Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Anyone know why I am back into my previously unreadable HDD and failed logic board MBP???

It's a matter of chance. The problem is due to faulty connections in the GPU and it might change for various reasons, mostly thermal. But even unmounting and remounting might help, and maybe the mechanical work you did to just touch the RAM was enough to improve the connection. I wouldn't feel exactly safe, anyway. It might work forever or only for a few days; only time will tell. In the meantime, be extra careful with backups.

I wouldn't feel exactly safe, anyway. It might work forever or only for a few days; only time will tell. In the meantime, be extra careful with backups.

Thanks man I know I am just getting onto the backup of my stuff now!

I am not feeling safe but just confused! ... Just wondering if anyone else may have upgraded to the same RAM and could reverting back to the original RAM be anything to do with why its working again? I know very little about the workings of things but I have a report saying my Logic board has failed from the official diagnosis by Apple...

time to backup!!

With my MBP 2011 (once worth more than 2.000 Euros) resting beside me, we have to realize that Apple is turning from a high class computer company into a candy type phone, music, movie and TV provider. A long lasting desaster like this one is unthinkable with Steve Jobs still in charge. The new guys just do a job like anyone else - their computers are not their children anymore. New markets are showing up and for the earnings it's better to sell some million iPads and iPhones than a 100.000 MacBooks. Very disappointed - but it's time to say goodbye - time is over.

Imo, from a technical/hardware view, it has never been more "higher class" then other quality computers.

Ok, it might have looked nicer, aluminim case etc.

But the hardware inside, Chinese Foxconn production and (low) quality...

Other osse's, and yes, even windows, have catched up too and are at least, if not even more stable.

It might be good for graphics, maybe some movie editing on a high end mac.

But a high spec pc costing much less will wipe the floor with it.

In both video and especially in CAD and 3D design due it's expandiblity to add more powerfull graphic cards.

You can even put in up to 4 graphic cards on some motherboards.

Try to find a mac that cn do that.

If you want affordable high class high spec you go for a custom build pc.

jaime1985 wrote:

 

Just wondering if anyone else may have upgraded to the same RAM and could reverting back to the original RAM be anything to do with why its working again? I know very little about the workings of things but I have a report saying my Logic board has failed from the official diagnosis by Apple...

Personally I have not upgraded any part of my MBP and I still have the problem, so I don't really think it's related to upgrading the RAM. Going to have to agree with Fabrizio Giudici on this. If Apple really did tell you your logic board failed, I think it could still mess up again.

     I just want to update everyone again and let them know that my MBP had it's repairs completed today and will be back in the Apple store tomorrow morning.

Feb 23rd: Failed bake

Feb 24th: Dropped off at Apple Store

Feb 25th: MacBook received at repair depot, repaired, being shipped back

First thing I want to do is take it apart again check the thermal paste. I will post pictures once it comes in.

Hey guys, I haven't checked in for a few days now since I have received my MBP back from Apple. I have been waiting a few days since the repair to see the performance of my machine. Here's the skinny:

I received my MacBook Pro back from Apple along with a yellow padded envelope.

The technician and I opened it up and found a hard drive in an antistatic bag as well as two RAM chips each wrapped in antistatic bags. Apparently, Apple decided to replace my logic board, my hard drive, my RAM, and a front bracket that has something to do with cooling.

The original hard drive that came with my MacBook Pro, I replaced with a 7200 RPM Seagate Momentous hard drive. I upgraded it myself. Additionally, I removed the included ram and replaced it with Corsair RAM that I bought from Amazon.com. I installed 16 GB myself. Never had a problem at all.

The other day, after sending my MPB off for the $310 repair for this GPU issue, I received my MacBook Pro back from Apple, they took it upon themselves to remove my 16 GB of RAM and replace it with 8 GB of RAM. In addition, they removed my 3rd party Seagate 7200 RPM 500 GB hard drive and replaced it with an "Apple" hard drive with the same specs. Surprisingly they did give me a 500 GB 7200 RPM hard drive, even though that was not what was originally included with this MacBook Pro.

I was a little bit surprised that my 16 GB of RAM was removed and only 8 GB was replaced. But honestly, the fact that they did give me my 16 GB back to me made me not mind as much. I have not taken it upon myself to put the 16 GB back into the MacBook Pro, but for now the machine seems to be running just fine with 8 GB of memory.

The 500GB Seagate hard drive that they returned back to me in a antistatic bag, I installed into an external enclosure myself and ran every diagnostic I could think of on it and came back with no problems at all. So for me, I don't mind the fact that they gave me a new hard drive, in fact I end up with an extra hard drive.

I don't know if I will put in the 16 GB of RAM, especially now that everybody seems to be chatting about the possibility that Corair brand rmemory might be related to some of these graphic issues I might have been experiencing. Who knows? Maybe it does maybe it doesn't, but the machine is running beautifully right now.

I am trying to tax this machine as hard as I can. I'm running Photoshop daily, and I am about to get back into video editing and photographic editing with both Final Cut Pro and Aperture respectively.

I might also mention that I installed the Mavericks operating system from scratch, I did not run a Time Machine restore, nor did I run Migration Assistant to install anything that used to be on this machine. I have done it all manually one item at a time. My goal here is to have a very clean machine. So far so good.

I may stay with the 8 GB of RAM for now. Who knows, maybe there is something to do with this Corsair branded RAM. After all, when I purchased it, it was only about $80 for 16 GB of RAM. Currently I've looked and the prices are about double.

I will keep you all posted with progress reports as this machine progresses. Hopefully the problem is fixed, and the new logic board is sound.

Good luck to you all, I do think that the $310 spent at Apple was well worth it. At least I have peace of mind, and, like a car, some things need maintenance. Had I purchased the AppleCare for $350, I would still be down $40. This repair coming in at only $310 does seem quite well worth the money. It's a shame that it was necessary at all, but once I bought a Volkswagen that came with only a two-year, 24 mile warranty. If my air-conditioning had died after that 24th month I would've been out a lot more money.

High tech items come with high-tech price tags, Expect maintenance. Luckily, Apple offered this $210 repair for anything, Along with $100 for labor. A pretty good deal if you ask me. It could've ended up being $600 or $700.

Only time will tell.

The same idea to put in the original memory and check was advised to me by a friend of mine, who repairs Apple hardware since Macs have started to appear in our hemisphere in early 90s . I've also upgraded my MBP to 16 gigs (Crucial, 2x8GB) in October, 2012, and putting original 4 gigs back did not change anything. So, non-original memory was absolutely irrelevant to GPU issues.

Ok, just to add my store.

Early macbook pro 2011 17" . Worked fine until late last year, started to reboot when disconnecting the Apple 27" thunderbolt screen, later got worse. Got the moved image on the screen, the pixels, the stripes, etc. Often requiring a reboot. Sometimes the reboot would show stripes and would stop.

Found out it worked fine without the 27" screen but I love it too much to live without it so I paid €500 to have the motherboard replaced (Apple people in Montpellier said they knew about the problem in 15" but had to charge for the 17" ...

Yesterday evening picked the mbp at Odyseum in Montpellier, got home, and ran the Unigine Heaven benchmark on the 27". Look http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1zVbnMKbgQ&feature=youtu.be Which is kind of sad, because the replaced motherboard did not have a problem with this this test :-(

At least it did not crash ... so made another appointment to see what the genius' will say this time.

<Personal Information Edited by Host>

pkriens wrote:

 

Yesterday evening picked the mbp at Odyseum in Montpellier, got home, and ran the Unigine Heaven benchmark on the 27". Look http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1zVbnMKbgQ&feature=youtu.be Which is kind of sad, because the replaced motherboard did not have a problem with this this test :-(

 

At least it did not crash ... so made another appointment to see what the genius' will say this time.

they will probably blame the benchmark

Marc Leftoff wrote:

 

High tech items come with high-tech price tags, Expect maintenance. Luckily, Apple offered this $210 repair for anything, Along with $100 for labor. A pretty good deal if you ask me. It could've ended up being $600 or $700.

I think Apple's flat-rate depot repair service can be a good deal, depending on your situation.  They usually end up replacing more parts than you'd expected, and they look for faults in parts that have nothing to do with your current problem (e.g. my logic board replacement came with a charging port replacement because they detected problems with that as well).  You can really refresh an older machine with a depot repair. 

That said, even that depot repair can easily end up being $600 or $700 (or more) for some users - the rate for the depot repair depends on the condition of your laptop, and  a tiny ding or dent can raise the price to the next tier (even if that exterior damage should have had no impact on the problems you've got).  Also, flat-rate repair is only offered in a few countries, so most international users have higher price in-store repair as their only Apple-provided option (for comparison, US in-store logic board replacement is around $525 for parts and labor).  And if the problem you're facing is likely an endemic manufacturing issue for the model you've purchased, and is likely to re-occur... well, I think a lot of users here question whether any price is a "good deal" for that. 

I'm really impressed that you got new RAM and a hard drive... and got back your originals!  When my MBP went in with upgraded RAM, I was warned by the Genius Bar staff that the depot might refuse to work on it until I provided the original RAM.  I've also read stories from other users where they lost their aftermarket RAM or hard drive when the depot replaced it.  So I'm glad to hear that it all worked out so well - having an extra drive is always nice (for backups or extra storage).  I consider Corsair to be decent RAM, and I don't think there have been any indications that the problems stem from RAM upgrades - many folks here are still using their original RAM and seeing these GPU problems.  They should be independent. 

New tactic in addition to signing the petition/emailing tim cook and getting the phone call from apple and registering the issue as well as visiting the "genius" bars...

Tweet tim cook! tweets dont have to be rude, just mention early 2011 MBP and discrete GPU.

We have to force Apple to respond as they don't seem to be acting like the Apple of old.

https://twitter.com/tim_cook

add the hashtag

#whatwouldstevejobsdo

Don't spectate from the sidelines and expect anything to happen. We paid alot for these machines,  we expect high end customer service or at least a sorry and an effort to make amends. As the consumers who bhelped build this empire we deserve a satisfactory resolution and respectful engagement from Apple, not radio silence.

I have been having this problem over the last couple of weeks now. It had been driving me crazy until I found all the info about the issues. Same problem as the many, many, many thousands of customers also appear to be having.

• Extreme heat at the top left
• Artifacts on the screen
• Pixelation/Blocks
• Split screen
• Stripes
• Lines
• Bars
• Blue screens (I didn't know Mac's blue screened
• White screens
• Won't boot for up to 24 hours after it crashes (maybe protection from the heat generated)

There doesn't appear to be a way to disable the discrete graphics card either it just automatically switches to it if I do just about anything other than look at the desktop. I have tried Lion, Mountain Lion and Mavericks and am getting the issue on all (though I would say the problem really ramped up after updating to Mavericks).

Going to book in to see a genius at my local store by I'm out of warranty now so I don't know what help I will get except a huge bill...I really do feel there is some kind of fatal flaw in the design of these that Apple should address. Is there any chance this could explode my Macbook Pro and start a fire or something crazy?

Hey guys, just wanted to update you on my experiences again:

February 23rd: MBP started showing signs of the GPU failing. Attempted a reflow. Everything worked great until this fell out.

February 24th: Took the MBP to the Apple Store here in Phoenix, AZ (Arrowhead). They sent it off for flat rate repair. Ships overnight.

February 25th: Repair Depot reports repairs are complete, overnights it back to Phoenix.

February 26th: Apple sends me an email to come pick up my Macbook Pro. Here I am at home typing this up.

So despite having taken a heat gun to my own board and frying it, Apple still replaced the logic board for $329 ($310 + Tax). So far so good, though later tonight I'll still take it apart and look at it. I want to replace the thermal paste.

I had the same issues and finally my mac died, I used fan controllers and the app the force to use just the integrate chip and another tricks, however that just worked for a time but finally my Mac died.