the iMac.

Tim Cook, we like yours new iPhone, but we are MacBook Users and we are angry!!!

Apple, why do not you respond?

syrakuz wrote:

 

Apple, why do not you respond?

You are aware that you are addressing other Apple users here I assume. We are just llike you, we do not work for Apple.

If you want to address Apple use this link.