Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

paul from south plainfield wrote:

 

I would, as a point of interest, like to know how many early 2011 Macbook pro owners have had their GPUs replaced (on their own, of course), and how those machines are faring.  However, if the GPU replacement is as successful as they say, I doubt those owners are following this discussion...

So I finally gave up waiting for Apple to make a move and sent my MBP to a repair shop that actually replaces the GPU. Up until now (only a couple of days) everything works perfectly, the fix cost 105€. 

Who the F#### are you to tell us what we should expect.

We will fight our battles. You have money buy applecare and make them richer. My my 800$ Acer lasted for 4 years with me.

I can atleast expect the same if not more from a 2500$ laptop

rvd1983 wrote:

 

Hi,

 

I also had this problem so what did work for me was a clean install.

 

After many tries, i managed to boot into recovery mode and did a clean install, even though my screen was all warped i still could start disk utility and erase my hd and start the install. After my machine restarted and the install was done i didn't have any problems. I hope this isnt temporaly fixed but i'm afraid the problem will return but for now it seems to run like it's supposed to.

 

I hope for everyone with this problem it will be fixed with some sort of quality program.

So it's been a couple of days since i did a clean install and my machine is still working fine on the discrete gpu. It's important to say that when i did the clean install i  installed my tm backup and immediatly after it was installed the machine crashed. So i had to do a new clean install, but since than the machine is running fine. So don't recover your backup after the clean install. I now only reinstall the programs i need and get the documents that i need from my back up disk. Has anyone tried this because this seems to work for now? As i said in my first post you probably need to reboot the machine a few times before you can open recovery mode. I keep my fingers crossed but right now it looks good.

Some of us have products that are still in (extended) warranty and I truly feel for those of us who do not.  What you don't seem to understand is that these units are defective, hundreds of them with the same fault and that the current fix by Apple is only temporary in many instances that are addressed on this forum.  Until Apple accept resposibility for these faulty units and repair them properly then many of us (including myself) will be on the merry go round of multiple logic board replacements and follow ups of clean installs, and running diagnostics etc.  Your comments so far have not been at all helpful to anyone suffering from this problem.  I don't understand why you continue to post here.  Maybe you enjoy making people feel they are stupid for buying what they thought was a quality product that would last more than the standard warranty period, if that's the case then you might have some very bad karma headed your way ciu5781.

rajdsouza wrote:

 

This is on a consumer law website "Please read it" Its to protect from people who think like you.

 

If a product turns out to be defective, you may be entitled to a repair, replacement or refund (depending on whether the problem is major or cannot be fixed).

This applies regardless of whether the product is still under warranty.

Example:

Danny buys a plasma TV for $6000. It stops working after two years.

The store says they will not provide a repair or replacement as the TV only had a 12-month manufacturer’s warranty. They tell Danny he should have bought an extended warranty, which would have given five years’ cover.

However, it is reasonable for Danny to expect more than two years’ use from a $6000 TV. He is entitled to a repair, replacement or refund from the store.

That's when Danny can prove the TV was used properly. If Danny can get repair no matter when the TV breaks TV manufactures go bankrupt. Because capacitors can be worn out in years of use.

ciu5781 wrote:

 

Get over it. Electrical products out of warranty can't be fixed for free. He will have to think it over if there are one who bought $3,000ish products withougt extended warranty. It was silly decision. Especially who are using it for work. Onsite support is preferable if it is expensive workstation for business use.

What if someone bought the apple care extension plan the same day 2011 MBP were presented.. in one month from now, they would be without (paied) warranty.. and for what we can read here, problems are growing for poor design defective products.

So "ciu5781", stop wasting time and space in kids posting, asserting (again and again.. one time is enough for everyone) your trite point of view.

Carlo.dg wrote:

 

What if someone bought the apple care extension plan the same day 2011 MBP were presented.. in one month from now, they would be without (paied) warranty.. and for what we can read here, problems are growing for poor design defective products.

 

So "ciuciu", stop wasting time and space in kids posting, asserting (again and again.. one time is enough for everyone) your trite point of view.

I can understand it's gonna expire but that's how warranty is working. I had many products that broke after the warranty period ended. Since then I try to get extended warranty as possible. Because it saves time and money in the long run.

ciu5781 wrote:

I can understand it's gonna expire but that's how warranty is working. I had many products that broke after the warranty period ended. Since then I try to get extended warranty as possible. Because it saves time and money in the long run.

Well, I suppose a top manifacturer like Apple, use only best components for their products. Also capacitor that last more than 3 years (as others manifacturer DO).

We are not speaking of sporadic problems, but design defective products.

I appraciate your interest, but you are adducing not pertinent informations, and already posted the same so far.

Regards.

There is an issue here for me, which in the greater sense has nothing to do with Apple, just an expectation of the time-lenth performance of a product. I have many things which are very old and work fine (some Apple made), even those after a repair. Repair seems less fashionable nowadays, yet such reasonable philosophy is not lost on consumer laws, to which my own purchases are informed when making the choice to treat myself!

The question is how long is reasonable. In IKEA, I notice, they test chairs to destruction. So I guess Apple have this answer, as they surely test them, um, what is it?

My Bondi blue still works, among many historic Apple Mac's I have purchased over the years! With only the addition of a new Pram Battery. It has it's uses. I am happy it still works yet my expectations would be that when I eventually have to 'burry' it, there will be with a smile of resignation, yet with satisfaction; the satisfaction that when Apple made it, they did so with craft-person-ship. Respect!

Fit for purpose. That's the phrase. My MacBook Professional, when it was, was great. BUT, not for long enough divided by the years and price. I took good care of it. Slid into it from the days of the Power Mac.

Two years nine moths later, after popping its box, is died. Some say fried. Ref. latter posting and Apple Genius diagnosis!

I have written, as many have, to Mr. Cooks.

I mentioned the community pages here. Usually they have been remarkable helpful in fixing stuff, which was fixable. Mainly I wrote on that point. As, on the one hand, many of you say they can be fixed, and have, been fixed, with varying degrees of success or not. Yet I was told, point blank, Apple would not do this for me, even with money!

Okay, I will take it to an approved IP Apple dealer repair shop here In France and see. Yet it is a time expensive hassle..... and it may only be buying short time - maybe, what ever that is?

I did notice somthing, intuitively associated with, having loaded Maverick and subsequent playing of high definition movies, which began the demise it seemed, may be a red herring?

My problem is Apple people company have not identified why EXACTLY my machine is not working. It is I who take an educated guess it is the graphic component which is doing this. It's stuck to the board, darn it!

So how much should I pay, and how long should a new MacBook professional last, IF I had to buy one, the same as this one?

For the record I still am addicted to Apple, yet I am upset with the lack of magic!

Itzatez wrote:

 

Anyone has any ideia of the % of MBP affected? Or is this problem global and every 2011MBP will, sooner or later, have this problem?

 

Sure that only AMD and Apple will know for sure, but what do you guys think?

We simply have no way of knowing.  All we have is the postings of people on various forums, the responses to a Google survey, and other anecdotal information.  We don't even have verification that all of those users are affected by the same problem (or that Apple would recognize them as the same).  Seeing all of the posts month after month definitely makes the problem feel widespread, especially if you consider that only a small portion of Apple owners engage in these forums.  But... who knows?  Apple is in the best position to know, and they're not likely to disclose those numbers even if they eventually acknowledge the issue. 

The most disconcerting and disappointing thing to me has been the failure of repaired computers - while my original logic board made it two years, the first replacement was immediately no good and the second started having issues within weeks.  My current logic board is the fourth in this MBP and it's been going strong for over four months... but with that history, and the experiences of others, I am concerned that it's going to have issues now that it's out of the 90-day warranty from the most recent repair. 

So while I understand the idea that eventually products fail, and that extended warranties may offer valuable protection for an expensive piece of technology... I can't find any way to think that it's acceptable to pay $300-500+ for a new (or refurbished - it's hard to know) logic board that may fail just outside of its short warranty period.  There is no extended warranty on the in-store or depot repairs - you get a few months, and that's it.  It's hard to imagine pumping money into repair after repair for a computer that isn't even 3 years old - especially when each repair is replacing the core of the computer.  You'd think that would be a breath of fresh life, if anything was.

rvd1983 wrote:

 

rvd1983 wrote:

 

Hi,

 

I also had this problem so what did work for me was a clean install.

 

After many tries, i managed to boot into recovery mode and did a clean install, even though my screen was all warped i still could start disk utility and erase my hd and start the install. After my machine restarted and the install was done i didn't have any problems. I hope this isnt temporaly fixed but i'm afraid the problem will return but for now it seems to run like it's supposed to.

 

I hope for everyone with this problem it will be fixed with some sort of quality program.

So it's been a couple of days since i did a clean install and my machine is still working fine on the discrete gpu. It's important to say that when i did the clean install i  installed my tm backup and immediatly after it was installed the machine crashed. So i had to do a new clean install, but since than the machine is running fine. So don't recover your backup after the clean install. I now only reinstall the programs i need and get the documents that i need from my back up disk. Has anyone tried this because this seems to work for now? As i said in my first post you probably need to reboot the machine a few times before you can open recovery mode. I keep my fingers crossed but right now it looks good.

So anyone tried this already?

I did and it worked for me too. But I didn't play game eversince so the Discrete card is not used as it was.

For my part, I reinstall everything, install Gfxstartus, and after one day, after restart, gray screen ... and I do not update. Even with the integrated map, after a few reboots, the problem returns.

<Edited by Host>

I'm on Mountain Lion and also performed a clean install, not a recovery of back up.  I reinstalled most (not all) of my programs and the computer seemed to be stable for about four days before problem re-occured, more black screens and grey screens and even a blue stripey screen necessitating hard resets.  I also tried booting into safe mode but was still getting weird glitches when trying to access my notifications, so the reinstall did not in my case fix the problem.

It's quite daunting feeling like the computer is going to break any second.  On two or more occassions I've only been using mail and browsing, so no graphically intensive tasks, however I am permanently hooked up to an external screen which I know uses the discrete GPU.

That doesn't sound comforting, i guess it's safe to say this is only a very temporary fix. I now use my machine only for the most basic tasks and monitor the gpu when i'm using discrete credits but i figure extensive use of the discrete gpu will eventually crash it again.

There's only one thing i can say keep your fingers crossed and hope for Apples cavalry to come soon in the form of a quality program. I'm sure the news has reached the Apple top by now, but i know from past "situations" it can take months before action will be taken, so untill than keep making back-ups.