Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

getsu, thanks for explaining. Definitely a Flying type of Circus situation with the game of "how many logic board replacements = Apple machine replacement?" going on. I've now been served my "last warning" by the ASC police (for posting an appeal to contact Apple Support - Feedback) and if any of my comments are again deemed "inappropriate" and in violation of the "Terms" (for whatever reason, by whatever sophistry or legalese) then "...we may suspend your ability to use the Apple Communities site. We may also block the Internet Provider address(es) you post from and notify your Internet Service Provider. If you create new Apple ID(s) and post inappropriate content, we’ll disable the ID(s) without warning." Obviously, the "host" for this thread doesn't take lightly any questioning of its interpretation of the all hallowed "Terms", or a threat to its authority to "moderate". Who does that remind you of in this thread? I was in fact blocked last night (2/6) CentralST, with message — "User 'Grayn289' is banned from posting content" which isn't my username, but this morning ban seems to have been lifted and Reply buttons have reappeared on this thread. Not the first time something weird like that has happened as if someone likes to play around with end user experience. I have never before encountered any such nonsense on the Apple Support Communities which I've used for years. But then again, I've never encountered a user like you know who. I'm definitely sending a letter to Apple corporate offices, to address provided by Tech Support currently working on my case (a whole other story with a brand new Mac Mini I don't want to go into just yet). I can't believe Apple condones such treatment of its customers as goes on in this thread, that only makes Apple look even worse given the current situation with the widespread degree of MBPro '11 hardware failures.

It is your choice whether to abide by the terms you agreed to, or not. The consequences of not abiding by them have been demonstrated.

Why keep on doing something when you know what the consequences will be? It is clearly your choice but it is also the reason your posts are removed.

just my opinion sprinkled with facts....This decades MMicrosoft keeps pulling legitimate posts yet dhound1 flames on, pathetic. I challenged his narrow assertion that I was a liar yesterday and the return silence has been deafening. Something is very very very wrong about this situation as you have clearly experienced and like the sucky solder points and a gpu who's average temperature under load is about 148 degrees Fahrenheit there is no excuse for bapples nonintervention concerning the hate propagated by a community member considering the costs and severity of this thread.

AppleSoft ! 

It's The Real Thing! (Not)

Same problem (Belgium). Logic board replaced 2 weeks ago (709€), and after 2 days of 'normal' working ... same problem. So got again a new logic board (for free!). How long will this on last? What to do if it happens again -after 3 months, because that the time of warranty here.

Any other Belgians on board here?

getstu wrote:

 

just my opinion sprinkled with facts....This decades MMicrosoft keeps pulling legitimate posts yet dhound1 flames on, pathetic. I challenged his narrow assertion that I was a liar yesterday and the return silence has been deafening.

Nope, you just keep refusing to link to the post in which you claimed I used profanity towards you, it was a lie and was removed because of that, but if you claim that it was the truth then link to it so we can all see.

Can you see the wolf?

Can anyone tell me which stress tests to run to check the replaced logic board? I tried googling it but came up with online tests. Are there any specific softwares that can be downloaded and the tests run?

RdK_1973 wrote:

 

Another victim of the bad 2011 GPU series. My MBP late 2011 has just been converted into a piece of junk. I revert to my Windows laptop, until Apple decides to deal with it. Repairing is not an option, because the laptop (in good shape) isn't worth it and I will have the same problem in a few years again (probably). Selling it now, is also not an option because it doesn't work and I don't want to leave other's with my piece of crap.

 

I hope Apple takes responsibility... I have paid premium money for a premium product. Now it's time to return the favor and put your mouth where your money is...

As this discussion continues we are learning about virtue, Apple’s virtue and our own.

Clearly when 90% of all failing 2011 MBPs can be repaired by replacing one, still working GPU chip, with a new GPU chip  there is a workman ship problem with that Apple product.

Apple has the best view of this problem because most failures are being reported to and repaired by Apple.  The extremely high incidence of multiple repairs on the same machine for the same problem clearly indicates their initial production had workmanship problems and their repair process has workmanship problems.

Faced with this increasing volume of evidence Apple needs to make a choice for what they value most, virtue or finance.  By their actions they shall be known.  To date their choice is finance is higher priority than virtue.

We pay premium prices for Apple products because we assume Apple’s priority is virtue first and finance lower on the list of priorities.  When Apple teaches us that virtue is not their highest priority should we pay attention and learn?

We live 200 miles from the nearest Apple store so repeatedly dropping by for repairs is very inconvenient.  Yesterday we had lunch with some friends who had been to the cities yesterday and stopped by the Apple store.  Phil mentioned that Apple has lots of 2011 MBPs for sale at pretty good prices and he was thinking of picking one up.  So I mentioned this thread and asked what kind of warranty was being offered.  After a few more questions Phil, a car enthusiast, decided to avoid another Edsel, he is not buying.

My observation is that by just walking into Apple Stores and counting the particular models of used machines one can get a hint of when Apple produced clunkers.

Apple’s databases should be screaming “Houston, we have a problem” as the numbers for this one problem come rolling in.  Or Apple is about as good at selecting robots to man their day to day operations as they are at selecting robots to put solder down on printed circuit boards.

A few pins on one GPU chip out of thousands pins on hundreds of other chips are not soldered correctly and it becomes a buyer beware problem.  Apple is showing their priority, finance is more important than virtue.

It's your turn to vote… vote with your $$$$$

jimoase wrote:

 

 

Clearly when 90% of all failing 2011 MBPs can be repaired by replacing one, still working GPU chip, with a new GPU chip  there is a workman ship problem with that Apple product.

If that were correct it would seem so, however many posters here reflowed but did not replace the GPU, which it is claimed fixed them, depends on which story (and there are many) you believe.

Amen to that ! Unfortunately, I had to buy another Mac (less painful option) because I couldn't go it with a PowerBook G4 until my MBPro '11 gets fixed (if ever) or replaced. Still, I went for the more expensive 2012 model which I just happened to find still available, instead of the crApple 2014 MacMini with soldered RAM that can't be upgraded, just like the old PPC 720 I once owned. More proof in the pudding of what you say. (BTW the MM didn't come with Mountain Lion as Apple's own tech spec claims, which has caused huge problems for me with its Internet Recovery m.o. which won't install ML, as I want to clone my MBPro '11 OS to a new machine. Because of that and other problems I may get the LB replaced for free on my MBPro'11 but without that I'd probably just be SOL like so many others. That "repair" still remains to be seen. And before I'm told to upgrade the OS by some snapple, I don't "fix' my OS if it works because I don't want to upgrade ap programs which then won't run or won't run correctly) At this point, Apple will have to really step up to the plate big time if I'm to remain a customer, much less a loyal one. So "speculate" that Apple police who've deleted another of my posts for that "reason".

freddy from de haan wrote:

Any other Belgians on board here?

Jup, zijn er al een paar gepasseerd.

Jup, a few passe by allready.

Use this link to inform Apple of your expectations, we are just Apple users and can not help you with that.

Csound1 wrote:

 

jimoase wrote:

 

 

Clearly when 90% of all failing 2011 MBPs can be repaired by replacing one, still working GPU chip, with a new GPU chip  there is a workman ship problem with that Apple product.

If that were correct it would seem so, however many posters here reflowed but did not replace the GPU, which it is claimed fixed them, depends on which story (and there are many) you believe.

Please don't instigate another useless flame throwing event. 

Read the line you quoted again, that part about replacing a good used chip with a new good chip.  Certainly you can just re-solder the old chip because its still functional as I said.  But the old chip has been heated to unknown levels of extreme temps and chips don't like extreme heat.  So replacing the GPU chip entirely solves two reliability problems.  GPU chips are cheap compared the the cost of the repair process in dollars and time.

Csound1 wrote:

 

jimoase wrote:

 

 

Clearly when 90% of all failing 2011 MBPs can be repaired by replacing one, still working GPU chip, with a new GPU chip  there is a workman ship problem with that Apple product.

If that were correct it would seem so, however many posters here reflowed but did not replace the GPU, which it is claimed fixed them, depends on which story (and there are many) you believe.

Pretty simple.

Go, like posted before, for the solder problem.

Not a story, conclusion after results of used techniques/workflow, educated guess, experience etc...

That's your choice of course, I doubt that 90% of all failing Macs were repaired that way but, only time will tell.

Good luck.