Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Fair point - I have acknowledged that there are things that don't work with this kext disabled, and others have added their issues (in both threads).  It offers more functionality than safe mode, but you never know what might or might not work.  I've been pretty happy with this stopgap for the last 2-3 weeks, nearly everything I do day-to-day has rendered and worked properly. 

Is it sad that this GPU issue has lowered my standards so much that "a few things don't work properly" seems wonderful and amazing - compared to a system that only occasionally boots, and then generally freezes or freaks out soon after boot if I make it there? 

Disabling the GPU is by no means a real "solution" to the issue. If you paid extra money for a dedicated GPU you have every right to expect it to work as promised. Keep calling and writing Apple until they acknowledge this manufacturing defect. It's despicable that they've ignored the issue this long.

Someone mentioned going to the media about this.

I'm afraid it seems this is the only solution which is likely to get Apple to do something (effective) about this!

I already sent this discussion to a geek website... I think that we should contact all the mac related website... This is the only way indeed!

So what I'm wondering is if this is a similar issue to the bad Nvidia chips... It seems to have the same symptoms, the same likely cause (solder), but yet it's ATI and not NVidia. It's almost like they somehow had the same problem with the same root cause. Thoughts on this?

Get it going:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/20-websites-every-apple-fan-must-bookmark/

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My sources tell me this problem started a few years ago when manufacturers tried to be 'green' and not use lead based solder.  It is not strictly an Apple issue either, but it is definitely a manufacturing defect.

On another note, I thought the blue tint when the discrete gpu kicked in was related to the eventual failure to boot.  I receive my repaired machine from apple a couple of weeks ago.  When the discrete turned on, I saw the same tint;  The cause of the problem is that there is a different video profile for each gpu!  After setting them both to the same, the problem went away.

[Apologies for cross-posting, but I wanted to get this onto all of the threads about issues with these early 2011 MBPs!]

I'd really love to find a way to represent how widespread and prolific this issue has become - it's hard to determine how many individual users are affected in ~2,000 posts across 3 different threads on this site alone.  It's also difficult to see if there are any trends in terms of the processor/GPU combination, when problems began, what may or may not have resolved problems, etc.

To this end, I've created an anonymous Google survey to collect some information about our issues in a centralized location:

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

This survey doesn't ask for any identifying information, but asks questions about your MacBook Pro - model, OS, issues you've experienced, contact and repairs pursued, etc.  I welcome any suggestions for additions, deletions, or modification of questions.  I'm hoping that having this information collected in a uniform and accessible way will make it easier for us to see trends and to document for Apple and others the affected products.

You can view a spreadsheet with the questions and responses collected  at (URL updated):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsGSu8v7DhVUdFNtRzUtRVFIeE50ajJyTWJ yeVRzNVE&usp=sharing

This problem just showed up for me last week.  I recently installed an SSD, but the blue screen issue didn't show up until a few days after it was installed (or at least, I didn't notice until then).  I also have FileVault 2 enabled.  I do not have Aperture or even Adobe Flash installed.  I do run Parallels for with a Windows 7 VM for school, but this has never presented an issue in the year plus I've been doing so.  The problem is consistently demonstrable by disabling automatic switching, which forces the computer into using the discrete graphics card.  The problem resolves itself once you re-enable auto switching, and it switches back to the integrated chip.

I find myself increasingly disillusioned with all the problems I've encountered since switching to a Mac.  I spent way too much money on this computer, and have put in too many upgrades, to have these silly issues keep cropping up.  My ThinkPad A31 from college still runs without issues, and the thing is over ten years old and has survived countless beer/wine spills.  Where is this vaunted Apple quality I kept hearing about before switching?

My machine stats (to help diagnose):

• Late 2011 MacBook Pro (15 inches)
• 16GB RAM
• Crucial m500 SSD, 480GB
• OSX 10.8.4

Sincerely,

A customer questioning why he bought a Mac

Add me to the list of those effected by this problem.  Same story as everyone else, this started happening during a game of Starcraft 2.  Today I was able to restart the computer after many tries and it worked fine until I used gfxcardstatus to switch to discrete mode...now i'm stuck unable to boot up again...Apple store gave me the 310$ repair shpiel...Which is pretty lame...this computer isn't old!  And I've taken perfect care of it!  *** bros?

Good job, I've filled the survey out too!

If your machine is in need of repair, I very HIGHLY recommend reading this article, then calling Apple Care (even if you're out of warranty) and following the advice in Step 3.

Because there is only so much the first-level people can do,  politely ask for a "Senior Advisor" when they won't agree to cover your out-of-warranty repair. Then, go through the Step 3 advice again with the Senior Advisor.

http://gigaom.com/2009/11/23/apple-tech-support-tips-4-steps-to-bend-apple-to-yo ur-will/

Have some talking points ready before you call, especially if you have a long history with Apple products. They will see your registration history in their system, which seems to help. Lastly, be polite at all times. The person you speak with had nothing to do with your machine's design or failure, but has everything to do with resolving it to your satisfaction.

No guarantees, but it certainly won't hurt you to give this a try.

Guys, I had the very same problem described here with my MPB Early 2011, but I was able to recover the discrete GPU functionality just by replacing the stock thermal compound. I posted about it on another thread (actually this thread should have been more appropiate, but I found the other one first):

https://discussions.apple.com/message/22630561#22630561

Good luck.

I'll be testing this tonight! Thx for info!

Unfortunatly this didn't work for me... so I guess it's time to hope for Apple to come through or I spend my dough on broken apple equipment..

I can also say that the Thermal Paste was horrible looking, and might have something to do with my issues, but that doesn't matter now.

Thanks for the tip though!