2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

I have exactly the same issue as reporting by others in this topic: vertical blocked stripes during boot time (apple logo) and a complete grey screen where the login screen of mavericks should supposed to be displayed.

It started 2 weeks ago, when using my Windows 7 VM via VirtualBox, I experienced "2" separate " blocks of the OS X desktop, after reboot everything was OK. This happend like 4 times during 2 weeks ago.

This friday the party was over, I connected the MacBook 2011 to an external DVI display without the expected results, unplugged the cable and hard re-powered the MacBook with this as a result:

Hard-powered down a couple of times => no results; have it cooled down for 2 hours => no result, same issue.

After this called Apple Support to have the SMC reset and PRAM zapped => same issue, with the advice to bring it to a authorized reseller "iCenter" in Tilburg (Netherlands).

Went over there and showed this issue and explained that this is the bloody second time that a Apple notebook went broke, just after the warranty with the exact same graphic card issue:

- iBook G3 => 1 year and 1 month, same graphic card issue, that this is a factory fault these granted my "extended warranty", after me calling and complaining to Apple Support during the course 2 weeks and 5 calls...

- PowerBook G4 12" => no issues

- MBP 2008 => no issues

- MBP 2011 => 2 years and 2 months, just out of warranty I guess.

Lets hope the Apple will cover these costs, they sell there product like it's the best every, but truth is this is the second unit I own, which breaks down just after warranty, something you would expect from a average 400 EUR el cheapo notebook with Windows, but not for a 2300 EUR high-end professional notebook.

Get your act together Apple!!

Hi Everyone,

Having issues too grey screen with red horizontal lines on boot up, then just shuts off. Already tried resetting SMC, NV-Ram/PV-Ram, 2 days ago was able to do the AHT (apple hardware test), standard and extended test, but system could not find any problems...

No Apple extended apple care, which would have ran out by now anyway. It is (was) a great Notebook, I might have to bite the bullet and order new Logic-Board, ranging from $600-799, I know Apple wants a lot more then that!

MacBook Pro 15" early 2011, 8gig memory, 750gb HD, AMD Radeon6750 with 1gb DDR5, and the Intel HD Graphics 3000, "anti glare display".

here a screenshot in single user mode:

I was wondering if there was any GPU test that could be run in single-user mode,

Tlynyrd wrote:

Hi Everyone,

Having issues too grey screen with red horizontal lines on boot up, then just shuts off. Already tried resetting SMC, NV-Ram/PV-Ram, 2 days ago was able to do the AHT (apple hardware test), standard and extended test, but system could not find any problems...

No Apple extended apple care, which would have ran out by now anyway. It is (was) a great Notebook, I might have to bite the bullet and order new Logic-Board, ranging from $600-799, I know Apple wants a lot more then that!

MacBook Pro 15" early 2011, 8gig memory, 750gb HD, AMD Radeon6750 with 1gb DDR5, and the Intel HD Graphics 3000, "anti glare display".

here a screenshot in single user mode:

I was wondering if there was any GPU test that could be run in single-user mode,

You will probably have to move the AMD extensions into a new folder if you want to reach OSX. Google "2011 Mac Graphics Card Failure Cornell" and its on the first page result.

Thanks Gegankenstrom! I too am going to try apply new thermal paste on my chips. Had my logic board replaced once already, Here's the new one: use was about 2 years, 1 month. Thermal paste is in bad shape. I'm sure everyone's is like this. Unacceptable! BTW, searching forums and tests regarding thermal pastes, JunPus D9000 gets great results in heat tests, so we'll see. Fingers crossed. Can't believe we have to do this ourselves and Apple is ignoring the quality control and design flaws. They've def become too big it seems. This constant logic board replacement also seems to be a good money maker for them. Here's pics of my thermal paste, before and after I cleaned them up. The JunPus D9000 paste is coming from Taiwan, so it will be about 15 days before I can apply the new paste...

Having the same problem in my late 2011 MBP. It's been almost 2.5 years without any single problem until it started flickering 2 days ago.

First I thought it was related to Android ADT since it only started to flicker when I was running ADT. Quitting ADT would stop flickering. But later I noticed that It's not only ADT, rather the system would freeze, show blue screens, or blue screen with stripes, grey screen and stop randomly at any time without any error message or anything.

I tried resetting the NVRAM, running AHT, verify and repair disk etc. But still it freezes randomly.

Unlike other people, my system would just start fine and work (Not like it won't boot) then without any notice randomly start flickering or freeze. Sometimes it start after few mins/hours and sometimes doesn't even show any sign of problem even after using 3~4 hours.

Some screenshots:

horizontal flicker:

Random RGB pixels after flickering(small dots, you can see them clearly inside the black portion,):

Blue screen with stripes:

Do these signs mean that the GPU is failing or maybe related to some software?

My mac was running fine since morning today (maybe I wasn't doing anything graphics intensive). Just now while i tried to connect my external display, GPU was going to switch from integrated to dedicated AMD 6770M and the screen went completely black. After force restarting, found these messages in the console (these error logs might be the reason why GPU fails while switching):

can anybody interpret the meaning of these error message

[

7/8/14 1:32:52.000 AM kernel[0]: : ** GPU Debug Info End **

7/8/14 1:32:52.000 AM kernel[0]: ------------------------

7/8/14 1:32:52.000 AM kernel[0]: GPURestartReportEnd

7/8/14 1:32:52.000 AM kernel[0]: Trying restart GPU ...

7/8/14 1:32:52.933 AM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.DumpGPURestart) Throttling respawn: Will start in 4 seconds

7/8/14 1:32:54.000 AM kernel[0]: [1:0:0] GPU HangState 0x00000000, HangFlags 0x00000006: IndividualEngineHang 0, NonEngineBlockHang 1, FenceNotRetired 1, PerEngineReset 0, FullAsicReset 1

7/8/14 1:32:54.000 AM kernel[0]: ** GPU ASIC Log Start **

.]

My MBP 15" early 2011 was affected as well. According to my local Apple store, the logic board needed replacement because the graphics card failed. They claimed that their "engineering docs" showed nothing of knowledge that this was an issue with this model of machine; though they knew that the 2010 models had similar issues and a plan was implemented to reimburse for those models. They had no answer as to why this issue happened or how I could prevent it later. One of the Genius Bar employees said that this is a 'chance' that the new part would be a different revision than that which was originally installed, but he had no way to verify if that were they case or not.

I opted for the repair - they sent it off to a repair center where they replaced the logic card. They quoted me $310 for the repair, which breaks down as $210 as a flat rate repair charge and $100 for labor. The $210 is taxed, so all in all it was about $325. I do not have Apple Care on this device. The ironic thing about that 'insurance plan', is the price would have been very similar for me to have the 3 years of Apple Care coverage, however it would have expired about 1 month prior to my computer failing. So just like my belief on many forms of insurance - if you simply self insure and don't need it, you come out ahead. In this case, had I bought Apple Care I would have lost double my insurance investment.

One interesting thing is despite the quoted price being just for the logic board replacement, Apple replaced my RAM at no extra cost. The Apple Store tested my RAM and said it was good, but the repair center apparently didn't agree so they replaced it and gave me my old RAM back as well.

One item of note - they did wipe he hard drive. I had to do a manual backup using a spare PC and MacDrive software - what a mess... The other option is that the Apple Store would have done the backup (to my own drive) for $99. The machine wasn't usable by time I needed to do the backup as the monitor was doing what you see in the picture, and more commonly blue screened, upon bootup, so I had to pull the drive and do the backup method via PC. I'll be setting up Timemachine from here on out... would have made things much easier.

Well, My Mac seems to be in real trouble now.

I have a dedicated partition in my external HDD that acts like a installation media for OS X Mavericks 10.9

i booted my Mac using that partition in my HDD, and this is how it appeared.

another one...

I Feel seriously ridiculed by such weird behaviour of an Apple product and even the fact that Apple does nothing about this now. They are busy keeping mum while customers are facing such hard times.

This kinda gives me assurance that even reinstalling OS X Mavericks is not going to do any good whatsoever...

Funny how some users posts are deleted and Csound1's are not and the guy is obviously trolling hard, even flaming users while not offering anything beneficial to the thread. Anyways, still going through on Monday to have my logic board reballed, but here are a few screenshots of my faulty gpu... Of course I've had ones with the wide purlple and grey bars as well as narrow ones as well as well as shutdowns and grey screens unless power booting is initiated.

My Friends

My macbook A1286 Late 2011 showed the same problems, this was the second time. For the first, I hung up and took the authorized warranty and technical support, call the machine and said, "do not have problems, passed the test"

But now the problem appeared, I went up to the authorized center and the technician was startled. and the diagnosis: Graphics Chip, will have to change the plate, put out of warranty (oh do not tell me, I'm so happy!)

In Brazil they charge me about $ 800.

I called Apple and explained in, after 40 min in the Call Center, came the advanced technical sector and the answer:

"Sir, your equipment is not eligible for the program RECALL, only for Macbook PRO MID 2010 '

Why?

I'll do WHAT?

"Sir, look for a repair center authorized Apple, Have a great night"

PS: lucky or not this happened a few times, I hang up, wait a few minutes and voila, it works.

Recall await 🙂

Case Number: 636441298

Portuguese:

Amigos,

Meu macbook A1286 Late 2011, apresentou o mesmo problemas, essa foi a segunda vez. Pois na primeira, eu desliguei e levei na garantia e o suporte tecnico autorizado, ligou a maquina e disse: "nao tem problemas, passou pelo teste"

Mas agora o problema apareceu, fui ate o centro autorizada e o tecnico se assustou. e o diagnostico: Chip Graficos, tera que trocar a placa, porem saiu da garantia (oh nao me diga, estou tao feliz! )

No Brasil me cobram cerca de 800 dolares.

Liguei na Apple e expliquei, depois de 40 min no Call Center, veio o setor tecnico avancado e a resposta:

" senhor, seu equipamento nao é elegivel para o programa de RECALL, somente para os Macbook PRO MID 2010"

Why?

Eu farei oque?

"senhor, procure um centro de reparo autorizado Apple, tenha uma otima noite"

PS: sorte ou nao isso aconteceu poucas vezes, eu desligo, espero uns minutos e pronto, funciona.

Aguardaremos Recall 🙂

Number Case: 636441298

aiuto: come si può vedere nella foto il mio MacBook Pro 15 è stato costruito INIZIO 2011, ma ho comprato presso l 'Apple Store alla fine di novembre 2011 ..?

Non riesco a spiegare il motivo per cui mi è stato venduto alla fine di novembre 2011, un computer costruito all'inizio del 2011. Questo particolare è molto importante perché ho fatto notare che sia il numero verde presso il Genius che alcuni macbook pro fine del 2010 era programmata riparazione e dall'inizio del 2011 non corrispondeva alla voce avevo diritto alla sostituzione gratuita. Entrare nel loro computer il mio codice non riscontravano alcun problema edificio e il mio computer non era tra quelli che ci si aspettava per liberare la riparazione. Penso che il computer costruito all'inizio del 2011 mi è stato venduto nel novembre 2011. Questa cosa mi irrita in quanto oltre il 15 per MacBook nel 2013 ho acquistato un macbook pro retina 13 e io ero un buon cliente prima che qualcosa succede a me. Tra le altre cose, dal momento che io non sono un pazzo, ho sempre aspettato l'uscita del nuovo modello prima di acquistarlo.

E 'colpa PROPRIO!

You gave him the right advise and to prove that I attached a picture of a 2011 15" logic board that I just removed the GPU chip from two seconds ago , there is no better prove than a picture and its very easy to see why this logic board has failed, every single soldering point is bad and dirty , how else it can be fixed other than reballing ?!!!

You don't need to apologies to a stupid guy that doesn't understand anything and argue to be right , The main problem in this thread is the graphics problem and I am showing with pictures that no one can argue their reality why it happens and how to fix it and I am showing that probably for the tenth time, the first picture show the area of the logic board under the graphics chip that show clearly the reason for the graphics failure the second picture show the same logic board after removing the solder, clean the dirt and refresh all the soldering pads , only the blinds don't see the reality and understand that it is not a design or manufacturing issue or a defective graphics chip, you can deny it but that doesn't put you in the right side of the problem, I am showing this for the people who wants to know what is the reason for the graphics problem and how to fix it right not to argue with any one. This logic board is now working as good as new.

The first picture show how dirty the area under the graphics chip is, that dirt is not just around the solder , it goes under the solder and that over time causes bad connection on some of the soldering points between the graphics chip and the logic board, the second picture show how clean those soldering pads have to be before soldering the reballed chip again and that is how we achieve a real good soldering , actually as good as it was the day you bought the computer and that is the only real repair , in some cases the same problems appear under the CPU and in this case you will see in the system logs that there is a kernel problem caused by one or more of the CPU cores and in this case the CPU will also need to be reballed , I attached couple pictures for that as well to make things very clear.

ps3specialist wrote:

You don't need to apologies to a stupid guy that doesn't understand anything and argue to be right , The main problem in this thread is the graphics problem and I am showing with pictures that no one can argue their reality why it happens and how to fix it and I am showing that probably for the tenth time, the first picture show the area of the logic board under the graphics chip that show clearly the reason for the graphics failure the second picture show the same logic board after removing the solder, clean the dirt and refresh all the soldering pads , only the blinds don't see the reality and understand that it is not a design or manufacturing issue or a defective graphics chip, you can deny it but that doesn't put you in the right side of the problem, I am showing this for the people who wants to know what is the reason for the graphics problem and how to fix it right not to argue with any one. This logic board is now working as good as new.

Indeed - you are a far better reballer than I and we only disagree on the type of solder. I just diagnose them and if broke being in the UK I usually assemble them back to the client and give them bga-repairs ebay link to get them done. None so far have broken again.

Along with the bad condition underneath the package which I don't normally see I also believe the points I just described to our fellow 'expert' about the rough and sometimes twisted heatsink, over pasting etc also contribute to them failing and consequently giving you more work lol