Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Speida wrote:

 

Can anyone with a working system make a list of all the AMD files they have in the /System/Library/Extensions folder?

 

Since I had to remove them twice I don't want to miss any of them!

 

Thank you!!

Perhaps this will help:

I've entered my serial number at https://selfsolve.apple.com/, it then says...

"Please validate your product's purchase date.Apple is unable to provide information about your service coverage. Please sign in with your Apple ID and provide your product's date of purchase so that we can display your coverage information."

...but when I log in the earliest purchase date year I can choose is 2012, I bought the computer in March 2011.

Any idea why this might be and what I should do?

MGSH wrote:

 

Given a lot of people have had previous repairs fail within 90 days, the reason users are burn testing their machines could be to see whether or not repairs under this new program will fail before February 27 2016. Then there are those users that bought a MBP for heavy duty work and expect a certain level of performance.

Personally, when mine is returned, I shall be using it to power an external display for both work and entertainment; I think that is perfectly reasonable (although it is what killed the 2 previous logic boards/GPUs).

The "previous repairs" were not done under the official Apple repair programme for these machines. Apple have apparently fixed things now. I can understand the mistrust, but why force a machine to be used beyond its normal usage level. Even heavy graphics users are unlikely to be running their portable at maximum graphics capacity 24/7. If they have this sort of need, then they have the wrong machine for doing it! They want a desktop machine specifically built for that sort of thing. Portables are… er well… portables. You wouldn't expect to edit the latest Pixar film on an iPad, would you ? That day may come, but we're not there yet people

I have been running a 24" LaCie professional monitor on my 17" MBP ever since I bought it, although I'm not convinced that it was specifically that, that killed it.

deadjoe wrote:

 

I've entered my serial number at https://selfsolve.apple.com/, it then says...

 

"Please validate your product's purchase date.Apple is unable to provide information about your service coverage. Please sign in with your Apple ID and provide your product's date of purchase so that we can display your coverage information."

 

...but when I log in the earliest purchase date year I can choose is 2012, I bought the computer in March 2011.

 

Any idea why this might be and what I should do?

You could try contacting Apple for a start

Amazing!! Thank you very much for this!

Do you know if it's just a matter of moving them back to the folder or I need to run a command in the terminal to finalize the job?

deadjoe wrote:

 

I've entered my serial number at https://selfsolve.apple.com/, it then says...

 

"Please validate your product's purchase date.Apple is unable to provide information about your service coverage. Please sign in with your Apple ID and provide your product's date of purchase so that we can display your coverage information."

 

...but when I log in the earliest purchase date year I can choose is 2012, I bought the computer in March 2011

Forget about the serial number thing.

As long as you own one of the machine's on the list, you're fine. I tried entering my serial number numerous times and every time it said that I wasn't covered. Now my machine is under repair. Just walk into your local Apple Store/Service Center and tell them what the problem is, they'll help you out.

Speida wrote:

 

Amazing!! Thank you very much for this!

 

Do you know if it's just a matter of moving them back to the folder or I need to run a command in the terminal to finalize the job?

Plug them in... restart and then turn on gfxCardStatus...  goto gfxCardStatus preference click smart menu.... launch iPhoto and the "a" should come up

Many thanks to all that replied to my question. I don't actually have an external monitor - if I need a biggish screen then I simply use my 2009 iMac. Anyway, I'll take it down to the local dealer and let them take it on from there. Thanks again.

Edit a Pixar movie? No, maybe not, but I'd certainly expect to be able to watch one on a MBP...  I have other machines for heavy work, btw.

Running an external monitor is the most intensive work I put the 2011 to (unless making podcasts taxes the system further) and it's failed twice, while its 2007 MacBook predecessor is still going strong.

So yeah, I remain a little sceptical for now. If it turns out the new boards stand up, I'll be a happy user again.

MGSH wrote:

 

Edit a Pixar movie? No, maybe not, but I'd certainly expect to be able to watch one on a MBP...  I have other machines for heavy work, btw.

Absolutely agree… but viewing a film is nothing like as intense as rendering one

An external monitor is perfectly normal usage as well methinks - Apple event sell Thunderbolt monitors for that very purpose

Charles,

Charles Houghton-Webb wrote:

The "previous repairs" were not done under the official Apple repair programme for these machines. Apple have apparently fixed things now. I can understand the mistrust, but why force a machine to be used beyond its normal usage level. Even heavy graphics users are unlikely to be running their portable at maximum graphics capacity 24/7. If they have this sort of need, then they have the wrong machine for doing it! They want a desktop machine specifically built for that sort of thing. Portables are… er well… portables. You wouldn't expect to edit the latest Pixar film on an iPad, would you ? That day may come, but we're not there yet people

 

I have been running a 24" LaCie professional monitor on my 17" MBP ever since I bought it, although I'm not convinced that it was specifically that, that killed it.

With regard to the tests that Apple performs to determine whether a machine has the problems that the program addresses, I would assume

• They are non-destructive, i.e., they will not cause a problem that the machine didn't have before they were run.
• They and other tests are run after the repairs have been performed in order to verify that the problems have been solved.

Therefore, I agree with you.  There would seem to be little to be gained by performing one's own stress tests, particularly with a view to "breaking it now if it's going to break at all.

I was probably luckier than most people who have been following this thread, and thus have less reason to mistrust Apple than they do.  Although I had been experiencing infrequent video problems ever since purchasing my late 2011 MBP 17" in July 2012, I had always attributed them to the second-hand Apple 24" LED Cinema Display where they appeared, particularly since unplugging it from the MBP's Thunderbolt port and plugging it in again seemed to clear up the problems.  The "pyjama stripes", dead screens (both), and messed up displays (also both) just began appearing about two weeks ago, and it didn't take long to find this thread.  Around that time, Apple also announced the program to fix the problem.  In the meantime, my MBP has been repaired, and I have been using it with the external monitor without any problems.  I have no plans to stress test it myself, but neither do I plan to "baby" it.

Do you have a receipt for the transaction? If so you can call customer service and provide it for them....

Thought I'd mention, even if you're not in one of the countries on Apple's current list of countries eligible for the new repair program, it's worth checking in with the Apple authorized retailer in your area. I live in Lebanon and we don't have Apple Stores, only a couple of authorized retailers and we're not on the list, but at one of these retailers they said they are offering the free repair and only charging for the cost of shipping a new logic board (something like $35).

Richard Liu wrote:

With regard to the tests that Apple performs to determine whether a machine has the problems that the program addresses, I would assume

• They are non-destructive, i.e., they will not cause a problem that the machine didn't have before they were run.
• They and other tests are run after the repairs have been performed in order to verify that the problems have been solved.

Therefore, I agree with you.  There would seem to be little to be gained by performing one's own stress tests, particularly with a view to "breaking it now if it's going to break at all.

The other thing that bothers me about stress testing my newly repaired machine is if the stress test DOESN'T break it !

I would have, all told, just given my "like new" computer, a hammering for nothing!!

Charles Houghton-Webb wrote:

 

...........

The other thing that bothers me about stress testing my newly repaired machine is if the stress test DOESN'T break it !

I would have, all told, just given my "like new" computer, a hammering for nothing!!

True if "for nothing" includes finding out " the stress test DOESN'T break it !" in lieu of the stress test does break it.

Computers aren't exactly like batteries, where a certain amount of use will render than unusable. 

As those who experienced the problem discovered Apple built in some fail safe protection.  Early in the failing process our machines would restart occasionally because they got too hot and immediately recovered upon shut down.  Later in the failing process our machines would not boot if the discrete GPU was turned on, some remedied that problem by removing AMD drivers from the system library.

So when the machine is stressed we learn if the fans come on appropriately, if the fans have sufficient capacity to keep temperature levels in the safe range, we learn how high the GPU temps will go and operate safely and we learn how fast the GPU temps will recover when unloaded.

Useful information if your suspicious of Apple's repairs based on four years of Apple's history of repairing the same machines repeatedly for this problem.

From comments some have made about getting "new" boards, this suggests that Apple has known for sometime they had a problem, created and tested a solution, produced the solution and filled an inventory supply chain with "new" boards even while they were using up old, highly suspect inventory.  It would be reasonable that Apple is now purging their supply chain of old boards.  That purge will take time.  Somehow Apple can, without taking the machine apart, tell which board is in your machine or they are playing three blind mice.

In the past replaced motherboards didn't fail immediately.  So how are you going to know if you have a suspect motherboard or a reliable replacement motherboard?   Apple isn't talking.  You are gambling that in March 2016 your recent repair is not going to fail again.  Testing gives you an insight into whether the repair changed the norms.

I had my machine repaired by a third party.  "Normal" GPU temps are 3..5 degrees lower.  I have ran GPU loads sufficient to discharge the battery while MagSafe is plugged in, fan speeds never got higher than 5,300 and GPU temp reached 170F for a maybe a minute.  Taking the load off cooled the machine to GPU temps in the 90s in less than 15 minutes.  To me that indicates the fans are doing their job, the thermo paste and heat sink are doing their job.  The machine feels quicker, but I have the feeling that's like your motorcycle in the spring compared to the same bike when you put it away in the fall.  Those spring bikes are crotch rockets.