Do you think that this formula can be applied :-)

Google this for good memories.

Recall Formula - Fight Club Typographical Animation

JayW2181 wrote:

 

Update on my repair earlier this month for just heating up the IC to reseat the GPU.

 

Fast forward to today and the issue is starting up again:

 

From yesterday where the display started having "vibrations" and pixelizations to today where the monitor blanked out with the MBP still running. Only could be rebooted with a SMC reset (and only after two tries this morning with once where it hung at the apple and spinner.).

 

Yes. so the issue comes back again and is slowly creeping up. Looks a replacement of the GPU is mandatory.

JayW2181 sorry to hear.

May I ask what you mean with "just heating up the IC to reseat the GPU." ?

Did you do it yourself? How?

Or someone else, like a repair shop? Know what/how they did?

Thanks in advance.

Hi all,

I saw an article about this thread on Cult of Mac and thought I would chime in, just to share a tidbit that might help those who haven't yet hit this issue, or may have had their Macbook repaired and hope never to hit the issue again like some have. Now I havent read thorugh all 184 pages, but after 5 - 6 pages in I felt everyones pain. I have a Macbook8,2 2.2Ghz i7, 8GB RAM and the 6750M AMD gfx card and (touch wood) have yet to come across the issue. I use my Mac for almost everything from video converting (which flogs the CPU) to running virtual machines and even the odd game or two connected to a 1080p screen (which flogs both CPU and GPU). Now I know how hot this thing can get under load, its mentioned in all reviews and I first read it in Anandtech's review of the unit way back when it was released, despite this draw back, I bought one anyway. After I bought it I was interested in what it looked like on the inside so I hunted down ifixit's tear down of this particular Macbook. There was one section that was of some concern to not only ifixit, but myself, and it was the amount of thermal paste applied to the CPU and GPU from the factory.  Here is the link to the teardown (CPU and GPU section is about halfway down)

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Early+2011+Teardown/4 990

Further more here is a link to the picture showing the amount of thermal paste that was found under the heatsink

http://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/xjEFKC4TRB6NEiqS

This is wayyyyyyyyyy too much and ifixit even make the comment wondering how long it would take before the processors overheat. Being quite afraid of eventual hardware failure due to how much heat this Macbook generates under load, I took it upon myself, once the warranty expired, to crack open mine and clean up the paste. Much to my surprise when I carefully pried the heatsink from the processors, the paste had actually solidified and required some patience and a razor blade clean it up. The amount of paste on mine was just as bad as the one in the picture. Once clean I applied a thin layer of Arctic Silver thermal paste to the die sections of both the CPU and GPU (the correct way) and crossed my fingers that it might help the thermals, even just a little bit. Since I've done this I cannot say it runs any cooler under load as it still gets very hot when both processors are getting belted, but it seems to be holding up.

The second comment I have, is you will notice in the teardown that even though the CPU and GPU are soldered directly to the board, there is a highly durable adhesive that holds the processors in place so they shouldnt dislodge or come off the board unless they are heating up to such a degree its melting the adhesive.

I am not saying that everyone shoud start pulling their Macbooks apart to check the thermal paste quantity, as it is quite a risky process to clean it up, especially if the paste has solidified. What I am saying is that from what I've read, seen in pictures and even in my own Macbook, gives me reason to believe the amount of paste is excessive and might be causing the problem. For those who are looking to get their Macbooks logic board replaced, just mention the ifixit article about the thermal paste to the Geniuses at the Apple store and see if that helps.

SGTNorcz wrote:

 

The second comment I have, is you will notice in the teardown that even though the CPU and GPU are soldered directly to the board, there is a highly durable adhesive that holds the processors in place so they shouldnt dislodge or come off the board unless they are heating up to such a degree its melting the adhesive.

 

 

That "highly durable" adhesive is useless, does nothing at all to prevent.

It's more "highly useless"

Luckily it is easy to remove.

There ar others put under the chip that make repairs almost or completely impossible and don't prevent failing either.

I do agree with you however that improving cooling is allways better.

I'm affraid in this case it might only let it last a bit longer, might just as good fail later.

If so many do fail, it probably is more a component/production fault that will pop up if yours is affected.

Anyway, for those that can (let it) do it, like said, running cooler is allways better.

I went to a professional repair shop with a BGA rework station. I however requested that they just heat it up to reseat the GPU and not replace the GPU.

They added that the 15" MBP 2011s main flaw and are one of their main items being repaired in their workshop is the GPU.

I have an early 2011 MacBook Pro (2.0 GHz Intel Core i7, 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 memory) with AMD Radeon HD 6490M and Intel HD Graphics 3000. Three days ago my MacBook Pro got gray screen, some time blue with vertical line, right now it cannot boot login screen any more. Hope Apple sevice do something with this issue.

I am in Australia with an early 2011 macbook pro and I am experiencing the same problems as many thousands of others. My unit has the HD6750M.

Apple, your manufacturer (foxconn? someone I think would know better than me) used too much thermal paste, and soldered with non lead solder. It has resulted in a heat problem and GPU failure on a large swathe of machines. This post and replies to it proves it.

Own up and either offer a way to reball the GPU's or a look into a fix that gets this solved. Or...recall.

I for one am not too keen on opening my faulty A1286 to redo the paste on the GPU. Simply because I shouldn't have too...this machine is from 2011. 2008 machine? Sure! I'll try my best to fix an old banger, I've done it many many times. But my computer is too new, and that's not fair apple.

I am typing this on a 6 year old junk NEC.

No chance I will reinvest $2400 for the power I require in my profession,sweeping touchpad pretty finger or not....I have an anti glare A1286 with two 512GB SSD's and 16gig ram. But I'll flag your machines in a heartbeat if they are prone to serious hardware fail.

If it was just me I would say "luck of the draw"...but there is too much chatter on this forum and it is getting evn more wide spread.

Everyone here in the same boat, and forums are loaded. When you get a new laptop you should expect at least 5 years. Anything over is luck or a roll of the dice I think. Would anyone else agree 5 years is a decent run on any new tech?

But I'm seeing guys on the forum with late 2012 machines copping this one. "it happened since mavericks" is their cry, and that is due I would say most very likely to the increased demand on the GPU ceated by mavericks Notice the spike recently in mavericks release and all these bad machines?

I won't buy again if apple cant fix this, as I am afraid the next series will be just as bad. They are great machines but I have stuff to do, and the "buy in" price is too high on a machine that lasts 3 years ( I point my finger at you, retina soldered in ram machine I can't upgrade)

Who uses the GPU on a macbook the hardest? Gamers, 3D dudes and graphics professionals. Serious Gamers I know buy good PC's to game with..who you left with in the list? Find AT LEAST a solution...reball those GPU's, look at the logic boards, offer a bypass on the GPU temporarily....say something.The logic board replace to fix this is getting terrible posts on your very own forums, but even worse is the random charges across the world that range between "they fixed it for free" to $1500 USD quotes in Mexico.  I know we are all lucky enough to be able to even own and use a computer and your machines are modern marvels. But you guys have had a good run, now its time to clean up your mess, put in some cake and let us all get back to work.

@JayW2181,

You say that you didn't have your GPU replaced... do you know what the cost would have been if you had?

And a question to all - I have the 512MB AMD 6750M - does anyone know if I could have this GPU replaced with a 1GB GPU? Sorry if this has been asked before - I haven't read all 184 pages!

Clinton

The amount of thermal paste doesn't significantly affect the temp unless its too little.

JayW2181 wrote:

 

I went to a professional repair shop with a BGA rework station. I however requested that they just heat it up to reseat the GPU and not replace the GPU.

 

They added that the 15" MBP 2011s main flaw and are one of their main items being repaired in their workshop is the GPU.

Now I'm curious what shop it was  ;-)

Some make a difference between a reseat and a reflow.

They do a reseat to see it works again, telling them the chip is ok.

After that, they really repair. (Bad workflow imo, as it is an extra heat cycle)

It is done at a lower temp, not getting the solder really liquid again.

If you do that for a repair it's useless, only temporary.

A reflow is getting all solderballs to liquid state again follong some rules.

If done correctly, it can be a long lasting fix.

If that is what they did, a 2nd one done correctly might solve your problem.

Maybe they do that for free again as it failed allready shortly after? (I would...)

But maybe better go for a new chip instead, if they ask fair prices should be reasonable.

Ok here is the first reponse from editor Neil Hughes with Apple Insider:

Hi Randy — We are aware, and we've covered the issue twice, including last week:

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/10/14/apples-2011-macbook-pro-lineup-sufferi ng-from-sporadic-gpu-failures

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/01/16/owners-of-late-2011-macbook-pros-repor t-critical-gpu-failures-system-crashes

If there are any updates on the subject, please let me know. Thanks!

We will keep sounding the alert!

ciu5781 wrote:

 

The amount of thermal paste doesn't significantly affect the temp unless its too little.

You are wrong.

I've been having this problem for about 2 years.

I had to rebuild my computer from back up 3 times already.

Pretty patterns arent they?

Another coverage story out:

http://www.macnn.com/articles/14/01/16/problem.possibly.linked.to.bad.solder.poo r.thermal.paste.application/

Thanks for the tip, though!

-Mike

Staff Writer

Electronista.com / MacNN.com

Okay, it also happend to my early 2011 MacBook Pro! It won't boot up anymore.. After the Apple logo I will get the 'famous' blue screen'.

I am crying...