Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

I did my reflow at home and went from brick to stable system for over 3 months, so far.

Please do your research and google any or all steps that you're not certain about.  I synthesized my approach from several youtube videos about reflowing xbox 360 boards, as well as a few doing the same for MacBook Pro motherboards.  This is NOT for the faint of heart, if you're new to working on the inside of a MacBook or iPhone, you probably shouldn't attempt it.  There are lots of comments saying this is a short term fix, and the issues may re-occur some time after the fix.  Proceed at your own risk, and hold me harmless, if you do this wrong you can wreck your board.  You can usually find local reflow service providers, but based on the websites I saw, I figured I'd be safer doing it myself.

Supplies:

Infrared Thermometer / I used a Ryobi ~$29

Hot plate / griddle / I used a Cuisinart griddle

Heat Gun / I used a HT3500 1500-Watt Digital Heat Gun ~$39

Parchment Paper to cover the griddle

2 axis level / I used the iPhone compass app, page two is a virtual bubble level

Stopwatch

Reflow profile heating/Cooling Chart : http://www.puiaudio.com/images/reflow_profile.jpg I printed mine out and wrote in Farenheiht Temps too.

Arctic Silver 5 heat transfer compound

Canned Air to blow out dust

(you can use no clean flux, although I didn't)

The actual process took about 90min, excluding extensive googling and the trip to Home Depot.

Steps:

- Follow iFixIt disassembly guide to remove motherboard

- Take outside and blow out all the dust.  Make sure to clean the dust out the case too.  And clear the dust from the fans!

- Remove heat sink and thoroughly clean out old heat transfer compound from chips and heat sink (rubbing alcohol, I used denatured EtOH)

- Lay down parchment paper on griddle,  use level and shims if needed to level out griddle, and put Mobo on parchment paper

- Heat 'bottom side' griddle to 300F

- Use heat gun and thermometer to follow temp curves in reflow profile guide (link above) as closely as possible (pre-heat, soak, reflow, cool down).  I used low speed fan and moved up the temp setting as needed.  I also re-bent the included nozzle to be more of a square shape to heat only the ATI chip.  I oscillated the heat around the ATI chip.  I probably ran a little long preheat and soak, but made sure to keep the reflow time 40-70sec. Be extremely careful to not move or bump the board *especially* during the reflow time. Keep the heat away from all other components (as best you can).

- Turn off the bottom heat, back off the top heat gun and then let it cool in place for 10min+

- Apply thin line of thermal compound, spread evenly with saran warp over finger (do some searches if you're not sure how to apply).

- Reassemble

- Power on, and pray

I have the same problem with the graphics card on my late 2011 17" Macbook Pro. At first I could keep it under control by using the gfx CardStatus app, although that did prohibit me from using Adobe Lightroom (won't do photo edits with integrated card).

Now my machine won't start up at all any more. I turn it on, the Apple logo appears, then the progress bar starts extending. After a couple of seconds it stops loading and the screens goes white and the fans start blowing full force. After a while the machine switches off all together. I have tried all the usual fixes: resetting PRAM and SMC but no luck.

Judging from the number of similar reactions in this and other threads this is a clear manufacturing fault. Several blogs are writing about it too already. I trust that Apple will start taking action soon.

Marx wrote:

I trust that Apple will start taking action soon.

I don't.

People brining in their macbooks nowadays still get to hear that it's "not a known issue".

Says enough.

LanguageArchitect wrote:

 

I did my reflow at home and went from brick to stable system for over 3 months, so far.

 

Please do your research and google any or all steps that you're not certain about.  I synthesized my approach from several youtube videos about reflowing xbox 360 boards, as well as a few doing the same for MacBook Pro motherboards.  This is NOT for the faint of heart, if you're new to working on the inside of a MacBook or iPhone, you probably shouldn't attempt it.  There are lots of comments saying this is a short term fix, and the issues may re-occur some time after the fix.  Proceed at your own risk, and hold me harmless, if you do this wrong you can wreck your board.  You can usually find local reflow service providers, but based on the websites I saw, I figured I'd be safer doing it myself.

 

Supplies:

Infrared Thermometer / I used a Ryobi ~$29

Hot plate / griddle / I used a Cuisinart griddle

Heat Gun / I used a HT3500 1500-Watt Digital Heat Gun ~$39

Parchment Paper to cover the griddle

2 axis level / I used the iPhone compass app, page two is a virtual bubble level

Stopwatch

Reflow profile heating/Cooling Chart : http://www.puiaudio.com/images/reflow_profile.jpg I printed mine out and wrote in Farenheiht Temps too.

Arctic Silver 5 heat transfer compound

Canned Air to blow out dust

(you can use no clean flux, although I didn't)

 

The actual process took about 90min, excluding extensive googling and the trip to Home Depot.

 

Steps:

- Follow iFixIt disassembly guide to remove motherboard

- Take outside and blow out all the dust.  Make sure to clean the dust out the case too.  And clear the dust from the fans!

- Remove heat sink and thoroughly clean out old heat transfer compound from chips and heat sink (rubbing alcohol, I used denatured EtOH)

- Lay down parchment paper on griddle,  use level and shims if needed to level out griddle, and put Mobo on parchment paper

- Heat 'bottom side' griddle to 300F

- Use heat gun and thermometer to follow temp curves in reflow profile guide (link above) as closely as possible (pre-heat, soak, reflow, cool down).  I used low speed fan and moved up the temp setting as needed.  I also re-bent the included nozzle to be more of a square shape to heat only the ATI chip.  I oscillated the heat around the ATI chip.  I probably ran a little long preheat and soak, but made sure to keep the reflow time 40-70sec. Be extremely careful to not move or bump the board *especially* during the reflow time. Keep the heat away from all other components (as best you can).

- Turn off the bottom heat, back off the top heat gun and then let it cool in place for 10min+

- Apply thin line of thermal compound, spread evenly with saran warp over finger (do some searches if you're not sure how to apply).

- Reassemble

- Power on, and pray

Impressive! I'm not skilled or gutsy enough! But impressive!

I had been holding my breath reading this thread but the inevitable has happened.  My 15" early 2011 MBP has died.  Put original RAM and hard disk.  No change of course.  It boots into a grey screen. Purchased February 2011.  It lasted four years before dying.  Not thrilled about spending over $2k for a new one.  Have an appointment with the Genius bar.

I've had the same issues - however, my computer has had these issues from the very first year of purchase.  Apple did not address the faulty logic board any of multiple times I brought it in while it was under warranty. 

This is something a friend sent to me that may be helpful for those in California:

"California's "Lemon-Law," also known as the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, provides some of the best consumer protections in the country. Under the act, All consumer products such as game consoles, desktop computers, laptop/notebook computers, dishwashers, refrigerators, and the like are covered. This includes all Apple products such as the iPhone, iMac, Macbook, and Macbook pro.

As a quick overview, California's Lemon Law requires the following:  The manufacturer that's not able to repair a consumer product under warranty within a "reasonable" number of repair attempts must either replace it or refund the purchase price. " 

And another one bites the dust... My early 2011 17"-inch MBP is having it's fair share of problems now. I wonder when Apple will come up with a repair/replacement-program...

Hi,

I have a Mac Book Pro i7 13 inch early 2011 make, bought the same from Germany. I was facing the issue as the MacBook was responding very slowly so took it to the authorized service center where initially the guy told me to un-install Yosemite which I agreed to and paid 2000/- Rs for getting the Mavericks 10.9.5 installed but the problem was not resolved. Today the guy called me and told me that the logic board has to be replaced and will cost around 40,000/- Rs. Its just 3 yrs old , just wanted to know is it worth replacing the logic board and incurring such a huge amount on the same. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi

I do not want to disappoint you but welcome to the club !! I am in India too and had bought my macbook pro in the US in 2011. I went to an apple authorized center in Kolkata, and they too gave me a Rs. 40000/- estimate to replace the logic board. I have been able to locate one person in New Delhi who says he will replace the graphics chip on the mac for Rs. 12000/-. However after reading almost all the solutions for this problem I am a bit skeptical  about claims for a graphics chip replacement in India. I have seen how repair persons would just use a hot air gun to fix the graphics chip back on the motherboard and with a Macbook Pro it may not work.

Heres the link to their website ******

If you do decide to go through this repair do let us know if it worked

Thanks

<Link Edited by Host>

Which makes the question "Does Apple care about it's customers" all the more valid I'm afraid... I Wonder if they ever monitor discussions and care to comment on our joint problem. In my humble opinion a 4 year old expensive laptop should not cave in as if it were a Dell or an Acer...

I have a 2011 Early Macbook Pro as well, quad core 2.0. SSD 1TB 8GB ram. I've replaced the logic board and battery twice in this machine! Ouch! I think I'm going to swap it out now and see if I can trade up to a 2013/14 model.

Add me to the list, 17" MacBook Pro, Early 2011, 2.3 GHz Core i7, AMD 6750M, OS X 10.9

Many thanks for your reply! I do like that you have synthesized your procedure from picking out the steps from other procedures. I will follow your guide if I am able gather all the stuff that is needed without spending too much money(Currently a student), but it might as well be a good investment as it probably is needed for later!

Did you ever think of reflowing it in your owen?

DIY reflow is risky.

Especially using an uncontrolled oven or heatgun.

Can render it unrepairable.

Certainly if you have no experience with it at all.

I wasn't comfortable with the oven method.  Capacitors are fragile enough without baking them.  I think using an oven is exposing too many components to too high a heat for too long. AND, not following the ideal temp curve for reflow of the solder for the TARGET component.  I wanted to get as close to a proper reflow station as possible, as cheap as possible.  The 'hotplate' bottom heat was a compromise I was willing to make and 149C seems like a safe-enough temp for the short time of the procedure.  It's a bit awkward, but with an infrared thermometer (at the right distance), and an adjustable-temp heat gun I think you can follow the reflow profile pretty closely.

Regarding 'good investment', I'd agree.  A heat gun is a good tool to have in the kit, and I've had way too much fun using the infrared thermometer around the house .