Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Hey guys, I strongly recommend to remove AMD drivers when you still can boot your mac in to normal or safe mode. If you are using only gfxCardStatus is not solving (temporary) the problem. When something will happen and gfxCardStatus will not switch you to integrated card then you will have big problem to boot your mac again.

Follow the way described in some post here or on MBPDiscretegraphics page on facebook.

This solution prevents (temporary) the system to initialize drivers for AMD card durring boot process.

thanks Miro, this worked for me, I couldn't boot anymore, now I can't use the discrete video card anymore but at least I can use the mac.

Well there might be exceptions but removing those drivers makes matters worst as noted by myself and others here..

odarellmc wrote:

 

Well there might be exceptions but removing those drivers makes matters worst as noted by myself and others here..

Yes, I dont recommend removing the AMD drivers, I did this in desperation and it makes the use of the mbp worse, the color changed, couldnt adjust brightness, and there were glitches everywhere and everything was slow, tried to put back the drivers but couldnt make them to work, so spent the last couple of days reinstalling the OS, took a long time because the machine didnt wanted to boot, but its all fine now.

It will only make it worse if you removed the AMD drivers when the system was booting with the discrete chip as the default chip.

You must first make sure you first select from Integrated using gfxCardStatus then shutdown and remove the drivers.

The only other way I know to get the system to boot from Integrated is to force the system to overhead and let it shutdown automatically - once that happens your next boot will be using the integrated chip and it works fine.

Well, my MBP is now in getting its 4th logic board. I thought I might have gotten lucky seeing this one lasted 6 months, but not the case. I have 3 months left of applecare and then I'll be officially screwed.

the replacement logic board should come with a 90 day warranty

If it's not too late, maybe ask them to replace the heatsink too?  Or at least investigate the interaction between the heatsink and the GPU die?  When you get it back, pay attention to that yourself.  Keep an eye on both the GPU temp and the GPU heatsink temp.

If the analysis of that shop in Germany is correct, then either a cooling problem turned the existing CTE mismatch into a destructive force or the GPU itself was producing much more heat than it should have.   IMHO, any shop that has visual inspection equipment and uses it to do a pre-repair analysis sets them apart from the others in a very good way.  It's a sample size of one, but it's still the best information that we have at this point.  Based on that, we should pay attention to thermal resistance, thermal conductivity, a problem with the heatsink, a problem with the GPU itself, or a combination of these variables.

Reports of the heatsink not fitting properly are rare, but it may also be the sort of thing that folks aren't very likely to notice.  I've seen it pop up on some Mac Minis with a single piece heatsink.  There have been a couple of cases where it fits perfectly against the CPU, but leaves a gap with the GPU.  Even 1/10th of one millimeter would make a big difference in the thermal resistance of the interface material.

I know it's hard to keep a conputer tranformed into a paperweight and don't do anything about it, but really is anybody ok paying for a new logic board even knowing it comes from a batch of failing laptops?

Please read the solution posted on facebook page carefully. Most of you or maybe all (not sure) have built-in Intel HD 3000 chip, which working fine when system uses integrated card.

If you noticed problems on "integrated card" like very very slow animation, wrong colors, etc, you probably did the FIX wrong and system didnt load any drivers.

My mac working fine after Ive applied the fix (line-by-line) and in every boot I'm on Integrated chip.

Even after i did EFI update back (or forward, because ive tested if maybe there is a issue with EFI) from 2.3 to version 2.7 my mac booted after update ok on integrated card.

Please read the post and did right - then you can (somehow) easy work with your mac.

miro_r wrote:

 

Please read the solution posted on facebook page carefully. Most of you or maybe all (not sure) have built-in Intel HD 3000 chip, which working fine when system uses integrated card.

 

Please read the post and did right - then you can (somehow) easy work with your mac.

Is it possible to connect/use an external monitor after removing AMD drivers?

I've only gone so far as to set gfxCardStatus to "integrated only" mode... but this causes  mbp to ignore my external monitor (re: color calibrated Dell u2410 connected via thunderbolt). I also tried closing the lid to see if I could use only 1 monitor (albeit, external), but that didn't work either.

... will try to check it tomorrow at work and will let you know - do not have connector at home.

Please don't call that a "fix". That is just a terrible workaround that could (in some cases) make your computer work or boot by disabling the discrete graphics processor... It's like a car running on 1 piston when it normally has 4. It may work, maybe, at a very low speed and for a few miles. Soon the engine will be completely fried anyway.

These 2011 computers are faulty and need hardware repair. Every software approach is a temporary workaround that may or may not help to keep alive the system for some time and only to create a backup as soon as possible.

What we need really is help from Apple and official information about this defective hardware and possible solutions. But Apple does not seem to be helping too much here.

Hey, does anyone know if this is operaitng system specific.  I have Lion 10.7.5 still and thought about upgrading to Mavericks since it is free.  I have the base 15" early 2011 model with the smaller graphics card.  So far so good at a little over 2 years (other than my enter key stopped working due to a ridiculiusly small spill, apple took it apart, wanted $610, i refused repair, and now entire keyboard doesn't work...using external, but that's just me venting on horrible Apple epxerience).  So now I am wondering if I should avoid the upgrade, and ****, avoid repairing my upper case if this is just going to fry soon anyway.

Looks like external monitor is not working on Intel HD graphics Card - tested on Mini Displayport -> HDMI connector.