2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Hello,

I have a MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011) with an AMD Radeon HD 6770M (1024 MB). While using Photoshop CS6 (specifically the masking brush tool), my screen started to distort (like a repeating effect on the edge), everything froze / went black and I had to do a hard restart. Then I got some some purple / green vertical lines at the start up screen (see pic below).

I downloaded GFXCardStatus and set it to "Integrated Only". Hoping that will prevent / delay any freezes so I can figure out what to do next (this is my only computer).

So a couple questions:

I am in NYC, anyone have an experience with what solutions work and don't work at any nearby Apple stores? SoHo?

Moving to LA on Dec 18th, anyone with this same issue have experiences at any of those stores?

I don't have Apple Care, do they typically cover a new logic board if necessary? Or is it a case-by-case thing?

How does keeping it on "Integrated Only" effect the visual quality / performance? Things look the same and seems like I can use Photoshop but haven't had a chance to do much else.

Anything I can do at home? Read a bit about reballing? Pretty sure I would end up making things worse.

And lastly (if the other questions are too annoying / complicated to answer), what has been the most common solution (if any) to this issue?

I realize some of these questions may have been answered but this thread is currently at 694 pages, thats a lot to go through, even with the search tool. Any help (or a one sentence summary) would really be appreciated.

Yes, I like parentheses.

Thank You

Michael

I want to add to this discussion I am facing similar problems:

first I had my computer motherboard and graphics card replaced (it was still covered by my Apple Care Protection Plan) because it would just fail/crash and try to reboot for no reason and would also show me random glitches of pixelated windows.

I was using anti-virus if anyone says it could be a virus - it wasn't. This problem appeared after Yosemite new install.
After the replacement I keep seeing graphic distortions: random glitches of pixelated windows, blue tinted screen.... etc.
I am so sad to imagine I had 2 motherboard replacements (for system crashes) and right now that the 3year extended warranty expires this problem worsens. I have paid 2600$ for this computer and I just feel it was a huge mistake... I feel so disappointed....

MacBook Pro (late 2011) | 2,5GBz Intel Core i7 | 8GB Ram, 1333 MHz DDR3 | AMD Radeon HD 6670M 1024 MB | OSX Yosemite 10.10.1

Just dropped mine early 2011 Macbook Pro 15" off for it's second logic board replacement. My first failures started happening early this year and then ultimately it died and would not even boot. Received it back from Apple on Nov. 29 (just over a week ago). In less then hour of using it the day I got it back, the screen went blue with vertical lines and was locked up.

Then it started failing again over the weekend. In addition to the blue screen had it go to sleep once and could not wake it up. The Genius didn't acknowledge knowing about any issues. If the root cause is in the manufacturing / design, I don't have high expectations. My only hope is this repair will also fail in a short amount of time, then maybe I can get them to do something other then offer to replace the logic board again.

Hi guys,

Here I go again. So, as some of you may remember I send over my MBP 15" 2011 to a reballing service here in Italy (a store in Genova, called Non Solo PC Store).

The total cost was:

€25.00 for the transport

€160.00 for the work on it

€40.00 for the new chip

+ taxes

Today I got my Mac back. And it's running all good and fine, just like it did before.

The guy who had it repaired, had left me some notes and good things to do for avoiding that the problem arises again.

Here is what he said:

- Avoid playing movies in streaming

- Avoid playing games in Facebook

- Avoid Flash Player!!

- Install smcFanControl and rev the minimum fan speed up (about 4000 RPM), but I also did a middle setup (about 2800 RPM) cause it's not noisy but still it's cooled better than when it's just on 2000 RPM.

- Check that the machine is always nicely cleaned (remove dust and stuff form fans and/or from the point where the air flows in and out, usually it's where the screen is attached to the body)

- Avoid sending the machine in sleep mode (shut it down when you don't need it and power it up when are back and ready to do some work)

I'm attaching to this email two photos of the chip that is screwing you!

Just so you know how it looks like!

History of Apple Care Interventions on my MacBook Pro (late 2011) during 3 years:

2 hard disk failures and replacements (09/2012 and10/2014)

2 chargers magsafe replacements (-- and 10/2014)

3 logic board replacements (-- ; 09/2014 and 11/2014).

After Yosemite installation graphic pixelated glitches started appearing in a random, daily basis.

I have installed gfxCardStatus and issues usually arise when dedicated AMD Radeon HD 6770M is used.

I leave you the most up to date portrait of my mac (see photo): this happened after I woke up my mac from a 20min sleep.

I have not paid a 2.649$ MacBook for experiencing all this frustration plus time and money loss.

I won’t certainly buy a Mac computer ever again (or any other overpriced product), nor I will ever recommend it to anyone else.

MacBook Pro (late 2011) | 2,5GBz Intel Core i7 | 8GB Ram, 1333 MHz DDR3 | AMD Radeon HD 6670M 1024 MB | OSX Yosemite 10.10.1

After 2 months of agony of using my macbook pro with forced integrated gpu, i tried to reheat the the AMD gpu with a heat gun and applied not so expensive thermal paste 🙂 hoping to revive but with no luck

Now, I want to buy a new logic board. But I am currently based in Muscat, Oman. Any online store where i get one

😁

prageethk wrote:

I fixed it by myself for about 2 bucks expense by baking logic board in the oven. Well I'm extremely happy and typing this message on my MacBookPro 8,2 now.

I set the temperature to 210C and baked it for 15 minutes.

Hehehe, u made urself a McPie 😀😀

But seriously now, I am quite sure you kind of repeated the procedure which Apple already did for you; create reasonable cold welding due to the fact that the tin does NOT melt completely. (at all actually)

Pure tin has a melting point of 505.08 K = 231.93 °C = ​449.47 °F

Lead free solder may be Sn95Ag5. Check the pdf below and notice the melting point range.

Also, notice the thermal expansion coefficient. This may indicate why all those Macs first work fine and then don't work fine anymore, when they have cold welding joints under their GPUs instead of true solder joints!

I expect your GPU to fail again at some point, but you could of course bake your motherboard again.

Just beware that you don't delaminate the PCB, because then you can chuck the logic board in the trash.

Maybe you'd better preheat the oven to 200ºC, then insert the board, make sure the board is ABSOLUTELY HORIZONTAL and then crank up the temp gauge to 240ºC and leave it there for only a few seconds and then open the door bit by bit to let the board cool off as soon as possible, but without giving it an extreme thermal shock (then parts can crack). All assuming the thermostat of your oven is remotely reliable.. ;) If the solder is truly molten, you better also not cause vibrations, or parts may come off, of cause short circuit.

Best is to shell out some €125 and have an expert do it good in one go.

Each time you heat up your board insufficiently you won't solve the problem permanently, but you do wear out the board gradually.

I just received my early 2011 MBP back from it's 2nd logic board repair in as many weeks. I was glad to get it back, repair was covered under the 90 day warranty from my first logic board replacement which was done just over a week ago. I took the opportunity to upgrade to Yosemite as well as update other apps. The machine worked flawlessly, well almost. Stepped outside for a couple of minutes, when I came back in and woke up the machine this is what if saw.

I'm self employed and I can't run a business with something as unreliable as this! I am quickly loosing all faith in Apple. Any chance this can be caused by something other than the GPU?

Deja Vu — exactly the same thing happened to me: after 3rd logic board replacement and upgrade to yosemite, I put my computer to sleep while I left for a snak and when I returned and lifted the lid I saw this "beautiful" screen:

I am writing to update my situation. In short, my Early 2011 MBP 15" started acting up late last year and seemed to get progressively worse this year. Finally it completely died a few weeks ago and would not boot. I took it to my local Apple store (USA, North Carolina) and paid for a out of warranty ($320) logic board replacement. When I got it back, I had it freeze up a couple of times, blue screen and the vertical lines. I snapped a couple of pics with my Iphone and setup an appointment at the genius bar. They sent it back for another logic board replacement. Got it back from Apple and later that night the display went wacky after waking it from sleep mode. Snapped a couple of pics. I had two boards replaced and they both failed, plus the original logic board, so I had three failures in as many weeks.

I went back to the Apple Store today, with my prior work orders in one hand and an Iphone full of pics of my MacBook Pro behaving badly. Asked for a manager and explained my situation. He took a quick look at my photos and pulled up my repair history and to my complete disbelief he said we will take care of this for you. A short time later I was given a new 2014 MBP 15" nicely configured with all my information transferred to it. I don't know if there is an unadvertised policy or if my experience is unique. Maybe (hopefully) it reflects a change in Apple's corporate policy on addressing the issue.

My faith in Apple has been somewhat restored. However I am disappointed by the fact they know there is an issue, but fail to publicly acknowledge it and can come up with a policy to replace computers that are failing. Be persistent, courteous when dealing with Apple. Document when your computer fails, take a photo of the screen with something else that shows the date. Remember these failures are not acceptable, even if they rarely occur. We paid a premium price for what is advertised as a premium product. I simply can't understand why Apple is ignoring the situation. They are cash rich and based on what I have learned, this issue should be limited to 2011 15" MBP, with a few 17" with the possiblity of a few 2012's. Not everyone will need to be replaced, just the ones exhibiting issues.

I hope everyone here can get their computer replaced. I will continue to get the word out to the people in my circles about this issue. Ultimately I hope this thread will no longer be needed.

Best of Luck,

TJ

Hello,

i'm a french user of macbook pro 2011. I have the same problem seem i use Yosemite with ATI card 6750M... I have already made change the motherboard last year.

I am not sure whether it is a physical problem but rather OSX yosemite ?

What do Apple ??

Thought I may as well join this forum and add to the statistics as I too now have the same issue with my 2011 MacBook Pro lappy.

Grey screen of death, blue screen of death and glitches eventually leading to a mac that now won't boot up anymore. Apple needs to address the issue. Quoting me $600 to replace a faulty part isn't fair.

I bought this laptop to see me through a university degree and unfortunately for me it has died a year short...

I also am now a new victim. Bought my MBP in april 2011, bought the longest applecare warranty they sold (3 yrs), bought a 27" monitor as well. Of course, almost a year past warranty expired, and now its failing. i didnt know it was a graphics card issue at first. I recently installed a game and thought that was the culprit. I restored from my time capsule to a period before I installed said game, which knocked me out of work for three days (3 days cause it kept failing and restarting). Then, after restoration I went ahead and upgraded to Yosemite hoping it would help. Worked fine for a day, then crapped out again. Even got a popup first saying my graphics failed, would I like to report to apple. I clicked "report" of course. My biggest issue is a grey screen lockup, and sometimes I get a loud fast clicking noise from the 27" apple cinema display's speakers while its lockedup. Ocassionally it doesn't completely lockup, but I get a cut screen where the left side of the desktop appears on the right and vice versa. Photo shows this wraparound issue. I will also try to upload a video of the rapid loud clicking noise to youtube. Extremely frustrating as a small business owner with deadlines. Thanks God for Google Drive so I can still access my work files, although not many of my important apps used for work unfortunately.

This is what my screen looks like after FOUR logic board replacements...

So, after working with Apple and not getting anywhere, I NEED to work, so I go buy a new iMac 5K. One night later, I get this multiple times a day...

Apple sure has problems with GPUs.

I too live in Switzerland near Luzern. (Kanton Zug )

And last thursday night the worst thing happened , yes you guessed it .......

after i tried reverting back to osx 10.9.5 mavericks and then after a complete no response from my system ... i tried everything (for 3 days)

until i installed GFX card status. and even then, i can only boot occasionally but as soon as the system get slightly warm, it dies a death .

i stumbled on this thread and then it became clear ... I WAS NOT ALONE !

I phoned data quest in Zug and they advised me to phone apple care, so after a long conversation and they said, they could do nothing until i run a diagnostics at a apple handler. EG. Data quest in Zug, this procedure will cost me 180.00CHF ????? just for the test .

and there is no guarantee apple said that they could help me to cover all or some of the costs to repair my MBP

been with apple over 16 years , sad to see a company who put so much effort in there products , put so little into there customer care . !!