Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

OK, thanks for the clarification.  So your MBP still has Apple Care?  Would it have made a difference to Apple if it hadn't had Apple Care?  I imagine that many of the machines experiencing the video issues covered by the MacBook Pro Repair Extension Program for Video Issues aren't covered by Apple Care, either because Apple Care was never purchased for them, or because it has since expired.

Two things make the program potentially attractive:

1. The fact/rumor that Apple is using reengineered motherboards, which implies that the cause of the problems are known and are being addressed.
2. The fact that MBP's that are out of warranty will be repaired.

If your MBP is still covered by Apple Care, i.e., it is under warranty, and Apple is telling you that it will not render warranty services because you have violated the terms of the warranty, then tell them that you don't wish to avail yourself of warranty services, you want your MBP to be repaired under the MacBook Pro Repair Extension Program for Video Issues.  From what you tell me, the person you talked to at the Apple Store confirmed its eligibility for the program despite the replaced Airport card and battery.

Good luck!

my macbook is no longer under warranty

I am guessing that you put in the newer broadcom chip to make use of continuity and handoff with the newer iPhones?

If I am wrong, i apologize. You can find easily on eBay the correct part and install it in your machine, then take it back and try again.

I am guessing that you did not replace the battery with an Apple branded battery, and used one of those $25.00 eBay-China batteries. For that, you could buy an apple branded one, and put it in your machine as well.

I can also state that I took my machine in for service on March 3, 2015 to the location in Valencia, Ca. They were very polite and helpful, stated that my serial number was not in the small "subset of serial numbers," however that they would keep its for 24-48 hours to see what they could do. I got a call the next day, stating that they are going to repair it, even though it was not in the "subset of serial numbers," and that it would be ready in 3-5 days. I got a call today, it is ready to go, I will pick it up after I get off work today, if I can get there before closing time.

I can also state that the machine had 4GB of "Apple" Hynix ram, (The machine came with 4GB.) I did NOT have a newer broadcom chip inside, (so there were no continuity features.) There was an Apple branded battery inside. There was an Apple branded 320GB Hard Drive inside, not the 750GB Hard Drive that came with it. I did inform them about the Hard Drive, and the reason why I switched it. (I am paranoid about my data, and my data contains info that could potentially fall under HIPPA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and that the data could not be put at risk.) They said that that should not be a problem, but cautioned that data could be lost if it is determined to be a software problem, which we both knew it was not. The drive was just a spare drive that was lying around from an upgrade of another machine, and had no data that was of use to me, other than as an emergency boot disk.

I didn't suffer as long this time around as many others did. I did have a failed logic board in 2012 which I suspect was the same issue, before I knew about the issue, which was fixed with a $355 depot repair. This time, my issue stared mid-late last year, and went from an occasional issue to a frustrating 2-4 time per day issue that case constant restart, reboots, and ofter disabling the kexts for ATI/AMD for a somewhat usable experience. (I still have garbage display with the kexts disabled.) My symptoms differed slightly, as my lines were horizontal most times, as opposed to vertical.

my macbook is no longer under warranty

Being under warranty is not one of the conditions of eligibility for the program.  As I have tried to explain, most of the MBPs that experience the video issues are no longer under warranty, so most of them would not qualify for the program if they had to be under warranty.

The announcement of the program only names one restriction, and perhaps it is this that which is being invoked in your case:

Note: If your MacBook Pro has any damage, which prevents the repair, such as a cracked screen, that issue will need to be resolved during service. You will be notified about any additional repair charges that are required.

If so, they should have given you the option of having them "repair" the damage.

It is indeed weird that they first inform you that they will fix the machine despite the parts that don't belong in it, then tell you that they won't because it cannot be repaired economically.  After all, it's you who decide whether you can afford the price that Apple proposes for the parts and labor that they deem necessary to fix your machine.

If you want to pursue the matter with them, you could ask them

1. Why were you first told that the foreign parts should not prevent the machine from being repaired?
2. Why were you subsequently informed that the machine cannot be repaired economically, i.e., what repair are they proposing and how much would it cost?
3. What stipulations of the terms of eligibility of the repair program have you violated?  The argument, the foreign parts constitute damage that prevents repairs, would be almost ludicrous, but even if that is what they claim, the rest of the sentence goes on to say that the issue will need to be resolved during service, which at worst would mean that Airport card and battery would have to be replaced.  It does not say that repairs would be refused.

Good luck!

that what i thought and told the genius i spoke with on the phone yesterday but she just stated the same thing over that because of the replacement parts my warranty is voided  and it will not be repaired. they néver gave me an option to pay for anything but when i talked to apple support on a chat they said that I denied the repair

i also was sent two separate email with different repair quotes

first one for 526.50 for a logic board

second one for 310 flat rate repair (after the phone call stating i should still be ok)

thnx for your help  I'm going to start another chat right now and ask them these questions

If/when you guys take your MBP 2011 in for this or any repair if possible always be sure to first:

• Backup your entire disk.
• Remove all personal data from disk.
• Remove all password entries / rows from keychain.
• Record your serial number in the "About this Mac" section and from your bottom plate.
• Record or remove your RAM and speed.
• Record your CPU and GPU cards.

As mentioned on the previous page, I just got mine back from supposedly having the discrete GPU card failure issue repaired from the class action lawsuit.

It's a good thing I did all the above because when I got the unit back now seemingly to fully work, they gave me somebody else's 2011 MBP with an entirely different S/N.

It seems they took my RAM and my disk and just moved it to another slightly nicer MBP 2011.  But now when I lookup the new S/N on Apple's website, it says "invalid S/N"  When I called Apple Support, their internal S/N lookup program showed this MBP as being registered to somebody 3000 miles away.

They are now "investigating" what happened.

But the big question is, does this other unit they gave me include a corrected logic board and GPU card or is it another 2011 MBP waiting to bite the dust?

BTW, neither the Apple Store nor the regional repair center 40 miles away had a clue about this problem and Apple HQ providing a fix for it.  Even though I included all the paperwork needed.

Essentially, Apple HQ has communicated nothing to the field offices or stores as I had to repeated describe the problem and Warranty repair multiple time to both, even though I even showed them the paperwork.  So there's no telling what they are doing to "fix" this 3 year old problem.

One more thing.  According to Apple support looking up my S/N, this S/N indicates a 2.2GHz CPU i7 chip.  Mine was a 2.0GHz.  However, in "About this Mac", it just shows a "2 ".   Not 2.2 and not 2.0.  Just "2 ".

Prepare for the worst - because you're likely to experience it.

Thanks for the tips and warnings.  Your earlier message mentions taking your machine to "the local store".  Where is "local"?  Was that an Apple Store, an Apple Service Provider, or another kind of store?  It's difficult for somebody who reads your contribution to judge how typical your experience is.

I took my machine to the Apple Store in Basel, Switzerland, on Feb. 23, just after the program began in the US and Canada and a few days before Feb. 27, when it was supposed to begin everywhere else.  Nevertheless, the technician to whom I explained the problem knew about the program and warned that parts for the program might not arrive before Feb. 27, so repairs might be delayed.  I was notified before Feb. 27 that I could pickup my repaired machine, and on Feb. 28 I did.  Everything seems to be working fine.

I can't say exactly what work was done because I didn't receive the e-mail that the Apple Store supposedly sent detailing the repairs.  I was told that the motherboard had been exchanged.  I assume that it was exchanged with one foreseen for the program, as Apple probably stockpiles them somewhere in Europe and Apple Stores and Service Suppliers order whatever they need and receive it by overnight mail.

My experience so far.

So I originally purchased my 15-inch Macbook Pro 2011 from an approved retailer in the UK and didn't have any issues with it up until a few weeks ago when I started experiencing the graphics issues that everyone else has explained in this thread.  It started as an occasional crash but eventually got to the point where the Macbook became completely unusable and couldn't even be booted up in any mode.

Soon after purchasing the Macbook, I upgraded my HDD to an SSD, upgraded the RAM to 8GB and then, a couple of years later, replaced the Optical/DVD Drive with a 2TB HDD for additional storage.

I was relieved to hear about the repair program and that Apple had finally acknowledged the problem.  I backed up my disks and took my machine into the Sydney Apple Store in Australia where I now live and explained everything.  They booked it in for the repair and explained that the logic board would be replaced free of charge to fix the problem.  As I have followed this thread for a few months and read most of the posts, I was armed with a bit of information and queried the effectiveness of swapping out the logic board.  The Genius assured me that this would fix it and told me that all of the parts would then be covered anyway even if anything were to fail again.  I explained to them that I'd swapped out the HDD, RAM and Optical drive myself and they said this was fine and didn't effect my cover by the repair program.  Also, buying the Macbook in a different country to the service Store didn't matter.  Happy days.

After a couple of days I picked up my repaired Macbook and immediately tested it when I got back home.  As soon as I connected it to an external display (projector), it crashed.  Disaster.  The repair had apparently done very little to address the problem.  I could now at least turn on the laptop so I knew that the part had been replaced but, when using graphics intensive applications, I was getting the same screen distortions and crashes I had a few weeks back when it all started.

After returning the Macbook to the Genius bar and explaining the failed repair, the technician seemed very bemused and explained to me that I was the first user to complain that the logic board replacement hadn't fixed the problem.  He told me that he would arrange for another new logic board to be fitted as a priority and would report this case to management as they would want to hear about it.  I asked what would happen if the second logic board didn't fix it and he told me that, if that were to happen, he would need to escalate the case for further review.  He was very apologetic and didn't hesitate to book it in again.

I'm due to pick up the Macbook tomorrow morning following its second repair and will this time sit in the Apple Store testing it before I leave.  Using gfxCardStatus to switch between graphics cards and running Photoshop and other graphics intensive apps, I'll see if the same failures occur with a second new logic board.  I'm no expert but surely if one replacement didn't work, another one won't either?  Could it be that the replacement was faulty as well?  But straight away and not after years of use like the last one?

What's that Einstein quote?: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result...

I'll report what happens next but I think I've seen a few people mention that after 2 or 3 part replacements, it's Apple's policy to replace the whole machine?  Does anyone know if this is the case?

It's all been a bit of pain but I'll be satisfied if I either get a working machine or new replacement Macbook at the end of all of this.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread.  It's been a great help, source of information and reassurance.

Cheers

Just got my laptop back. So far so good... seems to be running a little cooler. Glad to not have to rely on gfxCard Status anymore. Will be connecting to an external display shortly just to see what happens.

Finally I was able to claim for refund today, after two logic boards replacement last year due to GPU issues.

The person who handled was not sure if VAT (UK) will or will not be refunded though...anyway am happy at least got some money back and my MBP is running ok so far with 2nd logic board, my first replacement had gone bad after two weeks.

Good luck to all!

https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

jedi'master wrote:

The person who handled was not sure if VAT (UK) will or will not be refunded though...

And whsy shouldn't they refund VAT?

They can claim it back.

For those who get back their "fixed" 2011 MBP's, I recommend keeping the GFxCardStatus tool running for a time.  How else are you going to know if/when GPU control is transferred back and and forth?

While at the Mac Store to pick up my unit, I went to a website that always seems to invoke the discrete GPU, played a few videos simultaneously, and opened up Photoshop.  Still couldn't get control to switch to the discrete GPU.  Finally, I just went to the GFxCardStatus tool and forced the switch several times which would always freeze my MBP in time past.  But now is working.

But I am curious.  Apple never had a real fix for the past 2 years for this problem.  How is it that suddenly Apple now has a fix?  This concerns me.  Especially since I now most likely have an excellent condition 2011 MBP that is probably just waiting to be bricked because the problem was never fixed because Apple may not have a proper fix.  But for now it's working.

The fact that they gave me somebody else's nicer 2011 MBP with a S/N registered to one 3000 miles away and just swapped in my HDD and RAM leads me to believe Apple still has no real fix and is the new Federal Government.

Just got off the phone with Apple support who've been good about getting back to me and keeping me up-to-date.

I asked what the regional repair shop did to "fix" the problem and I was told the notes say, "replaced logic board".

I said, "Yes, nobody will deny that they replaced the logic board.  But did the note also say that an entirely different MBP was attached to the logic board?.  And does it say that the logic board with the attached MBP (not my MBP) was was properly fixed recently by Apple? or am I to expect this unit to develop the same problem?"  He said that's what he hopes to find out.

I also asked what the warranty was for this supposed fix and Apple support said, 1 year.

Not much of a fix if you ask me.

hortonhearsaho wrote:

 

"And does it say that the logic board with the attached MBP (not my MBP) was was properly fixed recently by Apple? or am I to expect this unit to develop the same problem?"  He said that's what he hopes to find out.

 

I think we're assuming that all the affected models will sooner or later exhibit video issues, but that seems not to be the case.  One person reported that his machine's serial number was checked against a list.  So evidently Apple has been able to further narrow down the machines that could develop problems to, say, those produced in a certain period, or at a certain plant, or containing a certain batch of components, etc.  We're also not privy to statistics about how many of the machines produced had to be repaired, and, of those, how many had to be repaired again.  At any rate, if you can get some information on why you should not expect your replacement machine to develop the same problems, be sure to post it here.

I also asked what the warranty was for this supposed fix and Apple support said, 1 year.

 

Not much of a fix if you ask me.

Well, don't knock it.  The warranty on replacing just the motherboard is only ninety days.  The one-year warranty will cover you even after the repair program expires on Feb. 27, 2016.

Same problem!! I took my MBP to the local Apple Store and had the logic board replaced. After a few hours, my macbook pro has completely died!!! All I see is a white hazy screen with a red crossed out circle!! Laptop won't even boot anymore.