Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card
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Apr 28, 2014 11:48 PMby ps3specialist,Hi,
The problem with Macbook is that there are too many different models , to do the right repair I need to test the computer before and after and its almost impossible to have one of every model apple made so I need the whole computer not just the motherboard, that way I can test it before the repair then reball it and test it again to make sure it is really fixed but in general yes you should be able to buy th service on my website regardless of what country you are at, the only difference will be on the return shipping cost which will be higher for international destination than domestic.
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Apr 29, 2014 3:16 AMby squashball,Hi guys, I have one thing that I still do not understand:
After the problem with my MBP first occured, I was not able to boot up anymore as the system was booting directly to a freeze. After moving all AMD extension, I can boot up but still have graphic artefacts RIGHT FROM THE START (apple logo) on!
=> gfxstatus says that I cannot switch to the integrated gpu beacuse of the "external monitor". Obviously a sideeffect of moving the extension files.
=> The systems says, that the external monitor is connected to my AMD gpu.
So it seems that I am still running with the AMD gpu but am able to boot because the AMD gpu is not able to load the right extensions? If so, how do I switch to the integrated chip?
Thanks, Florian
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Apr 29, 2014 3:14 AMby rplayer,Macbook pro early 2011 2.0 i7
Amd Radeon HD 6490M
Uk Model
Died 26/04/14
Add me to the long list of dead laptops due to the gpu fault.
Apple come on, why did we need to reapply thermal paste? Was that not your job. When you realised you phuced up why did you not offer free repair. Macbook pro are supposed to be proffesional systems. Mine died while i was working on a job, My workflow is screwed. What are my options. You made me look unprofessional.
THANKS APPLE
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May 19, 2014 2:40 PMby ps3specialist,Guys, I don't know why everyone is blaming Apple, The pictures I show earlier were clear, the graphics chip gets a lot of dust and dirt and with the high temperature of the GPU solder that attaches it to the logic board start to crack and the dust causes some soldering pads to loose connection and also oxidation of some soldering pads which are made of cupper and when oxidized it forms a layer of cupper oxide that is non conductive material that causes bad connections, at the end non of that is Apple problem, Freezing, pixilation , discoloration, not booting, error codes all come from the same source, bad connection between the graphics chip and the logic board, Apple don't do repairs, they only replace the logic board and what makes it expensive is that it has the processor and the graphics chip all soldered to the board so when you replace the logic board you also pay for a new processor, there are services for these computers and all other brands of computers that suffer the same problems and its a lot cheaper comparing to the cost of a new logic board so you just need to find a profissional Reballing service for Mac and that will take care of all and any of these graphics issues. People from the US are lucky because they can get their computers fixed at a very affordable cost comparing to people from other contries that have to pay a lot more for shipping if they don't find a good profissional reballing service in their contries.
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Apr 29, 2014 3:39 AMby rplayer,Because it seems to be mainly effecting early 2011 models. Ifixit noted poor thermal paste when they were released. Pro laptops are supposed to last longer than 2-3 years. The fact that the main issue with this model is the gpu means Apple made mistakes. Daily early 2011 users are waking up to dead laptops. This is not cool.
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Apr 29, 2014 3:42 AMby dadro,Hi All,
Just want to share my experience and maybe add a little hope to those who, like me, decide to go the way of replacing the logicboard via apple.
(Its impotant to add that, due to portuguese consumer law, I get a year of warranty on the repair, and would get 2 years if I was a consumer and not a business.)
So on the 28th of February I received my MBP back. I opened it up to put back my 16GB of memory and SSD, and the first thing I noticed is that the board looks darker than before (which was greener, as the images a couple of posts before mine).
I have since continued to use my computer just the same (mostly light use, with some Aperture, Parallels and Illustrator thrown in the middle quite often), with an external monitor connected most of the time. Also, as before, the computer is on an elevated stand.
The only difference is that I now keep the computer open all the time, as a second display, while before I used to only use the external monitor.
My experience, so far, has been glitch free. I ran the Heaven Benchmark on full settings for a while and it also was glitch free.
I intend to continue to use my MBP as if this problem did not exist and can only hope that one of the two happen: I need to replace the logicboard again, before the 1 year warranty expires; I get 3 more years out of this MBP, in which case I am not to upset about the issue. Any other scenario will undoubtely result in me moving to another hardware maker, at which point I will look at the options I have.
- Daniel
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Apr 29, 2014 4:00 AMby ps3specialist,Actually its affecting all models, I have been getting every model Apple made for the same issues, from the old first generations to the latest with core i7 processor, its the nature of the BGA technology used on almost every kind of logic board nowaday from cell phones to computers and taplets to game consols , they all get the same problem at one point of time depends on the environmental conditions where the board was used, the more humid , dusty, hot places the faster the problem develops, probably it is the reason for all warranty time from all manufacturers not more than one year.
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Apr 29, 2014 4:27 AMby Hector Sequera,Update on my story:
1) My early 2011 MBP 2.2Ghz, AMD6750, etc died in early January a couple of days after it turned 2 yrs old.
2) I took it to the Apple Store. They said that my description suggested graphics problems but they did testing and were able to boot via ethernet and told me that there seemed to be a problem with my HD.
3) Went home and switched back to the original Apple HD (now a clone of my hybrid HD). Could not fully boot... same as everyone: Grey screen, Apple screen and then Blue vertical lines before the login screen...
4) Decided to go back to the store on Sunday (27 April) for another diagnosis (to make sure it was registered as GPU failure). I was not planning on paying for a repair or on arguing with anybody.
5) I explained the above, but also noticed when I openned the MBP that the trackpad was coming out of place (bulging up), and was told that the battery was defective.
6) Without further testing they told me that the logic board would be replaced as well as the battery and any other issue at no cost!
Well, I received a phone call 24 hrs later, and here I am typing away on my beloved MBP. I am not paranoic about it, if it happens again I will take it to Apple to see what happens. I understand that I am lucky as I have an iMac at work so can still get my work done. But it goes to say that it is very important to report the issue with Apple in the first instance. Furthermore, even if all of the 4,666 people posting here had broken MBPs, this is not statistically enough to merit a recall. The reality is that probably less than half the 4,666 have broken MBPs (as people post multiple times). So far, Apple has never let me down.
I wish you all the best.
