Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

paul from south plainfield wrote:

 

If you are starting to have problems, there are many how-to's online on removing and re-applying the correct amount of thermal compound to your graphics chip and processor (again: if it hasn't completely failed).

 

True.  After MONTHS of dealing with degrading performance and increasing ocurrances of black screens, blue screens, white screens, striped screens  (you name it!), and 3 trips to the Genuis Bar (all hardware passing all tests), I decided to open 'er up and re-apply the thermal compound.   To little too late, I suppose.  The performance was a little better for a while then sank back to terrible.  I guess the damage to the GPU was done.  I got to the point of NEVER letting my macbook go to sleep and I NEVER shut it down.   Ultimately I had to reboot and was completely unable to log back in unless I used asyncro's instructions to remove the AMD kext files and rebuild the kext cache.  That works, but then the macbook always thinks it's connected to an external monitor.  Besides, this is not how one should be expected to "use" a $2000 laptop.

 

Instead of waiting for Apple to step up and do the right thing I decided to skip APPLE (and the depot) all together and get the GPU replaced by a local shop.  Maybe that's what APPLE wants.  Yeah, this laptop may have been my last APPLE purchase.  BTW - $220 to replace the GPU locally, not $330 for Apple to replace a faulty GPU with another faulty GPU (via the depot).

 

Hopefully this GPU replacement will get my macbook working again for a little longer until it's a reasonable time to replace it.

 

I'll post an update when I get my re-vitalized laptop back...

Update:  Like I mentioned in the post above, I had my GPU REPLACED (thanks to nyclaptoprepair via ebay).  I shipped my macbook to them (the entire laptop, not just the logic board), they replaced the GPU with an AMD  6750M:

Here is the OFFENDING Chip (removed and sent back with the laptop):

I Stress tested the laptop for 24 hours using the Heaven benchmarking utility (utilizing the Unigine engine - thanks to @D3us) and Prime95 (again, thanks to @D3us) on all cores simultaneously and the temperatures never exceeded 83 deg. Celsius.   I've only had it back for a couple of days, but so far it's working like new.   Only time will tell if the fix is actually permanent, but I have confidence in this machine again - I don't feel like I'm on borrowed time waiting for the next freeze/crash/bricking.

Considering that I did NOT opt for applecare almost 3 years ago, I feel the $200 repair cost was justified and reasonable - I know that I don't have to worry about this repair failing like so many Apple depot replaced logic boards.  No, this does not change the fact that Apple should still do the right thing, but I wasn't going to hold my breath, not to mention the likelihood of Apple providing a permanent solution (like GPU replacement) is slim. 

I realize that having this repair done third party may exclude my machine from any repair/replacement programs that Apple may institute, but I have a functioning machine NOW and no white screen/blue screen/no screen issues that ate up so much of my time.  Perhaps I can get my repair cost re-imbursed should Apple step-up...

I will continue to monitor this thread and provide updates/input about this repair.

This was censored even though there was no petishon URL - just the current value :-(

Thanks for sharing. Very much appreciated.

Questions:

1. What's the difference between a the GPU replacement/repair you had done and what Apple is doing (re: full logic board replacement)?

2. How does a GPU replacement fix the issue/defect while a logic board replacement (which includes a new GPU) does not??

3. Also, were the folks at NYClaptopRepair able to figure out, precisely/specifically, what caused your machine to fail (and if so, do they think this is what's causing all of our machines to fail as well)?

I have also decided to go the independent route as my MBP has stopped being usable.  As far as I know the problem is not worth the GPU itself but the way it is attached to the board. Repeated heart cycles cause the joint to fall after time.  Until the issue is acknowledged Apple will not change the way the boards are manufactured,  or fix those that are already built but not used.

Since it is a manufacturing defect is just a matter of time before your new board will fall in the same way as the old one.  I think it says something that the repairer I'm using is happy to guarantee his work for 6 months while Apple only warrant the replacement logic board for 3. He also has over 800 positive reviews for exactly the same fix (although not restricted to the early 2011 15", seems it's a much bigger problem and still happening on the 13 models - is just that ours are now dying en masse)

Ironically, when I took my MBP into the Genius with problems that, in hindsight, were the early symptoms of the graphics card issue, the first thing the Genius blamed was VirtualBox.  

He said Apple hardware wasn't responsible to work with third party software.

Unfortunately my work requires VirtualBox these days

I tried the graphics compression switch suggested a few days ago -- and that hasnt' helped.  I got my first ever "out of memory" error in VirtualBox after doing that, and got my first ever rainbow static screen using Jing (which puts a heavy burden on graphics apparently).

I'm thinking about going the independent route too:

It would be nice if in this forums we create a list of repairers for which we can know that their work would defenely fix our MBP.  I'm being on ebay and found only one company in NYC that offer GPU change (a new one) wiht 100% possitive feedback (of almost a thousand users) for around $200, but I would like to have more options, even better, options that can provide positive feedback from this forum.

>  a list of repairers for which we can know that their work would ... fix our MBP.

Yes, please. 

ALSO -- is enough known about more recent MBPs to say whether they are built to the same standard?

I bought the last 17" to have a computer that's possible to do repairs on.

If I were to buy a new Mac portable now, from what I hear about them being very hard to fix,  I'd expect it to last three years then be landfill -- but that's not a path I want to take.

Yes, my 512kE and a couple of SE30s are still working fine.

And once I replace the backlight on my Powerbook 100, that will be fine also.

Apple needs to catch up with their reputation, before their reputation catches up with Apple.

I suspect such a list would need to be posted elsewhere as this is an Apple support forum. I asked the question on the Facebook page and got a recommendation that way.

Will-NY wrote:

 

Thanks for sharing. Very much appreciated.

 

Questions:

1. What's the difference between a the GPU replacement/repair you had done and what Apple is doing (re: full logic board replacement)?

 

2. How does a GPU replacement fix the issue/defect while a logic board replacement (which includes a new GPU) does not??

 

3. Also, were the folks at NYClaptopRepair able to figure out, precisely/specifically, what caused your machine to fail (and if so, do they think this is what's causing all of our machines to fail as well)?

Will-NY, not connected to NYClaptopRepair, living and reparing them in Europe, will share my thoughts on it.

1 - and 2 - Wrote about that here:

https://discussions.apple.com/message/24161788#24161788

Quote:

"It's not about the solder getting 150c to melt.

f it's not an intern GPU fault, it's prbabably bad soldering of the BGA.

Not all balls got fully liquidus or long enough TAL, not giving a 100% soldered connection.

It makes contact but is not really soldered, doesn't havea  real intermetallic bond.

More "glued" instead of soldered.

It's the mechanical stress caused by heating/cooling cycles, making it expand and contract.

Breaking the "glued"  connection, like the head-in-pillow photo posted."

If the logic board is replaced by apple it probably is a new board, probably from a reserved stock for repairs.

But as this most likely comes from the same production runs they probably replae a bod logic board with another bad one, having the same faults like described above.

When we repair them, beeing it a reflow, reball or chip replacement we try make sure to get a perfect solder connection, not "glued" ones, on all the balls/pads. This should prevent the same happening again.

Can only say that me and some people I know doing this too allways try to get the best result.

3 - Dunno for NYClaptopRepair, but unless they have (3D) rontgen equipment it will be hard to tell what the exact problem is. I still sitck with what I wrote above, but only way to find out for sure is with rontgen, maybe other special equipment, like microscopes looking under the bga, but ill be harder to get a full view of all balls.

Mostly it's experience.from reparing these things.

Seeing what a computer does or not do when starting it is often enough to tell what the problem is.

Or checking if some signals are available or not telling what component is defect.

Hey, all.

<Link Edited By Host>

Will-NY wrote:

 

Thanks for sharing. Very much appreciated.

 

Questions:

1. What's the difference between a the GPU replacement/repair you had done and what Apple is doing (re: full logic board replacement)?

As seangee600 mentioned, it's the connection to the board that is likely the culprit.  Having the GPU replaced essentially "resets" the connections (and hopefully with a longer lasting lead solder).  In addition to that my GPU was upgraded from the one that came with the macbook - bonus!

2. How does a GPU replacement fix the issue/defect while a logic board replacement (which includes a new GPU) does not??

Apple replaces the entire logic board with similar boards, likely of the same age as the one being replaced with the same time bomb failure built it.  Thus my hesitance to have apple replace my faulty parts with identical faulty parts.  Too many other participants of this discussion have had their Apple replaced logic boards go belly-up shortly after repair.

3. Also, were the folks at NYClaptopRepair able to figure out, precisely/specifically, what caused your machine to fail (and if so, do they think this is what's causing all of our machines to fail as well)?

I didn't send it to them for a root cause analysis, but they were aware of the issue and what it would take to fix it.  I suppose the short answer to this question is "no."

I hope I answered your questions.

Be very careful when you go looking for info out there:

http://www.nycitygeek.com/laptop-upgrades

The requested URL contains malicious code that can damage your  computer. If you want to access the URL anyway, turn off the avast! web  shield and try it again.

Infection type: JS:HideMe-B [Trj]

ankhank wrote:

 

Be very careful when you go looking for info out there:

 

http://www.nycitygeek.com/laptop-upgrades

 

The requested URL contains malicious code that can damage your  computer. If you want to access the URL anyway, turn off the avast! web  shield and try it again.

 

Infection type: JS:HideMe-B [Trj]

I'm not sure I understand this post. 

Why would you provide a link to a site that contains malicious code?  Even more confusing is why you would then tell us it contains malicious code.   Additionally, why would I intentionally visit a site that contains malicious code, bypassing security to do so?

Is there some pertinent information on that site that you would like to share?

+1, but no pleasing solution yet.  I was able to wipe the entire system and reset to factory defaults before taking it to a Genius who had nothing to blame the failure on except the base Apple system.  Because I was about 6 months out of the 1-year US warranty, I paid $310 in April 2013 for logic board replacement, then achieved recurring symptoms within 6 months, and complete failure again in early 2014 (yesterday).  I can at least boot in target disk mode so I can wipe the drive of all sensitive info before trying another repair (under way now).  It's good to hear from some of the posts in this thread that there are local repair shops who desire to perform good quality work.  Too bad the veneer of quality on this widget didn't have much depth to it.

Would like to add mine - early 2011, 2,2GHz, the 6750 GPU and I still have AppleCare till June!!

It started around Christmas, just sometimes, so that the near new Apple Service Provider told me, it was the non-Apple-RAM, but the problems continued, went worse and it wouldn't start at all - so I sent it to one in Hamburg I remember from good old times, and they told me it is for sure the GPU with all those GPU Hang log messages. They replaced the Logic Board, it worked for two days, but now the problems are starting again - striped and black screens when watching youtube videos with external monitor or running Cinebench just for a test!

I just wrote them if I should bring it again tomorrow.

Here from my log:

sometimes

Jan 27 09:16:37 MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: GPU hang:

Jan 27 09:16:38 MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: GPU Hang State = 0x00000000

but somtimes just, or additionally

Jan 27 09:19:06 MacBook-Pro.local WindowServer[190]: Display 0x04272900: GL mask 0x11; bounds (0, 0)[1440 x 900], 42 modes available

Jan 27 09:19:06 MacBook-Pro.local WindowServer[190]: Display 0x003f003f: GL mask 0x8; bounds (2464, 0)[1 x 1], 2 modes available

Jan 27 09:19:07 MacBook-Pro.local WindowServer[190]: GLCompositor: GL renderer id 0x01021b06, GL mask 0x0000000f, accelerator 0x000048c3, unit 0, caps QEX|MIPMAP, vram 1024 MB