Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card
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Dec 23, 2013 11:14 AMby nudoru,My upgrades were: 16 GB or 1600mhz RAM (Corsair Vengance), 250GB Samsun 840 Pro as the main harddrive and the stock Apple 750gb replacing the DVD drive. I swapped it all back, installed OS X 10.8.4 (before Mavericks was released) and it all worked fine for 2 weeks. Then it started crashing again with the usual symtoms. Swapped my upgrades back piece by piece and no change in behavior. No change with Mavericks either.
Logic board replacement is still holding. 3-month warranty on it is up mid-Jan. so I hope it holds!
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Dec 23, 2013 12:20 PMby Julus,Another authorized service sent me reply with options
logic board replacement -630 eur - authorized solution
rebailing of GPU - 180 eur
replacement of GPU - 240 eur
Also I was told that rebailing or gpu replacement may cause problems if Apple issues replacement program fo MBP. Currently I have decided to wait half a year, (buying another notebook), and then I will proceed most probably with of GPU replacement.
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Dec 23, 2013 2:49 PMby Oliver F,It's not surprising swapping memory would potentially fix the problems short term.
As the source issue is a bad contact between the GPU and the board, when you open the Base and play with the memory it puts pressure on the logic board and probably restablished contact for a short while.
For the first two weeks it happened to me, I could get a good screen by pressing down hard on the top-middle part of the keyboard under which the GPU is mounted. But as time goes by, it just will get worse.
Only the cleaning of the mountains of surplus thermal paste applied in factory and reflowing the GPU with a SMD reworkstation finally fixed my problem. Now running fine again since 3 weeks.
See my post above for instructions. SMD reworkstations can be had for USD 99.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10706
But it does require care and some basic skills. As other said, if you dont know what you are doing bring it to a laptop repair shop, they are well aware of these sort of problems. It's not unusal on cheaper laptopo too:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=reflow+gpu&sm=3
It still ***** paying for a premium laptop and experiencing this. The profit margin should allow for a decent warranty reserve on Apple's behalf. More than disapointing...
Ollie.
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Dec 23, 2013 4:27 PMby D3us,Oliver F wrote:
It's not surprising swapping memory would potentially fix the problems short term.
As the source issue is a bad contact between the GPU and the board, when you open the Base and play with the memory it puts pressure on the logic board and probably restablished contact for a short while.
For the first two weeks it happened to me, I could get a good screen by pressing down hard on the top-middle part of the keyboard under which the GPU is mounted. But as time goes by, it just will get worse.
Only the cleaning of the mountains of surplus thermal paste applied in factory and reflowing the GPU with a SMD reworkstation finally fixed my problem. Now running fine again since 3 weeks.
See my post above for instructions. SMD reworkstations can be had for USD 99.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10706
But it does require care and some basic skills. As other said, if you dont know what you are doing bring it to a laptop repair shop, they are well aware of these sort of problems. It's not unusal on cheaper laptopo too:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=reflow+gpu&sm=3
It still ***** paying for a premium laptop and experiencing this. The profit margin should allow for a decent warranty reserve on Apple's behalf. More than disapointing...
Ollie.
Suppose you do this with the best intentions.
And comment in it to not DIY if you don't know much about it, which is your best advise.
Imo, all those videos using hot air guns, hairblowers or whatever should be deleted.
Even the ones using a real hot air soldering gun are not the best for BGA rework.
Most we had coming in after failing DIY attempts were scrap.
Might not be visible at first sight.
But after lifting the bga you'll see it's blistered.
Examing the pcb bga pattern shows same problem, glue destroyed, solder pads layer bubbled, sometimes burned.
Makes it unrepairable, only suitable as a paper weight.
Most repairshops have a "no fix no pay" policy but won't even thake in DIY repair tries anymore.
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Dec 23, 2013 5:21 PMby Deadmailbox,currently using MBP 17" (early 2011)
i purchased this back in Singapore 2 yrs ago.
yes i've been experiencing the same issue with you guys (started just this month), freeze/hang/blue screen/black screen/gray screen/pink vertical lines etc etc specially when i try to openning/switching multiple tabs on chrome/ play video (mkv)
so yeah i need to do hard reset this laptop.
now im using gvfxCardstatus as a work around.
APPLE needs to answer this issue as soon as possible. already submited this issue also through the support portal.
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Dec 24, 2013 7:58 AMby andrewroazen,As I said before, there's a solid chance Apple's trying to determine where in the supply chain this mistake was made. Intel's responsible for their logic boards, Foxconn builds them, and AMD supplied the chips (potentially advising which solder to use and how to apply it).
It's a waste of time and a genuine replacement program needs to go into effect. The last time it was measured Apple had more liquid cash than the United States treasury and while there'd be some hurt replacing all the MBPs it would advertise a company's commitment to product.
Not doing this is going to be a black eye for the company if the userbase (most of whom are indeed professionals whose work was adversely affected by this) took action more substantial than complaining on the internet.
To the people who've been arguing about software, OS version, and hardware upgrades, stop trying to be smarter than the rest of us. We've had hardware techs in this thread express concerns that phosphorus additives to the lead-free solder that prevent oxidation made it brittle. BGA mounts were invented and patented without any consideration for other solder materials and the patent holder died 2 years ago.
The fact that the current MBPs available only use Intel Iris integrated graphics (i.e., CPU using more conventional mounting tech) seems not coincidental. No AMD, no nVidia.
To the moderators who have been so far very lenient about moderating this thread: this problem is going to get worse before it gets better. Parents of college students who buy their children MacBooks might expect no more than a 24-36 month lifespan of the product but creatives who spend between $2200–$3000 on a portable workstation do so because they know from experience the ROI is worth it. This is substantially below expectations and radio silence from Tim coupled with Genius Bar employees feigning ignorance will have consequences.
Me, my hardware's paid for by my employer, a state university which can replace it, but I count myself in the minority of the MBP userbase.
Do something about this.
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Dec 25, 2013 2:15 AMby carl wolf,"We've had hardware techs in this thread express concerns that phosphorus additives to the lead-free solder that prevent oxidation made it brittle."
Lead-free solder is not brittle due to "phosphorus additives". Lead-free solder is more brittle to the fundamental nature of the lead-free solder. It is simply less ductile than leaded solder.
"BGA mounts were invented and patented without any consideration for other solder materials and the patent holder died 2 years ago."
Lead-free solder was first implemented 10 years ago, and has been the only solder used since 2006, in any consumer electronics - not just the Apple MBP. There's more than one patent applicable to BGA technology, and the death of one individual does not hamper the onward progression of technology.
