problems with amd gpu on early 2011 macbook pro

Same here. MBP 15' 2011 Late..Bit frustrated, because warranty ended last week......

Late 2011 with same problem, send to mac service centre and the technician told me it's the graphic card issue and I will have to replace the whole logic board, which will cost me around RM3,000 (USD1,000)!!!... since when mac only last two years?? 😟

APPLE PLEASE LOOK INTO THIS HARDWARE ISSUE!! SO MANY USERS HV BEEN EXPERIENCING THIS S**T AND WE HAVE BEEN POSTING HERE OVER N OVER AGAIN, WE DEMAND ANSWERRR!! ARGHHH!! 😠

If you have applecare you are covered under warenty. If you dont have applecare it's $310 max for any repair ask your genius. Apple has this program just ask them

here is my original post

lomt Ft. Lauderdale

Followup to my MPB early 2011 17" GPU Failing. Took to Apple store Genius where he correctly diagnosed the problem with the GPU and reccomended replacing the Main Logic Board as I was able to duplicate the problem just by opening Adobe Photoshop and getting the error message about the GPU not functioning and he suggested to get it repaired by apple for the $210 + $100 labor and they will fix or replace anythng that is wrong for the $310 Flat which is a very fair resoulution to a computer that is 2yr 9 months old. Mad that it happened but I think that was cheaper than buying apple care oringinally and they completely cleaned and adjusted the hinge and my computer is like brand new again. I reccomend to anyone this is by far the best solution.

I have had mine replaced 3 times as well as the airport twice, all fans, all cables twice, all wiring twice, optical drive three times, and the list goes on and it still does not work. It fails again because it is a defective design therefore the same issues will occur over and over.

The GPU especially when using graphic intensive apps creates the load average to go up causing the system to get extremely hot and over time that does irreversible harm to all the components like wiring, cables, airport, optical drive, no power to usb and firewire ports, etc to fail. Apple has refused to work on it any longer and it is cover under Apple Care.

As for the question "Since when Mac only last two years"? Well that is the easy question to answer... Apple has been going straight to **** when Steve passed away. Steve may have been an ******* in many ways BUT he ALWAYS made sure the customers came first whenever possible. When Steve left the company in 1985 Apple plunged into nothingness but ~12 years later upon his return he created an empire know around the world as one of the most powerful companies ever.

Well God rest his soul but Steve is not coming back to save the company this time. Steve's visions are not and will not be carried out. Steve was an incredible visionary with an extremely creative mind that he was genius enough to carry out and create a fabulous final product. Steve WAS APPLE, it WAS his life.

Apple can have all the best suits in the world running the company but without the creative genius who thrived on obtainable visions that would surpass the norm, and fall into "what every one else is doing only a whole lot better" Apple will plumet into a tailspin with no way to pull out before it crashes and burns. It has already begun and what lays ahead is anyone's guess but if we look at the history of any major company in the same situation then we know one thing, the company will fail, it may take longer than most but it will happen. There are far too many creative visionaries out there working for competitive companies.

Add my voice. Pretty reliable MPB is crapping out with vertical grey lines or black screen. Only when running discrete graphics. A general recall/repair would be nice. Like those dodgy iMacs.

I am beyond any and all of Apple's excuses and comments that there is not an issue with these machine's. I am now having the same issue's with my Mid 2011 iMac with the same specs as my Early 2011 15" Macbook Pro which has been out of commission since last August 2013.

Apple refused to honor my Apple Care on my Macbook Pro because they had to replace the logic board 3 times as well as the optical drive 3 times, the airport twice, all cables, wires and fans, and the list goes on. So having Apple Care is not a saving factor for this particular issue as many has seen on this thread as well as many other threads on the net around the globe because the issues return shortly after the replacement.

I have told my story to so many people at Apple which fell on deaf ears including Tim Cook. Miljenko Matijevic and myself recently begun a new website named musiciansbeware.com which basically focused on services and to expose scam artists, liars, and basically unscrupulous business people in the music and entertainment industry. However I thought it would be prudent to also add products to the list, everything from musical instruments to the gear used in studios, on stage, photography, etc. At the top of the list will be Apple along with all my paperwork and full story.

Everyone is welcome to post on that neutral site as we are exposing various people and companies in an effort to put integrity back into what services and products companies once had. This site is not a sounding board everything is researched, from the rip off artist to the Apple Run Around. Since each case is different everything outside this particular issue in this thread would give the company a chance to comment if they so choose. The subject in this thread once the heading is posted anyone can post their story and I am aware most of the stories will be very similar and that is OK, we are building a case for this issue so a show of hands, so to speak, will go a long way in proving YES THERE IS AN ISSUE and its global, devastating, costing undo expense sometimes many times over, loss of wages, too much time on the phone explaining the same issues over and over. Jumping through hoops that does nothing to fix or even help the issue.

Many many music and photography studio's have moved away from Apple products due to the expense and short lived time span a Mac is usable and productive. I am not starting a petition I am gathering data, I have saved all posts to this forum as well as other forums along with all conversations and interactions with Apple personally.

With all that said there are attorneys ready, willing and able to take the giant down or at least hold them to a level of productivity expected out of such an expensive high end item. By that I mean a replacement machine equal to or better than the defective machine's we are all stuck with that has caused us so much money, lost time, lost wages and loss of respect for a once highly thought of company. For those that have had to replace components themselves then a refund should be in place on top of the replacement. Apple should be forced to acknowledge the issue with these machines and setup restitution, a recall, a replacement machine because a replacement part does not fix the issue, it is simply a band-aid.

United we stand divided we fall so there are two options, use these forums to complain and whine or take action and whatever you so choose to do is up to you.

i got my macbook pro back last thursday. it only took apple 1 day. they changed the logic board. so far so good in terms of this original graphics card issue. but now, when in target disk mode, i can't connect to the macbook's drives via thunderbolt. i used to be able to before they changed the logic board. it still works on firewire though. but heck! i want a problem fixed not fix one problem and create another!

That is exactly what happens, its like chasing lightening. The machines are flawed, seriously flawed. Mine was DOA and they refused to replace it when it arrived. I have been living with this for 3 long years of wasted time and money.

The longer it takes for the issues to show up the more damage that has been done inside the machine none of which show up on their hardware test. After they replaced my logic board for the second time I sent it right back because the USB port had no power to it, the firewire never had power to it and the thunderbolt kept dropping off.

I sent it back in and they used the "WHITE GLOVE" method which means NOTHING! Anyway the guy called me from the depot and said they could not reproduce the issues I asked if they plugged anything into the USB port, he answered no, we only do software stress tests to find hardware issues. Well that is flawed right there to begin with, but I said please humor me and plug anything into the USB port, the next day I received it back with yet another replaced logic board due to no power to the USB port.

It still did not work and I sent it back in only this time I got it right back and a senior tech named Daniel Holmes, the supervisor or so he told me, of the LOOPER department. He asked if I knew why they did not do anything to my machine and I said yes because it passed their software stress test and did not open it up because then they would have had to replace parts that were visibly broken as they did the prior 3 times in the 2 month previous. They did not even call me this time they just sent it right back to me. He said correct.

I have been jumping through hoops for years but mainly from Aug 2013 until Nov 2013 when upon my last phone call with Daniel Holmes I had a slight stroke and decided it just wasn't worth it to drop dead over Apple's incompetentcy . Daniels last words were "My Condolences" when I asked what they were going to do to fix the machine after all it was under warranty. At which time I had a stroke.

Several weeks later I emailed Tim Cook, and the laptop is sitting in a corner like an expensive paper weight and my iMac with the same setup, that I got at the same time is now having the same issues. I had a iMac once before that was over heating and they made light of it, sent me to the "genius" and I use that word lightly, bar, they ran the software test and it passed. They told me to take it home they had nothing to go on but if it caught on fire its under Apple Care so they would have to replace it. I said what about my music studio and photo studio not to mention me as I sleep in my studio most of the time. They just waved me off and months later the machine did catch on fire, good thing I was sitting right there. They replaced it with the one I have now that I NEVER used until I had to in Aug 2013 when my Macbook Pro was in the shop over all the issues everyone on this list is having.

I was told I could not send my Macbook Pro into the depot again since they are not able to fix it but I could take it to the Apple Store that is not close to me and since the stoke I was told not to drive until further testing was done. I called the Apple Store told them of my issues and they said I could bring it in and they would send it to the same depot I had been sending it to all the previous times. Its just another hoop Apple wants me to jump through, that they KNOW I can not do, but I am done jumping and done getting so angry it is not worth it. Instead I will expose every single detail, I will make sure none of my colleagues suffer Apple's "Above The Law" conduct.

Just so each and every one of you know, Daniel Holmes Also said everyone that posts on these forums are aliens with nothing better to do with their time than to cause trouble because there is no such problems with ANY of their machines. He also called me a liar on the phone when I said I worked with the FBI on their Linux machines in my local area in the 90's and he said he "READ" somewhere if someone actually works for the FBI they are not allowed to say so. Well he is wrong they can say who they work for but I said I worked WITH not FOR the FBI because of my Q-Clearance and knowledge of Linux at that time.

Normally Apple deletes as many posts as possible but this time the problem is too large so keep posting, keep making noise, demand your rights, boycott Apple if you have to but if you let them win silently they will be "Above The Law" and all of this is for nothing.

Exact same problem here! I am quite stunned that Apple has not taken action on this.

How long did it take for them to do the repairs? I was thinking of taking the Macbook into an Apple store when I am in the US next week.

Thanks

I sent my Macbook Pro to the depot and given I live fairly close (same state) I sent it in and received it back within 3 days. That includes shipping, fixing and shipping back. It depends on how backed up they are, if you use the depot or a Apple Store to have the repair done. It is my understanding, from many forums around the net, that this is such a major issue they are back logged on getting the logic board for the replacements. There is a huge back order on the parts as it not only affects the logic board but by the time you begin to see the issues on screen it has already affected other parts in the machine. The Apple Store where I live said they are sending the machine's off to the depot.

So now that I really didn't give you a direct answer its about as close as the answer you would get from the double talking Apple tech's.

Good luck!

I've now had 2 discrete gpu failures in the lat 3 months. Same model, 15-inch macbook pro early 2011. They replaced the first one and now it's having the same symptoms again (distorted screen or complete crash when switching to the discrete gpu. This is obviosly a pretty common problem that Apple must address.

I'm on my second failure as well. 3 weeks ago, the GPU completely died, to the point where I couldn't boot the system. I got the logic board replaced and it looked fine. After playing a game for a few hours, the new board crapped out again. I gave it back to the Apple store on Saturday and it's supposed to take 7 - 10 days to get it back.

Once I get the system back, I'm going to loop 3DMark for several hours. I need to make sure it's stable, at least for now. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it suffers the same fate.

I'm hoping I can get another year or two out of this system. I actually don't want Apply to swap my system for a current model, since I love my matte display and don't want to give it up. I also like having the ability to swap out the ROM drive for a second hard drive.

Does anyone know Apple's policy for giving new hardware instead of replacing it? Most extended warranties have a 3 major repair policy and then they'll provide a new device.

Just want to add my disappointment too. Got the same problem. Last night all of a sudden the screen of my macbook pro, 17 inch, early 2011, became zebra-like. Now it doesn't start up, and even the recovery disk doesn't work. I looked up for similar experiences and, voilà, heaps of users with similar problems. My MBP also has the

AMD Radeon HD 6750M,, so I've concluded - all startup options of SMC, PR, recovery and target mode boot failing - that that must be the problem.

I bought this mac, because my previous one, a powerbook G4, went strong for seven years. Now, after just over 2 years, this MBP fails. It's especially a problem because I live in Vietnam, with the nearest reliable apple service point 800 kms away.

So my MBP will be away for quite some time.

I am like you I do not like the new models I prefer the model I have but it does not work. Keep dreaming on the 3 strikes and its replaced, they have replaced mine over 3 times as well as other major repairs 2, 3 and 4 times all in a 2 month time frame.

I have lost too much time, energy, clients, money, and even had a stroke I was so ****** off on the phone after the tech told me there is no problems that only I have the problem and everyone on these forum are aliens causing trouble.

Now that my iMac is doing the very same thing that I got at the same time, same configuration I decided its time to do something.

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