problems with amd gpu on early 2011 macbook pro

clintonfrombirmingham,

That was the one thing that was made very clear by Tim Cook's assistant, no replacements for this issue which to me proves there is an issue and they know it but if they start replacing then they will have to replace them all. Replacing the machine is the only real fix unfortunately I do not even like the new Macbook Pro's they do not have all the features I need/require.

This Lenovo W540 is one kick butt machine, it also has the Thunderbolt as well as the smart card reader, so many ports and other connections and runs like a dream. I maxed it out with the RAM, the HD is 7200 RPM plus I have a SSD drive in it as well, finger print reader, NFC, Mobile Broadband Ready, 9 cell battery and standard on all the models is Thunderbolt, 2 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, VGA, RJ-45, 4-in-1 card reader, express card, headphone/mic combo, mini DisplayPort.

I have a large touch screen monitor and although the W540 is not a touch screen once it is plugged into a touch screen capable monitor it works great in clam shell mode using the touch screen monitor. It is well worth the money but I would buy it from Lenovo for the warranty alone, its very inexpensive and it includes tech support as well as the extended warranty and the spills and drops protection. Square trade does not offer tech support and given I am not a Windows guru I may require tech support a time or two if I can't find the answers on the net.

I am making the move slowly as well I am just very satisfied I found a good replacement so when the Mac's are completely dead it will be a no brainer on what I will need to purchase and hopefully by then I will know Windows inside and out. Being a programmer it shouldn't take long. I did use Windows back on 3.0 up to XP but not as a end user I was the Networking Systems Engineer so I just made sure they ran properly and integrated properly. Given I was, in the early stages of Samba, working with the team to make it work I did a lot of messing around with Windows machines testing Samba configurations. Anyway the iPhone is gone and I won't buy anything related to Apple including a nice juicy Apple at the market.

Thank you for your kind words and you are correct Apple is not playing their cards right on this one and it will bite them in the butt sooner or later.

I took a look at that Sager... sweet machine! Very close to the Lenovo, pretty much a coin toss I suppose in the long run but I believe both machines will run circles around the early 2011 15" Macbook Pro that is junk!

I also setup an appointment with apple genius. Was advised to get my logic board replaced for 538$ +tax here in Canada Ontario Toronto. They put me through to apple-care and that was pointless, got no where also. Apparently no one there at the apple store or apple-care had no idea about this problem and I didn't blame them but at this point their has been enough reports and similar failure and yet no response from anyone in the upper rankings?

After talking to a employee at the Apple store today, that I had went in with a mindset that you guys created "quality" products, thats why I bought a macbook. He then explains to me that I went in with the wrong mindset? that all laptops usually breaks within 3 years? and I've only had mine for 2.

This is totally unacceptable coming from a company with this type of reputation. Also I asked apple-care "what would you do if your in my position and he said "I would buy a new macbook pro"! What kind of help is this! At this point its a waiting game with this problem.. I've lost so much respect for this company at this point. Apple really needs to do a recall on all macbook pro 2011 models asap.

Gaidai, first of all the phrase "apple genius" must be used very loosely if you get my drift. They are hardly genius's if they were genius's they wouldn't be working a glorified tech support job.

There is noway Apple is unaware of the issues these machines are having, heck they have deleted enough of my posts as well as others that have posted and tell it like it is without sugar coating it. They know exactly what the issue is and it goes hand in hand with the major changes in the configurations and sizes of the newer Macbook Pro's. The completely sealed case is not equipped to handle the heat of the earlier 2011 Macbook Pro's with all the ports, connections, optical drive, CPU and GPU they claimed to handle as a portable desktop. I had mine on an industrial cooler but the ventilation on the machine itself is not sufficient.

Given I work in studio's, music and photography it is cold to begin with because of the equipment I have then the industrial cooler for the Macbook Pro and yet it burned itself up literally. The machine was actually DOA but they refused to replace it because it was a replacement for one they sent me a week earlier that was DOA. Same make same model same configuration. I had to buy thousands of dollars of equipment to work around all the issues the machine had out of the box then less than 2 years later it was totally unusable.

When I ordered my new phone (Samsung S5) the sales girl asked why I didn't go with the iPhone again because so many people are ditching iPhones it seemed so odd. Even those that work at my provider have ditched iPhones and that should tell you something right there.

The word is out, Apple's reputation has been tarnished and its spreading. I will not stop telling my story and showing the proof until everyone knows what they are getting into when they buy Apple products. They cost me so much money, a couple of clients and a stroke. I am passed being totally seeing red angry now I am simply choosing to make sure the "buyer beware" policy is in effect when purchasing that high priced paper weight before someone lays down several grand for a name, a name with a tarnished reputation at that.

It is true, Apple reps have stated to many people that the life span of their computers is only 3 years and they timed it just about as close as possible for all the early 2011 Macbook Pro's to go dead at the 3 year mark. I however have been fighting this battle for 3 years given it was DOA to begin with and I have the "Apple DOES NOT Care" Policy. The other thing Apple counts on is that most people trust Apple’s name and do not buy the Apple Care and for them that is money in their pocket for all the repairs that are surely going to take place many times over. I always looked at it like this, if I am paying $3500+ for the machine I am not going to skimp on the $495 warranty I don’t trust anyone that much. The last thing I am is penny wise and pound foolish.

As for the tech's not knowing about the issue that is bull. At one point the turn around time to replace the logic boards was over 2 weeks because the parts were on back order. Apple knows EXACTLY what they are doing.

Too bad Steve can not come back and save the company like he did the last time Apple hit the dirt.

I have exactly the same problem. My GPU has failed and by now I can't even boot anymore. It started several weeks ago and got progressively worse. After some back and forth with Apple Care and a guy in Executive Relations, Apple finally told me that I'm on my own. Get it repaired for 500€ (680$) or go **** myself is what I heard.

I'm so dissapointed I decided to not buy any Apple product ever again. This is the only weapon I have. I paid 2000$ for a laptop which is a really big deal for a student and after 2 and a couple of months it just dies just like my 500$ HP laptop did before. Thats just inacceptable. I used my MacBook professionally already and was planning to continue to do so for the rest of my career in IT/CS. I've been using Windows for 2 days and already know why.

But I'm willing to put up with that just to pay Apple back for their condescending behaviour. It made me feel so helpless, like they didn't even care about their customers at all. The fangirls and casual users who buy Apple products because it's cool will soon be gone as can already be seen with the iPhone. But those who are invested to use Macs professionally and do so for reliability and usability reasons are the ones that would stick around.

I now have the feeling they don't even care.

Yeah...fantastic. The GPU fault just started happening on my main 17inch Macbook Pro. By main Macbook Pro, I mean I have 2 other ones of similar vintage that I use in my business. A slightly earlier one with a Geforce 330GT GPU and the this one that I am writing this post with which also has the ATI Raedon GPU. And so now that I have just found out that this problem is a hardware fault that affects this specific model, should I be expecting that all three will become useless doorstops within the next year or so?

I am on the verge of crying when I think about how much money I have sunk into these computers...

DennisSchwartz,

So sorry you have been bit by the "Apple DOES NOT Care" warranty and followed by the "Apple Runaround Plan"!

I have been through it myself and tried vigorously jumping through every hoop to come to an amicable solution to this issue. It isn't going to happen.

I lost so much money that for the last 6 months all I have had to eat was mashed potatoes, water, and occasionally Doritos. Have had to go without a few times just to pay rent. At the age of 51 nearly 52 years old I have never had to worry about money EVER! Not begause I was privilaged but because I have worked my A!@ off all my life beginning as a child in the music industry.

I have two companies, a music and photography business, both of which have come to a halt because I lost the paying clients. The paying clients made it possible for me to help those that needed help in the music and entertainment industry that would otherwise never been heard or seen.

My photography business was to make sure the kids in my local area who were under priviliaged got their school photos. The schools gave the children who were under priviliaged a form so they could come here and I did the photo shoot for each child, made it fun more like senior photos so they got to do all the different poses in studio and outside the studio. Then I let the child choose which pose they liked the best and printed that photo and framed it and gave it to them. We all know our parents usually chose the photo we disliked the most. I did put the entire finished post production photos on a CD and gave them a release form so they could take them to Walmart or anywhere they chose to get the photos printed when they could afford it and get a much better deal than the outrageous prices school photographers charge.

I am not going away quietly in this matter, I am gathering information from as many posts, apple insiders, even those that make the products in China. Losing everything just does not sit well with me just as it does not sit well with any of you. I am in a positition to create so much publicity on this issue because I am with the press. I just am making sure all my ducks are in a row, facts are straight, and a healthy amount of complaints in my possesion before I do a major release. I have been telling my story and believe me it has already begun to put a dent in those that were "Apple Fans"

Well Apple Deleted this once already so read fast!

Adrian1974, I did cry! One can only take so much before something snaps and you either cry or drive yourself crazy trying to have control of something you will never have control or even a say so in. Once you cry your head will be clear and that is when you will be able to rebuild and be strong enough to help yourself and others.

I lost everything and I do mean everything. My entire company was based on Apple products and software for Apple products. I had an amazing work flow. I trusted Apple however in the back of my mind when Steve passed on, may he rest in peace, I had a feeling the company would die a slow death too. After all when he left last time they had to beg him to come back because the company was in the toilet. He came back, created an empire to be proud of only to look down from the heavens and see his empire and visionary creations falling apart.

Let's face it there was only Steve Jobs, and he had his quirks and was difficult but that is how ALL creative people are, from musicians, inventors, actors, artists, entertainers, designer, etc. We ALL seem odd to others because we think differently. We put our lives into our work and our work is our lives. So while he may have been difficult to work with at times or seemed way off mark to people who thought on a different plain however when it all came down to the wire he was able to realize his vision as a finished product. He held to certain standards and would not budge just because "Everyone else was doing it", or "it seemed to be the latest cool thing". Steve was an incredible visionary the type that only come around every few decades or even centuries and they fight with everything they have to make their vision a reality and I am not talking about some fad I am talking changing the lives of billions and how we live, work, play, progress, and move into the future with new tools to enrich our lives and how we live. Did Steve take chances? YUP! You can't be an awesome visionary in any field without taking some chances but you have to know when and how to take chances and have a back up plan if they crash and burn.

All of that is gone and the general public are much more knowledgable than the last time Apple had troubles. Not to mention considering how many years ago that took place it was still a geek, nerd, dork world for the most part. Now my 1 1/2 year old grand daughter can use a computer, a smartphone, a iPod, iPad, etc. So not only are the general public more knowledgable the age range using technical devices begins shortly after birth and by the time they are in elementary school they are learning how to code. Us old timers who have been around since the beginning long before Windows or Apple back when UNIX and main frames were the only game in town. When "www" was just three letters that meant nothing to most people, the internet wasn't even defined or known to most now have quite a few decades standing with us that will not allow this type of shoddy work and customer service take place and go away quietly.

The old timers like myself blocked many things from taking place early in the computer age like when Gates wanted to do things very similar to all these cloud based software services and we said "NO"! And we meant it. The younger generations thought it would be cool not having to worry about CD's and DVD's just download what they want and go. Well for kids, outside a working environment, and for those not in IT, yeah PNP was a dream, cloud based stuff was less hassle until you are stuck somewhere with no internet connection and you need to reinstall something and can't access it. What about an entire company needs major updates or upgrades but the last IT guy lost, took or hid the key? What a hassle, personally I like the security of having the physical media as a backup or a choice to download immediately for "X" amount of dollars while waiting on the physical media for safe keeping.

Taking the easy way is not always the best way to go and we are finding that out the hard way. Once the old timers began to retire or move on to other things the younger generations ALLOWED fast talking sales pitches to get us where we are now. Sure, let's do whatever gives us more time to play and we can worry about issues when they arise. Well they have risen and trying to harness it is going to take more than the old timers, it will take all of us to demand what we are promised. Demand the respect and appreciation that we deserve from the companies we trusted enough to lay down our hard earned money down for their products.

Adrian1974 After a year of battling Apple I went with the Lenovo W540, it runs circles around the Macbook Pro even the special configuration I had that is now a paper weight. It is about half the price and 4 times the machine. The pitfall is of course Windows and the invested money lost on Apple products but many software companies seen this coming and have made Windows versions for most of the software. They will even in most cases deactivate the Mac key and issue you a Windows key for the software. So I recommend you cry, get TEED off, gather your thoughts and rebuild. It won't be easy and it won't be over night but if you play into their hands and buy another Apple then they have NO reason what so ever to change the way they do things because they will still be making the big bucks and those that purchase the products will still be suckers.

I know it all too well KmS Rox. In the last few years I have seen Apple move their target away from creative professional customers who demand the best to excel at their work, to the consumer mass market where they are now competing with the likes of Samsung, Sony, Lenovo, Acer, Toshiba, etc. and let's face it, they are not doing very well.

Instead of innovating and staying the leader of the pack, they have dumbed down their products and ruined other things that weren't broken. Let's see:

They ruined their Microsoft beating word processor, Pages, and turned it from a sophisicated piece of software into a trinket program that works on tablets. You can't do REAL WORK on a tablet.

They discontinued their 17inch MBP line which was the portable workstation that professional artists really wanted. Photographers, film makers, 3d graphic artists and architects (of which I am one) that go from site to site want large screens with high end specs which they can use to produce REAL work.

You can't even by a 15inch MBP with a matte screen anymore. So you have to bob your head around avoiding lights and reflections to see your screen content. Pretty glossy screens are no substitute for a practical matte screen that you can do REAL work on.

There are probably many other examples, but these are the ones that have affected me.

They used to have more than 50% of the smartphone market. Now they have about 15%? Their product competes directly with other smartphones and the iphone 5c is not a quality phone. Apple is not about cheap. They have lost the plot and it is only a matter of time before this will be reflected in their stock price and plummeting profits.

I note that Apple has recalled the faulty graphics cards in their 27inch 2011 iMacs, so I am still hopeful that they will do the honourable thing and fix my faulty MBPs but in the longer term, I can't see a very bright business future with Apple products. As much as I despise Windows and the exasperating experiences that it provides, at least I have choice when it comes to buying suitable computers for my professional business.

Adrian1974, I couldn't agree more! I fall into the music, entertainment, photography, programmer, and engineer so I do feel your pain. I ALWAYS use my laptops in clamshell mode and use an external monitor, Dell makes GREAT monitors, crappy computers but great monitors with matte screens. I also use external keyboard and mouse. I have 3 machine's side by side all with their own big screen monitor and move between them multitasking in the strongest sense of the word.

I just setup my HTC One (M8). I was going to go with the Samsung S5 but I am partial to metal rather than plastic and its a nice phone. I am selling my iPhone 4S if anyone wants to buy it 

I am not putting out one penny to Apple and I will make it my mission, heck I would even consider traveling and doing public speaking on how big companies such as Apple is ruining the business sector by claiming to have the best of quality when in fact they knowingly are putting out defective material with the thought that it won't hit as hard as projected and they could "buy" off those that made the most noise. Well this one blew up in their face because this mess up took out everyone with that model and if they haven't been effected yet they will be soon enough. The only fix for this is a replacement machine and I HATE the new Macbook Pro's they lack what I need to perform my job duties.

Seriously how different is knowingly putting out defective part in hopes the backlash wouldn't be so bad than it is for pharmaceutical companies to do the very same thing? Some companies do it and have a fund set aside knowing there will be some lawsuits spring up here and there but use their poker face in hopes to scare everyone off. I have posted over 100 times and in my profile it has 3 posts, they delete all my posts. It is quite OK with me because I cut and paste them before I post them and repost them to other sites as well as my own sites. I simply can not sit by and watch this happen.

The reason the 17" went away and the 15" went to only one or two to choose from both with very few ports, no optical drive, etc is because the unibody design is not capable of handling the heat inside the case that all the ports, CPU and GPU puts out on a full on working machine. If its for a kid to surf the net then they may never run into the issue because they will sell or trade it for the next best thing Apple has to offer. Once they enter the job market they will feel secure with Apple only to find out work is called work for a reason and it takes a much harder toll on the machine than simply chatting and surfing. So all the kids reading this thread remember what I am writing it is for your own good in the long run. If Apple could survive they would make Macbook Air their flagship customer machine and have everything run off the net, no port, much like the tablets, which you can not produce REAL work on a tablet. Tablets are for watching movies on a long drive and keep kiddies happy. They are not business level machines that can run LR5, PS, CAD, PRO-TOOLS, etc. They are a big phone and pretty soon one will go away as the phones are getting as big as a tablet so they are named phablets, how stupid is that? You can make calls on tablets, so which will win out in the long run? If Comcast/Warner/Verizon has anything to say about it we are going back to the future to the old forum expensive pay as you go internet. Again a good reason taking away physical media is a bad idea.

I too am not fond of Windows and if I could do all I needed in UNIX or LINUX (Slackware) then I would but its not that simple. The market is as such you are either a Windows Puppy or a Mac Boy neither of which is a badge of honor in my opinion. Like you pointed out at least with Windows if a person has the ability they can build their own rocking machine, no proprietary junk, no shoving far too much into a small enclosed area with less than adequate ventilation for the heat that builds up.

Do you know how much it would cost Apple to recall and replace ALL the machine out there? There is no fix, my logic board, all cables, all wires, all fans, optical drive, airport and the list goes on was replaced 3 and some 4 times within a 6 month period. At one point there was a back order on parts to fix all the machines that needed a new logic board. So Apple has turned a deaf ear on all of it and hopes it blows over and if we let them they will get away with it. This is not a simple fix, it is a replace, and a replace with the newer models that do not have the capabilities we need to perform the work we do. That alone will push the business consumer away from Apple, they no longer make a portable workstation for the business sector.

I have the same problem than everyone with my macbook 15" early 2011 since 2 weeks. Apple genius from Le Louvre (Paris) ansvers me that some times it happens... and I just discover now the long list of people who have the same problem. They proposed me for 492 euros a mother card replacement- I find it very expensive, and I ask myself if the problem does not come with the 10.9.3 update. For now I'm working with gfxCardStatus, but I canot use an external display, which is a real problem ! Apple becomes less reliable, I'm working with mac since 1987 and I never had so many problems. I already had to change the HD and the battery 6 months ago, now the MB, what would be the next surprise in two months ?!

My Macbook Pro 15" is also freezing and the screen is full of verticle or horizontal lines, often reboots automatically and I get the grey screen with text. It is a nightmare and seems to be a major problem with MacBook Pros of this year. I have the top of the line with 2.5 GHz i7, 16GB RAM, intel and separate AMD Radeon HD 6770M card. This is a real bummer and I want to know if Apple is doing the right thing and correcting this problem for people at no charge?? I've owned over 10 macbook pros and never had this type of problem. The machine is too new to be breaking down like this. If anyone knows of a solution or how to get Apple to respond to the community with a solution, please chime in! Thanks.

My Macbook Pro 15" is also freezing and the screen is full of verticle or horizontal lines, often reboots automatically and I get the grey screen with text. It is a nightmare and seems to be a major problem with MacBook Pros of this year. I have the top of the line with 2.5 GHz i7, 16GB RAM, intel and separate AMD Radeon HD 6770M card. This is a real bummer and I want to know if Apple is doing the right thing and correcting this problem for people at no charge?? I've owned over 10 macbook pros and never had this type of problem. The machine is too new to be breaking down like this. If anyone knows of a solution or how to get Apple to respond to the community with a solution, please chime in! Thanks.

Kenus, the short answer is they are doing nothing! That is why so many of us have moved or are moving over to the high end Windows machines. I never in a million years thought I'd actually go Windows but here I am with a new Lenovo W540 Windows machine that is running circles around the 2 Mac paper weights I have. My HTC One (M8) is what I replaced my iPhone 4S with as I will not give Apple one penny nor will I use any of their products in my company. Everything is being replaced pronto!

Apple wants to appeal to the kiddies out there well the business owners are going to where the grown ups get machines that are made to pump out work and production in the music, entertainment, photography, design, engineering fields.

I am however collecting each and every complaint posted here and all over the net as well as all the paperwork I have on my own machines so I am fully armed to bust this wide open in headlines.

So everyone just keep posting even if I do not respond to each one I am reading them and filing them. The sheer numbers around the globe with this issue is enough to put a bad light on Apple for those oblivious to what is going on behind the scenes.

Same problem here If you are out of warranty make appointment with genius bar at apple store and they will quickly diagnose your problem and should offer you the $310 flat rate apple repair program which will replace your main logic boad and anything else that needs to be replaced and will clean it and you will have your machine back like new. That is what i did and now 6 months later still working perfect. And that is cheaper than apple care and I should be able to get another 2 years and 7 months out of it like the original maybe longer Best Solution I've found for MBP early 2011 17" as it was 2 years out of warranty

My GPU fried last week without any warning sign. Grey screen, impossible to reboot.... I had an important client presentation 2 hours later, and no computer anymore...

Went to an Apple repair center in Brussels and was diagnosed the logic board issue.

The repair cost is above 600 euros (more than $800). This is completely insane, knowing that there is a $310 flat rate in the US!

How can Apple justify this logic?

Looking further fown the road, how can they justify a hefty price premium while providing such a terrible customer care?

Can you imagine the same policy on a car? "Sorry, your 3-year old BMW needs a new engine or you can throw it away and buy a new one."

It's ok to have manufacturing issues. But it's not ok to not deal with them and show no respect whatsoever to your customers.

If Apple continues like this, they'll be eaten for breakfast by their Korean competitors. Rightfully so.