Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

I sent my OWC memory back as the Apple hardware test were indicating that it was bad. This was one of the very first things I did and I was initially relieved to have found the "cause" of the problem. Trouble is, it was just the tip of the iceberg as it turns out.

Curious that you are not the only person whose RAM went bad at the same time. I wonder if there could be a connection here -- an electrical spike of some sort?

M

um, other than you, nobody said anything about "temporary problem" -- those are you words not mine.

For those of you still interested in an open discussion, it is important to understand that there is no difference between software and firmware -- they are the same thing. And while a firmware upgrade might have caused and/or contributed to our observed behaviors, it is equally plausible that it is some software that many of us are using (e.g. facebook, flash, adobe reader, etc, etc) that may also be contributing to the problems. Anyone who says otherwise really doesn't understand software/hardware and to suggest otherwise is not only flat out wrong, but is muddying the waters.

Michael (enterprise software architect)

3 weeks ago my macbookpro(early 2011) started to have problems. Blue screens/lines followed by a complete crash.

Had an appointment at the genius-bar and was offered a logicboard-replacement for 500 euro's (incl VAT).

I denied the offer and I'm still searching for a better/cheaper solution.

I'm deeply dissapointed in Apple for the lack of support on this problem and find it shameful that they let people pay for fixing what seems a design-flaw.

The macbook broke down after 2,5 years which is not a lifespan one can expect for a 2200 euro laptop.

The Linux-mint-partition (which I installed a year ago) works fine, it doesn't use the ATI-radeon-card. Everthing works smooth, even HD-video.. so thumbs up for linux.

Unfortnately Linux doesn't support the (adobe)software I use for work.

I moved the drivers ATIRadeonX3000.kext and ATISupport to another folder, which seems to prevent the crashing. Unfortanately the annoying blue horizontal lines remain. Plus I cannot dim the screen and it won't go in standby-mode.

My system is Snow-Leopard, which isn't supported by the GFXcardstatus-utility. Does anyone have more insight on what drivers to disable to get the funcionality(minus the ATI-graphics) of my Mac back? (without the blue distortion, etc)

(I havent read all of the 93 pages of this thread yet..)

Well, this was my story.. Thanks  in advance for any help....

Got my MBP back a few days ago after the GPU-failure, paid more than 600 euro to the logic board. 2 days later, encountered the same problem again!!! I rebooted and everything's fine now, But it's clear that the problem hasn't been fixed yet and it's like a time bomb that the problem will eventually occur again!

So here it is in a nutshell.  My early MBP15 was doing the same exact thing, split screening, locking up during boot up, etc.  Took it in finally last week, paid almost $700USD for a fix.  This am, while watching YouTube, it did it again.  *** Apple?  I run my MBP with the 6750M as the only gpu running, I do not care for switching.  With a new logic board, I would not expect this failure again with less than 24 hours of run time.  This is outrageous.  I will call the Apple Store when they open this am, and I am sure I get another joyful experience with a bunch of condescedning children.  However, I will not pay for anything.  Nothing.  They "fixed" it, now they need to actually fix the problem.

Apple, I know you abandon all of your users who do not choose to run the newest thing each year, but you need to figure this nonsense out.  Now.

raymand.to:  THAT is exactly the problem.  90 day BS warranty, and then it fails again for another 600 setback.  Oh no Apple, that will be a good way to get one of your "genius" kid's eyes dotted.

That is my experience as well. After insisting for for times they have promised me a replacement unit. I'm waiting to receive it.

The apple store also diagnosed my OWC ram as defective. I removed the 16GB and put in my older 8GB set in preparation to send it off for a warranty claim. The computer failed again with the other ram so I thought the bad ram report was false. Did OWC confirm the ram was actually bad for anyone upon exchange?

I called OWC and told that that my RAM was defective and they allowed me to pay the full amount for the replacement RAM and in 3 days I received the new RAM. Then I shipped them my defective RAM and when they received it they gave me a full refund. So the answer to your question is no, they do not need any kind of proof that your RAM is defective before they are willing to supply you with a replacement

edevera:  Are they issuing you a brand new early 2011 MBP, or other?

Update:

After my MPB early 2011 had the classical malfunction we are all too aware of here. I came across some further anomaly that I wanted to share:

1. I had all the symptoms of a broken GPU ( as I had 2 times before which I used to solve with logicboard replacements ). The blue screen kicked in during boot up.

2. What I found odd though was that when I disabled the AMD drivers, it still occured. At this point I wasn't sure if the system still somehow dragged the driver into the process.

3. Then I needed to access some files on the computer to I connected my broken MBP with another MBP I got form a friend, via Thunderbolt. Afer getting all the files I needed, I just for fun and testing, I booted the new MBP with the harddrive image of the broken MBP. It all worked fine, as it should. Then I tried to boot the image of the new MBP on the broken MBP, which didn't work, as expected.

4. 2 days later, I just switched on the broken MBP. And to my surprise, it booted up with no problem ( I'm writing this post on it ). What I realized though is that in the GFX status, the dedicated AMD GPU is running.

So, I tried to switch to the Intel chip, but the system refuses, stating that a connected Monitor is detected ( which is not ). So the system seems to run stable on the AMD GPU.

5. I ran a AHT ( although it refused to start in the past, I have to us "option-D", and all of a sudden it works , which is very odd ). Normally when I started it before, it came always back with an error code after the little planet was spinning when trying to connect to the internet ( it didn't matter if I was connected via WiFi or Ethernet cable on different connections). No problem discovered.

Conclusion:

That the AMD processor seem to run properly, the only thing I can imagine is that the integrated GPU was actually the culbrit. But then its also odd, cause I could boot in to single-user mode and I would have figured for the minimal "console" rendering it would rather use the integrated GPU then the AMD one.

I also can't explain why he system insists of having a outside monitor detected although NONE is connected, nor is any other Thunderbolt device connected.

I just wanted to bring this to the attention to the community. Maybe someone can put the pieces of the puzzle together.

By the way my SMC version is 1.69f3. But I pretty much think I remember I updated it on the 1.69f4 some time ago.

This whole thing is really, really odd.  

It has happened. Much sooner than expected.

I received my 'fixed' MBP back from Currys on Friday night. I have just been watching something on Netflix.

The same problem happened. This time my MBP restarted itself. But the signs are here already.

Changing the logic board isn't a fix. It is a sham.

Apple, I am coming.

For those of you still interested in an open discussion, it is important to understand that there is no difference between software and firmware -- they are the same thing.

No they're not. Firmware refers to software running in separate embedded sytems which are not subject to run under a general purpose operating system. Examples for such systems running their own firmware inside the MBP would be the thunderbolt controller and the SMC but they're usually a couple more like a battery controller, a flash controller, a WLAN subsystem, etc.

And while a firmware upgrade might have caused and/or contributed to our observed behaviors, it is equally plausible that it is some software that many of us are using (e.g. facebook, flash, adobe reader, etc, etc) that may also be contributing to the problems.

No, that's utter nonsense. CPUs and GPUs do not generally (of course a few chips had undesired bugs in their design but those are really the exception) allow to program hardware destructive behaviour. To provide protection against overheating all relevant designs in the last decade or so have internal diodes and do automatic thermal throttling. The idea alone the there could be software destroying hardware of exactly two models of one brand but identical software runs fine on all other products is quite ridiculous.

Hi marcoliverhofer, you are currently using your machine on fallback drivers because you removed the AMD drivers.

It says you have a display attached because it doesn't recognised the notebook's inbuilt display.

Because of this it will not allow you to switch to the integrated chip.

Your system wont be running very smooth using the fallback drivers and you probably wont be able to switch back to the intergrated chip until you reinstalled the AMD drivers, boot the system, select Integrated with gfxCardStatus and then remove the AMD drivers again.

Cheers.

I called apple support this morning and spoke to a Sr tech.  He mentioned the AMD 6750M version was a known issue and they were offering repairs Unfortunately, my computer is running the AMD 6490M.  They are forwarding my case to the Engineering department.  With 1000's of people having the exact same issue and with 85 pages of complaints on this forum alone..not to mention all of the other forums/news articles/lawsuits about this exact issue you would think Apple would want to address this.

Hey, I'd just like to know, what did the Apple Sr tech exactly say about the AMD 6750M version? What repairs were being offered, have they started the repair program yet? You're the first one who seems to have got any sort of acknowledgment from an Apple tech, so it'd be really useful for all of us to know what exactly they said. If the 6750M version is being acknowledged, it is definitely a positive step, even for other versions.

I've been following this thread continuously. I had given my MBP (Early 2011 15") for its 2nd repair (I had mentioned earlier, the logicboard I paid for gave in after 40 days, only consolation was that it was under the 90 day warranty, and it was only after the replaced logic board failed that I stumbled upon this thread). This time I told them to perform addition graphic intensive testing, so they kept it for few extra days too. I did mention this thread. I was given a helpline number to call and they told me to mention my serial number and problem there. I am not sure how much help this will be but I will do it. Anyway, when I got my laptop back, something strange happened, the in-built Facetime camera was not being detected by any application or the system itself as a matter of fact. I gave it back the very next day (getting quite tired of running to and from the Apple store, have made 7 visits so far and I'm dreading the fact that there might be more) and the service people very apologetically told me they would test the machine again, and guess what, yup new logic board. This process has been sickening, the laptop has been barely at home in the past one month!

Quite frustrating, really. I paid a huge sum of money, INR 40k (roughly $700) in hope that the problem would be solved. Let's hope for the best, and that they acknowledge this soon.

tjohnsoniv1200, it would be great if you could provide some details about what the Apple tech said. thanks!