Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Another for the list:

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2

Processor Name: Intel Core i7

Processor Speed: 2 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 4

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 6 MB

Memory: 8 GB

Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B27

SMC Version (system): 1.69f4

Serial Number (system): C0*******F8Y

Hardware UUID: *****

Sudden Motion Sensor:

State: Enabled

I don't believe its a coincidence that I just upgraded to Yosemite 2days ago!!!  Didn't get much warning, some striping on external display, and then machine never wool up from sleep one afternoon.  Almost 4 years of reliable service to now.

I have the basic temporary fix enabled of moving the drivers, but machine is not in much of a usable state like that, so will give the overheat reboot a go as keen to see if I can lock it into the integrated graphics.

In New Zealand so only authorised service centre so will enquire about costs (expect to be high), and policy on repeated failure replacement as may give that a go depending on initial outlay...

Any chance a restore to my last stable Mavericks backup will do anything, or is it broke now no going back?

<Edited By Host>

MrManorDriver wrote:

 

In New Zealand so only authorised service centre so will enquire about costs (expect to be high), and policy on repeated failure replacement as may give that a go depending on initial outlay...

 

Any chance a restore to my last stable Mavericks backup will do anything, or is it broke now no going back?

So far everything points to the idea that once a bad state has been reached (In the form of a disconnected or broken tin ball under the GPU), the problem started but won't "cure" itself by going back to a former OS. My MBP ran Mavericks and died completely also, until I had our reflown.

If you got here via an email link, click the page number, then change the "start value" to 10500 to get you to page 701 and check my post starting at approx 25% down that page.. might give you an idea what's happening..

If you'd need to cough up a lot of $, you better consider a fix via a good reflow, as the success rate of the new original boards seem quite low!

Good luck!

I contacted Apple today and the flat-fee repair cost me $346.05.  I see many people write $299, $310.  Whats up with the price difference?  We have no Apple stores here where I live, only authorized resellers who would probably charge me twice the cost.

Have the exact same issue...any resolution to this or am I just screwed? I took mine to Apple several times with little to no result and now on the third visit they are saying the board needs to be replaced....just in time for my Apple Care to expire. Cool, thanks.

I own an Early 2011 15" MBP (2.2Ghz, i7) and it is currently on its (3) third logic board, replaced approximately one year ago. The first replacement was for an unrelated issue, the second replacement was for a failed video chip. Since the second replacement, issues with the GPU have not returned...yet. I was covered under AppleCare for both repairs, however, if the logic board fails again, I will likely just junk the computer rather than pay to put another (likely also junk) logic board in this machine.

Early 2011 MBP 17" here.

I took my Macbook to the local Apple Genius here and he askes me to replace the display.

. So I had to explain the GPU issue that thousands are facing , only then does he take in the machine for "further testing"

<Edited by Host>

Thanks kayazuki, thats a good read.

Not sure if Apple will offer a flat-fee repair here, but the reseller has said minimum $800nz ($580us), not worth it given the chance of repeat failure.

Will tuck it away for the recall, reinstall windows on an old PC and wait hopefully for new 12"rMBA

Something I found that alleviated (not solved!) the issue on my MBP 15" Late 2011 is to use gfxcardstatus (https://gfx.io/), and set it to always use the Integrated Intel CPU. Of course this doesn't solve the issue because the Radeon might fail on boot even before gfxcardstatus is loaded, but I've found that after a couple of days the catastrophic failures have stopped and I only have rare small glitches in the GUI while working (which is weird, because the Radeon should not be used at all). It worked quite fine for about ten days without shutting down the MBP (only Sleep); I tried a couple of reboots now with no issue.

Having said that, this all issue is just ridiculous. My GPU started failing one week after the expiration of Apple Care... talk about planned obsolecense!

After the latest Yosemite update, my MBP 2011  won't boot, like the thousands MBP users here. I'm  sad and angry. Will try to repair ( some companies in Czech offers repairs  for like 100€.

It appears that you have joined the ranks of those experiencing a failed discrete graphics processor.

There appears to be three cures:

- Apple will change the mother board, often repeatedly, for various fees.  Some have reported a flat $300 deal that fixes any thing, a $600 deal that swaps mother boards.  The fees seem to group in the 300 … 600 range.

- Some have reported having the solder reflowed.  No reports on the cost.

- Some have reported having the graphic chip replaced.  Cost between $325 … $500.

There are few reports of additional repairs being needed if reflowed or replaced is the repair.

Apple’s cure often requires several returns but has a caveat, after the 4th repair some have reported Apple is swapping failed units for new production.

When small repair shops around the world can fix this problem and Apple cannot, its not technical problem why Apple cannot fix the problem, its a management problem.

There is a class action suit making its way through the courts on this very problem.  If Apple provided a long term solution they would be proving the assertion of the suit.  Therefore they are not allowed to provide a solution other than total replacement.

>There is a class action suit making its way through the courts on this very problem.  If Apple provided

>a long term solution they would be proving the assertion of the suit.  Therefore they are not allowed to

>provide a solution other than total replacement...

I believe that there are now 3 class-action lawsuits related to this issue:  California, Florida, and Canada.

Bill Herndon

I'm really hoping for at least the Canadian suit to come to the right conclusion.

My early 2011 MBP hasn't booted in nearly a year now.  It's on it's second logic board, the first one failing after 13 months, the second failing two years after that... the only repairs available will only lead to the same problem after spending hundreds of dollars.  Apple really needs to address this problem... and it's really sad that it's taking legal action to make them do so.  Rather disappointing customer service from a company that has always provided me with exemplary customer service in the past.

I Have the same problem with my 2011 MacBoockPro  VERY DISAPOINTED!!!! Hope they fix the problem for free or replace all the damaged computers.

I'm going tommorow to apple's autorized service center in crakov in poland with my 2012 mid retina.

My has got 3 problems"retina related"

1. Retina screen ghosting, signs of open windows are preasent after the windows had been closed. something like on old plasma TV's

that makes the laptop unuseful for photoediting, because you do not know if u got fringes on photo or is it retina ghosting.

N37-R:~ net$ ioreg -lw0 | grep \"EDID\" | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r | strings -6

Color LCD

LP154WT1-SJA1

DCN24720033F49KAX

N37-R:~ net$

It is LG display, if that was Samsung there would be no ghosting.

2. GPU failed

Anonymous UUID:       43E89A5A-39C0-1CBC-E03D-CEDF98ACB55D

Mon Feb  2 03:05:50 2015

*** Panic Report ***

panic(cpu 2 caller 0xffffff7fa5fb5f63): "GPU Panic: [<None>] 5 0 a0 d9 9 8 0 3 : NVRM[0/1:0:0]: Read Error 0x00000100: CFG 0xffffffff 0xffffffff 0xffffffff, BAR0 0x114000000 0xffffff8144ebc000 0x0e7150a2, D0, P1/4\n"@/SourceCache/AppleGraphicsControl/AppleGraphicsControl-3.8.6/src/AppleM uxControl/kext/GPUPanic.cpp:127

Backtrace (CPU 2), Frame : Return Address

0xffffff812fee32d0 : 0xffffff802392fe41

3. Micro dots on display, it looks like a specyfic pixel explodes and is lighting white. while the window surface has got a little tiny hole. one houndres of milimeter. I had 1, now i have 4 of them. I called apple, they told me to bring the laptop to service center.

I'm glad because i have got apple warranty till april. and I can buy additional applecare for next 2 years.

I was not planning to buy it because it costs over 300 $ and it is quite a lot. but what if they change the motherboard and it fails next time, and as far as i hear it will ? so i have paid 4k $ for my laptop that is not working right, in that money i could buy PC and 4k display for the same work and i will save some money on that for a week on white beach. and now i must, someone will say "no you do not have to" but in that case i must ! buy applecare for faulty device to be sure it will be fixed when it fail. and i'm saing when not if !

That is freaking funny !

One houndred milion trylion bilnion company ! ROTFL, next laptop will be a PC with hakintosh on it, but looking at the last 10.10 the system is't as good as it was years ago. They are going down...down...down....

sorry for bad english

Looks like I'm the newest to join the club. I have a 2011 MBP that started booting to a blue screen with vertical black lines. Booting into Single User Mode and shifting AMD drivers to a temp directory allowed me to boot up.

Is running on integrated graphics sustainable? Are there any recommendations on what to do next?