Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

I've bought two Macbook pros, two iphones, three ipods and a time capsule. With the exception of the ipods, ALL the others had problems. I returned the iphone3G after only one week cause it wouldn't turn on. The iphone4 had a problem with the home button after a year of use. The time capsule had a problem with the power supply after about two years of use (I can't believe I paid 250€ for a router and another fifty while trying to fix it). My Macbook pro early 2008 had also a problem with the gpu and I had to switch the logic board twice (the first time at my expence and the second for free). And now this...

I would like to add that I also own three desktops, bought in 2001,  2007 and 2008 and a laptop bought in 2004 and they never caused me any problem. I've already intalled ubuntu on my desktop and I'm looking for a laptop where I'll do the same. It was a great ride apple. Too bad it had to end like that!

hmmm, did anyone try to cook the logic board? It worked with the 2008 model and plenty of othen failed graphic cards! I'm not sure how the guys on the ebay repair them. Anyone has any idea?

Interesting read. I was wondering if anyone has ever attempted to fix or replace the gpu instead of replacing the entire logicboard?

My 2011 Macbook Pro also boots to the blue striped or grey screen and everything points to GPU failure. Theres a company an hours drive away from me that tells me they can fix the GPU on my 2011 model - but i know the gpu is soldered to the board and not sure how this will work. Then again, I've never hear of em and can't say if they're credible - might be my only option though, can't afford new logicboard.

There is also a partition going around to aid users with the 2011mbp issue. Not sure if the forums allow this but if anyones interested I could post a link?

Links to non-techincal answers get deleted.
A simple google search for the keyword "#mbp2011" will lead you in the right direction.

aldar wrote:

 

hmmm, did anyone try to cook the logic board? It worked with the 2008 model and plenty of othen failed graphic cards! I'm not sure how the guys on the ebay repair them. Anyone has any idea?

This is how people like us do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZirGI2GkRwQ

Btw, that's not me or my machine, we use other but comparable equipment.

Just haven't made a video myself, but the process is the same.

Do NOT COOK your logic board if you have no idea about rework.

If it fails, might be permanently.

The #mbp2011 actually got me to the partition and to this thread. Not sure if Apple will lift a finger considering it's a 3 year old machine, but it might be worth a shot. If all else fails I guess I have nothing to loose by sending it off for the company to "cook" my logicboard.

@Rohan hy rohan i did speak to these guys they were the only ones i could find online acmatech.com they are located in mira road. guy said they can replace the gpu but it will work for 3 months and the problem will start again so they advised against doing that though it would cost 5000 rs only. They have advised to replace the logic board with apple authorised service center. call them up and let me know what they say.

Hello,

my situation is almost the same: early 2011 MacBook Pro (2.3 GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB DDR3, Samsung 840 Pro SSD 256 GB, OS 10.8.2) and of course the same graphic card setup.

I was amazed by this computer from the very beginning until last week. Of course i noticed the heat issues when finding a job that pushes the cpu and/or graphic cards a little bit but i always felt that i was far from driving it to the egde.

Then, a week ago the problems began. Booting the MBP resulted in a lasting grey screen and from time to time i managed to boot in safe mode. As soon as the system switched to the discrete graphic card the screen showed vertical or horizontal lines and finally the system crashed.

I found a lot of users with their MBPs (all early 2011) showing exactly the same issues. There's already an open petition on it's way!

I spent a lot of money for a high quality machine and would do so again. But at the same instant i expect apple to handle situations like these in a high quality manner.

Christian Schneider

Another elite Apple customer is reporting in.

It's my beloved late 2011 MBP (15", MC723, i7, 2.2 GHz).

The problems started two days ago when I saw a picture like this:

http://modmyi.com/images/akshay/2011-mbp-GPU-freezing-issue.jpg

Yesterday I got a picture like this:

http://imageshack.us/a/img26/9898/screenshot20130201at758.png

In both cases, I was able to bring it back to life by just closing the lid and thus turning it into a sleep mode, and then opening it back.

Today I saw the blue screen, the sleep mode didn't help this time. Now the comp won't boot up at all.

Do I understand it correctly that there is virtually nothing we can do about this, with the only option to buy a new machine? That really shucks, guys.

Cheers from Russia, and all the best to my Ukrainian brothers and sisters.

Guys, just to let everybody know, I've found a little workaround that helps in my case.

As someone suggested here earlier, I enter the recovery mode by pressing Command+R. After that I quit the recovery mode and choose my main HD as a Boot Disk.

Then I'm able to boot up the comp and use gfxCardStatus to switch to integrated graphics.

I don't think that it will last long enough but at least I was able to create a fresh Time Machine copy as well as to get some urgent and important information from the computer, and I believe it might help someone else here looking for a temporary solution.

This only works if your MBP boots in recovery mode. Mine doesn't.

I guess I'll rather buy a new ThinkPad with about the same specs (and a better graphics card) for about 500€ instead of paying even more for another faulty Logic Board. I'll be missing OS X. Maybe I'll buy another Apple Computer when I'm sure that I really can afford it.

jokokoko wrote:

 

This only works if your MBP boots in recovery mode. Mine doesn't.

Mine doesn't boot in safe mode but it does boot in recovery mode so I assumed all affected computers could boot in recovery.

Yeah, I was wrong. Looks like mine will die completely very soon as well.

jokokoko wrote:

 

I guess I'll rather buy a new ThinkPad with about the same specs (and a better graphics card) for about 500€ instead of paying even more for another faulty Logic Board. I'll be missing OS X. Maybe I'll buy another Apple Computer when I'm sure that I really can afford it.

I've been using MBP professionally and I've invested a lot into software which will work only in OS X. Since all computers at my workplace are on Windows 7, I can tell you that I really hate even the slightest idea of having to use this system as the main OS of my home computer.

Other than that, I totally agree with you. I can't afford to buy another MBP in the nearest future.

I do hope that Apple will eventually hear our prayers, lol. Not much hope, though.

The fault is bad.

The official service is worse.

In Spain, I had to sing and to pay 30€ for the budget:

600€ to replace the logic board.

The logic board is not new (They send this boards from Breda after their certification, but it doesn´t mean the boards are new).

They will not give back to me my logic board.

I asked for it. They answered for 1200€ budget in that case. But only 3 months for warranty period.

Are they crazy?
I´m not going to pay 33% or 66% of sale price for this kind of reparation ( logic board used and 3 month of warranty)

Come On!

<Edited by Host>

moneybag wrote:

Since all computers at my workplace are on Windows 7, I can tell you that I really hate even the slightest idea of having to use this system as the main OS of my home computer.

Other than that, I totally agree with you. I can't afford to buy another MBP in the nearest future.

 

Totally with you there. But there's no option for me. So I'll have to work with Windows and Linux for the next years.

Linux is very good, I'd like to run it on my computer. There are no Logic or Photoshop alternatives, unfortunately.

Frankly, there are no Logic alternatives on Windows either.