abelliveau

Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

I have an early 2011 MacBook Pro (2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 memory) running OS 10.8.2.  It has two graphics components: an AMD Radeon HD 6750M and a built-in Intel HD Graphics 3000. Since I've had the computer, the screen would get a blue tint when the computer switched between them.

 

However, as of two days ago, the problem has become substantially more severe.  The computer was working fine, when all of a suddent the screen when completely blue.  I had to force restart the computer.  Since then, the screen has gone awry on numerous occassions - each time necessitating a hard reset.

 

I installed gfxCardStatus, and have discovered that the computer runs fine using the integrated card, but as soon as I switch to the discrete card - the screen goes .

 

I am just wondering what my options are (any input on any of these would be appreciated!):

 

1) Replace the logic board.  Would this necessarily fix the issue?

 

2) Is there any way to "fix" the graphics card? 

 

3) Keep using gfxCardStatus and only use the integrated graphics card.  This is definitely the easiest/cheapest option, but to have such a computer and not be able to use the graphics card seems like a real shame.

 

4) Is there any other alternative?

 


MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB memory

Posted on Feb 1, 2013 4:45 PM

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Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

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  • by CarlosGzu,

    CarlosGzu CarlosGzu Sep 16, 2013 11:56 AM in response to bastienvans
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 16, 2013 11:56 AM in response to bastienvans

    it's a good idea, but I doubt we'll get a solution without paying...

  • by justinkaleo,

    justinkaleo justinkaleo Sep 16, 2013 1:26 PM in response to Airbum88
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 16, 2013 1:26 PM in response to Airbum88

    Didnt make the appointment as I was called in to work so I had to cancel.  I will reschedule when I have spare time.  I did however get the notebook up and running again by following advice posted somewhere here.  Basically upon start after the mac hangs at the grey screen just let it run for about thirty minutes then restart.  That worked for me, the notebook has been running fine since but im sure this is just a temporary fix, im rather hesitant to push the system to its limits.  I did install smc fan control and upped the rpms, have been monitoring istat temps and I removed the base of my book to see if the fans where covered in dust (which there was a minimum).  I also turned off graphics switching in the energy saver menu.  I do hold little hope now after reading the forums for a cheap fix as my book is in flawless condition except a minor flaw on the base where the cover meets the body the two sections dont line up %100 on the left front corner, i dont really know why that is as i have never dropped it but certainly that could be used against me.  Upon some forum research this issue actually has been well documented since the 2011 notebooks first launched so its sad to hear everone getting the cold shoulder from apple.  Wish my mac was as cold.

  • by Airbum88,

    Airbum88 Airbum88 Sep 17, 2013 6:58 AM in response to CarlosGzu
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 17, 2013 6:58 AM in response to CarlosGzu

    There are cases of people getting their out-of-warranty MBP 2011 repaired for free.  Some Apple advisors have admitted that there's a problem but the Apple employees that I have encountered at this point have refused to listen to my concerns.  I have thread numbers and case numbers ready to show them but they would not listen.  I hope Apple understands that what I am trying to do also benefits Apple as well.  Customer service is a huge part of Apple's appeal and it must be maintained despite how big they have grown.  Apple has definitely disappointed and angered their customers in how they are handling their situation but it is still not too late for them rectify the problem. 

  • by Flamenco13,

    Flamenco13 Flamenco13 Sep 17, 2013 7:29 AM in response to abelliveau
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 17, 2013 7:29 AM in response to abelliveau

    I had my MBP 2011 17'' repaired at the Apple Store 4 weeks ago.  I was forced to pay for a new motherboard ($310 + tax).  My unit was 23 months old.

     

    Last week my screen froze and I was unable to reboot  (1' vertical lines).  At least the first time I could boot into single user mode, remove drivers, and get to the desktop. 

     

    So I brought the computer back.  The original repair was covered for 90 days so they did not charge me again.

     

    The first repair, I was told they could not send my machine out without a hard drive.  They then proceeded to reformat my SSD at the factory even though I specifically requested this not to happen.  This time I removed my drive, and they told me they could repair it, but it would have to be done 'in house'.

     

    It is now ready to pick up, and should have another 90 days warrantee.   I am seriously thinking about backing up every 15 minutes and running the discrete CPU all the time just to make sure they got it right before the warrantee runs out.

     

    I have tried all methods to not have pay $$$ for this clear defect.  I would not be hard to make the case that Apple knew about this issue  while the machine was under warrentee.  This will only be solved with a class action suit.  It is the clear truth that Apple is knowingly allowing our property and information to become destroyed without taking any proactive action.  If this was a vehicle, they would not get away with this behavior.

  • by flshan,

    flshan flshan Sep 17, 2013 10:39 AM in response to Flamenco13
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 17, 2013 10:39 AM in response to Flamenco13

    Flamenco13 wrote:

     

    It is now ready to pick up, and should have another 90 days warrantee.   I am seriously thinking about backing up every 15 minutes and running the discrete CPU all the time just to make sure they got it right before the warrantee runs out.

    I am on my 3rd logic board now, and I am starting to get the same problems again. It's been 119 days since the last repair so I'm out of the 90 days warranty.

     

    I did what you are talking about and tried everything to force the problem within the 90 days but was unable to. It looks like it's something that comes with time.

     

    And another thing. The logic boards you pay that high repair price for are refurbished. 2nd logic board I got had blown up chips on it, and the 3rd one has rust on it. The shop did not care about this as the logic board passed all the tests in Apples testing program.

    The first 2 of my logic boards passed this test without problems eventhough I could demonstrate the problem easily in the shop. Only when I was able to demonstrate it repeatedly they accepted that there was a problem that the testing software did not find.

    I've since had my 3rd logic board tested and that passes too eventhough it clearly has the problem. As I could not demonstrate this repeatedly (untill now) they would not accept it for repair, and now the 90 days warranty is gone.

     

    So basically I would say that you should not trust the repairs you are getting. It looks like the problem has not been identified and fixed, but that they are just installing refurbished logic board with the same problems.

  • by Airbum88,

    Airbum88 Airbum88 Sep 17, 2013 10:45 AM in response to flshan
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    Sep 17, 2013 10:45 AM in response to flshan

    Thanks for your stories Flamenco13 and flshan.  I keep getting responses from Apple representatives that hardware failure "happens" or that wear-and-tear caused my MBP to break.  If that is the message is sending, then what does that say about the quality of their products.  Are they comfortable letting their customers know that 2 year or less is expected lifespan of a Macbook Pro, and anything more than that is luck?

    For Apple's sake, I hope Apple reconsiders the image they are currently exhibiting.

  • by SecretNinja,

    SecretNinja SecretNinja Sep 18, 2013 12:33 AM in response to matt_jd
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    Sep 18, 2013 12:33 AM in response to matt_jd

    Hi Matt, could you send the case number to me as well? will.henry at earthrisktech dot com

     

    thank you!

  • by Airbum88,

    Airbum88 Airbum88 Sep 18, 2013 6:08 AM in response to SecretNinja
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    Sep 18, 2013 6:08 AM in response to SecretNinja

    Has anybody been able to successful use Matt's case number?

  • by IP_Mat,

    IP_Mat IP_Mat Sep 19, 2013 6:20 PM in response to abelliveau
    Level 1 (40 points)
    Sep 19, 2013 6:20 PM in response to abelliveau

    I also have a ealry/mid 2011 15" MBP and startet to experience it yesterday evening when graphing network traffic in a server room - the screen went dark, fans started to turn louder and I decided to quit, closed the lid and started to walk home when the screen turned on (still closed) and after opening it startet beeping like the bad RAM code. After shutting it off it wouldn't start normally, just froze. I replaced the Crucial RAM with Apple's stock RAM and no improvement. So next I reinstalled Lion to a SD Card, but it froze once in the process, and during usage it froze easily (like finder and system prefs). Trying to install ML onto the stock SSD after backing it up and formatting it never succeded, the screen startet getting fuzzy and blanked, had the picture split, or somehow interlaced, with blue/purple blocks or striped. It has gotten worse, as to not even start up without hanging from that sd card. Apple Hardwaretest gave no issues.

     

    The MBP was dropped once, but that was 2 years ago when it was new, and worked perfectly ever since (w/ quite a bit of video editing & virtualisation of win7). But 2 Years is way to short for such an expensive premium maschine, that even advertised a 5 year battery.

     

     

    Apple needs to do a recall on this. Unfortunately broken graphics chips don't attract attention like those exploding powerbook batteries! Sad to see the 12" G4 outlive my new maschine - although the G4's keyboard is way nicer.

  • by jamesarm97,

    jamesarm97 jamesarm97 Sep 21, 2013 9:29 AM in response to Airbum88
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 21, 2013 9:29 AM in response to Airbum88

    Ok. I had / have the exact same issues with a 2011 macbook pro. It would get the distortion then lockup and reboot. Sometimes I could quit the program that made it switch and it would recover once it switched to the integrated. I just got the macbook back after taking it in and then they sent it off for the flat rate repair. I just started using it last night and everything was good. This morning I turned it on and left it and came back and woke it up and immediately saw the video distortion / tearing. The screen image was shifted off the left and wrapped back around to the right. I could see the mouse move. The time on the screen was stuck at the same time I woke it. This was using the internal display but on discrete because I had an application open that makes it switch. I was able to quit the program and it recovered in the integrated mode. I am so ******. They *said* the logicboard, memory and hard drive were replaced so obviously this is a program related to the 2011 logic boards since I am using a new one and pretty much everything in the laptop was replaced. I have no updates showing to install.

     

    *Well*, as soon as I sent this the screen messed up again.

     

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesarmstrong3/9856995494/sizes/l/in/photostream/

    9856995494_7b307e1e06_b.jpg

  • by jamesarm97,

    jamesarm97 jamesarm97 Sep 21, 2013 12:11 PM in response to jamesarm97
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 21, 2013 12:11 PM in response to jamesarm97

    Well, after being repaired and not even using it more than a day now the boot screen is garbage. Solid red sometimes complete noise other. The boot drive option icons show (holding option key). Before it was only when using the discrete, never on a boot.

  • by Indy1978,

    Indy1978 Indy1978 Sep 21, 2013 6:39 PM in response to matt_jd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 21, 2013 6:39 PM in response to matt_jd

    I'm unfortunately also joining this thread after my 15in MBP 2011 failed to boot after displaying some of the described video glitches whilst connected to an external monitor. I am unable to get it to boot despite resetting PRAM/SMC and even trying safe mode. This is actually the 2nd time it's happened to me -- the first I took into the local apple store and they had it for a few days but claimed that after 'resetting some things' they could not get the issue to recur and attibuted it possibly to a software issue and offered to do a clean install.

     

    I've since been running gfxCarsStatus and only using the on board grphics card. However after installing the latest OSX update my MBP is now displaying the same symptoms.

     

    I'm in Australia and don't really think that I should have to pay AUD600 to replace the logic board for apple's quality control problems!

     

    matt_jd - did you go to one of the local apple stores here in AU? Would you send me your case number to ILOVESEZ (AT) GMAIL (DOT) COM?

     

    thanks

  • by Vicente Alfonso,

    Vicente Alfonso Vicente Alfonso Sep 23, 2013 4:24 PM in response to abelliveau
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 23, 2013 4:24 PM in response to abelliveau

    Same problem mbp 2011 early i7 2,2 ati 1024

  • by rudaoshi,

    rudaoshi rudaoshi Sep 24, 2013 9:09 AM in response to Victor Argentina
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 24, 2013 9:09 AM in response to Victor Argentina

    Hi, Victor Argentina , I just have the same problem with you. the gfxcardstatus donot work and the graphic system is soft-driven so the performance is horrible.

     

    I wonder whether you have solve the problem. If you do, please tell me the solution. Thank you very much.

  • by sweettart,

    sweettart sweettart Sep 25, 2013 4:20 AM in response to jamesarm97
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 25, 2013 4:20 AM in response to jamesarm97

    mbp2011.jpg

    My 2011 MacBook Pro is dead after just about 2 years. Malfunctions like screen blurring, freeze and distortion happened, can't even boot and enter the system now. This universal issue is caused by the GPU of MacBook Pro Early 2011! Apple should start an quality investigation and do a recall on all these flawed models! I've shared my experience here: mbp2011 dot com

     

    Join us and comment on the page if you have encounter the same issue! We are trying everything we can so apple cannot ignore this.

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