Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Asus Zenbook looks really good. I believe the next version (Q2) will support 16Gb ram.

Cool will look into those few ideas thanks!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Macbook-Pro-A1297-820-2914-A-17-2011-Logic-Board-R epair-New-GPU-Reball-/291051512404?pt=UK_Computing_Other_Computing_Networking&ha sh=item43c405a254

might give this a go?... not many other options!

I have similar unfixed issues as well. It started on the morning of February 6 when I was just browsing the web normally reading Ars Technica website with uTorrent downloading some PDF files and suddenly Finder froze and I cannot click on anything but I can move the spinning beachball cursor.

I did a hard reset and it's stuck on the boot up screen after the Apple logo. I eventually did a 'RAM reset' documented on an Apple support file that finally made my Mac past the Apple logo and into the desktop but I cannot open any app that uses the discrete GPU such as the Photo Booth cause it would just hang and the whole computer becomes unresponsive.

I have a work that day so I left it at the table planning to 'continue fixing' it later that day. I went back home at lunch. Eventually it is fine again. I can open apps that use GPU like FCP X. And it's as responsive as before. I thought it fixed itself.

Until today Feb 11. Just normally browsing the web again. I am very sure it is not hot ie I'm not running any performance intensive app. And it can't get past the Apple logo again.

I'm planning to let it off for a while and try booting again later.

By the way, I have the MacBook Pro early-2011 2.2GHz i7 with 4GB RAM, 750GB HDD, and AMD 6750M 1GB running OS X Mavericks 10.9.1.

Bought this on May 2011 so it's 33 months now since I've had this.

Continuation of my previous post:

I just wish Apple provides a free fix for this problem. I'm way out of my one-year warranty and looking at the huge number of similar issues posted in this thread and other threads, it seems Apple has shortchanged us.

jaime1985 wrote:

 

paul from south plainfield- have you come up with any ideas for a replacement laptop? I am just starting to look myself as  my MBP is completely dead.

Nothing really solid.  I've been checking out the HP Envy line, the Asus X- or N- series (thinking I might go 17" if I'm gonna bail on Apple).  Perhaps a Dell XPS 15 or inspiron 7000.   I'm not sure if I want a laptop that is "hackintoshable" (did I just make up that term?), so finding hardware that is compatible, or can be made to BE compatible, could be tricky.  It's a shame, too,  because I really like OS X.    Also, I'm at the point where I don't want to fuss with getting my computer to work - I just want to USE it (which, funnily enough, is why I bailed on Microsoft and went Apple in the first place!).

BTW - @Clinton - I saw your link to the Sager rig.  That thing is a beast, both physically and financially.  It would set you back almost as much as a new rMBP .

jaime1985 wrote:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Macbook-Pro-A1297-820-2914-A-17-2011-Logic-Board-R epair-New-GPU-Reball-/291051512404?pt=UK_Computing_Other_Computing_Networking&h a sh=item43c405a254

 

 

might give this a go?... not many other options!

If that seller is convenient to you, I'd say go for it.  I do think that $20USD for the "assessment" plus another 277USD for the repair is a bit high, but it does come with a 6 month warranty, which is long (and rare) for this type of repair.  It certainly beats Apple's version of "repair" at an equal or higher cost (and only 90 days of warranty).  If your MBP is dead, what have you got to lose, except a few hundred bucks?

Do you think Apple will issue a recall?

Well, I have some new information to post.

I posted about the issue my 2011 17" MacBook Pro getting so bad with the graphics issue that it wouldnt' even boot.

Turns out it is not limited to 2011 models. I have a Mid-2012 15" MacBook Pro Retina that is having the exact same issue when switching to the integrated graphics card, which is the complete opposite from the 2011 17".

The issue according to support is due to the internal graphics card slipping off the contacts, which is caused by heat.

It looks like the CPU and GPU are running about 100 - 115 degrees, which isn't alarming.

Anyway, no I don't think they will issue a recall since this clearly isn't limited to a certain graphics card or year. It would be too big for Apple to handle on the recall.

Well I am afraid to have it repaired cause it will be too expensive as I am out of my one-year warranty. And judging from the comments of the others having similar issues, replacing the logic board only fixes the problem for a while.

If only Apple can pinpoint the problem to a manufacturing defect of a specific batch or something so they can issue a replacement.

Yeah, I was out of warranty on my 17" MacBook Pro. I just ended up selling it for what I could get and moving on.

It is my opinion the issue is due to using the MacBook Pro in your lap a lot, which leads to overheating from poor ventilation. Honestly, I have done this with every Mac and PC I have ever owned and up until my 2011 17" MacBook Pro I never saw an issue with overheating issues.

I think having a laptop that overheats in your lap defeats the purpose of a laptop top.

Anyway, I learned on the 17" MacBook Pro - don't mess around. Order AppleCare and be preparred for anything. I am so glad I bought AppleCare at month 11 of buying the 2012 Retina. It just saved me!

I won't ever buy a Mac without buying AppleCare before the end of the initial 12 month warranty.

I will probably be adding a 27" iMac to my arsenal so I can send this one in to get fixed since I can't handle shutting down for 7-10 days for the repair.

I must say that buying a new Mac Mini for probably the same price as the MBP repair is sort of genius. Providing you have a decent display for the Mini, it's a great way to get back up and running with a sweet new Mac that you know is covered under warranty. It's probably as fast if not faster than your 2011 MBP also.

So what is your plan for the broken laptop? Will you sell it for parts? Maybe you'll wait for a recall to fix it?

I've been thinking about some other options of what to do with this machine if I was to opt to not fix it...

First of all, I was wondering if we were to connect this machine to a thunderbolt GPU and then add on a new display, would that bypass the broken discrete graphics and make it like a new? Maybe we could disable the errant video card.

Secondly, what if we were to just put this MacBook Pro on the network and it share this screen from another computer? Maybe it could just serve as a FTP machine, or some idle machine that actually isn't necessary to be worked on all the time.

Maybe even just an iTunes machine to become a media server for a home that has multiple Apple TVs?

Anyway, we could probably go on for hours with suggestions of what this broken machine could be used for.

But going back to what you did with the mini I do like that idea. Congrats and I'm glad you're back up and running.

I see the discussion is what could we buy instead of a new MacBook Pro. It really is a shame that we would start thinking about other machines to get because of issues like this. I'm a huge Macintosh fan and I have so many systems running at home and in my office. We all have mobile laptops iPads iPhones Mac Pros iMacs minis all of the Apple products. We spend a premium to buy Apple products because they're beautiful, and the operating system is second to none. We don't worry about malware and viruses and spyware like we have to worry about on other operating systems. Apple has more money in the bank then most countries do. They are the most profitable company I can think of. They trump everybody else by leaps and bounds. I don't spend $2000 or more on a laptop so that into years I can spend another $600 on a logic board because the part of it has gone bad. That's not the game I want to play. That's not anything that any of us want to do. It really is sad, these laptops are hard to work on, there so send, their engineering by geniuses, but it seems that the bigger the company gets the more problems arise. I want to be able to address this issue myself as I could most likely with a Windows machine. By the replacement part and pop it in.

My wheels are spinning also on what to do with this issue. I called Apple today and established a case number. I will go to my local Apple store on Friday and drop off my machine for repair. The man I spoke to today in the service department said that there is no current issue or recall for this problem, but he did see quite a little a lot  of chatter about this issue online.  He said that it will be up to the manager of my store as what to do.  Part of me says just pay the money, get the MacBook Pro fixed, and move on with my life and continue to be productive. But I will say that I am very displeased that I'm might have to spend $600 to get a new logic board for this computer. It's less than three years old, this should not happen. This should not happen. This should not happen! Oh, and did I mention? This should not happen! Ridiculous. But what choice do we have? I have some old G3 iBooks, I have some titanium G4 PowerBook's, they're all still running they work just fine this machine should not of broken in such a short amount of time. There are hundreds of us if not thousands of us that are having this issue right now. Look how many pages this post alone has.

Sorry for posting this again,but i think now i will make this much more clear:

Im just lost...few weeks a go i replaced that bloody amd radeon GPU chip because i though this will be the end for my problems and after one week i started to have similar issues...freeze,black blank screen and nothing... just power button off,and again on, and then its working again... im having this situation few times in a week...mostly while working on photoshop and sometimes even doing nothing,just listening music. No graphical artifacts, no screen splitting, or something like this.

Macbook pro 17-inch, Early 2011, 2,3 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, Graphics Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB + AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1024 MB graphics

Question:

what do you think about all this situation i have after GPU replacement? I though this will be the end of my problems...but... Should i ask them to replace same chip again? But maybe problem exists not in the GPU ? Im lost, please kind people,help me with suggestions.

I´m in a similar position. I sent my logic board back for further investigation. They replaced the VRAM and the logic board is stable atm. They still have my board for testing:)

In my case the machine would not crash- it would just splitt screen with artifacts. Unplugging and replugging the external monitor would mostly bring the system back to a usable state. I guess the gpu is reset when brought offline and online again.

I´m thinking we have a dual problem here. One where the gpu fails and another where the vram also fails as a result of the gpu. Replacing the vram as well as the gpu might be needed.

Btw; I`m very pleased by the service I got from bga_repairs in this matter:) He`s on ebay:)

hmm... vram is the visual ram yes? is it expensive?

Can you tell me what exactly bga repairs did for you? they been mentioned in few places as a good this problem fixers;)