Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

A very apt farewell in German!

You may get understanding at the store but they will still be asking for Euros to fix it nevertheless.  If this is your first failure I would urge you not to pay them for a lead free repair but seek your specialist instead.  Just make sure they also polish the heatsink die plates to mirrors and use far less thermal paste as it's very important in cooling those chips quicker to prevent future failures.

Hence why I am no lawyer ;o)

But would like everyone to get to the facts I have seen with my own eyes - though that class action suit was lacking in details over this issue too never mind the other issues I disagreed with..

Go to the BGA repair guy right away, have done so myself and my MBP works like a charm again. His name is Gruenberger, he even gave me a discount because i contacted him directly instead of using ebay. 125 EUR and you're done. if you're in Berlin, you'll even save up on the shipping and drop your box off yourself.

GavMackem wrote:

 

Hence why I am no lawyer ;o)

 

But would like everyone to get to the facts I have seen with my own eyes - though that class action suit was lacking in details over this issue too never mind the other issues I disagreed with..

I do agree with you though, it would be good to see the numbers and have them published. I'm not aware of any legislation that should make them share this info, without taking them to court over it.

Junto26 wrote:

 

Just wanted to throw into the mix - same issue here on a late 2011 15".

 

First symptom was when trying to wake the Mac from sleep, the display would remain black.  No matter what.  Holding down the power button was the only option.

 

Next, after holding down the power button to force turn off, it would not turn back on fully.  I'd see the light indicating the HD is on, fans on low, but that's it.  Opening it up and disconnecting the battery briefly was the only fix.

 

This happened periodically, until after disconnecting the battery and booting up, this appeared.

 

I did a clean install, hoping it would fix it.  Which did, for about a week.  Yesterday, it refused to wake again, but now won't boot up at all.  No matter what I do, the display remains black.

Hi, you're describing identically the same issue as i have. My MBP Late 2011 hasn't booted up since anymore. I tried everything. Even original RAM + HDD (instead of bigger RAM + SSD). Note: Removing the RAM modules does make the logic board beep due to the absence of memory. But more life then that isn't present..

Thank you very much for your advice, I'll make sure to ask the reballing specialist to do all those things.

Apart from that, to me an acceptable concession from Apples side does not include me parting with any Euros whatsoever. They can either live up to the whole "Apple experience" hype and keep me as a future customer, or not. Of course they won't because they don't have to - Apple is running all the way to the bank. But nothing lasts forever and there will come a time when the wish they had treated their customers better.

obwianMacobi wrote:

 

GavMackem wrote:

 

Hence why I am no lawyer ;o)

 

But would like everyone to get to the facts I have seen with my own eyes - though that class action suit was lacking in details over this issue too never mind the other issues I disagreed with..

I do agree with you though, it would be good to see the numbers and have them published. I'm not aware of any legislation that should make them share this info, without taking them to court over it.

I have seen them myself from more than one AASP and have had conversations describing similar in those who work in the UK stores I know.  However that information is privileged, I cannot name any single one or company due to the fact the AASP's can lose their status over it and employees can be given the sack!

All I will say is - I am not the slightest bit surprised and it's a shame everyone else can't see what I have!

The dude in Spandau right? He's the one I wanted to go to in the first place. Now that you told me everything works like a charm, I feel even more confident. Vielen Dank

Edit: Wrong zip code, he's in the east. Still will try!

Hi Five

Could you give me/us the contact details of this guy?

I'm in Hasselt, Belgium. Berlin is far, but this is really worth trying more then wasting € 700 for a new BAD logicboard!

Thanks in advance!!

To the rest of the group: We will make the Serial number registration page which will show live statistical information and later on we'll discuss what we're going to do with that detailed information, ok?

We'll try to finish the page tonight, it will be operational on (nivalon c0m / mbp2011).

Add some dots and replace the 0 (i read urls are killed here, hence the encryption).

I guess it's this guy?

Think DOC

Danny Gruen Berger

Ernststr. 11

12437 Berlin

Germany

Phone:  +49 (0)3089564008 Mobile: +49(0)179 4382177 ICQ: 642240813

 

 

think-doctor (a) freenet. de

I'm happy I saw your post, this is a small fee for a permanent solution..

info /at/ think-doc dot de is his email, Danny Gruenberger is the name. I'm not sure which part of Berlin he is in, didn't go there myself

14minus9, could you email me the contact details of your BGA guy please?

I don't feel like doing the Genius Dance again, and I'd rather pay once and have the issue resolved than spend more money with a company that doesn't care, on a temporary fix. Doing so means the vendor won't even touch my MBP should I have any future issues, but they clearly aren't interested in helping now, so what do I have to lose?

A shame it's just users helping users here on APPLE FORUMS they watch 24/7.

Now here come the scalpers to do what Apple won't!

I can already see the website...lemon.com, with thousands of creative uses for the MBP 2011...skateboards, paperweights, book ends...

Of course any Macbooks appearing on this (for now) fantasy website should have the Apple symbol replaced with a lemon to signify this exclusive group of 100,000 users affected and climbing.

This would also cover the website from an Apple led lawsuit for brand defamation...

Good news - executive relations just called me from Cork, Ireland about the troll problem on my mobile.  Lets see if they actually do something about it.

Just an update on Apples continued shocking position on this ....

My US bought (so not subject to UK consumer law as my other system is)  MB(P) early 2011 that had its Motherboard repaired for free in April under my AppleDoesn'tReallyCare policy.  That policy expired in May and the "new" / repaired motherboard failed again in September.  The quote to fix was 550UK pounds ( just under Half what it cost me to buy this Premium Professional Quality product ( Vomit!))

I asked the Apple service centre to escalate to Apple for review clearly the above seem unreasonable and ridiculous.

Needless to say I heard back from Apple HQ  today  - tough Apple isn't interested you need to Pay or keep it as a paperweight.

In think I have figured out why Apples new HQ looks like a clenched sphincter ... but is it a reference to its customers or itself ?

Maybe a good news story for a change?

My 15" 2011 MacBook Pro (out of warranty) started acting up in May this year. There were a few crashes, then boot problems including stuck on grey screen, the BSOD, then it wouldn't boot. The Apple Store first said it was a software config, and got it working, but the problem recurred within the week. Then they said they would have to replace the main logic board, costing me £416. I had a discussion at that point as to whether I should better spend the money towards a new machine, but they were confident it would be OK. Next week it failed again, and this time they replaced the MLB again, free. After that it was fine until 3 weeks or so ago, when the whole problem started up again, when I was browsing through old photo folders on Aperture. Rapid deterioration, eventually impossible to boot (initial screen in light green). Luckily on a couple of the occasions when it would boot I managed to get Time Machine backups.

I did all the usual things, including reporting the problem to Apple, emailing TC, and making a "Genius Bar" appointment. On the evening before the appointment I got an email from someone in Apple Support asking for phone contact details so they could talk to me rather than email (I think in response to the TC email). I gave them, printed off all 3 emails and went to the store ready for disappointment. The guy did not seem to know about the particular problem, but said they had seen quite a few 2011 MBPs recently. I showed him the correspondence, and off his own back he took it away to show his managers. I was rather surprised, and very pleased, when he came back and said they had decided to replace the machine with a new one of equivalent spec. I've only heard of this happening in a couple of the cases on this support thread.

Anyway, it took a very long time, but 3 weeks later I finally got the call last Friday afternoon, picked it up the same day. I've ended up with a brand new 2014 15" retina MBP with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD plus an external superdrive as I'm a film photographer and get lots of CDs from the labs. Total cost: my old, defunct 2011 MacBook Pro plus the £416 for the "repair".

Well, YMMV as they say, but for those going down the replacement MLB route, perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel!