abelliveau
Level 1 (9 points)

Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

I have an early 2011 MacBook Pro (2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 memory) running OS 10.8.2.  It has two graphics components: an AMD Radeon HD 6750M and a built-in Intel HD Graphics 3000. Since I've had the computer, the screen would get a blue tint when the computer switched between them.

 

However, as of two days ago, the problem has become substantially more severe.  The computer was working fine, when all of a suddent the screen when completely blue.  I had to force restart the computer.  Since then, the screen has gone awry on numerous occassions - each time necessitating a hard reset.

 

I installed gfxCardStatus, and have discovered that the computer runs fine using the integrated card, but as soon as I switch to the discrete card - the screen goes .

 

I am just wondering what my options are (any input on any of these would be appreciated!):

 

1) Replace the logic board.  Would this necessarily fix the issue?

 

2) Is there any way to "fix" the graphics card? 

 

3) Keep using gfxCardStatus and only use the integrated graphics card.  This is definitely the easiest/cheapest option, but to have such a computer and not be able to use the graphics card seems like a real shame.

 

4) Is there any other alternative?

 


MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB memory

Posted on Feb 1, 2013 4:45 PM

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abelliveau

Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

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  • by D3us,

    D3us D3us Feb 23, 2015 2:29 AM in response to jimoase
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 2:29 AM in response to jimoase

    jimoase wrote:

     

    I think the NVIDA problem required a chip change.

    That was seen as the best solution.

    The problem was 2 sided I think.

    The bga to mobo soldering itself could fail and the solder bumps (connection between the die (small black) and substrate (mostly green pcb) forming the BGA).

    Depending used technique, you could have better success with a reflow only.

     

    Have done a few using only a reflow, customers choice as I did advise a chip replacement.

    Verified a few are still working after I think 4th year now.

    Lucky I guess...

  • by macuser128,

    macuser128 macuser128 Feb 23, 2015 4:47 AM in response to D3us
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 4:47 AM in response to D3us

    Also in Germany there is a repair program now.

     

    finally people! get your machines MBP 2011 15"/17"  fixed for free!

     

    it seem's all the sceptics here are proven wrong now

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Feb 23, 2015 5:21 AM in response to nettles2
    Level 9 (51,497 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 23, 2015 5:21 AM in response to nettles2

    nettles2 wrote:

     

    D3us wrote:

    Apple took responsibility for the faulty GPU made by NVIDIA, who declared their processors defect free.

    Apple didn't.

    nVidia did, they got the bill for it.

    I wasn't aware of that, thanks for the clarification.

    It's been posted in this thread several times

  • by Charles Houghton-Webb,

    Charles Houghton-Webb Charles Houghton-Webb Feb 23, 2015 5:28 AM in response to macuser128
    Level 1 (33 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 5:28 AM in response to macuser128

    macuser128 wrote:

     

    Also in Germany there is a repair program now.

     

    finally people! get your machines MBP 2011 15"/17"  fixed for free!

     

    it seem's all the sceptics here are proven wrong now

    I think that if a repair programme is now in place, it's probably thanks to the "sceptics" here for a good part !

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Feb 23, 2015 5:28 AM in response to vsingha2k
    Level 9 (51,497 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 23, 2015 5:28 AM in response to vsingha2k

    vsingha2k wrote:

     

    Csound1 wrote:

     

    vsingha2k wrote:

     

    Csound1 wrote:

     

    Original Benchmarks for Macs (2008 to 2014) These don't separate the tests so can't really shed much light on one area, so..

     

    Try this

     

    http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-MacBookProFeb2011.html

    pl send link to "graphics benchmark tests" and "pre 30%-performance-degradation-firmware-patch" (alleged) graphics benchmark data, if available.

    Link number two is pre patch, it's the original machine test from 2011

    Comparing w/ those numbers will require Adobe, LightRoom etc. which I don't have. HAVE YOU DONE the comparison? Or know of some such comparison? If So, please post the results?

     

    Anyone, has a standalone graphics benchmark recommendation? and associated pre-firmware-30%perf-downgrade-patch benchmark data?

    Perhaps you could tell us what graphics programs you do have, instead of making us guess?

  • by Darrell Stall,

    Darrell Stall Darrell Stall Feb 23, 2015 5:46 AM in response to nettles2
    Level 1 (22 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 23, 2015 5:46 AM in response to nettles2

    nettles2 wrote:

    I wasn't aware of that, thanks for the clarification.

    @nettles2 — most here don't expect you to have read 819 pages of this thread to know that, so just ignore the "sound" that's usually nothing but noise.

  • by gergo999,

    gergo999 gergo999 Feb 23, 2015 6:51 AM in response to Darrell Stall
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 6:51 AM in response to Darrell Stall

    Hey guys,

     

    I just made a hardware cleaning to my 2011 machine with repasting like a week ago. Now if I send it in for repair, what do you think, they are gonna complain about the new thermal paste? Is it possible that they are not gonna repair it for free, because of the repaste. Because they are obviously gonna notice it as the factory pasting was very bad, and they put too much on it. And now it is clean with just the optimal ammount.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Feb 23, 2015 7:32 AM in response to Darrell Stall
    Level 9 (51,497 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 23, 2015 7:32 AM in response to Darrell Stall

    Darrell Stall wrote:

     

    nettles2 wrote:

    I wasn't aware of that, thanks for the clarification.

    @nettles2 — most here don't expect you to have read 819 pages of this thread to know that, so just ignore the "sound" that's usually nothing but noise.

    not everyone dislikes facts, speak for yourself, you are not "most"

  • by zischga,

    zischga zischga Feb 23, 2015 7:59 AM in response to abelliveau
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 7:59 AM in response to abelliveau

    Hello,

     

    I got a Macbook Pro early 2011 and 3 months ago, the GPU stopped working.

    I paid for CPU - reballing, which (of course) wasn't done by Apple.

    Now I want to use the repair program Apple offers, but I have a question:

    can they decline the repair, because they see that I had it fixed by a reball company?

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Feb 23, 2015 8:44 AM in response to zischga
    Level 9 (51,497 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 23, 2015 8:44 AM in response to zischga

    Take it to an Apple Store and check, it seems as if it is covered, but only Apple can tell you for a fact.

  • by Richard Liu,

    Richard Liu Richard Liu Feb 23, 2015 10:12 AM in response to SkyHawk-YQB
    Level 1 (58 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 23, 2015 10:12 AM in response to SkyHawk-YQB

    My late 2011 MBP 17" just began showing symptoms of this malaise.  I brought it to the Apple Store today, slightly before Feb. 27, when theMacBook Pro Repair Extension Program for Video Issues is supposed to begin in Switzerland, since the machine is still under Apple Care.  I just reread the work order and have the impression that the logic board will be exchanged and OS X Yosemite will be installed, even though Mavericks was installed.  Is this correct?  I wasn't planning on installing Yosemite before the .3 release.

  • by rustbucketmike,

    rustbucketmike rustbucketmike Feb 23, 2015 10:51 AM in response to abelliveau
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 10:51 AM in response to abelliveau

    I took my 2011 MBP to the Apple Store to get this fix.  They diagnosed the problem and ended up just fixing it right in the store.  I asked the guy about the new logic board they put in and he said something like "of course we put in a new part that doesn't have the same problem as the part we removed".  I'm not convinced he really knew that for sure.

     

    I got it back on Saturday and fired up a bunch of programs that require the discrete graphics, all at once.  It seems to be running better than ever.  Now I'm wondering if the display problems were manifesting all along, as it seemed more sluggish before.  But I may just be imagining that.

     

    So far, so good.  Hopefully you'll never see me post here again.

  • by Pier11,

    Pier11 Pier11 Feb 23, 2015 10:52 AM in response to rustbucketmike
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 10:52 AM in response to rustbucketmike

    rustbucketmike wrote:

     

    I took my 2011 MBP to the Apple Store to get this fix.  They diagnosed the problem and ended up just fixing it right in the store.  I asked the guy about the new logic board they put in and he said something like "of course we put in a part that doesn't have the same problem as the part we removed".  I'm not convinced he really knew that for sure.

     

    I got it back on Saturday and fired up a bunch of programs that require the discrete graphics, all at once.  It seems to be running better than ever.  Now I'm wondering if the display problems were manifesting all along, as it seemed more sluggish before.  But I may just be imagining that.

     

    So far, so good.  Hopefully you'll never see me post here again.


    Have you done some GPU benchmarking or stress tests?

     

    Do you still have the same GPU and CPU?

  • by geniusxing,

    geniusxing geniusxing Feb 23, 2015 11:33 AM in response to Richard Liu
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 11:33 AM in response to Richard Liu

    Hiļ¼Œdid you ask them which model of motherboard they will replace to you, is it still the same old one model?

  • by vsingha2k,

    vsingha2k vsingha2k Feb 23, 2015 11:41 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2015 11:41 AM in response to Csound1

    Csound1 wrote:

     

    vsingha2k wrote:

     

    Csound1 wrote:

     

    vsingha2k wrote:

     

    Csound1 wrote:

     

    Original Benchmarks for Macs (2008 to 2014) These don't separate the tests so can't really shed much light on one area, so..

     

    Try this

     

    http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-MacBookProFeb2011.html

    pl send link to "graphics benchmark tests" and "pre 30%-performance-degradation-firmware-patch" (alleged) graphics benchmark data, if available.

    Link number two is pre patch, it's the original machine test from 2011

    Comparing w/ those numbers will require Adobe, LightRoom etc. which I don't have. HAVE YOU DONE the comparison? Or know of some such comparison? If So, please post the results?

     

    Anyone, has a standalone graphics benchmark recommendation? and associated pre-firmware-30%perf-downgrade-patch benchmark data?

    Perhaps you could tell us what graphics programs you do have, instead of making us guess?

    Didn't ask you to make a guess as to what Graphics programs I have! So why would you say that.

    Best is stay to the point, which was - I asked, "HAVE YOU DONE the comparison? Or know of some such comparison? If So, please post the results".

     

    Unrelated, what's your interest in this thread / covering for Apple ??

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