Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Me too!

Come on!

Another victim here. You can pick up a retina with an integrated card and avoid future issues (apple has never handled discrete cards well in their notebook lines). I was able to sell my 2011 macbook (just honestly explained the GPU issue and pointed to this forum in the item description) on ebay for around $500 to offset some of the cost.

If there was a way to write some sort of extension or script to have GFXCardStatus to force integrated on startup, I wonder if the problem would be resolved (in the sense that you'd have a consistently functional laptop, despite an unusable discrete card). I found that if my computer restarted or the battery died, it'd take dozens of restarts, PRAM resets, safe mode tries, or even OS reinstalls to attempt to get it back up and booting again successfully. Letting it cool down for 24+ hours also seemed to help the odds.

It's beyond shameful that Apple refuses to acknowledge this issue and likely instructs their geniuses in the stores to do the same.

If you could disable the discrete card in Mac OS X, then yes the computer would function normally.  I know this because I was able to successfully install Ubuntu 13.10 on my macbook pro, which was suggested by another user on this thread.  When it starts up I have to manually enter some code that disables the discrete card, but I am now able to run Ubuntu without any errors.  I have no hard freezes or resets, the screen doesn't turn blue, I can run graphic intensive software and even watch videos.  Sometimes when it goes to sleep and I wake it up I get a black screen but my computer is running it's just that the screen won't light up for whatever reason.  I can tell because my cap lock button lights up if I press it. 

It was kind of a pain to install but it brought my non-functional computer to life again.  I am not going to get the computer fixed through the depot because I fear the logic board will fail after the 90 day warranty.  This is so clearly a manufacturing problem that apple is responsible for.  It would be great if they'd modify the OS for us or create a patch, but that would mean they are admitting to the problem.  They'd rather we suffer than do something like that. Hopefully they get their act together but I'm not going to hold my breath.

I'm having similar issues with my MPB Early 2011 15". I had it shut down a couple of times in the last year with the fans at top speeds. It booted back up but took a few minutes to do so. In January it did this again and I couldn't get it to boot unless I booted it in safe mode. I thought I had a bad startup disk and went through the motions to resolve it. Then it started again about a day later after a couple of hours use, surfing facebook and watching some videos on you tube. I followed a bunch of troubleshooting which lead me finally to reinstalling the OS. I did that and then got some weird screen during set up I hadn't ever seen with blue bars running down the screen. I finally got in and it worked for about 4 day then started acting up again. I tried all the steps again only to get to a blue screen that never takes me to the login screen. I had it checked out and the Apple repair person told me my logic board failed. I paid quite a premium for my 2011 MBP and expected to get more than 3 years out of it. I bought the top of the line model, babyed it. Never took it even out of the house to use for fear I might drop it or cause some damage to it. It saddens me that this investment in such a beautiful piece of equipment that works so well crashed so early in it's life. I haven't replaced it yet. Even had I purchased Apple care it would have expired at this point and would not have helped. If I purchase another one after two decades of Apple computers it will be an air with apple care with the expectation of a 3 year life. I'm having to use a back up PC with Windows 8.1 and it's driving me crazy. I miss my MBP and OS X.

Can anyone tell me if the Nvidia GT 650M is having any of these problems?  Thinking ahead and not wanting to get into another problem like this one.

missionarymac,

Not that I know of - the cards that shipped with teh 2011 models were AMD Radeon cards.

Which model MacBook Pro do you have?

Clinton

The same as the rest in this listing,  early 2011 15" MBP with the Radeon 6750 card 1gb ram,  750 gig hard drive and 2.2 processor.  Most expensive unit I have ever purchased and the shortest life!

missionarymac wrote:

 

Can anyone tell me if the Nvidia GT 650M is having any of these problems?  Thinking ahead and not wanting to get into another problem like this one.

Depends, like I wrote here:

D3us wrote:

 

Im a software engineer , and electronic technician, and now i think is a software problem, because mi GPU NEVER UP TO 90degrees, and SILVER OR PB NEED MORE THAN 150 degrees to melt it. I think the software problem is RELATED to the voltage in the GPU or something like that, because when the energy things in mavericks come out the problem too in too many users, sites.

 

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

f 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 don't think both the AMD and nVidia GPU have problems in it.

Still convinced it was the porduction soldering process.

If they would take the same pcb, only change the amd gpu pattern to nVidia and solder it using the same process, equipment/reflow oven and solder, it most likely will run into the same problems.Let's hope they learned from it.

Making things smaller or putting more power in the same case with same cooling will result in more heat. Stressing it more = more chance for failing.

If you want performance go for a desktop.

Even the most expensive laptop will allways have more risk to fail when used as a workhorse like graphic intensive applications

If you could disable the discrete card in Mac OS X, then yes the computer would function normally.

No, not normally. The miniDP/Thunderbolt output is only routed over the ATI GPU so you won't be able to connect an external display if you disable the discrete GPU which is a dealbreaker...

Update: Turns out that my minport infact did work...it was my cord that was faulty. Purchased a new one yesterday before attempted to return to the appl store and it works like a charm.

Wierrddd......

I installed the last Mavericks 10.9.2 update a week or so ago.....  about 3 days ago I forgot to switch my gfxcardStatus to 'integrated only' which has been the only way to use my Early 2011 Macbbok Pro 17.

I worked on my Mac all day... I'm a photographer so I use a lot of memory and before my screen would crash within 5 minutes before I started using gfx. Just starting Photoshop it would crash into the stripes or offset desktop crap.

At the end of the day I remembered I hadn't switched my gfx and was shocked to realise that I was using my Mac like before my screen crash... not a hiccup...It's still going.....

I can even close my lid into sleep mode and it wakes up instantly.

I am shocked.....

Curious if anyone else has experienced the miracle!

Yes, it hava happen to me.

Good MBP for few days... Then... Bad MBP for few days... until Bad MBP prevailed.

Amazed to have finally found this thread.

I too suffered from this same issue with my Early 2011 15" MBP. I had the logic board replaced by apple at the end of September 2013 ..and just yesterday the same problems reared their head. Unfortunately this time the machine is bricked - solid white/grey screen after restart.

Im now unable to bring this back as it is out of the 90-day applecare parts warranty. Thanks Apple; Very ******.

<Edited By Host>

Got my laptop back from getting a reball. So far so good. Apple genius didn't want to send my laptop to the depot because I upgraded my HD to an aftermarket SSD. A local authorized apple repair shop was going to charge me $1000 to have it fixed. That was $800 for a new i7 logic board and $200 for service. Knowing that a new logic board might not fix the problem because it will still have a bad GPU connection, I went with a repair shop on eBay that reballed the GPU for $150. I've worked it hard for the past 3 days and haven't had any issues. Fingers crossed it will hold up.

What type of work were u doing on yours since it's repair? What do you typically use your's for? Just wondering...cuz i recently had mines repaired as well and definitely dont want the same to happen to me.