Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

D3us wrote:

 

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

If 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."

 

Still stick with that (I do BGa repairs)

You can have a point that Mavericks uses the GPU more = more heat resulting in faster failing.

But if it is bound to fail, it will even without upgrading to Mavericks.

This makes the most sense of everything I have read in this discussion group. Thanks!

Richard III wrote:

 

D3us wrote:

 

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

If 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."

 

Still stick with that (I do BGa repairs)

You can have a point that Mavericks uses the GPU more = more heat resulting in faster failing.

But if it is bound to fail, it will even without upgrading to Mavericks.

 

This makes the most sense of everything I have read in this discussion group. Thanks!

My own experience supports that. I have pretty much always used gfxCardStatus set on integrated only and smcFanControl as this is the only way I can keep it cool enough to work on my lap (yes I do ). Graphics all worked fine using the internal monitor, even for things like Photoshop and Aperture. When mine failed I had the freezes and black / white screens but never had problems that some of the pictures show of broken up screens. I assume this means the connection to the GPU was lost but the GPU itself wasn't damaged.

Eventually the GPU will get damaged. If it doesn't receive the right current its just a matter of time until it needs to be replaced.

seangee600 wrote:

 

My own experience supports that. I have pretty much always used gfxCardStatus set on integrated only and smcFanControl as this is the only way I can keep it cool enough to work on my lap (yes I do ). Graphics all worked fine using the internal monitor, even for things like Photoshop and Aperture. When mine failed I had the freezes and black / white screens but never had problems that some of the pictures show of broken up screens. I assume this means the connection to the GPU was lost but the GPU itself wasn't damaged.

I've just got mine repaired for free out of warranty and no AppleCare.

I'm in the UK so I contacted AppleCare about EU consumer law, they told me despite the fact I bought it from BestBuy in the UK (which is now closed down) Apple themselves would honor the a valid EU consumer law claim. I took it to the Apple retail store and they verified it as a GPU issue but not specifically a valid EU consumer law issue.

I told them whet AppleCare had told me about the EU consumer law thing but they refused to believe me and told me I could only claim that against the seller. I then went back to AppleCare and was assigned a senior technician to take the case. He told me that the store was wrong and that they don't deal with niche cases like this too often. I was told by AppleCare to have the computer tested by a company called Western computer to verify if it was a valid consumer law claim. I was told if the test validated this I would pay nothing, but if it didn't I'd be stuck with £79 fee to test the computer. I wasn't sure how a software test could distinguish a valid consumer law claim so I waited patiently in hope apple would issue a repair programme.

During this period executive relations got in contact within a couple of days and eventually after about a week of back and forth I issued an out-of-warranty repair as a `one time exception`. Booked the laptop in and got it back today and it's all working fine, hopefully Apple will still issue a repair programme as this will likely result in they resolving the underlining problem.

On a side note people have been saying the logic boards are out of stock, my repair only took a couple of days I have the 2.2ghz 2011 MBP 17" with the 6750m GPU.

<Edited By Host>

Well today - now 1 week with a repaired computer from Apple - everything is working super.
I did some stress testing and got the CPU and GPU up into the 90'sC and upper 70's (respectively); but that's as hot as it ever got and the fans never spooled up past 60% on my little fan speed tracker in the dashboard.

So far it's working flawlessly. Had to reprogram some stuff and get my backups going again because I think it issued a new mac address and websites think its' a different computer because of the new logic board.

I'm strongly considering selling it with the disclosure of it's history -- along with the remainder of the 90 day coverage on the repair. I might go for a 13" model that isn't plagued by these GPU issues.

I've just got mine logic board replaced for around $900 on my late macbook pro 2011. I used my mac intensively for over 1.5y when it just stoped working...just grey display. I went to my local apple reseller and they told me that my gpu has fail and  they need to replace the logic board... go figure.

So far so good...well I don't use external monitor for time being, because it forces mac to use descerte gpu all the time, and when my mac is on descret gpu it starts to heat. It gets over 75 - 80C just by surfing the web. Without external monitor everytnihg is just fine. The cpu rarely goes over 60 ... and when Im just surfing the web and doing simple stuff it stays around 48 - 50C.

This is 100% problem due to overheating cpu and gpu for a long period.

Chuckle. Anybody plan on 'attending' this?

Register TODAY (

http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=746413&s=1&k=54655F18877A4E64ABBEB36FD204E89F)  for the next free ACM Webcast, "Achieve Massively Parallel Acceleration  with GPUs," presented on Thursday, February 27 at 1 pm ET (noon CT/11  am MT/10 am PT/6 pm GMT) by Mark Ebersole, CUDA Educator and Developer  and NVIDIA. The talk will be followed by a live question and answer  session....

Note: You can stream this and all ACM Learning Webinars on your mobile device, including smartphones and tablets.)

"...GPUs have proven themselves as  world-class, massively parallel accelerators ....

...

register for this free webinar and be sure to share this with  friends and colleagues who may be interested in this topic.

I have a MBP early 2011 bought in US... and I am experiencing the same problem... the video crashed twice while I was using google chrome... at the second time I coud not start the computer... when I tried to bring the machine back on, it stayed on a white screen, the cooling system starts to make its job to cool down the computer that is warming as ****.

We have a manufacturing issue confirmed worldwide and Apple doenst make a RECALL?! What can be done??

Rightnow I have my computer on technical assistance... they are trying to fix the problem...  if they cannot fix it, I will probably have to get a new machine... and trow away a 3 year old machine! Changing mother board is not an option... cause the price is as expensive as getting a new computer. Specially here in Brazil!

Yep! Shame on Apple!

Could we sue Apple? At list to have a computer RECALL?

Split screen, white strips, japanese haunting ghost, you name it..

We need apple to acknowledge the design fault and issue a repair scheme.

It would be unreasonable to ask for a free repair if the failure is due to poor user handling, but surely it is a design fault, not simple wear and tear. Shouldn't apple have tested their product before releasing it?

Yes, my 17inch pros bottom cover is pushed out ever so slightly on the forward left corner and is not flush with its seam.  Mine however is not custom.

Got my MacBook back from depot yesterday.  Installed Mavericks, since alot of people seem to have problems with that OS. I also ran Heaven benchmarking on the ultra setting for about 30 minutes.  GPU temperature was 69C and the fans were not going crazy.  I've also has success with leaving my external monitor connected. 

So far, so good. I hope it lasts, or if its going to fail, at least does so within the warranty window.

They also fixed the trackpad, and it's working perfectly.

Total cost was $323 with tax.  Went to Apple Store on Fri night, recieved the computer back on Tuesday morning.

IF this weren't a design issue, I'd say the repair service is very good.  However, since it's clearly a design flaw, I'm not very happy about paying for it.  Hopefully, they will eventually issue refunds. 

So, will Apple eventually "run out" of logic boards to put in all the laptops that are coming in for service? I understand that probably some of the "replacements" are refurbished logic boards that someone else turned in (icky thought, that), but conceivably at some point won't they just run out of stock?

debito wrote:

 

So, will Apple eventually "run out" of logic boards to put in all the laptops that are coming in for service? I understand that probably some of the "replacements" are refurbished logic boards that someone else turned in (icky thought, that), but conceivably at some point won't they just run out of stock?

Given that a logic board probably costs Apple about $25 I'd guess its worth their while to keep churning them out while there is a demand, or a requirement to repair machines under local consumer laws.

As for the refurbished boards - I'd be really surprised if there is any kind of refurbishment programme. I suspect that those refurbished boards are really just boards that heve been replaced, for whatever reason. Before throwing them out they run diagnostics and if the diagnostics pass they go back into stock (that's my guess anyway). Of course that's not great for us users when this particular issue does not show up under diagnostics.

My new board is now coming to the end of day 3 with no issues - so fingers crossed it really is a new one.

seangee600 wrote:

 

debito wrote:

 

So, will Apple eventually "run out" of logic boards to put in all the laptops that are coming in for service? I understand that probably some of the "replacements" are refurbished logic boards that someone else turned in (icky thought, that), but conceivably at some point won't they just run out of stock?

Given that a logic board probably costs Apple about $25 I'd guess its worth their while to keep churning them out while there is a demand, or a requirement to repair machines under local consumer laws.

 

As for the refurbished boards - I'd be really surprised if there is any kind of refurbishment programme. I suspect that those refurbished boards are really just boards that heve been replaced, for whatever reason. Before throwing them out they run diagnostics and if the diagnostics pass they go back into stock (that's my guess anyway). Of course that's not great for us users when this particular issue does not show up under diagnostics.

 

My new board is now coming to the end of day 3 with no issues - so fingers crossed it really is a new one.

If it really is a "new one", which in this case is most likely one manufactured together with the failing macbook pro's, it will be manufactured using the same (faulty) production process. (Doesn't mean it will or has to fail.)

If they do refurbish the replaced boards using a better solder/material/soldering process or profile, a refurbished one might in fact last longer.

Would be the one I would go for (at least if I couldn't fix it myself, which I luckily can).

I had the same probelm and had to pay $310 plus tax to have the logic board replaced. Too early to say if the repair worked.

I already had a strange grapics "blurb" in a Safari window tonight and am worried.

Not sure if Mavericks is contributing to this.

Also may try "gfxCardStatus" per others suggestions...but this is an awful option for a "Premium" laptop that cost over $1,800.00 new. It's had only 2 years 3 months of use and a major repair needed...Yikes!

I'm adding this post to keep this thread going...

Tom

Late 2011 15" MBP with Graphics = Discrete AMD Radeon 6750M 512MB & Integrated Intel HD 3000 with 384MB

Major bummer. Hope Apple will do something about this...