Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Re:   Years ago, when it was faultering, Apple was saved by the loyalty of its professional users ...one purchase at a time.

Oops...I typed "faultering" instead of "faltering"...it must have been a subconscious moment ! ☺

Ugh. I hate to be dramatic but this situation is brutal. The graphics card fails and locks up the computer and takes ~15 reboots to get it back on. Got gfxCardStatus and when it finally does boot I switch over to the integrated card and I can at least get the system working. If I even touch the dynamic option it instantly locks up.

I don't have much money and I can't afford to fix it. I really saved to buy this at a discounted price from my employer and it kills me that it is running the way that it is and the obvious reason for it.

I use my computer for my job and I can't just sit around waiting for Apple to finally listen to 1000's of people reporting the same issue, admit fault and fix it. I honestly don't think it will ever happen.

I am never buying Apple again. I saved for so long for nothing. At least if I had bought a PC it would have been half the price. I could have two PC's with better specs.

Ugggh, I'm such an idiot, what a waste.

Had the same issue about a year ago now with a 15" MacBook 6,2 and had to get the logic board replaced. I got screwed around by the service team and called apple and complained and they replaced my logic board for free even though it was a year out of warranty. The same thing has happened to my

brother's gf with her 13".

Here's the deal with Flat Rate.

Any Out of Warranty Machine that has NOT suffered accidental damage is eligible. If you opt for an in store repair, you'll be charged for each part. Flat rate repairs are sent to a repair center, and are returned in 5-7 days.

Since your previous logic board had liquid damage, it wasn't eligible. Accidental damage is priced on a tier basis, depending on the parts that need to be replaced. Liquid damage is the most expensive repair because every part must be inspected.

Hi everyone,

I had the same issue with my macbook pro and i tryed to make something with apple without any result...

So i decided to try to repair it myself and it was very sucessfull ! I repaired it tree months ago and it still working ! I make a post on (french) forum and there more than 10 pers repaired it with my technique and it always worked for everyone !

Sorry for no-french speakers ... You can translate it with google's web translation website.

Hope it works for you

Original french post : http://forums.macg.co/macbook-pro/reparation-reussie-gpu-macbook-pro-15-2011-a-1 237612.html

Translated in english : http://goo.gl/w9e9MY

same problem here, i have an  early 15" 2011 mbp pro with a ati radeon 6750m.

1 month ago i installed mavericks, a week later i had the first freeze and glitches during the next boot. the freezes are coming in waves, sometimes can work for several days with no problem. but when it freezes, i have to force severals reboots because it freezes during boot again all the time, and the fans are working like crazy.

when my macbook is in "problem mode", it freezes during the start of any program that uses the graphic card somehow, like photobooth, iphoto, photoshop, skype. browsing and office programs work fine.

i have been to the genius bar yesterday. they plugged their cable in and run this test with no problems. i showed them a photo that i took during a fresh installation of mavericks, with black bars across the screen everywhere, and he was like "oh i see, it seems to be not a software problem then...". he said that they have to make more tests to check every component and showed me a price list of the components.

I mentioned this thread here and all the people having problems with this model, and that a new logic board probably won´t fix the problem. he said the understands me and offered me a 10% rebate on a new mac, which seems to me like a "i know this problem, but this is everything i can do for you"-answer.

i am so disappointed - i just enrolled for my final design exam and working as a freelancer, so i need this computer. i bught it exactly three years ago, and now it feels like a timebomb that eats my money.

I had exactly the same issue, the discrete graphics wouldn't work anymore and crash the computer.

I took the chance and tried the "oven repair", and, unbelievable as it may be, it really worked!

I took out the logic board as per description of iFixit, removed everything detachable from the logic board, and put it in the oven at 200°C for 5 minutes, then let it cool down slowly. After heat sink preparation and re-installation, everything was back to normal. Before, I had issues as soon as I connected my external Thunderbolt Display, because the system switches to discrete graphics as soon as a Thunderbolt Display is connected. Now, it runs on discrete graphics all the time without any issues.

Yep ! Cool if it's worked for you !

For me it's really the best solution because even if you replace your logic board via apple the problem still here !

It's free and you can do this how many times you want without any issue !

Regards

I'm from London & I have the same GPU issues as everyone else here. My early 2011 MacBookPro will not get past the grey screen and safe mode gives me a blue screen. I've tried various 'tricks' to get it to boot (letting the fans come on, PRAM reset etc), but no joy for me.

I'm now tempted to try the 'oven bake' solution as I refuse to pay £400 to Apple for a replacement logic board (which is only a temporary solution from what I've read here).

Are there any other 'tricks' I can use to get it to boot? 

Did you try to replace the AMD drivers? atleast you can boot the laptop and do most of the work ( not photoshop or video editing) . Mine had the same issue , tried the driver replacement, worked. Earlier i couldn't use skype , now that also works. Just try this before bakeing the board.

Thanks for the suggestion! Can you please point me to the post with instructions on how to replace the AMD drivers?

Hey Guys I would like to tell you that it seems I solved this tedious problem:

I talked by phone with a very gentleman at apple who said me to go to an apple store and make a diagnostic test so before going I wanted to be sure I could replicate the problem so I boot up my machine, I switched to discrete graphics with gfxCardStatus and boom the mbp suddendly shut down by itself, then I said "ok lets do it again" so I boot up the machine and opened some WebGL experiments with chrome in many tabs, incredibly, it seems that this solved my problem, I mean maybe stressing the graphics card I (temporally or not) fixed the problem, so I downloaded GPU test and stressed the graphics cad even more, I went to the Apple store, made the diagnostic test without any warning results, now I am using both the graphics cards automatically as usual without any problem, i am so happy right now but I hope it will not happens again.

PS I had the very same issue but with a late 2011 mbp (AMD Radeon HD 6770M)

I found it on a google search. I still remember the steps.

1. Completely shutdown the mac

2. Boot it and hold the commond + s , mac will boot in console mode

3. Type this command -  mount -uw /      - this command will make the harddrive writable

4. Type this command -   mkdir /Users/your user name /AMDDriverBackup

5. Type this command -  mv /System/Library/Extensions/AMD*.*  /Users/your user name/AMDDriverBackup

6. Type this command -  reboot or sudo reboot

Note that cherankrish's instructions will get you only to a barely usable (albeit booted) state. Check my post back on page 258 and try moving just those two files instead of all of the AMD* ones, and see if that gets you back up. I got mine back into a totally usable (but it's like I'm on the 13" version with no discrete card at all) state after not being able to boot at all.

The final verdict from the engineer at Apple is that the problem is not pervasive enough to be thought of as a defect.  The logic board replacement cost may be covered retroactively if this model starts to have failures that are common.  If you're nice you might be able to negotiate a free Apple accessory for your trouble.  I note that my 2008 Pro also had a graphics card failure and the logic board was replaced with a refurb in 2011.  It's still working.  I hope the refurb board on my 2011 Pro has the same durability.