Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

CHUVASCH,

If you're still under AppleCare warranty (as I was) just take your machine to any Apple Store or AASP. It will probably pass all the hardware tests (mine did) and they'll come to the conclusion that you need a new logic board.

Good luck,

Clinton

Well, well...

I just had my Genius appointment at the Regent Street store and they've agreed to replace my two year and six week old knackered logic board. Faith in Apple = somewhat restored.

In case it helps anyone else, here's how it all went down, basically I tried to close off any arguments they might come up with before they hit me with them.

- I demonstrated the problem and described the circumstances under which it usually occurs

- Said I'd reinstalled the OS but that obviously wasn't the problem, as it often happens at the boot menu

- Said I'd returned it to the original config (SSD, SuperDrive etc) and swapped the RAM out but still seen the problem, in addition to running diagnostics on my 16gb ram in another machine and finding no issues

- Told them about various other diagnostics I'd tried (or attempted), basically to demonstrate I'm tech savvy

- I told them my email to Tim Cook a week ago had eventually been responded to this morning by Executive Relations, but that I was still waiting on a call-back from them

- Told them I'm aware of numerous threads on theirs and other tech websites with exactly the same symptoms being seen over and over, identical photos and over a million views on three threads alone

- The Genius tried to convince me that a few hundred thousand machines exhibiting this error is a small proportion of the laptops they sold, I disagreed and in any case, said it was obviously only going to get worse

- I said I was aware that previous problems relating to Seagate hard drives and Nvidia cards had eventually been subject to a recall

- I made sure they know I'm aware of UK/EU consumer law and the Sales of Goods Act, which I was told doesn't apply to businesses, mine was purchased as a consumer so I'm covered... Be careful on that one!

- The Genius ran some Apple diagnostics after booting over Ethernet, didn't find anything untoward, but the stripes kept appearing even when booting into diagnostic apps over the network

- I casually mentioned if I'd wanted a laptop that was going to die on me two years later, I'd have bought a PC - for much less money

- Emphasised that as a long-term customer, I've come to expect better from Apple

- Mentioned I was considering buying a Mac Pro (sort-of true, ish...) but decided to hold off until my MBP issue was resolved

- Genius went away to speak to his manager, came back 5 minutes later and said they'd replace the logic board free of charge, and I can get it back today

- I asked and was told there's no way of them knowing if it's a refurb or a new board

Now I'm just waiting for a call to say it's ready.

Not sure if I should run something intensive to stress the GPU while it's still within the 90 day warranty, or if I don't want to reduce the lifespan of a board that's likely exhibiting the same design flaw. I guess if it's happened once and they've replaced it for free, well outside the warranty period, they've kinda already accepted liability so any future/identical errors should be handled in the same way. In theory.

Best of luck to everyone still battling away over their own issues, I guess I'll check back in if anything stripy starts suddenly happening.

lucky you. unfortunatly I am in Pakistan but purchased macbook pro from uk in 2011 know facing these gpu problem.

I officially join the ranks. Started this morning with a few black squares and the screen went black a couple of seconds after. Turqouise screen during boot, won't boot sometimes, vertical and horizontal lines, the whole works. I made an appointment with my local Apple Store immediately and headed there this afternoon. Turns out my Apple Care expired yesterday (ffs!) and they won't cover the logic board swap. Can you believe it? A single day and yesterday was a Sunday on top of it! I expected a bit more fairness, plus I was already the eighth person with the same fault just today but no. So much for Apple customer service.

They said a repair programme might be implemented at some point but can't promise anything. However, anyone who paid for the repair will be reimbursed. Since I'm not prepared to fork out 500 euros for a repair that might not even fix it in the long run, I'm just gonna wait and hope it will continue to work with the integrated graphics for as long as possible.

My Plan B was to pay £170ish for a well reviewed company on eBay to reball/replace the GPU and use leaded solder, definitely worth considering. Mooch back a few pages and there's some posts about that.

Whatever you do, remember to first register the issue with Apple. If you simply repair your MacBook Pro via an external provider Apple will never log your issue so we all lose. I encourage everyone to go to their local Apple store, to get the problem diagnosed/logged. I am not sure that the other channels (i.e. Apple chats, emails, phone calls, etc) are as effective... although it is worth trying anyway. I do not doubt that Apple will comply once their statistics get to their tipping point, they have done this many times and will continue to do so. This message is also for those of you (400,000+) who are just watching from the fence: REPORT YOUR ISSUE WITH APPLE!!

In my case the diagnosis showed that my hard drive was failing. I just switched back to the original Apple HD and memory and am ready to go back to the Apple store for another diagnosis (since I am 100% sure it is the GPU issue). B

Best of luck to all.

Hector Sequera wrote:

 

Whatever you do, remember to first register the issue with Apple. If you simply repair your MacBook Pro via an external provider Apple will never log your issue so we all lose. I encourage everyone to go to their local Apple store, to get the problem diagnosed/logged. I am not sure that the other channels (i.e. Apple chats, emails, phone calls, etc) are as effective... although it is worth trying anyway. I do not doubt that Apple will comply once their statistics get to their tipping point, they have done this many times and will continue to do so. This message is also for those of you (400,000+) who are just watching from the fence: REPORT YOUR ISSUE WITH APPLE!!

 

In my case the diagnosis showed that my hard drive was failing. I just switched back to the original Apple HD and memory and am ready to go back to the Apple store for another diagnosis (since I am 100% sure it is the GPU issue). B

 

Best of luck to all.

Is simply going to the Apple store enough to register it?

yes i have contacted that company. I will send them my logic board from Pakistan to replace gpu only option i have.

I am affected by this as well as of this morning.

Is there a way to change to discreet graphics via the command line? I can not successfully boot into OS X.

I've also encountered this problem. My early 2011 macbook pro i7 with radeon 3200 graphics card suddenly gave out. there are tons of graphical errors and the computer cant stay on longer than 10 minutes. i went to the genius bar and they werent helpful a all, basically just spit in my face and said its not their problem and id either have to buy a new machine or fork over $500 dollars for a new logic board. I can get a pc that does just about the same ( probablt better performance ) for about $700. Completely ruined my day and experience with apple.

Same here. Incredible. 3 Years. 2000 Euro. Gone in a moment. My Bachelorthesis I was going to write is gone as well (Sure I have a backup, but not 24/7..) Thanks!

@triffski:

How far were you out of your Applecare warranty? Are you also in Europe?

@beniroquai:

There are ways to get your computer to bootup to get your most recent copy of your thesis -- see cherankrish's post on p. 263.

Same problem here. Early 2011 MacBook Pro. Started getting lock ups over the last few months, with pixelated block artifacts appearing on my screen. Today it just went entirely. Now when I boot it's all discolored (greenish) with a 'scanlines'-like effect going down the screen, and lines on the Apple logo (as described by others.) After the logo is gone, the fans just spin up really fast.. nothing more.

Took it in to an Apple certified/licensed repair place this morning and the guy said it's definitely the GPU. Quoted me nearly $800 for a new logic board (parts + labour).

I'm near Vancouver, Canada fwiw.

Going to call Apple, but judging by most responses here; I can't expect much.

Really dissapointed in the way Apple has handled this...I Spent $2000+ on this machine only 3 years ago. And while I dind't get Apple Care... well it would have expired by now anyway.

@skinmc I bought my MBP on 2nd March 2012 so just over 13 months out of warranty, and I never took out Apple Care 'cosI have insurance and otherwise expected it would last. I'm in the UK so covered by UK/EU law, I mentioned the Sales of Goods Act to the 'Genius' early on and noticed he took it down on his iPad, then I saw it on the Work Authorisation as: "Cover all costs under sales of goods act/consumer law", he went off to speak to his manager, who approved it. The guy at the pick-up wanted to charge me £500 until I pointed him at the work auth, so maybe it is a bit unusual.

For what it's worth, I got the vague impression Apple are aware of the negative impact this could have on their image if not handled correctly, maybe it's just getting to the point where the carpet isn't big enough to hide any more expensive Apple paperweights.

Hi Konishkitchen, get on the phone straight away to Apple Care and explain your predicament - they are likely to help in your situation given similar circumstances to others posted here which have been dealt with favourably.