Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

So, as I said a few pages earlier, I got my 2011 logic board replacement, and it turns out they gave me one that was much more advanced in its stages of failure than the one I gave them. The discrete GPU failed completely and now crashes the computer instantly if it switches on. gfxCardStatus saved my life for a while but that idiot software sometimes takes too long to launch at startup and the laptop thus crashes before it could launch.

It has now progressed at the stage where I can't even powerup the MacBook Pro anymore unless I reset the NVRAM, which I'm guessing makes it start on the integrated GPU, which gives me a shot at deactivating the discrete one before it switches to it on its own during startup for whatever reason.

I'm in complete ****, now. Unable to work, can't have a Genius Bar appointment here in Paris before May 2nd. I really hope they don't just give me another 2011 MLB, it will serve no purpose except for them hoping it fails again more than 90 days after their "repair". I hope they give me a 2012 MLB. One can dream.

To the people hoping that lower temperatures on their replaced boards will solve anything, I'd like to point to this Reddit comment: http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/1vfyki/2011_macbook_pros_are_all_beginnin g_to_fail_23/cerw2wh

(if you look two comments up, you'll see that this person is probably very well informed on the matter).

After wait 3months any recall programme from Apple. I decided to do a repair in a non Official Apple service. An electronic engineer did a Reballing using lead soldiers plus replace thermic paste. it cost 229€, taxes included. I've got One year warranty. The laptop runs between 32C-80C right now and I can work again. I don't trust Apple offers a solution for that mainly because they don't want to accept the issues. I wish all the best for Apple guys but don't expect to get another customer from me in the future. They are leaving thousands of unsatisfied customers in the way only trying to hide the issues. Best wishes for all of you who will keep in the fighting.

Hi DMC440,

I've heard the they only replaced refurbished unit, not sure is this true or not.

DMC440 wrote:

 

"Quick question, when they change the logic board, aren't they also changing the ATI gfx card as it should be soldered to it? If so, if the first one lasted 3 years on me, why is it lasting just a few months on others?"

 

I wonder if the boards from this series of machines were all manufactured around the same time (including the stock of spares) and the failures are a result of their age rather (or as well as) their use?

I'm assuming that the replacement boards were manufactured at the same time as the original machines. I don't know exactly how it all works - but I'm assuming that Apple is not producing new boards for old machines: else I would think that the 'contamination' of 'new' boards would not be so widespread.

Right now I am only on my first replacement logic board (and I've AppleCare for another 11 months or so). If this board fails again during my warranty period, I'll get a new logic board I suppose (although my good sense tells me that if that occurs I should just buy the new GPU and have it resoldered).

I've already purchased a new PC when the inevitable death of this machine arrives.

Clinton

Ok. I rang up the Apple Store ( Whitecity, London ). They told me the original issue has been resolved with a replaced logic board, but now another issue has been identified. The Airport card is not being recognised. Are they lieing to me? It used to work fine or did the GPU problem affect the Airport card?

Thanks

They might have damaged the connector during disassembly. It should be their responsibility anyhow.

I too is now struggling with all of those problems since last week. I opened vlc to watch a movie (same movie which my 4-year old daughter been watching almost everyday for a month) when the laptop suddenly went black and unresponsive. Since then I have been experiencing all sorts of different problems i.e screen will turn blue or black, screen distortions, stripes of gray and pink on booting, most of the time it would not boot at all and have to force off, recovery screen via Control-R or option key would not appear, etc, etc,... I have erased and reinstall osx several times, used fsck command, PRAM resest, disable automatic graphic switching, and finally zero out my entire ssd removing all partitions and data - all of which DID NOT solved the problem! Now I  re-install osx Leopard but would NOT allow me to redownload later osx's I purchased before using the same Apple account. Sooooo annoyed!!!

Well, mine's fixed.  At least for now.  I went the reball route with a vendor I found on eBay.  And I couldn't be happier.  Shipped my logic board from my home on the US east coast to the US west coast, they reballed the GPU with all the associated goodness, and returned the logic board to me.  Here's the neat part.  I shipped it out on Monday and had it back on Friday.  Outstanding service if you ask me.

Once I got it back last night, I put my MBP back together.  I did have one minor issue.  When I brought it up for the first time, the display looked horrible with a 1 pixel wide vertical black line all over the screen.  Thought that was kind of odd.  Also, using cfxCardStatus and switching from the integrated to the discrete GPU didn't make any difference.  After thinking about it for a bit, I figured it must have had something to do with the display connector when I reassembled it.  So, I took the bottom off again, unplugged the display cable, used a little shot of compressed air to blow out the connector, and reseated the cable connection.  Put the bottom pan back on, turned the machine over, booted it up, and bingo, everything was working perfectly.  Hooray!

In the interests of full disclosure, I was pretty confident that getting the GPU reballed was going to fix the problem.  So, as long as I had my machine completely disassembled, I also took the opportunity to do a couple of upgrades.  I installed 16 GB of memory and replaced my hard drive with an SSD.

This thing screams now!  And I'm a happy camper.  Let's hope it stays that way.

Tom

Any advise what happens if this problems appears within or outside the 90 days warranty? Is this actually okay to give such a short warranaty time?

Be prepare the problem will comes back soon...

Yesterday my beloved macbook pro 2011 drop me at work. For the graphics card failure that affects us all . Could not come at a worse time , we are in the development of an application and now this. At the genius bar they told me to charge 490 euros for the repair . With a 3 month warranty . If I buy a macbook 3 years ago was for the trust to the brand that these laptops are built to last and work on them is never a problem . Now I find that I have no budget for a new laptop and the only solution is a repair that does not guarantee me that it will not break again in four months . Since the plates are not new , but it is reused parts and I only get a 3 month warranty . I think after this general failure of their laptop of 2011 and if the mark is not in charge of their error , I think it will lose the symbol of excellence in technology. For safety and reliability of its components. That is what you actually pay when you buy a apple product. Especially if it is for professional use , as is my case. I hope the brand respond to the thousands of letters and signatures to their customers, who have trusted and continue doing it on their devices rather than a cheaper competition go.

The real difference between a client and one apple from the competition is that the client seeks tranquility apple, seeks security of a brand. And if it loses this confidence, what reasons a customer will have to spend three times the cost of a laptop from the competition?. The trust in the brand is what drives us to buy their products, as customers if we lose this trust. Feeling it a lot, not coming back to buy any apple product. Because for me it is an economic effort to buy their products and if not then I fail my misuse. If not their fault, it affects the most users who purchased a macbook pro 15 "2011. What we do? We fix the motherboard paying a large sum of money and pray that it does not break again beyond the 3 month warranty. think it's not fair to me or to anyone.'s why I expect a response from apple.

Unfortuntely, I think you are right. What a waste of money. In my case, my MBP has suffered GPU problem, battery damaged, hard disk died, SuperDrive dead, main board needs to be exchanged, and I got spots on the screen. All this after <2.5a usage.

I think the high heat levels have damaged the other components as well.

I am not prepared to pay again for hardware being error prone. Huge disappointment.

Apple, I expect more quality from you for my money.

@Manu Cutillas and all:

When the GPU and the mainboard are exchanged, this is done with used parts that might or might not have the error?

"Since the plates are not new , but it is reused parts and I only get a 3 month warranty"

I just sold my Mid 2009 MBP 15" 2.53ghz last week.

Got a used Early 2011 MBP 17" 2.2Ghz from a guy and now still working fine.

I began to worry after seeing this thread with all sort of issues !!!

Now I just felt like repaste the thermal compound before **** happens.

Also I'm 100% on gfxcardstatus to prevent using the 6750m

Any advice ?

Same problem here. Not a surprise, right? Macbook Pro 15" Late 2011, logic board failure.

The computer has 2 years and 5 months of carely usage at home.

I took it to the official technical support. The guy said to me: "Unfortunately it's normal. Mac's been making this kind of mistakes for a while. I don't know what to say to you, cause if you buy a new logic board (which costs u$s1000 in my country, and takes 2 months to arrive), I can't guarantee it's gonna last. It's Mac's fault, it's a shame. You should call to the US AppStore and tell them".

And that's what I did. I spoke with a Mac Genious for 40 minutes. Of course he offered me NO solution, just a "We feel really sorry Sr. We've got your serial number, we've been searching through our data base and there are no similar problems reported. Again, we understand and feel really sorry".

Again, yes, AGAIN. Because the same logic failure happened to me with a Macbook Pro 15" 2008.

I remember by that time Apple still used to recognize their mistakes and offered a logic board change for free, if your laptop wasn't older than 3 years. As mine was 3 years and 3 months when the failure appeared, I've had to hear the same "sorry Sr." I've heard last week. That's why, by that time, I decided to buy a new Macbook Pro. Yea, the same peace of garbage I own today.

So here I am, feeling sad and angry. Lot of wasted money and time. Still waiting for an answer, still waiting for a solution.

Come back Steve.