2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

odarellmc wrote:

Thanks for the info. Can u apply paste yourself?

Agree with previous response that one should be cautious if never before having done anything of this nature. That said, you can look at the iFixit links and some videos and get a feel for that yourself.

IMHO, the biggest danger is the same for both the novice and the enthusiast. That's ESD. The novice often thinks that such warnings are overstated and the enthusiast, or even seasoned professional, can often be on autopilot when it comes to ESD protection.

One thing missing from the popular links on this subject is the procedure for reattaching the heatsink, so I'll post that again for those planning to do this.

The popular instruction links end with something like: "To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order." That's not correct. It should be done like this:

Screws should be reinstalled in the order shown and tightened down half way. Then, following the same pattern, they should be tightened down the rest of the way.

For anyone considering a reball or GPU replacement, it's a given, of course, that this will be included with that service. The thermal compound needs to be cleaned up and reapplied whenever the seal between die and heatsink is broken. But it might be a good idea to ask them to verify that the heatsink fits properly (that both sections of the heatsink fit flat against their corresponding dies).

This started occuring to me yesterday during a cold snap here in Flagstaff: laptop comes out of sleep with black screen, hard reboot results in horizontal sync distortion even when USB keyboard trick forces it to external monitor.

I got it to work again both yesterday and today and initially thought that it was the result of some dead chicken waving (attach external kbd and monitor, reboot holding C or Opt down and immediately close lid).

It's more likely that taking it to my work office, where the ambient room temperature's at least 70°F, has more to do with it. My suspicion is that either the thermal paste or one of the GPU's connector pins on the laptop has contracted in the cold and that being restarted in a warmer room is the solution for now.

Interestingly while yesterday the console log was full of GPU kernel issues when it happened the first time, the log no longer records this error. Googling "** GPU Debug Info Start **" unsurprisingly links right back to forum posts about this family of GPUs failing in laptops not running Windows. (for the record, HP laptop owners with the same family of GPUs have reported problems as well)

Because I'm under deadline at the moment, I'm reluctantly considering using gfxCardStatus to force integrated rather than discrete graphics and aiming to avoid GPU intensive applications while I can. It's my employer's call as to whether it's more productive to pour money into a laptop manufactured in January 2012 or to replace it.

matthewadams wrote:

So I brought mine in for a BGA Reballing yesterday and had a little chat with one of the stores employees.

He basically confirmed what everyone is already saying. It's a head-induced problem...

Did they say head-in-pillow? If we could get some pictures of that, it would be irrefutable evidence of a manufacturing defect.

It looks like this:

Or this one (the ball on the left):

These can often pass quality control and work fine for a little while. It's not a failed joint, per se. It's a joint that was never formed properly.

Edit: Heh. That was actually a typo, wasn't it? You meant to say heat-induced, not head-induced? 😊

well i try explain my experience with this issue, because my problem is solve now (2 hours maybe, 6 o 7 reboots). I don't speak english because im mexican but im try.

2 weeks ago the problem come out, im very secure this is the GPU and not the software problem because i have 2 friends with the same macbook pro 2011 late they have the same GPU issue.

I try everything; Remove ATI drivers, boot linux, windows, or recovery particion.

I read too many sites, all the sites say's "its a hardware problem" , "needs reballing"... i think it is, but now im not secure... yesterday come out 10.9.1, and don't upgrade my system because i think is a bad idea, but is not. Today call the apple center because i stay 100% secure is a hardware problem and fix it with reballing in another company and try speak to apple 1 more time (im out of warranty), and stay 1 hour 30 minutes with issues testing my system, the last try i say to the technician "yesterday one upgrade of mavericks come out, i can force the HD3000 and upgrade the system..." and i did... after the issue come out i cant export videos in imovie, or iPhoto, or play games with the HD 6750m because he crash the system. Before the upgrade the system boots normally and I CAN USE THE 6750M, i can play games now , export a iMovie file in 1080p, plug external displays,export photos and more.

The system works now, i stay using the graphics card in games for 2 hours maybe?, shut down the machine, reboots, EVERYTHING, trying the issue come out but he doesn't.

Im a software engineer , and electronic technician, and now i think is a software problem, because mi GPU NEVER UP TO 90degrees, and SILVER OR PB NEED MORE THAN 150 degrees to melt it. I think the software problem is RELATED to the voltage in the GPU or something like that, because when the energy things in mavericks come out the problem too in too many users, sites.

I recomend force boot with the HD3000, upgrade the system and see what comes...

Who i force the boot?, boot the computer, and provoque the "white/blue/gray" screen, and leave the macbook, in 8 minutes u can hear the fans, touch up to the f2 or ESC keys, if the macbook is very very hot force the shutdown, and boot again. Repeat the process if the macbook dont use the HD 3000.

Before the macbook boots check this and says is running with the HD 3000

My problem is solve now with 10.9.1.... but only in this hours ( 3 now maybe).
I try too many stress test... and still good and on

Add me to the growing list. My early 2011 Macbook Pro went dead. I am going to the apple store to get it diagnosed, but I am of warranty so most likely my 2200 dollar investment just went down the hole. Thanks Apple

Another victim right here (

My 15" early 2011 macbook pro was working perfectly untill last month. Basicly excatly the same problem listed on this list. After 2 weeks of battling with it I finally gave up and visited the genius bar and changed a logic board. And 4500HKD later I got it back. It was working fine for about 3 days then i had a first glich on my screen. Not long after that, the same problem has all come back to me. it's already the 8th shutdown today ((((((

The genius told me they will keep my old logic board for 3 month, and if the new one does not work I'll have the option of replacing another new one or get my old one back and they will refund me with the money.

So I am just wondering what should I do now? As I replaced my logic board before I came accross this Discussion forum therefor I have not tried turning off graphics switching. If that really work I could get back my money and still have my computer back and working.

Option 1 ) get back my original logic board and ask for a refund and try turning off graphics switching and see if it work?

Option 2) replace another new logic board and hope the same problem won't come back and haunt me

Any tip will be great

Thanks

Here is what it looks like after just 3 days of replacing a "new logic board"

After many months living with the Intel HD 3000, my MacBook Pro doesn't boot anymore. When I turn it on, I see red horizontal lines, then a grey screen and it gets very hot while the fans spin ever faster.

Seriously, this is insane!

<Edited By Host>

Just wanted to chime in and say this has been happening on my work machine as well. It started about a month ago.

Here is a picture of the problem at its most severe:

It started for me as some simple corrupted squares of color randomly appearing. It kept getting worse until the entire screen would be corrupted with graphical glitches and freeze up.

Here is what the problem looks like when it first starts cropping up:

I have the same problem.
Crash after crash and now it's broken.

swits to grafic card didn't helpt to.

mine is allready broken!

Goodbye 3000 euro's of 1,5 year using a laptop. and many problems.....

I have another problem with graphics. Sometimes, when my Macbook is waking up from sleep I have a black Menu-Bar at the top

The only solution for me is to boot up again.

Macbook Pro 13 - Mid 2012

Intel HD Graphics 4000:

Typ: GPU

Bus: Integriert

VRAM (gesamt): 512 MB

Hersteller: Intel (0x8086)

Geräte-ID: 0x0166

Versions-ID: 0x0009

Is this the same issue?

Well, faced the same issue today, after two years of using the mac. I didn't face a single issue.

I rearly shutdown my mac, close and take it to work and close again once I'm done. Today suddenlly it gave me this crumpled screen first, a quick reboot has fixed the issue temporarily. then again screen has splited as two and mac went froze. This issue occored more then four times today. every time i had to reboot it to turn normal. I also observed that , CPU heat went close to 90 C on every cors.

I searched and found thousands of people having the same issue. I'm running with Mac early 2011 OS X 10.9 (13A603) , as a quick fix i installed gfxcardstatus and configured it to integrated only mode. So far no issue. I'll update if there is any. I think apple must do something since we invested more than 300k on this

even my Mac has the same problem

MacBook Pro 15-inch, Early 2011

Processor 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory 10 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 (original 4GB)

Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1024 MB

Software OS X 10.9.1

serial: c02fd6n4df91

The screen goes crazy, lines appear or I move the screen, and sometimes as the monitor goes to sleep, will not turn back ... more a disaster!!

apple support told me to change the graphics card (probably the problem is due to this) cost me € 400! crazy

Today I faced this problem again =(

The computer has freezed. I turned it off and then it keeps freezing on start... I tried a "safe mode" starting and then I get this:

And after that screen, this one:

After try restarting the machine a couple of times it back to normal... But once a while I have to pass through this process =(

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2

Processor Name: Intel Core i7

Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 4

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 8 MB

Memory: 8 GB

Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B27

SMC Version (system): 1.69f4

System Version: OS X 10.9.1 (13B42)

AMD Radeon HD 6770M:

Chipset Model: AMD Radeon HD 6770M

Type: GPU

Bus: PCIe

PCIe Lane Width: x8

VRAM (Total): 1024 MB

Vendor: ATI (0x1002)

Device ID: 0x6740

Revision ID: 0x0000

ROM Revision: 113-C0170L-573

gMux Version: 1.9.23

EFI Driver Version: 01.00.573

Intel HD Graphics 3000:

Chipset Model: Intel HD Graphics 3000

Type: GPU

Bus: Built-In

VRAM (Total): 512 MB

Vendor: Intel (0x8086)

Device ID: 0x0126

Revision ID: 0x0009

gMux Version: 1.9.23

Displays:

Color LCD:

Display Type: LCD

Resolution: 1680 x 1050

Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)

Main Display: Yes

Mirror: Off

Online: Yes

Built-In: Yes

Same issue here as well... It happens when I switch to "fullscreen display mode" within Final Cut Pro. As you can all see, the screen freezes and splits the image, causing a system crash.

Seeing this many post and no response from Apple, it seems to me that this issue is falling on Apple's "billion dollar" deaf ears, I sincerely hope that I'm wrong and this major issue will be promptly rectified.

paul from south plainfield wrote:

If you are starting to have problems, there are many how-to's online on removing and re-applying the correct amount of thermal compound to your graphics chip and processor (again: if it hasn't completely failed).

True. After MONTHS of dealing with degrading performance and increasing ocurrances of black screens, blue screens, white screens, striped screens (you name it!), and 3 trips to the Genuis Bar (all hardware passing all tests), I decided to open 'er up and re-apply the thermal compound. To little too late, I suppose. The performance was a little better for a while then sank back to terrible. I guess the damage to the GPU was done. I got to the point of NEVER letting my macbook go to sleep and I NEVER shut it down. Ultimately I had to reboot and was completely unable to log back in unless I used asyncro's instructions to remove the AMD kext files and rebuild the kext cache. That works, but then the macbook always thinks it's connected to an external monitor. Besides, this is not how one should be expected to "use" a $2000 laptop.

Instead of waiting for Apple to step up and do the right thing I decided to skip APPLE (and the depot) all together and get the GPU replaced by a local shop. Maybe that's what APPLE wants. Yeah, this laptop may have been my last APPLE purchase. BTW - $220 to replace the GPU locally, not $330 for Apple to replace a faulty GPU with another faulty GPU (via the depot).

Hopefully this GPU replacement will get my macbook working again for a little longer until it's a reasonable time to replace it.

I'll post an update when I get my re-vitalized laptop back...

Update: Like I mentioned in the post above, I had my GPU REPLACED (thanks to nyclaptoprepair via ebay). I shipped my macbook to them (the entire laptop, not just the logic board), they replaced the GPU with an AMD 6750M:

Here is the OFFENDING Chip (removed and sent back with the laptop):

I Stress tested the laptop for 24 hours using the Heaven benchmarking utility (utilizing the Unigine engine - thanks to @D3us) and Prime95 (again, thanks to @D3us) on all cores simultaneously and the temperatures never exceeded 83 deg. Celsius. I've only had it back for a couple of days, but so far it's working like new. Only time will tell if the fix is actually permanent, but I have confidence in this machine again - I don't feel like I'm on borrowed time waiting for the next freeze/crash/bricking.

Considering that I did NOT opt for applecare almost 3 years ago, I feel the $200 repair cost was justified and reasonable - I know that I don't have to worry about this repair failing like so many Apple depot replaced logic boards. No, this does not change the fact that Apple should still do the right thing, but I wasn't going to hold my breath, not to mention the likelihood of Apple providing a permanent solution (like GPU replacement) is slim.

I realize that having this repair done third party may exclude my machine from any repair/replacement programs that Apple may institute, but I have a functioning machine NOW and no white screen/blue screen/no screen issues that ate up so much of my time. Perhaps I can get my repair cost re-imbursed should Apple step-up...

I will continue to monitor this thread and provide updates/input about this repair.