Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Will Apple ever do something about this. Every time I call to applecare they tell me that this is not a known issue. I tell them to see the forums and their response is that they cannot use the forums to specify an issue. I am really screwed. Have been without laptop since thanksgiving. I did not thank Apple that day :/

My Late 2011 Macbook Pro just died as well after 2 years with the discrete GPU issue. It boots up to a grey screen and my warranty has expired. How can we request apple to admit that this is a manufacturing defect since so many people is experiencing this problem.

Hello everyone, just a quick update on my mbp early 2011.

After bringing it to the apple store and getting a bill of 600 euro, I decided to search for some alternatives. I found a business near Antwerp (Belgium) which does reflowing/reballing and even change the GPU. I've let them reflow my GPU and my mac is working flawlessly again. They were very friendly and explained exactly what they were going to do. I don't know if im allowed to post a link of their website or not, but just look for Comtec Belgium or so on google and you will find them!

I will keep you guys informed on how it keeps performing in the future and good luck to anyone with the same problem!

This is cool! Apple knows this issue and is working on it!

I received this email about my bug report.

"Hello Jesse,

Engineering has determined that your bug report (15542861) is a duplicate of another issue (15491111) and will be closed. "

Please, send bug reports too. It makes this issue go up on the priority queue.

I've received the same answer but unfortunately we can not see original bug and don't know what is going on.

Hello

Apple is investigating this in a serious manner, as an Authorized repair technician I have been told to gather all info about all cases of AMD graphincs issues of Early and Late 2011 15" MBP systems and we are reporting directly to Engineering for data collection. We are a medium sized repair center and have seen around 40 of these cases from as far as a year or so back, 1-3 cases trickling in every week.

Will keep you posted. This can take a while. :/

Word of advice, do not have your systems modified by third parties as this will void your possible extended warranty coverage.

Regards

Thank you very much for your reply. I really hope Apple does something about this. I stored my MBP to see what happens with this problem.

That is goodnews from you vicmacs...

Anyhow, for my case just to use it temporarily while waiting for a replacement program, i bring my MBP in a local but profesional shop to reflow my GPU with a BGA rework machine, and replace the thermal compound without removing the chip bond, does this activity can void my mbp 2011 from any replacemnt program?

Thank u for ur concern..

This started occuring to me yesterday during a cold snap here in Flagstaff: laptop comes out of sleep with black screen, hard reboot results in horizontal sync distortion even when USB keyboard trick forces it to external monitor.

I got it to work again both yesterday and today and initially thought that it was the result of some dead chicken waving (attach external kbd and monitor, reboot holding C or Opt down and immediately close lid).

It's more likely that taking it to my work office, where the ambient room temperature's at least 70°F, has more to do with it. My suspicion is that either the thermal paste or one of the GPU's connector pins on the laptop has contracted in the cold and that being restarted in a warmer room is the solution for now.

Interestingly while yesterday the console log was full of GPU kernel issues when it happened the first time, the log no longer records this error. Googling "** GPU Debug Info Start **" unsurprisingly links right back to forum posts about this family of GPUs failing in laptops not running Windows. (for the record, HP laptop owners with the same family of GPUs have reported problems as well)

Because I'm under deadline at the moment, I'm reluctantly considering using gfxCardStatus to force integrated rather than discrete graphics and aiming to avoid GPU intensive applications while I can. It's my employer's call as to whether it's more productive to pour money into a laptop manufactured in January 2012 or to replace it.

andrewroazen wrote:

 

or one of the GPU's connector pins

Silly rabbit, GPUs don't have pins any more. Sheesh, what a mechanically weak technology.

If only i knew about this sooner.... I could have revived it with just making sure my gpu was cooled down properly

Not likely. I for one was trying to ensure the best possible climate for my Mac always with an eye on temperatures, voltages and unnecessary dGPU use. The MBP was carefully cleaned from dust and lint every few months, never placed on soft surfaces, key values monitored and the fan minimum speed set a little higher than it needed to be right from the beginning. Yet my system failed...

The MBP was carefully cleaned from dust and lint every few months, never placed on soft surfaces, key values monitored and the fan minimum speed set a little higher than it needed to be right from the beginning. Yet my system failed...

Yeah. It's sad but all the hints are bogus :/ I changed the thermal compound on mine quite some time ago and while it made the whole thing a few degrees cooler it failed anyway.

@degger

I meant buying a thermal paste and applying it myself. Had i known about the improper use of it.

Ohh i did not see your post @matthewadams. Then it would have failed anyways i guess.

I meant buying a thermal paste and applying it myself. Had i known about the improper use of it.

I know. But the point is: There're people who kept the temperature in check (like me) and never excessively used the dGPU at all and other who have changed the thermal paste (and had generally lower temperatures with the same usage), yet the device failed. From what I've learned it's not the temperature (at least not as lone factor) that makes the device jump off the edge but seemingly some processing fault that shows up sooner or later anyhow on affected devices.