Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

It sounds to me like you got another bad board, as what else in the machine could be causing those issues?

I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with this. I'm not paying Apple $600+ to fix their own problem that they refuse to investigate or take responsbility for.

I really, really, really don't want to switch to a Windows machine, but if I go back to my Blackbook on a permanent basis (what I've been using for the last month or so), my $600 Dell 27" monitor is effectively junk (you need DP/MDP to drive a screen that's much larger than 1080p). The $2k MBP looks like it's a very expensive doorstop at this point, unless I can re-flow my Logic Board, which doesn't sound easy or fun, but at this point, Apple is not leaving me any good options...

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Oh its definitely another bad board. What's odd is that it seems like it only happens when the computer is really hot.

I sent an email to Cooks address, but have no expectation that anything will come of it. If they replace the board again, I'm just going to sell it on eBay for what I can get and get a new machine. What would really be nice is if they would just replace it with a slightly newer model that has the NVidia graphics instead of AMD, since that's what the problem is. I doubt it will ever happen though.

Yeah, it's a manufacturing issue with the solder, so maybe thermal expansion is exacerbating it... Or some other thermal effect... I'm not sure it's actually the GPU per se, but rather the connections between the GPU and the board on that particular model. It also somehow affects other parts of the board, as even with the gfxstatus program, some units have problems. I wish that the Intel graphics would drive the external display, as I'd be fine with Intel-only graphics, but that's not an option, and the problem seems to create other problems as well...

Definitely. Running on intel only was a horrible experience. Half the time Finder would stop responding and freeze the entire machine. Otherwise, it was just extremely unstable, and what I could do was extremely limited.

Yeah. It's definitely specific to this problem though, as I used to run Intel only a lot when I was unplugged, and it never had a single graphics-related issue.

Personally, I wouldn't sweat anything until Apple gets its hands on it--it sounds like a bad board but it could also be a litany of other things: poor repair workmanship, for example. It's not uncommon but that's what the warranty is meant to cover against. These things are built like watches and just as delicate inside.

I don't want to jinx myself but I've been running mine almost non-stop since I got it back and haven't had a hardware issue to speak of; my spotlight indexes were corrupted from the forced shutdowns but easily fixed by rebuilding them. If I have noticed anything, my MBP is running a tad cooler (meaning fans come on less) than it did before. If I am playing Diablo III, my MBP will have both fans at full speed; now it appears they only come on periodically and don't stay on.

It's a bad board. Just like the first was a bad board too. The problem isn't the repairs or anything else, its the design of the board itself.

I brought mine into the Apple store this weekend and got the same diagnosis, a bad logic board that needs to be replaced. I was provided very little information beyond this. "Why/how did this happen" is not a question they were able to answer to any degree of satisfaction. I'm being charged over $400 (US) for the repair. I've found this whole ordeal to be pretty outrageous. I tried to get the manager at the store to provide me the contact information of someone at Apple whom I could speak with in detail about the issue, but he refused. It's extremely disappointing that, despite a fair amount of evidence that there is a potential defect on the core component of this machine, the company is refusing to discuss the issue at all. This is a product geared toward professionals and there should be, at the very least, the courtesy to back that up.

Does anyone know what part of the machine is responsible for switching between the two graphics cards? Is it in the firmware?

Bart

This is obviously a widespread issue, and looks to be a manufacturing issue.

Everyone needs to submit feedback about this issue...without doing so there's no change we'll get Apple to act on this. It'll only take you 5 minutes max...remember to reference this thread!

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

Might also be worth referencing this thread as wel (125 pages)l:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2768351?start=1860&tstart=0

Same issue here..

Submitted feedback to apple..

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

I've submitted at least two or three times, and others should do the same.

Does anyone know if a logic board from the late 2011 models, or any others, will work in the early 2011 17" model?

Bart

I have the exact same problem. Thank you, Apple.

I just called Apple, again,  spoke with Courtney, and gave her this thread number, which is 4766577. She offered to fill out a "Data Capture" report that will be submitted to her Sr. Advisor, then hopefully that person will "send it up to the engineering dept."

I suggest we all do the same, then they'll see just how many of us are having this proplem.

Bart