Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

But lead solder is still permitted in repair....

<Edited by Host>

to ps3specialist

I think we got it, you made a buisness on this macbookpro 2011 GPU problem, good to you.

But i think the point here is to inform Apple than many users have serious troubles with this chipset so maybe instead of telling us that it's a normal issue after a few years of use to have a 3000$ computer dead, you could let this topic to the angry customers than we are...

this is hopeless.... sigh....

bga_repairs wrote:

 

Appreciated. Also to mention I have seen the work of 'Apple refurbished boards' and I wouldn't let them out of our door looking like that. Too much heat is sometimes used resulting of slight delaminiation under the GPU and general 'browning' of the board - a sign of too much heat. In the ones we have seen in this condition they have had new GPu's fitted DC13. The other components are DC11.

 

Also flux not cleaned and in a dirty condition.

 

I would totally agree with poor heatsink surfaces.

 

Rant over I will return to my hole .....

With the 'refurbished' I've seen boards which look like the have not even had the GPU replaced, not even the thermal paste!  But the tell tale yardstick I have always used is the idle temperatures, and it's the exception rather than the rule that I get temps that I am comfortable with and the 2011 models I deem far too high always seem to fail.  With my late 2011 I purchased used in January this year I was immediately unhappy with my temps so with a strip down as soon as possible I got a 20C drop on both dies simply by lapping the heatsink plates and using a judicious amount of AS-5, instead of the ludicrous over application of Shin-Etsu that Apple think is the correct amount to apply with these models. I firmly believe that by not doing this I would have had a dead GPU sooner rather than later.

I'd better get back to work and go back to lurking mode with this thread!

ps3specialist wrote:

 

Leaded solder is no longer allowed to be used by any manufacturer of any electronic product.

Correct, but for repairs it is.  They don't want their boxes coming back so use Pb solder and they don't after.

DMC440 :

Not a single problem since March, 2011.

A $400 repair with six month warranty, good for you , I am loosing a lot of money on my macbook repair then , no wonder you want me to stay with only PS3

We charge £169 - approx 270USD - remember prices are higher in different parts of the world along with higher taxes/VAT etc and we need to buy new genuine GPU's.

We give 6 months warranty as we believe this is fair compared to Apples 90 day. The length of the warranty as long as reasonable isn't eveything. I have had customers come to us who have had failed reflow/reballs from other repairers who say its not worth sending back with postal costs etc although they are still under warranty. Also we do not know the availablilty of chipsets in over 6 months time. We always aim to keep a 6 month supply at all times.

Also if demand is high for our service and we are near full capacity there is no need to reduce repair costs. If you are quiet go ahead and offer a cheaper repair. My opinion is Quality not quantity.

This will be my last post for a while as I will not be drawn into argunents as intially stated i just had some strong disagreements (along with others) against your opinions and feeling the informatino you were giving was misleading.

I wish you the best of luck with your repairs.

Yes , that is why you give six month warranty on your macbook repair.

when you charge people $270 for a repair that will last six month.

I am a scientist not a technician

<Link Edited By Host>

Though it took a Genius appointment, followed by a 90-minute phone call - I'd like to applaud Apple for agreeing to replace my faulty part(s) in my 2011 15" MBP.  They sent my pre-paid FedEx coffin on Thursday. I shipped it back Friday afternoon. It was fixed on Monday, overnighted to me and just showed up this morning (Tuesday).  Works like new.. at least for now  /fingers crossed

Chodite,

Just curious - do you have AppleCare? I do: hence my logic board was replaced gratis as well.

If you don't have AppleCare, I'm sure that a lot of people here would appreciate how you 'sweet-talked' your way into a new logic board!

Clinton

clintonfrombirmingham wrote:

 

Chodite,

 

Just curious - do you have AppleCare? I do: hence my logic board was replaced gratis as well.

 

If you don't have AppleCare, I'm sure that a lot of people here would appreciate how you 'sweet-talked' your way into a new logic board!

 

Clinton

No AppleCare. 

And how? I'm in Sales

Though in all seriousness, I called and was genuinely upset. And it came through. I pointed the Customer Rep to this thread.  And even though he dismissed it at the time ("We need these folks to submit the issue via our Feedback section for our team to truly look into any potential issues.").. went through a lot of troubleshooting... lots of hold time and then told me it'd be taken care of. 

So while I'm not happy that this happened and I could've potentially lost many of my files (haven't Time Machine'd in a long time and rep told me that the HDD may be replaced) - I'm happy now.  And that's all that matters.

I'll be sure to provide updates if/when needed.

Cheers.

After the most senior Apple "care" guys in the UK refussed to accept any fault, even after taking the issue to their 'head engineers' and linking to this thread - I have lost hope for Apple taking any responsibility for the fault in these mashines. I didn't want to give them any more of my money (they asked for £347+VAT for a new logic board). 

This is bad press, Apple need to accept fault here. 

<Link Edited By Host>