Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Got my MacBook Pro from repair center today for almost 2 week repair. They replaced the video card! Almost all repair centers don't do that, they just replace the whole logic board. Finally I have my laptop back and in great condition! Cost me around $120. Still hoping Apple would start a video card replacement program for 2011 mbp users.

I bought my Macbook Pro 15" in July, 2011 in Hong Kong. In earlier 2013, I started to have screen glitches (screen blurring, freeze and dislocation) and I can't boot the computer sometimes.

The problem escalated and I was not able to boot my computer normally at all at Sep 6, 2013. I can only boot the computer in safe mode and when I do get in, there are red vertical lines all over my screen! See below:

I went to the Apple store at Sep 9 and and Apple staff said it would cost me around CNY4,800 to replace the logic board. This is totally UNACCEPTABLE and it is apparently not my responsibility but a SERIOUS quality control problem of Apple Computer! This is not the quality I expected from Apple and I'm very disappointed. You cannot expect a customer to buy a computer and use for only 25 months before it stops working at all!

Later I called Apple again and they told me there's nothing they can do and the guy said if I find it too expensive to replace the logic board I can just go find some other people to try to fix it instead of going to Apple Store. And if I think this is a quality problem of Apple products I should complain to the local consumer protection commission or just talk/report to the media!!! What kind of attitude is that? Are they even considering to solve a problem?

Apple should start an investigation and do a recall on all these flawed models! I will not stop complaining through all possible channels until I get a reasonable explanation and solution from Apple!

Hi Bill,

I can't find your contact information anywhere.  And I can't post my contact information here.  Please send me a message on redflagdeals

Thanks

Hello! Airbum88, I have no clue how to send a message here. Find me on facebook and we will talk there look for my name "Bill Minhyuk Kim" So far I'm still waiting for that guy's call from apple customer quailty. I will get some answer by tomorrow hopefully.

Hey guys - Apple did replace my logic board for free.  (Same problem, vertical lines first, then could not boot ... see my earlier post in this thread for details)  I booked an appointment at the Apple store nearest to me and showed the problem, along with everything I had tried (I'd spent many many hours so was quite knowledgeable in talking with them)  After performing some simple diags, the lady I spoke with disappeared to the back for a bit and came back saying yes, my diagnosis seemed correct, and that it would be $700 plus dollars for a new logic board.  I mentioned this thread (gave her the specific URL for it), and that it seemed to be quite a widespread problem (but unlike the 2010 mbp graphics recall was not yet formally acknowledged by Apple), and that it seemed to just depend to whom one spoke as to whether it would be a large, small, or nothing cost to get fixed.  I referenced another guy in Australia (which is where I now am) who got his replaced for free also, however note that I used to live in the USA, and my MBP was purchased there.  I asked if there was anything else she could do, pointed to the fact that it is in pristine condition and was only just over 2 years old.  She said she'd talk to the manager, went to the back again, then came back and said they'd replace it for free.  She did seem surprised herself that the manager agreed to replace it since it was out of warranty, but was happy for me, and of-course I was feeling very lucky and loving Apple again hearing that news.  They did replace it and it is like new again.  I am however concerned about when it will fail again since I do agree that it is a manufacturing issue.  I use it mostly with an external monitor (which requires the discreet graphics card - AMD Radeon HD 6490M in my case) and the working temps seem to be approximately 10 degrees celcius higher than if I do not connect the external monitor, and my best guess is that it is indeed the higher operating temperatures for an extended period of time that burns out that discreet graphics card.  I think the problems arise depending upon how often and long you tax the discreet graphics card, and possibly also if you were lucky/unlucky with the specific amount of thermal compound was put on your specific graphics card.

On a side note, if I weren't able to get it fixed, I did manage to install Ubuntu 13.04 on it working perfectly, with just the built in intel graphics.  If you have no other option, can't get it replaced for free or at a cost you can/want to affort, and want to try that route, I used the information out of help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro8-2/Raring and the "booting from usb pen via efi" to try it out, and then askubuntu.com/questions/149921/how-to-add-a-command-permanently-to-grub2 to make it so I could boot directly from the drive straight into ubuntu.  For my early 2011 15inch MBP specifically I added the "outb etc.etc." stuff to /boot/grub/custom.cfg (you'll know what that means if you read the links I just referenced), and then added i915.lvds.channel_mode=2 i915.modeset=1 i915.lvds_use_ssc=0  after "quiet splash" in /etc/default/grub on line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT, and then ran sudo update -grub (which will update the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file for you.)

Best of luck to all.

Bill, I  can't find u  on  Facebook.  i think you disabled  save  settings

matt_jd >  do  you  have a reference number for your case?

Airbum88 > Yes sure - if it could help you I can email or facebook message it to you if you tell me how to get it to you specifically - I don't want to post it on the web indiscriminately.

Hi, Matt.

I think it's fare enough for all of us to get to know the case ref. number so we could stand our rights in this situation

Thanx in advance!

Thanks matt_jd.

If you can send an e-mail to meatsheep at hotmail dot com.

That would be great,

Thanks

Hi,

The similar problems have iMac 2011 with AMD Radeon 6970M Video Card,

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5167?viewlocale

in the service of Apple computers, they said they have 1-2 such cases every week. Apple to have not yet admitted, but it is the same problem as with the iMac.

Hi,

matt_jd,

if you can send an e-mail to syrakuz at me dot com.

When you come to Polish, have a beer with me

Thanks

I just went to the Apple Store.  They recreated the problem (couldn't boot up anything).  They did a diagnostic test and it says everything was okay including the logic board.  The GPU is expected to be corrupt.  If that's the case, the logic board might as well be fried.  I handed in my computer for their technicians to open it up and do further testing and I am expected to hear from them in 3-5 days.

korsakov.ru > Yeah I agree!  I'll send it to anyone who thinks it could help them, just didn't want to do a blanket posting of it.  If I got inundated with requests, I probably would post it, but for now I'd rather just send it in an email to whomever wants it.

Hi Matt, can you please share case reference with me as well (dhansoia at outlook dot com).