Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

(at)bwinward22,

"They" = "authorized Apple dealer" = ???  The announcement of the repair extension program clear states that only Apple Retail Stores, Apple Authorized Service Providers and local Apple Repair Centers repair MBP's exhibiting the described video issues.  It says nothing about "authorized Apple dealers."  Are "they" either an Apple Retail Store, an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or a local Apple Repair Center?   If not, they might not be using the right tests, might be bound by a contract with Apple to purchase parts for the repair that you expect for free (i.e., disinclined to repair Apple devices for free), etc.  This is all speculation.  Who really knows?

I know this thread is impossibly long, but if you've read through it you know that some people report their machines' even failing to fail tests administered at Apple Retail Stores.  Generally, in such cases, personnel at Apple Stores have accepted photos of the video issues in lieu of the tests.

As I've attempted to impress upon you, unless you are dealing with either an Apple Retail Store, an Apple Authorized Service Provider or a local Apple Repair Center, most of the experiences related in this thread may not apply to your case.

So my MBP was an early 2011 model and it just had the video prob crop up last week (10/14/15). Took to an Apple authorized repair center and it was fixed in two days. Was happy with their service, no wait just walked in, warrantied repair. So I hope it lasts another 3-4 years o. This fix...

Got mine early 2011 model fixed via apple store in October and just in two weeks after logic board replacement the same discrete gpu problem occurs. Worth a second replacement try?!

Hope it will last much longer in your case.

Yes, the more tries the better.  Seriously, in the announcement of the repair extension program Apple commits to fixing the problem.  Some people who have had their MBP's repaired multiple times under the program have been offered newer-model replacements.  Some report needing three failed attempts at repair to obtain a new machine, others four.  I might be mistaken, but nobody has reported Apple not replacing the machine after four failed attempts to repair it.

Before taking your MBP back to Apple, be sure to photograph it acting up, just in case it later fails to fail Apple's tests.

Good luck!

Just got my MBP back from my local 'Apple Authorized Service Provider' with its 3rd logic board replacement and YET AGAIN I'm having the exactly the same issue. Taking it back to them tomorrow. Absolute ********. Either they are giving me refurbished boards or something because this is getting out of hand. What are the chances of getting a new MBP from Apple?

In my case they replaced my machine after the 4th board replacement.

Good luck!

Guys,

by the time the program was issued, I already bought a second mac. I was the first one who made a replacement in Moscow and it did gave my Mac new life, it is now serving as a home server. So, for me the first replacement worked fine.

Posting to get to last post made.

bwinward22 wrote:

"...Just got my MBP back from my local 'Apple Authorized Service Provider' with its 3rd logic board replacement and YET AGAIN I'm having the exactly the same issue."

[Question to bwinward22: How many days between last repair and RE-appearance of graphics issue?]

:::

My input:

Disconcerting, disappointing, perplexing.

It is disconcerting because -- in the almost TWO YEARS since the issue of this "engineering fail" occurred [bad AMD GPU or how it is soldered down] -- this company has had ample time to determine how to do a single, final, one-time and proper/successful repair.

If so many are reporting multiple fails, then they are likely letting this happen by design.

Think about this: If two years of FAILED FIXES have been occurring and their defective repair method has not been corrected yet, you can be sure that the fixes they do in the final few months of the program will certainly NOT be "final fixes"....they will likely continue to try and get by with SURELY doing the half-assed fix LEADING UP to the February finish line (i.e., end of program) because those end-of-the-line suckers won't have sufficient time to get their "repeat fails" back to Apple before the program ends.

Even though I have not had this issue to date, if it does occur in the coming months, I shall have NO CONFIDENCE -- based on Apple's own behavior over the past two years of "non-repair repairs" -- that mine will be a permanent fix.

When I asked a "Genius" three weeks back about this potential issue and reported to him Apple seemed to be doing the WRONG FIX because so many customers were reporting two, three and four fails," he excused it by saying (respectfully), "They know what to do."

Demonstrably false -- although he may not have known otherwise, so I don't blame him.

I am not slamming this company top to bottom. I have been a customer since 1988...and have been very happy with multiple products until now.

But this issue -- documented by innumerable, repeated customer reports -- concerning "the MBP fix that is NOT a fix" has been profoundly disappointing.

I have a 'new' Late 2011 MBP which I have never used, therefore for me it is "new." I am going to update it to Capitan in the next week or so and start to use it shortly thereafter. I fully expect to meet this issue because each and every "Early/Late 2011" unit -- manufactured up until June 2012 -- is likely a candidate for this issue.

This thread has been deeply helpful in researching this issue.

[I certainly might be wrong but] my reading tells me:

- "Reballing" is an illusionary short-term fix because it is only masks this issue for a short while

- A new Motherboard [APPLE's FIX] is not the solution - (due to each Motherboard still containing the defective AMD graphics chip/card)

- A new, later interchangeable AMD GPU card resoldered in proper fashion to the motherboard appears to be the fix. But Apple ain't doing that.

(Experts please provide feedback if the above if incorrect.)

I will just bite my lip that this GPU problem doesn't happen to me.

[I certainly might be wrong but] my reading tells me:

- "Reballing" is an illusionary short-term fix because it is only masks this issue for a short while

- A new Motherboard [APPLE's FIX] is not the solution - (due to each Motherboard still containing the defective AMD graphics chip/card)

- A new, later interchangeable AMD GPU card resoldered in proper fashion to the motherboard appears to be the fix. But Apple ain't doing that.

This is not my understanding; however, I am no expert.  The GPU is not the issue, it is the way it was soldered to the logic board.  Rumors have it that a last-minute decision to use lead-free solder led to mechanical stress at the soldered joints when the temperatures in the computer rose too high.  Speculation about how many units were actually affected is dangerous.  Even in 2011, how to apply lead-free solder properly was well known, and it is therefore reasonable to assume that not all the units manufactured under these conditions eventually did or will develop the video issues.

I believe that the consensus on reballing alone is, it can solve the problem, provided that the GPU has not been damaged in the meantime, or is not damaged during the reballing itself.  On the other hand, replacing the original GPU by a newer model is at best tricky.  Is it really a one-to-one replacement?

As reported in this thread -- not only be me -- the logic boards installed under the repair extension program have been described by Apple employees to whom the question has been posed as "revised."  Nobody has reported receiving details of the revisions.  One person who opened his repaired machine up discovered components on the replacement board that had definitely been used before.  He was told that the boards might, in fact, contain such components, but that they had been tested and found acceptable, and the board as such had never been used in any other machine.

In conclusion, the replacement boards are probably different from the original ones, as Apple employees have stated; however, not publishing the details of the differences certainly does nothing to strengthen Apple's credibility among its detractors, some of whom point to numbers on the supposedly revised boards that are the same as on the original boards.  In the end, whether you believe Apple sincerely wants to fix this problem or not, boils down to just that, belief.  Even the fact that Apple has gone so far as to replace several users' machines that did not respond appropriately to repeated attempt to fix them will fit just as neatly into the skeptic's expectation of cynical global corporate giant as into an Apple fanboy's of a corporation engaged in the never ending battle for Truth, Justice and the American Way.

My macbook pro 8.2 (late 2011) has had the issuesearlyer this year, had a reflow by D3US just before the program launched.

After couple of months the problem re-appeared, went in for repair and didn't fail the tests so they just put the motherboard back in, it ran ok for a week or 2 (sitting still on a desk)

I found that repositioning it to the sofa made it fail again. Went back to the Apple store 3 weeks ago and I've got it back since friday.

"New" motherboard and running fine again.

Hope it will last the extra 1 or 2 years it still needs to do it's duty!

Lost a client because the thing failed on me while trying to demo my portfolio.

Don't know why I started to receive emails from this thread again after more than 6 months without any, but anyway.. Just a quick one to update my already shared experience, I, too, had a reflow by D3US before Apple finally annonced a recall program, was just before christmas in 2014. Since then, computer's been running fine. Of course I can't help but think it might happen again anytime so I lost trust in this machine, also been hugely disapointed with how Apple dealt with this issue. I'm about to buy a new computer and I'm just not considering buying an Apple product. For 10 months I been using linux systems on this mbp 8.2 so I could deactivate the discrete, I learned to enjoy linux OS. Maybe when Apple will launch a way to rent computers instead os buying them (why buy a non-upgradable and impossible to repair computer), like they just did for iPhones in the US, I might consider getting a new mbp. Until then, I will buy me PC parts and will run linux as primary and capitan as secondary on it. At least it will cost me half the price of an iMac that I would never buy anyway (bad experience here, too). Notebook wise, Apple products are still beating competition but it's already changing. Desktop wise, ain't no point buying a Mac Mini or an iMac anymore. And Hackintosh is way more easy and stable to use than before if you really need this OS. Apple products used to be the best, it's not anymore. Even their OS is now free but buggy. Customer service is awesome as long as still under warranty, otherwise, they gladly tell you to buy new products. That's just sad and my opinion only, probably have a different one on your own.

Hmm...

This MacBook Pro maximum specs (I paid for extra memory and higher capacity SSD), given to me by Apple after the 4th replacement logic board on my previous 15" early 2011 MacBook Pro (also maximum specs) has been running fine now for 10 months. I hope it will continue that way.

Contrary to akamyself, I have unfortunately no time to re-start the whole enormous machinery of my use of Apple compatible software under Linux and to learn Linux, so I am pretty happy with Apple at present.

One thing though - I was able to clone my saved Mavericks onto a partition on this machine as its generation ante-dated Yosemite but was delivered with Yosemite. I have a 1TB SSD. So I was able to transfer stuff at my leisure and as required. I am about to wipe the Mavericks partition and install El Capitan, still in parallel with Yosemite.

The only trouble I have had with Yosemite is with Time Machine, which frankly doesn't work well on Yosemite and keeps having to re-create a complete new back-up. Painful.

So, generally happy - especially with Apple's and others' software.

yes, well... many people here experienced the same gpu failure, almost as many experienced different outcomes. even some got lucky not loosing too much time and/or money with their already expensive Apple product.

4th replacement though? you been patient.

just to be clear, Nickiwi, linux is not that all different from an os x, they're all unix based cousins.

no real learning curve, they have gnome, KDE and other desktop environments that makes you feel at home right away just like when you start you new mac computer the first time.

install ubuntu, you got all you need right away, want bare minimum, try arch and make your os the way you want/need.

everyone a bit curious about what a free and completely customizable OS is should install it on a partition, like you do with mavericks & yosemite, and give it a try.

no need to throw your mac os away from the start.

whatever people do this end of the year, I would just advise not to buy a brand new mbp with its old i7 but wait until may or june for the next ones to drop with (hopefully) updated processors for the same price.