Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

There's an Apple Store in my town and its also the Authorised Repair Centre....both are managed by the same people..

Whatttt??? Two years!?!??!

That's a tad toooo loooooonnnggg!!!

What do we do till then?!?!?!?!

Can't we do anything apart from ranting at the "Feedback" section?

Like write an epetition and circulate it?

Cuz the Apple people here seem to take the issue very lightly..

That is the main reason I prefer to get it fixed from outside, apple authorised service people told me that the logic board will cost 45k to 50k, and it's already out of warranty. And I don't think so recall will there and if there will be that will take months to happen and still no insurance that the fix will be permanent. So I am getting it fixed and will get a new one and keep it as a Internet surfing lappy.

Peachepe, I had my first crash today since installing 10.9.1.  This crash was the one where the screen splits and the right side of the screen is on the left side.  This is the first time I've had that crash.

It looks like I'll be making a trip to the Apple store and going through the hassle that everyone else is going through.

Hi everyone,

I wrote to iFixIt, told them about the Apple Insider article, and asked them if they could help us investigating root cause of the issue.

They just got back to me and told they've heard about the issue and will see what they can do to raise awareness.

I have had the same problem with my macbook pro (2011 model).  I took it in almost a month ago and was told it's probably a graphics card issue that will be remedied by replacing the logic board.  I can't afford to do that right now, but I have been able to use my laptop though and I'd like to tell everyone how they can get their laptop out of discrete mode when its stuck. 

So when the computer gets the blue bars on the screen, I have to start up in SAFE mode (holding shift on the keyboard during start-up).  Once it boots, I open system preferences, then go into energy saver and I select "1 min" for computer sleep and "1 min" for display sleep.  I then select Automatic graphics switching (which for some reason selects on and off at will) and lock my changes.  I quit the Energy Saver and then I put my laptop off to the side, leave it open and let it go to sleep.  I leave it alone (don't touch it or close it) for about 10-15 minutes and once I get it out of sleep mode by hitting a key on the keyboard my graphics look completely normal.  I then reboot so I am not longer in safe mode and I can use my computer.

A lot of people on here say to restart your computer a few dozen times and it will eventually start using the integrated graphics card.  I find that my method is easier.  Sometimes it doesn't work the first time but keep doing it and it will.  You can try letting it sleep a little longer.  If your computer is getting really heated while its asleep then it is not working... Shut it down and try again. 

Once the computer starts off correctly, go back into energy settings and make sure you reset your energy settings to never sleep.

I'm running 10.6.8 because I'm scared to update my computer with this issue.  I have gfxCardStatus but it doesn't let me choose to use one graphic card exclusively.  So to keep my laptop using the integrated graphics card I only use safari and I have turned off flash so videos won't show.  I can use document programs fine and I can also watch youtube videos in firefox, but only one at a time.  And that's all I'll do when using firefox... if I start searching the web the screen will lock up and I have to do what I mentioned above to get my computer workable again.

I know how hard this is and we all have different issues going on but I hope this helps someone. 

I sent emails to Apple's media folks, their feedback section, and now Aplle Insider.  I provided a brief synopsis of the issue and a link to this forum.  Maybe if everyone began to bombard as many places as possible, this will get some traction and rise to the top of Apple's watch list.

Speaking of Apple's Feedback form, none of the categories strike me as accurate for the problem we're having:

Which do you recommend I use? Bug Report?

bug report

(I know it's hardware related though that's what I chose and saw It mentioned a few times in forums too)

After my previous post in which I recommended changing the screen resolution upon starting your mac and before using any graphic heavy program...I haven't had any problems until last night when i decided to connect my mac to my television screen to watch a movie off it. As soon as i did it, the screen began to flicker and distort...i hurrried up and disconnected it from my tv and a lil later my blue screen problem resurfaced when I opened up photoshop. After a few restarts and trying out other graphic heavy programs (without changing the resolutiion first)  such as Final Cut X....the same crashes occured...but only this time it didn't go blue...just distorted screen.

While the screen was distored, (big black bar in the middle and the left side of the screen was on the right side..and the right side was on the left side) I managed to get into the display settings by pressing Option and F2, and changed the resolution and the screen returned to normal.  I ended up repairing all permisions and checking the hard drive and found no errors. I then restarted my mac again and b4 anything, changed the screen resolution a few times upon launch....and haven't had any probems since. 

Not sure how this helps anyone, but just putting it out there...again.

tenhaus.com, I guess my computer is in a worse state than yours, weather is insanely hot, that doesn't help.

So, to end my story. After four times visiting the Apple Store, 500 euros spent plus a brand new 13 inches Macbook pro I needed to buy since I had no working computer and a considerable amount of energies and mood changes, Apple has finally given me the replacement unit: a 15 inches Macbook Pro retina display. I must say that they have recovered all lost credit. I dont know if this is the official policy but with me they have been very fair after all the pain I have gone through. Now I have two brand new Macbook pros...

Sorry I don't understand what you mean by they have recovered all lost credit...

Did they refund the 500Euros you spent on the repair and give you the Retina Macbook Pro -

Or they they keep the 500Euros and give you the Retina Macbook Pro.

Can you also list the Country and Store you went too.

Cheers!

I mean that I lost faith in them and they have managed to recover me as a customer. I did not get my money back (that will only happen if Apple acknowledges the problem publicly, then I could opt for a refund). I am currently in Germany.