Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Of course gfxCardStatus is not a long term solution at all. It can just help to keep the computer running for some time, if gpu is not yet completely fried, preventing it from booting to the gui. This hardware problem does not have any real solution: Apple should take responsability and give some technical information about that.

I have a MBP 15" early 2011. A few months ago, some weird purple lines covered the entire screen. Then, the lines disappeared and everything was fine (I did nothing to fix it, it lasted 2 days).
A few weeks ago I was using the computer normally, the screen went black and I had to force the shut down. When I pressed the power button the computer starts normally but with no screen, it's all black. I see the lights of the keyboard turning on 30 seconds after, the sound buttons do make sound. It's like everythings OK except the screen.

I assume it's a logicboard issue. I went to the apple tech service, they ask €600 for a new logicboard.

I find this unacceptable coming from a company like Apple where we pay for quality. These things can't happen. Apple, please react!

- Petition signed.

- Bug Report sent.

- Facebook page liked.

- Survey responded

and waiting...

I encourage everyone who is using it to donate for gfxcardstatus. (Cody Krieger)

Without this free app my macbook would be unusable. It's a life saver.

What's the facebook page?

don't forget to bookmark this discussion, so you won't miss a single post

@guaranna

I had the same reaction about donating to Cody Krieger, the developer of gfxcardstatus, initially, after discovering this thread and sucessfully running my MBP2011 for my applications using the integrated card only. But then, I found out that he's an Apple employee (Safari team developer), which means (a) he's probably pretty well compensated to begin with, and (b) he, perhaps more than anyone at Apple, should be aware of this issue that affects our computers. After all, why do you think he wrote the app? To be able to turn the graphics cards off independently to test for problems related to one or the other. Maybe instead of donating to Mr. Krieger, we should be trying to work through him to get to Apple's management team. Thanks for the app, Cody, but your company still needs to fix this issue.

Better yet subscribe so you receive all the updates and all the messages that Apple then deletes from this thread.

that's what I meant. Thanks!

now we have a contact!

I switched to Mac because of three reasons:

1) I work as a software developer.

2) I have a rock band.

3) I also work as a freelance photographer.

I really love Linux, but 2) and 3) are really complicated on that OS. I despise Windows, which could provide 2) and 3), so I decided to go buy the expensive thing.

I've had two MacBook Pros. Zero issues with the first one (13'' Core 2 Duo) so I decided to step up and go with a 15'' i7 Macbook Pro (Early 2011 model, with the ATI 6750m discrete card. Serial number C02F944YDF8X). Problems appeared right away:

1) The audio jack got loose. I have bought a $2000USD computer that has a 3.5'' jack that was worse than the one you can find in a $20USD radio. There was no way to get a cable to stay inside the jack, the minor movement lifted it off from the jack. Really useful in rehearsals (we used the Mac to trigger Reason loops). Not to mention the stage. This is, actually, old news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W0rhmzMgBo. (more than 60,000 views!).

2) The memory card slot stopped working. Again, something that flawlessly works in most $20USD adapters you can buy in any tech store. Since then, I had to carry my external SD card slot everywhere. Not the worst problem in the world, but indeed an annoying one. This is, again, old news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbc0l-t3f1Q (almost 130,000 views!!).

3) Random glitches. The first thing I did after buying the laptop, was to update it with a hybrid Seagate Momentus XT 500GB disc. I had used my first MBP with that disk with excellent results, hence I didn't hesitate to buy a second one. To my surprise, every 8 or 10 hours, the Spinning Beach Ball of Dead would appear, and I was eager to blame the disc for that, since I could still perform tasks that did not require disk access. But later on, I discovered that it was the first symptom of something way, way worse.

-----> ISSUE NUMBER 4 <-----

This issue needs no introduction. It is widely known in the Apple community, so I'll just post the relevant links for you to refer to:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?start=0&tstart=0 (119 pages!)

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4637833?start=0&tstart=0 ( 11 pages)

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2768351?start=0&tstart=0 (144 pages!)

There's even a site set up in order to raise awareness on this issue:

http://www.mbp2011.com/

And a poll in order to gather data from the affected customers:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1PuJ2QS2Ri7fw9HVaNHLQ4OYZCb99zonc96HmhTWEAoY/vie wform

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsGSu8v7DhVUdFNtRzUtRVFIeE50ajJyTWJ yeVRzNVE#gid=0

Let me just address the key issues about this:

1.- Flawed design makes the Mac overheat and this leads the ATI card to stop functioning.

2.- Things go from infrequent hangs to distorted video, and they always result on the same outcome: the Mac ceases to boot, either temporarily or permanently. Most users (including myself) end up with an useless Mac that won't even boot.

3.- In most cases, issues appear after 2 years of usage, which is out of the original warranty in most cases.

4.- Users reporting to Apple got their logic boards changed (prices ranging from $530USD to $1200USD depending on the country). Almost all users reported that the replacement board only solved the issue for a couple months. Something that strengthens the idea that the design of this Mac is flawed.

5.- 0 people got a replacement Mac from Apple after reporting this issue.

6.- There are no intentions of Apple to issue a recall program for this.

7.- Known affected users are more than 300.

8.- This only occurs in certain top-of-the-line products.

Conclusion:

How come a brand like Apple forget about the main reason most people switched over to Mac in the first place?

We want the best quality. We are not afraid to paid the ridiculously high prices Apple sells their machines for.

We are professionals. We're not spoiled kids taking selfies on their iPhones. We're making Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, GitHub and all the apps that makes the computing world go round.

We're composing music and playing it live on Macs.

We're selling our photographs after editing them in our Macs.

And all we get is some mediocre hardware (performance never excelled on this machine, the i5 Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E430 running Ubuntu that I have at work outperforms my Mac every single time) that can't even hold for 2 (yes, two) years.

Furthermore, Apple is refusing to acknowledge this issue and to provide a feasible solution.

Final words:

I worked a lot to finally get a Mac.

This is what I have now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihoYFWq2LpE

Gfxcardstatus isn't even a short term fix. The minute u try to switch it to integrated the computer freezes..

I could not have said it better

I'm sure Apple knows about this, not quite sure if they know now or knew it before we paid for our "top-of-the-line" mbp. Now we're here sit on our broken computers waiting for a solution.

LociKW wrote:

 

...Assuming the reballing temporarily works for some, it does seem like a GPU seating problem; but could that be the ATI chip operating out of spec or support chips?  I surely have no idea.  I don't know if anytone does.

 

GPU seating in relation to support chips is an interesting point.  Without question, the fact that the memory packages are installed on the bottom side of the PCB, opposite the GPU, means that more things can go wrong during assembly.  This type of situation can give rise to what is known as a "double reflow failure".  I haven't thought about it much because Apple didn't really change the layout of this area between 2010, 2011, and 2012.  Still, it's possible that something wasn't handled correctly in 2011.  Or perhaps a single badly calibrated machine on one assembly line?

This is another thing that we might get some clues about from imaging.  The types of failures and location of those failures might point us in the right direction.

If anyone is interested in reading more, the feature article in the September edition of SMT Magazine is about double reflow failures (by Julie Silk, starts on page 14).

Assuming the reballing temporarily works for some...

Are we seeing reports of reball failures?  I've only seen reports of reflow failures, and most of those of the home-brew variety.

guaranna wrote:

 

...The way I understood it; many issues could be the culprit but when they joined the gpu to the motherboard if there was too much of a temperature difference the two pieces move a bit over time and with later temperature change.. and that's when the connections break...

 

Aye.  A bad thermal profile or unexpected temperature gradients from faulty equipment can certainly be problematic during assembly.  She/he may have also been talking about the differences in expansion rates between different materials.  This is commonly referred to as the CTE mismatch (mismatch in the coefficient of thermal expansion).  This can also cause problems down the road.  I've said previously that I think it would be uncharacteristic of Apple to get the math wrong on this, but the best math in the world can be undermined once parts and materials start arriving from the lowest bidders on these contracts.  Agree that CTE mismatch is something to keep in mind, but I suspect in relation to other variables.