2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

SecretNinja,

I've had luck doing the following:

1. Make sure you MacBook is cool to the touch.

2. Unplug everything: Power, USB, TB (Make sure you're not charging the battery!)

3. Start-up and immediately reset the PRAM - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

I reset PRAM 4-5 times, over and over again. If you keep getting the light pink Apple logo and light blue lines keep resetting the PRAM.

If during this process you hear the fans spin up, your starting to over heat. Let it cool down .

If you get it to boot, immediately go look at your startup apps, most likely one of the startup apps/daemon's is causing the Discrete Graphics to kick in at boot. When you're on battery power, boot should be into integrated graphics. Something is preventing this. Also look in your "Energy Saver" for Automatic graphics switching" I keep mine checked.

Also check here to make sure your running the right SMC http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1237

I've also Fixed Permissions frequently as I've had GPU crashreporter permissions wrong.

Consider installing this: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/25230/istat-menus

You can control you fans with this app. I'm currently running left fan at 4000rpm right at 2000rpm. My GPU is about 137F

And this: http://gfx.io

BTW, when did you buy your machine, use Thunderbolt Display at all?

Lastly, before I stripped out my startup apps, I had trouble too. Keep trying.

I have the exact same problem. Early 2011 17". I handed it in for repairs (out of warranty) and got a new logic board. Reinstalled OSX and the problem was back. It's clearly a problem with this specific model, and not the individual machines.

Look here:http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/21/is-your-new-macbook-pro-freezing-up-youre-not-t he-only-one/and here: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/03/latest-macbook-pros-suffering-from-gpu-rela ted-freezes/

Plenty of reports that the patches back then didn't fix it.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2768351?start=0&tstart=0

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5010200?start=0&tstart=0

Hello Everyone!

I spoke to an apple care representative. He said that because this issue seems to be affecting so many people, they do not look at the forums, however they do monitor feedback that customers submit.

If you would like the possibilities of a recall or repair program to begin I recommend you simply fill out a feedback request which I am providing the link for below.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

Please include the URL for this thread as well!

Regards.

Chiming in... same issue here late 2011 8,2. Surving in Intel only mode for now. Noticed it runs a lot cooler, probably better battery too, never realised how much it switched to discrete...

I Just submitted feedback, thanks for the link!

(reposting)...

If you would like the possibilities of a recall or repair program to begin I recommend you simply fill out a feedback request which I am providing the link for below.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

FYI...two other threads with the exact same problem! I'm sure there are more out there.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4637833?start=0&tstart=0

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2768351?start=1815&tstart=0

We should quote these threads to make our case

Okay, here's an another user with this sort of problem: yesterday evening, while I been browsing internet, my mid 2011 purchased macbook pro 8,2 has shown me a whole screen of blue tinted pattern noise, and froze completely after that.

Restarting the laptop only lead to a white screen after apple logo disappeared, and than fans kicked in, and nothing happened after that.

Mac os could boot only in safe mode, showing vertical blue stripe pattern overlay on screen, but at least it worked somehow, for period of 10 to 20 minutes, before blue graphic garbage filled screen again and everything froze.

Following the guide from here - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3263472?answerId=16069150022#16069150022 and disabling AMD card completely, after rebooting MBP I can finally access mac os in normal mode, sans for hardware accelerated features, color management and any screen tweaks (I can't even access brightness controls atm); there's a noticeable blueish tone to everything on screen, but I assume it's due to lack of proper color management coming from GPU.

Booting in safe mode shown a pefectly clean picture, the blue pattern I mentioned above is gone.

Huge thank you to everyone who posted here about this issue, I will be filling a report right now.

Now that I will only have an access to a proper apple store in over a month from now (currently in Russia, where getting a replacement logic board would take a lot of time + unless apple make an official statement that they're aware of this issue, it will cost me an arm and leg), I have a really nice 15" ipad with no flash features, no working phoshop, screwed colors and crippled web browsing. no cool apps either (j/k)

Nice to know I'm not alone with this issue (been using same laptop almost for 2 years for illustration kind of jobs); less nice to know that replacement logic boards come refurbished, because I would not mind paying more for a newer model if apple decides to order another batch of the boards from the manufacturer.

Keeping a faint hope this issue will be properly solved by apple.

I will post a follow up here when I have a chance to have my laptop serviced, but this will be most likely my last MBP purchase - it's been mostly staying at my desk through past year, bundled with a 27" Thunderbolt screen, and this issue, coming out of the blue, made me reconsider paying extra for portability perks.

upd. 1: it's a mbpro 8,2 with radeon HD 6490m videocard.

upd. 2: running an extended hardware test at home gave me no results, but I hope an apple person can later figure it out. same with resetting pram - did all that before resorting to tampering with libraries.

One more to the group.

The problems with my late 2011 macbook pro 8,2 started by the end of May 2013.

It took a long time to confirm the problem was in the dedicated graphics card (AMD Radeon 6750M).

I could manage to use the machine with the integrated card only (Intel HD3000) but, progressively, the problems in the dedicated card became worse: it would not come back from sleep and the boot process could not be completed anymore.

At this moment, I have just filled a form in the link http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html and cited this thread.

Well, here's an update. I have been using my MBP since I sent it off to Apple's repair center for a logic board replacement and it's running back to normal still. But I'm short $336 that should have been taken care of due to this being a clear defect in the product. Now that I see MORE AND MORE people chiming in with the same problem consistently, I recommend the new comers follow my last suggestion which I have quoted below this. We need to let Apple know that this product is defective so they can atleast put up a repair/replacement program for us. The glass is only getting more, and more full here.

Hello Everyone!

I spoke to an apple care representative. He said that because this issue seems to be affecting so many people, they do not look at the forums, however they do monitor feedback that customers submit.

If you would like the possibilities of a recall or repair program to begin I recommend you simply fill out a feedback request which I am providing the link for below.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

Please include the URL for this thread as well!

Regards.

This is obviously a widespread issue, and looks to be a manufacturing issue.

Everyone needs to submit feedback about this issue...without doing so there's no change we'll get Apple to act on this. It'll only take you 5 minutes max...remember to reference this thread!

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

Might also be worth referencing this thread as wel (125 pages)l:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2768351?start=1860&tstart=0

this guide helped in my case - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3263472?answerId=16069150022#16069150022

I can boot without a hitch, however, there's a bluish tint all over the screen, color management does not work and it's not possible to tweak screen brightness. GPU accelerated UI elements may not work (I can not see certain menu elements in evernote, for example; opera shows a blank screen, while the contents are actually loading, and some other programs show minor issues)

still haven't visited an apple service centre, though (there's not a single one in my area and I'm moving end of this month), and I am at least happy I can keep it working for now.

jonesy_666,

my GPU is dead already - I wrote a report <a href="https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?answerId=22208425022#22208425022">here</a> and e-mailed a report to apple.

it probably can't get worse from here, but I'm dreading my incoming repair costs already (didn't bother purchasing apple care because all previous apple devices been working for years without any major trouble, sans battery replacement over time)

Hey, same problem here (Germany)

MBP 15", 2,2 i7 with Radeon HD 6750M (> 2500 USD)

27 month, no warranty/Apple Care

Split screen and other grafic issues (as on screens above) after switch to dedicated and a little time.

With gfxCardStatus on integrated graphics works "fine".

(even though that is no acceptable solution and I cannot use my ext. screen)

When Apple opened a case, I referenced to the discussion and explained my diagnosis, they told me it would be repaired for free since it would be a known issue, would have to let the diagnostic be confirmed by a Premium Reseller. After having it checked with a Premium Reseller (mStore), they sent the failure description to Apple - answer: the first statement "free repair, known issue" was not correct, so no free repair, they offered logic board replacement EUR 650 (850 USD).

Now I am not even sure if it would solve the problem.

as you wrote:

Seems to be a known issue, and everyone that's got this problem should post to http://www.apple.com/feedback/ - Apple might react in some way.

Any reactions on the feedbacks so far? What can we do?

As I commentedin the longer thread that's largely focused on this issue, my early 2011 15" MBP is on logic board #3. The first one lasted nearly two years, then started having boot/display issues, and the Genius Bar replaced it last month to the tune of over $500. That replacement logic board still had issues, so it went back in for another repair (under the 90-day warranty on the replacement parts) for just the labor cost. #3 is really not much better - still boot issues, still plenty of flickers and freezes and freakouts.

I've written to Apple Feedback, and I've emailed Tim Cook. I'm about to document my issues and return to the Genius Bar for (hopefully) another logic board replacement. I'm not convinced that will do anything, but in theory it'll keep my logic board under a 90-day warranty, cost Apple an increasingly silly amount of money, and draw more attention to the problems inherent to these models.

ETA: I have also submitted information about these issues and the related threads to EveryMac.com, which maintains a variety of info about Macs beyond the basic specs. It would be fantastic to see some of the info sites start to reflect the issues with this GPU and these models - it would bring more visibilty to the issue, and perhaps keep some prospective secondhand buyers from picking up a flawed MBP.

I've done a full complete restore.. it works after about a week - but then does the exact same thing.

The last few days, my screen will be blank when i open the lid (coming from sleep mode)..

Frustrating and annonying indeed.

If you have this problem, please submit feedback here -

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

I already posted this in the longer thread

(https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2768351?answerId=22500408022#22500408022)

Are all dedicated graphic cards for the MBP 15"/17" early 2011 concerned?

choice for the 15" was

AMD Radeon HD 6750 M with 1 GB GDDR5 SDRAM

AMD Radeon HD 6490 M with 256 MB GDDR5 SDRAM

for the 17"

AMD Radeon HD 6770 M with 1 GB GDDR5 SDRAM

My 15" MBP has the HD 6750 M and I do not know if the problem also occures (that often) with the HD 6490 M.

Changing the board would still be economic, but I am wondering if it would be better to take one with the smaller graphic card if it is not fraught with problems. Is that possible? I am really worrying about making a repair and having the same problems again after a few month when the warranty for the repair is over...

What do you think? It might also be a lower price!? It's not the best deal since it has lower power, but I need a working machine.