Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

I'm totally suprised.. yesterday i did all the actions recommended on this page http://action.mbp2011.com/ and i also send an email to tim cook. A few minutes ago i received a telephone call because of this email. A technician wants to some examinations by telephone to get sure that it is not a software problem on my macbook. I'm very sure it is not! But i'm suprised that someone read and responded to my email this fast. So hopefully Apple is taking the problem seriously.

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Same Problem here! First it worked to restart, now i can't even reach recovery!

Same here. It ocurred just this morning - can't reach recovery, too. MBP 15" HiRes 2011

It will do that - you could try disabling the GPU manually in Photoshop prefs and hoping it doesn't get reactivated, but it's not possible to completely disable the GPU under Mavericks using gfxCardStatus anymore. Ditto Windows, that doesn't use switchable graphics at all so I'm utterly screwed if I need to do any 3d or game dev. Which of course I do.

So now I've got one computer/a client waiting for a video delivery/a <2 yr old Mac that crashes every time I try and render it. Useless, and pretty quick it's going to be losing me work.

Usefully, there are no Mac appointments at any Apple Stores anywhere in London apparently indefinitely.

You need to log early in the morning to get available slots at the store. Got same feeling for stores in Paris but after 8 in the morning, all stores are booked for the next 7 days.

Try this tomorrow morning and you should get one.

The covent garden and regent street stores are nearly always booked solid, though as a member just said you could try looking for a slot first thing in the morning.

For faster appointments you need to travel - Stratford Olympic park, Bromley, Kingston or even Crawley if you're south of the river which is 35 mins from Victoria on the train.

My issue started last week.  Late 2011 macbook pro 17".  AMD Radeon HD 6770M causing hard lockups.  Following everyones advice and gfxCardStatus to force integrated mode letting me limp along without use of my 2nd monitor.

Waiting to see if anything comes of all this before shelling out 400 bucks to get another main board with potentially the same issue.

Same problem here. Macbook Pro Early 2011. A few days ago the screen just went completely grey when doing some processor-intensive work (fans were whirring). I isolated the problem today when trying to output a HD video via a HDMI cable to my television. Without fail, after a few minutes the fans whir up to noisy levels and the screen will do one of several things: freeze black, freeze grey, show grey lines, show pink lines, re-frame 1/3 of the screen on the opposite side of the monitor and lots of other crazy stuff.

I'm glad to know this is a known issue. I'm not glad to know that nothing is currently being done about it. Will be taking it into the Apple store tomorrow.

wgmaddin - would you care to share the contents of your email to Mr Cook (removing any personal information as needed)?

Further to my previous post, I forgot to note that the screen glitches and crashes were also shown on my television via the HDMI cable. This rules out the possibility that the Macbook screen is the problem. It's likely a GPU issue.

100% it's the GPU.

I get it in the boot menu even before the startup tone, so it's not software. It happens in both OS X and Windows 7 so it's not either OS. I've ruled out all peripherals/components by swapping out the RAM, disconnecting my drives, removing anything non-essential and booting from a flash drive and it still happens.

This only ever occurrs when the MBP is already using discrete graphics on boot (Radeon 6770M in my case) or at some point after the Radeon kicks in otherwise, so it's not the integrated graphics. I think the SMC reset (and/or maybe NVRAM) just forces the MBP to boot using integrated graphics and so delayes the crash until some software calls it to kick in.

I'm using gfxCardStatus to force using integrated as much as possible with Mavericks and manually disabling GPU acceleration in individual apps like After Effects, Photoshop, Unity etc.

Hopefully Apple will address these issues without a fight, it looks pretty clear cut that they have to under EU/UK law even though my MBP is two years old and not covered by AppleCare.

My plan:

1. See what the Genius has to say when my appointment next Monday eventually comes around.
2. Hope that Apple replace the logic board, even if might one day exhibit exactly the same fault.
3. Try to convince my insurance company to cover it, even though it's clearly a design flaw...
4. Resist the temptation to indulge in a spot of light insurance fraud.
5. Fork out £170 to a well reviewed UK BGA repair company to replace the GPU and use leaded solder, then buy a PC next time.

Same problem here with a MacBook Pro 15" 2.0 GHz Late 2011.

Last week a had a Genius Bar appointment at an Apple Store in Germany. The "genius" at first denied any knowledge of a known or widespread problem. I needed to mention this thread to get his attention. The only solution he offered was to swap the main board for 400 Euros. Obviously, I was not satisfied with that solution. He said that he could not help me because the warranty has expired and referred me to the Apple Care telephone hotline. According to him, they had the possibility to offer a repair for free.

I then called Apple Care. The first support employee also said that he has not heard of this problem yet. Later, I spoke to his supervisor. Same thing: warranty has expired, not a known problem etc. When I spoke about this thread, he just replied that is was not relevant because people could post anything on the internet. He also told me that they had the same policies as the Genius Bar guy and that the "genius" probably just referred me to the hotline "to get me out of the store". Moreover, there is no protocol of my Genius Bar visit which normally should be recorded.

Long story short: Apple refused to do anything and denied any knowledge of this problem.

I am very frustrated with this experience. It is definitely not what I would expect from a "premium" device that is just over 2 years old.

Count me in.. >8-/

Same model/specs as the original poster (except i'm running 10.6.8), bought in 2012 as a refurbished.

Same problems except they're getting worse by the week.. while gfxCardStatus helped for a while keeping the MBP from crashing while its on, i'm at a stage where the book:

* will crash on every 2nd wake from sleep..

* sometimes crash/act flaky even while running on internal grafics..

* require up to 10 boots til i can get it running at all..

If you search the web, the problem obviously is spreading exponentialy..

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Same problems here! My Macbook Pro Early 2011 with AMD Radeon 6490M has stopped working exactly after 3 years. I'm using it now switching to the Intel HD 3000 after several reboots. If I use AMD Radeon GPU I get a black screen and I force restart the computer several times because it shows a blue screen or a white screen with grey stripes. I feel enormous to pay 600 Eur for replacement of the logic board! Computers should be guaranteed to have a good functionality of at least 5 years but in our case, unfortunately, no...Apple ignores all this. DO NOT FORGET THAT THE 2011 MODELS SUFFERED FROM THE BEGINNINGS OF OVERHEATING PROBLEMS, and had been sent back to the exit on the market! This is because it was just the GPU AMD to create problems!!!! I repeat...DO NOT FORGET THIS! So we have to hold on and try to protect ourselves from the marketing of apple! To conclude, next time I will think twice before buying an apple computer!

Same excuses, same answers, same solutions around the world. It sounds like a procedure to follow. Join to groups on facebook to claim a solution and start all actions recommended.

Apple guys, you got more than a million viewers in just 3 threads (there are more) at your forum communities.

Honestly, how many customers do you need to focus your attention on this?

Regards

Daniel