Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Same problem, but I have the HD6490M GPU, so I don't think its limited to the 6750. That would make sense if it's really a soldering issue. Have been running with the laptop open, rather than an external dispaly ( which I use 99% of the time ). So far it's working fine, and I see its using the integrated grahics now, not the GPU.

Same problem here. Early 2011 MacBook Pro w/ the AMD GPU. My computer started glitching last week, same symptoms as everyone else, and now is essentially a paper weight.

Took it in to the Apple Store and the "Genius" said the best they could do would be a $300+ "depot repair" where they send it out. Fixing in store would be close to $1,000!

The best part of all this? I'm roughly 10 days past my Apple Care warranty. It's almost like my computer self destructed after the 3 years were up.

I'm going to try to contact Apple via phone and/or chat ASAP.

Same Here..This is very sad...A person invest a lot of money in a PC that should survive years and after two years (once the warranty is outdated) this kind of things happens...

I've talked to two senior engineers via AppleCare (it's easy to bypass the $19 charge) about this problem.  I pointed both of them to this site.  I'll know in two days, supposedly, if they are going to cover the cost of my repair.  One engineer played it close to his vest.  The other seemed to be very interested in this problem.  We'll see. 

In the meantime, I sent my MacBook Pro (with the dead graphics card) to the depot and for $330 bucks (including tax) they replaced not only the logic board, but part of the case, the keyboard, and the charging board, all of which they said were not in good shape.  So there's goodwill there, as far as I'm concerned.  If they end up paying for the logic board replacement, which I don't think they'll do, I'll be ecstatic.

I note that I have now owned three straight MacBook Pros with graphics cards that fried.  A 2006 fried after 5 years (nothing lasts forever). A 2008 fried after 3 years (Apple replaced it for free).  This 2011 fried after almost three years (the jury is out on replacement cost).  I'm not a heavy graphics user, if that means anything.  But in my personal experience, graphics cards seem to be a real achilles heel for Apple laptops.

I just got my late 2011 MBR back from GPU/VRAM BGA reball, $280 with 90 days warranty. A couple of hours ago, it happened again (blue strip screen and hang) right when it wanted to switch from integrated GPU (Intel 3000) to discrete GPU (AMD 6750M) requested by chrome browser to use "Hangouts" service. While I was trying to simulate the the issue to be able to show it to the guy at the repair shop, I found out that Chrome (or Google talk plug-in with the other browsers) is the only program to trigger the problem and no other program (or the action of switching to an external display that requests changing the GPU) would not cause any issue.

Any thoughts?

I can reproduce this issue by running Android Emulator, and set "use Host GPU"

As soon as the emulator boots up, the screen will show green lines, or other issues other people reported in this thread.

Hi all,

I'm in the middle of arguably the most important job I've ever had. Last night this issue sprang itself upon me out of nowhere. Symptoms appear very similar to many of the above reports:

I was going about my business when my display suddenly glitched out massively. I could see through the garbled Venetian blinds littering the screen that underneath it appeared the machine was still functioning normally. I managed to power down normally, however I now simply cannot get past the grey screen that follows the apple logo. Another indicator is that the apple logo itself appears to be divided up by fine horizontal lines. When I hold 'option' to boot into a different partition, the graphics are all tinted blue and again divided by similar lines. I can't succesfully boot into any partition, including recovery.

MacBook Pro 15" 2011

2.0 ghz

AMD 6490m graphics

My concern being that as I'm in the uk, when I go to the Genius Bar on Tuesday, they'll ask me for £700 for the full repair.. Anyone else have a matching experience with this model?

Thanks all.

Benjabones,

You've the exact same symptoms that I had. My logic board had to be replaced but I was still under AppleCare.

If you get a diagnosis telling you that your logic board needs replacement (and I'm certain that it does) you might want to consider having a new GPU soldered into your computer. It's much less expensive than having the logic board replaced, it works for a great many and it usually comes with a longer guarantee than Apple's 90-day warranty for a replaced logic board.

Here's one place you can check -> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Macbook-Pro-A1297-820-2914-A-17-2011-Logic-Board-R epair-New-GPU-Reball-/291051512404?pt=UK_Computing_Other_Computing_Networking&ha sh=item43c405a254. Since they're in the UK they may be able to turn around the machine quickly. When mine fails again, I'll be opting for a California company that guarantees the work for one year.

Good luck,

Clinton

Hi, I had the exact symptoms with the 2.0 GHz MBP Early 2011. Did a home bake of the logic board last Saturday, since then working properly. But obviously I don't expect it to last forever.

There are many programs that demonstrate this problem, but you you will see is that the machine also needs to be a little warm before the action is consistent.

For me, it was 100% effective turning on Parallels v8 or v9 in "coherence" mode. I also found that running the suggested GPU exercisers will kill the machine very quickly.

I have a 2011 17" MBP that has not yet demonstrated this particular issue (fingers crossed), but running the GPU exerciser will cause it to do this within 5 minutes. I used GpuTest_OSX_x64

Good luck on this.

I believe that is because Chrome uses OpenGL acceleration (means it does some calls to the GPU).

I had mine crash with Ableton Live which drawrs its UI directly on the graphics card.

You might want to give "Unigine Heaven" Benchmark a try... it's known to reliable crash the GPU due to the stress it puts on it.

I use MacBook Pro 15-inch  2011 have graphics problem

darwinp5101 wrote:

 

I have a 2011 17" MBP that has not yet demonstrated this particular issue (fingers crossed), but running the GPU exerciser will cause it to do this within 5 minutes. I used GpuTest_OSX_x64

Do you mean you do get graphic faults, glitches or black screen when stressing the GPU?

If so, then it is affected.

Might only be a matter of time before it starts failing.

Cleaning it out an renewing coolpaste with preferably a silicon based, e.g. ceramique, Amasan, Shin Etsu, one might help.

And no, before people start commenting to use Arctic Silver 5....

I NEVER use that as it might be conductive (contradictive info on that) but most of all dries out over time.

.

Same problem here, Macbook Pro Early 2011 with AMD 6490. Apple Care denied any goodwill logic board swap, so I either shell €500 or get a very expensive paperweight. I'd like them to be a bit more sensible and quick on problems that depend from their industrial process. Think I'm going to reball it, € 260, or sell it as it is.

I agree, I do not have apple care but I talked to the folx several times. I just keept pressing random numbers and I got through. I actuall talked to the senior tech. rep. after a few transferrs. As I said, he told me there are not enougg complaints about this problem for it to be flagged.