Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Dear Apple Support Communities Staff,

i am not sure if links to an official newspaper article regarding the exact problem discussed in this forum should be regarded as poll or petition.

It is simply meant to inform thousands of users (your companies customers) that their problem became public.

In this case I definitely disagree with your decision of removing my post!

best regards

Yea I don't know why they're deleting your link but anyone who googles "early 2011 MacBook Pro GPU" will instantly see the numerous articles about it.

Same problem here in Canada. Bought my early 2011 15" MacBook Pro (2.2GHz Quad‐core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics) on Feb. 24, 2011 (the day it was announced), with AppleCare.

Started having a few intermitent graphics issues a few months ago, but because it rarely happened, didn't pay much attention to it. That is, until a few weeks ago when it started to become more serious. The computer started to freeze on a regular basis, with either a blue or gray screen, other glitches. A hard shutdown was always necessary, and it got to the point where it wouldn't boot no matter what options I chose when booting up. It finally came back to life after being turned off for two days and sitting on a laptop cooling pad.

Brought it to my closest Apple Store, and after they did some stress testing, called me back to say that the logic board would need to be replaced, at a cost of $541(Canadian dollars), $622 with labour and taxes. I went through the whole song & dance about the thousands and thousands of other customers having the same problem, etc., but they wouldn't budge, even though my AppleCare support had only ended a few weeks ago.

Finally called Apple Support this afternoon, and was eventually transferred to a Senior Advisor. After she looked into the problem, she told me that they would cover the entire cost of the logic board's replacement, due to the fact that my AppleCare Protection Plan had just ended at the end of February.

Of course, who knows how long the new logic board/graphics card will last?!? Hopefully, for another year or two, as I was planning on using this MBP for 5 years or so.

So, my advice, after all this, is to call Apple Support and see what they can do for you. I was all prepared to plead my case about how much the MBP cost me, that the faulty parts/manufacturing was Apple's responsibility, etc., etc., etc., but was spared all that. I do suggest you remain calm and polite for as long as possible when talking to them, and see how far that gets you.

My MacBook Pro Screen freezes as well but I can usually restart after two attempts.  The fan needs to be bigger as heat may assist in causing the problem.  Sometimes, I use the "Safeboot," by holding down the power button and the shift key.  You need to keep the shift key down until the progress bar responds.  Good luck.  I think a graphics card or the mother board needs to be replaced (or both) plus the fans.

Hi all ...

I've been getting the same symptoms described here in my Early 2011 MBP 15" i7 2Ghz with AMD Radeon discrete graphics.

I first had these issues a couple of months ago, still running on the original OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8), while watching a Youtube video. Managed to solve it temporarily by booting in safe mode and restarting to boot normally. A month ago updated the OS to Mavericks testing if it was a software issue and got the problem again last week. This second time happened while surfing the web (simply loading a webpage) and now I can't manage to boot it in any way. Tried the following:

. boot Normally (result: no boot, gray screen);

. boot in Safe mode (result: no boot, blue screen with vertical black lines);

. boot in Recovery mode (result: no boot, blue screen with vertical black lines);

. boot in Internet Recovery mode (result: no boot, gray screen / can't access router (no Internet access));

. boot in Single User Mode (result: no boot, gray screen);

. boot from Pen Flash Drive with latest version of Ubuntu OS (no boot: black screen);

. boot from DVD with Backtrack 5 (r3) OS (no boot: black screen);

. boot from original OS X install DVD (no boot: black screen);

. boot with different combinations of commonly used peripherals (normally and in safe mode without any luck);

. reset NVRAM / PRAM (result: no boot, gray screen);

Additionally I've opened the laptop and checked HDD connectors. Connectors are OK.

Apple should DEFINITELY assume responsibility for this know issue in these MBP models as they are faulty judging by the amount of cases. I've had mine for almost 3 years without any problems, and now, all of the sudden, it is totally bricked.

I went to Apple certified repair agent and they ran the diagnostic tests. All systems are OK. Odd outcome for a bricked laptop ... don't you think Apple?

Now you want me to pay for a new logic board. Total repair cost 600€ plus the certainty to get back for another logic board in 2/3 years time. You must be completely mad!

This issue has planned obsolescense written everywhere.

Anyone has any ideas on how to call for Apple responsibility over this known issue? I'm up to all ideas.

Best,

H.

Hi all,

I'm french and work in Berlin as a graphic designer. That said, I don't really know how will I efficiently work in the coming days, considering that every dark and grey tones of my screen are red.

(graphic card AMD Radeon HD 6490M on a mid-2011 MBP)

We're now thousands with the same problem.

A solution needs to be found to solve this massive problem inherent to the machine since the beginning.

Best regards,

F.

well guess we are hopeless.....

Saan ka sa Pinas?

Possibly the tested replacement logic board has been fitted complete and the thermal paste/heatpipe has not been applied optimally.

I've found after proper thermal paste application and lapping the plates the CPU0 sensor idle temps between 36-44C on OSX and approx +10c more in bootcamp using the high performance power plan. The GPU idles at the 48-54C mark in windows, towards the higher end if those ranges especially if it's a 15 inch with less room inside. If it's substantially more than these figures I would consider a repaste to prolong the life of your logic board.

Why CPU? I have noticed the GPU die heats up noticeably when only the CPU is running turbo boost single core and I believe its the combination of the sandy bridge/northern islands CPU/GPU in close proximity with each other that pushes the thermal capabilities like no other combination in this largely common 15-17 unibody design from 08-12, increasing the chances of future failures in the lead free solder connections in the GPU.  The fact that this cooling design copes ok with the older Arrandale/Nvidia 2010 models and also with the Ivy Bridge/Nvidia 2012 models doesn't seem to be a coincidence in my book.

For those who live in Italy: reballing card made ​​in a PC repair shop of Brescia (IT), 61.50 + VAT, within 48 hours my macbook pro 15" was back on the desk.

Apple resellers, always in Brescia (IT), asked me 650 euro to change the logic board (O_*)
Thanks Apple, in the future I will think 2, 3 times...

Thanks to the repair shop "centroassistenzacomputer.net /", for the speed and honesty, recommend it to those who lived in the area.

For those are or have experienced issues with the GPU, regardless of what solution you decided to pursue, I highly suggest providing feedback to Apple through the official channels, whether it be through a support case through AppleCare (ask for an exception if you don't have AppleCare) or make an appointment at the Apple Store.  At the very minimum, provide feedback through the following:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

For those who have gone ahead and fixed the MBP through other means, keep your receipts--perhaps there will be a chance you will get re-imbursed.

I got this problem the day before yesterday ... exactly during some hard coding work. This really annoys me, I just feed back to Apple. I was thinking about buying a new macbook this year in June, but as Apple seems not to give statement to this problem I am not sure about the investment

I never had any problems with my early 2011 macbook pro up until the day before yesterday and have a high opinion about those devices. And this is not the sort of thing that gives me a good feeling about buying just a new book ... planned obsolescence comes into my mind here....

I honestly think that Apple will release an advisory about these models in time for June though.  If you are worried about heat with GPU failures in future the haswell notebooks with the integrated iris pro graphics give quite decent performance unless you specifically need a discrete GPU for CUDA or open-cl.  In my case although I do need a separate GPU for CS6 and Final cut, on my MBP it's only for occasional use cos my heavily upgraded classic Mac Pro tower with GTX 680 GPU is my primary workstation - a Mac truly worthy of the 'Pro' moniker as it takes every hefty task I throw at it with ease.

Would the advisory be something along the lines of "if you need a laptop with a discrete GPU that will last for more than 2-3 years, please do not purchase the 15" Macbook Pro"?

As many before I am having the same issue with the late 2011 Macbook Pro.  I did submit feedback to Apple.

I first started having the problem back in December of 2013 and it started off just requiring hard reboots but eventually you couldn't even boot the laptop up anymore.

I actually put it in the closet once it failed in late December 2013 hoping there would be some sort of resolution but since months have gone by now and nothing has been done, I have elected to try to get it repaired with a GPU Reball.

I am currently waiting on that to be performed, so hopefully that will correct the issue for now.  I am assuming Apple is not going to do anything about this so going forward anyone who is going to pay the premium for a Macbook pro they just need to budget at least 1k/yr.  I actually bought mine in Jan of 2012, so mine didn't even make it 2 entire years prior to failure but it seems alot of people are making close or beyond to the 3 year mark.

Unlike others I am not completely tied to OSX as I use Windows as well, so lucky for me I had other means to continue my work.  I actually bought a 17 inch 2008 Macbook pro to use for the time being for any iOS development that I found on ebay for 500 USD and so far it has been working well just a bit slow while building.  I do have a windows laptop I use as my primary laptop.

I couldn't justify a 3000 USD laptop sitting in the closet anymore though, thus the reason I opted for the reball.

I wish everyone the best of luck but I think the reballs are most likely the most economical for the time being as they seem to have a much longer life span after the fact than the Apple logic board replacement.