Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Same issue for me - already reported here. MBP 8,2 with hi-res screen updated to Maverics.

Failed at approximately 35 months after purchase. All the same symptoms.

Sent it in to the Apple Repair Depot for the $359/repair (all told after tax and shipping) and got my machine back with new Logic Board and newly replaced RAM. They said after the board was replaced, it wouldn't boot so they switched out the ram and then it worked.

I got my old chips back (16GB) and never bothered testing them as I needed to get to work.

Computer worked fine and as normal after the repair. No Issues at all. I ran some Graphics and CPU stress tests and the heat never got much above 90C for the CPU or 75C for the GPU. Fans never spooled above 69% or so.

As some have said, I have been very worried that the board would fail again -- but after the 90 day warranty. I can stomach one $300 repair if I am for sure going to get another 3 years out of the computer. But with all the reports of repeated failures, I just don't have very much faith.

So this is what I did -- sold it on Craigslist. Full disclosure given about the repair and the Apple Warranty. Got $1000 for it which is probably fair considering the market for these has gone down since this issue has surfaced and it has been flooded with them for sale.

I bought a new (october 2013) 13" Retina off the refurbished store page with apple care for $1700 after tax and shipping. Hoping to not have the same discrete card issues (since that only has the integrated card) -- as I never edited video, rarely did anything that required high pressure GPU usage. Net loss for me for sure but at least I know I'm good to go for at least 3 years. And I'm sure I'll be able to sell it at that point for half of that.

It may just be that Apple products (if you choose to use them) are becoming more disposable -- which is totally lame and terrible for the planet and checking account -- where you know you will only have 3 years of quality life out of them at which point it's time to dump them on the used market...upgrade to new hardware for a discounted price...rather than keep the machine til it's worth nothing after 6-8 years and buy brand new at that point. Let someone else take the risk of buying old used equipment. For me, I need my computer for work and I need it to work always. That's why I prefer OSX -- over the past 3 years, since this nonsense, i've had under 10 system freezes/lock ups and have had the computer not working properly for a total of about 2 days.  Compared to my old Sony Vaio Z, that was miniscule -- that computer was constantly freezing up (3-4 times weekly) requiring full reboots and loss of data -- in addition, I had to ship it into get serviced 3 times in 2 years with many days of down time in addition for hardware fixes that I did myself. And that's not to mention the many ways in which the cheap plastic/carbon case brok and cracked. I'll take Apple 3 times over before I'd go back to that -- but it's becoming a begrudging choice.

One of the frustrating things about this issue is that we don't know  the failure rate of these GPUs and logic boards.  We don't know how many have failed out of the early and late 2011 15" and 17" releases.  We don't know how many of those have been repaired, and we don't know the failure rate of the repaired units.  The snapshot we get on these (and other) forums is skewed - people only tend to speak up when they're having a problem, and if their repairs are successful, we probably won't hear from them again.  So what we see the most of is... failure.  I'm not doubting that this is a problem affecting at least some thousands of users, but rather lamenting that we're in a woefully inadequate position to see the big picture and make informed decisions about what to do with our machines when they break. 

Marc Leftoff wrote:

 

So the question remains, unless they're putting in a refurbished logic board, why will this replacement board fail faster than my original board did?

 

Are there other elements in my computer that will cause this new logic board to be exposed to an already volatile environment?

 

I hope that the replacement logic board will in fact to be brand-new. Anybody?

It's seemed like Apple's replacements have been a mix of new and refurbished, but it doesn't seem like you get any choice or will be able to tell which you got after the repair.  This is especially likely if you're getting a depot repair, where you won't be interacting with anyone who worked on your machine.  So if you get a new board, there's no reason to expect that it will fail immediately - it seems (from our woefully inadequate and skewed information) that you could get a couple of years out of a new board.  A refurb would be a much more substantial gamble, since it may have already been taxed for a couple of years and you don't know what underlying problems it could have. 

I don't know which is in my repaired machine this time around, and I'm now about 5 months post-repair without any troubles.  I'm hoping to get a few more years out of this computer, but... who knows?  :\

I have resolved the problem, I sent my Macbook to a local computer service ( in Milan, Italy) and they have changed only the GPU, reballing it with new tin.

I payed only 250€, and now my mac is like a new one.

I'm Italian too, could you please tell me the name of the shop in Milan?

I'd like to do this reball on my laptop as well, and the only good solution I've found so far is in the UK.

Grazie Mille ;)

The shop is "AGP Computer" Viale Monte Nero, 44 Milano.

They do reballing, and they offered me 6 month of warranty.

The price of a complete logic board replacement was 561€ from "juice" , an authorized apple reseller.

The same problem, my graphics card failured in 2013, I was lucky, beacause my MBP was under warranty, and Apple change my motherboard. I read that the problem is repeated over time, expect a scrappage scheme is believed for all these graphs fail.

MBP Inch 2011 15".

Spain

Living in the Netherlands - lucky to have European customer rights regulations here that basically enforces a 3 year warranty period for consumers on these kind of products.

Wrote to Apple, kindly requesting support, got a call from headquarters in Ireland. After diagnosis at the local repair centre (yes, that must be GPU fault but we've neeever seen this before .... ) they offered free repair. That was more than I hoped for.

There is still the fear that the fault will repeat itself - crossing my fingers.

Hoping for the best for all of you who are still stuck with a broken machine.

I don't think anyone can be for sure that the logic board is new, but I doubt it is. Sandy Bridge chips and chipsets are no longer in production, meaning that things like the CPU, North bridge, South bridge, etc. must be recycled from somewhere, likely old boards. I don't think Apple has a huge stockpile of never used logic boards either almost 3 years later.

As I have said before, it may be difficult depending on your situation, but if you want to get this problem resolved please refrain from buying another Apple laptop. This only tells them that it is ok for them to produce a product that dies so early in its life cycle because we will come back and buy another instead of switching elsewhere.

Since I am married to Apple because of Logic Pro and certain hardware, I have to ask if the newer rMBP models are possibly free of these defects. No one has conclusively said whether out problems result from defective parts, bad design, or poor manufacturing. Is it possible that such issues are resolved in newer models by now? My MBP is getting it's 3rd logic board right now, 2nd in the last year span. The genius told me that if I get 3 in one year then they escalate my case and look for another solution... Whatever that means. New MBP? I really like the one I have the best... When it works though!

A dead fan can cause the environment to shift more towards an inhospitable one, than one that can keep things running cool enough in order to reduce the chances of your losing a component on the logic board. 

The biggest issue I have with MacBook products (Air's, Pro's) is that OS X does not have builtin warnings to the user when a fan goes out.  Case in point, a left fan and right fan may be running fine for a year, then one goes out, and the user is unaware.  They become aware when the product fails to perform the way it has in the past, begins running hot or more hot than previous interaction with the device. 

For whatever reason, the discreet GPU's seem to be more apt to fail than the processors, two components which often share the same heat pipe, and in many cases it's a good component with a bad connection to the logic board. This is the reason why a solder reflow often corrects the problems for a period of time and in some cases, permanently. 

I can tell you from my own experience the Retina MacBook Pro (Mid-2012 in my case) is no better or worse than previous "Classic" models from years past. They redesigned the product, made it more compact, and doing so had to make compromises in order to keep things cool enough to run within specification and yet thin enough to satisfy their design standards. 

Perhaps Apple will improve reliability, but I would recommend Apple Care for all but the most ludicrously rich who may ask for my opinion. 

Today I received the call from an Apple Public Relations Executive, after writing a letter to Tim Cook. I told her I had already taken my MBP to a repair shop, and even if Apple would change my logic board for free I wouldn't rely on that, since it seems most replacement boards fail a short time after the repair. I asked her to send my case to their engineering department, that probably have already received hundreds of similar reports, in order to see the big picture and not a simple isolated case.

She told me she would do that and call me next friday. I do not expect much. Meanwhile I am waiting for my MBP, I took it to be reballed today.

I have an early 2011 15" MBP and have never had any problems at all.  I upgraded to Mountain lion a while back and everything has been fine.  Just last week, while surfing the web, it froze and I when trying to restart I could only get "grey screen".  Finally got it to reboot using the startup disk but it just froze again later that day...

I now have it working with gfxCardStatus and Caffeine, but it's not ideal...  Based on reading everything here, it sounds like I can roll the dice for $300 or just try to bear with it.  If I choose to bear with it, what should I do to report it?  Is it even worth reporting and is there any chance Apple will ever cover repairs for this issue?

Also, has anyone tried repairing the loose solder manually?  I'd assume its very intricate micro-solder, but I'm just curious if anyone out there has had any luck...

"has anyone tried repairing the loose solder manually? "

The problem is not "loose" solder.  The problem is a fracture between the solder ball, and the silver-based solder paste (a few 10/10000s of an inch thick).  The device is a BGA package, with hundreds of small solder balls, most of them not located around the perimeter.  Some posters have had a modicum of success by having the device reattached, using a "reflow" process - which requires special equipment.  Some posters have even claimed that they had success by performing the reflow process in their own kitchen ovens.

It's not just a claim. Many have and it can work. It's risky though, and should only be done by those who have nothing else to lose (e.g. they don't have to worry about voiding a warranty and/or they need their machine fixed and either can't afford a replacement or they don't want to roll the dice on another one which will likely do the same thing.) It's also likely the problem will resurface later.  There's really no way to know.

I've done it with a "modicum of success" myself. I've run into an issue with the right fan at the same time, which in all likelihood actually caused the problem in the first place. However, until I can get the replacement installed, I have to deal with the funky bootup "process" (which involves blank screen until I know it's at the desktop, at which time I close the lid and wait a few minutes) on my rMBPro.