Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Got the same problem on Monday (working with InDesign as so many times before), suddenly horizontal distortions, which grew worse in short time. Trying to reboot, getting a blueish slightly distorted Apple-logo instead of the grey one, and when it disappears I can stare at the grey screen very long, before I give up.

Brought it to my local retailer/repair service. They know the problem, but can only change the logic board (costly) with the warning, that the same problem can/will certainly occur again in the future. Which pretty much sounds like failure by design.

Still unsure of my options. Paying a quarter of the old price to get it repaired (which means about a third of the price of a sufficient new laptop). Hoping for Apple to change its mind and starting a replacement program (maybe I should include this hope in my prayers). Using the laptop as decorating piece, still it’s of less use than a book. Selling the brick on ebay and buy a new model (hopefully without the ability for strange display distortions). Not decided yet.

Sad day for my decade-long loving relationship with Mac laptops.

I had this issue a couple times. Once with a brand new logic board. Here is a video of my 2011 MBP displaying the problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyoEMPKC_rg

So I am expericining the same symptoms as everyone else.

I use my MBP when an external monitor it has always sat on a desk with good airflow and to be fair its rarely been used for games or video intensive apps.

The MBP started crashing within 6 months of purchase date and has got worse and its happens several times a day now even when just browsing in safari with maybe 1 live low bitrate stream open.

Purchase Date: Oct 2011

UK Customer

MBP info:

MacBook Pro 17 inch Unibody Core i7 (Early 2011)

Machine Model: MacBookPro8,3

Graphics:  AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1024 MB

Family name: A1297

CPU speed: 2.2GHz

Screen size: 17 inch

Production year: 2011

Production week: 41 (October)

Model introduced: 2011

Memory - 8GB

Factory: C0  (China)

I am going to contact Apple soon but being out of warranty I am expected them for me to stump up for a new logicboard which being basically the whole computer is going to cost me god knows how much (UK??)

For such a costly investment I wasnt expecting this 2 and a half years down the line.

Thanks man for the great sharing of your experiences and knowledge. This information is very helpfull. So we know where the problem is coming from and how we maybe can prevent this.

I signed the petition and thanks for sharing my desktop photo ^_^

Unfortunatly experiencing the same issue. :-(

MacBook Pro 17inch early 2011.

No games or video.

I use it mainly for word, photoshop, reading pdf and internet.

It starts just before Applecare ending, i.e. two mounth ago. At first, I thought it was a software problem and then I discover this file.

After reading quite a lot of post from this thread, it appears that the problem can't be fixed easily.

- Motherboard replacement solves the problem for only a moment.

- Reballing seems to be better but it's hard to find someone in which you can trust

- Using gfxcardstatus is good but really poor solution.

Glitching and freezing are increasing as time passes and now I don't know what to do.

I like this MBP and want to use it again but I'm afraid it is not reliable anymore.

Also, I'm not Croesus to don't care about money and buy another MBP.

Like Leia to Obi-wan, I would like to write : "HELP ME APPLE; YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE".

Oops! I took it from this AppleInsider article without reading the caption.

I've credited you on my link now.

<Link Edited By Host>

All good man, please share so other users see that this GPU problem is not caused by the user. But by the not reliable GPU on the Logic systemboard :-(

I did a benchmark and Stress GPU test on my replaced Logic Board for now its okay. But for how long !!! Apple Repair centre only gives 90 days warranty :-(

Ugh. I've been super nervous once my AppleCare ran out a couple months back about my own 2011 MBP upon hearing rumblings about this issue, and sure enough, here we are. Add mine to the list of failed units. Sifting through the replies and it appears I am mostly out of luck. Am I correct in junking the unit / selling it off as-is for parts? It looks like the repair prices quoted in this thread are about as much as the value of an equivalent computer...

Hopefully Apple steps in and does something to address such a widespread problem. Otherwise I probably can't justify buying the high end offering anymore if I can't trust it to last more than a couple blinks past the extended warranty. Was hoping to get at least 4.5 - 5 years out of the top end MBP like I've been able to in the past (or at least have a working unit to resell and put toward new one). Sad face emoticon.

I had the same exact experience. My Data Doubler wasn't a problem until they were ready to put a third logic board in it. I've had lengthy conversations with both OWC and Apple (Executive Customer Relations) about whether or not the Data Doubler voids the warranty.

I won't re-hash the whole thing but basically if they ask you to take something out before a repair, just do it. Whether the warranty is clearly worded or not, taking Apple to court over a warranty dispute will likely cost more than a new computer. Also, in another year or so, all of these computers will be out of warranty and the new MBPs are unservicable black boxes so questions over third-party upgrades will be moot.

Hi, I'm having the same problem a critical failure of the discreet GPU (AMD Radeon HD 6490M) resulting in screen distortions, sporatic system freezes and massive system failures of my Late 2011 Macbook Pro 15". As many others have noted this is a known issue and a hardware failure rooted in improper manufacturing by apple. I expect to have a proactive recall initiated on the specific GPU and affected logic boards before and not in following of a class action lawsuit agianst apple. Thank-you, I look forward to a timely response from apple.

SYSTEM

GPU (FAULTY)

AMD Radeon HD 6490M:

  Chipset Model:          AMD Radeon HD 6490M

  Type:          GPU

  Bus:          PCIe

  PCIe Lane Width:          x8

  VRAM (Total):          256 MB

  Vendor:          ATI (0x1002)

  Device ID:          0x6760

  Revision ID:          0x0000

  ROM Revision:          113-C0170H-521

  gMux Version:          1.9.23

  EFI Driver Version:          01.00.521

<Edited By Host>

It has happened to me too, mine is a 15" early 2011i7 MBP.  It started with random lockups a month ago and last week i crashed and got a half resolution purplish apple logo with interlaced lines on startup followed by a purply-grey screen and no OS bootup.  I did all the PRAM stuff, hardware tests(all passed ok) and even obliterated my bootcamp partition before I found this thread.  I can get the MBP to bootup in safe mode and this is what I see:

The "Genius" bar quoted me $310 to replace the logic board after running their tests on it to verify what I already knew.  There is no way I am going to pay apple additional money to give me another logic board which contains the same defect that will fail again in the future.  I have read up on as much info as I can about the 2011 MBP issue as I am an effected user.

It has been speculated that apple switched from leaded to unleaded solder for this particular generation of MBP's, but I cannot find confirmation on this.  If this is the case it would be a smoking gun to the failure point.

I may try to use a heatgun on the GPU to resoften the solder and reconnect the pins as shown in this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti8LqIHMnlQ

I may also consider doing it correctly and having the GPU raballed, but so far that seems fairly expensive too, as an example: http://www.mobilemactechs.net/Services/Services.html

From apples perspective I can see why they choose to ignore the "2011 MBP issue", it is clearly out of applecare warranty so the consumer is SOL, it's a 3+ year old product, they want you buying the new stuff.  In my perspective people buy apples expecting them to not have as much planned obsolenses built in as their competitors do, but maybe that is just not the case anymore.

This whole experience has left me disappointed with apple, I use their products to edit video on final cut to make a living and when they don't properly support those products I can't help but search for alternative hardware and software. I will not recommend apple products to clients as long as this issue falls on deaf ears by apple computer.

<Link Edited By Host>

Count me in.

MBP 17" early 2011.

Vertical stripes at boot then gray screen, the only way to make it boot is to close it and wait until it auto shutdown. Crash when discrete card is launched by an app, crash when I try to switch gfx to Integrated Only and back to vertical stripes. Pretty much useless to me as I use it for Logic and Pro Tools (both trigger discrete card) and can't risk a crash during a show anyway…

I'm ready to send it for reballing and new GPU, but I still hope Apple will do the right thing soon.

Using a heatgun or flux and heatgun is a prescription for killing your GPU and might cause a permenant unreversable damage to the logic board even after replacing the GPU , using any kind of flux will simply make it unrepairable, don't do it. Its an advise for who wants to listen to a profissional advise. review my facebook page to see the damge that is caused by flux when people applied it to their game consoles PS3 and xbox and decide if you want that to happen to your valuable computer.

Re: ps3special

I am quite positive that pointing a heatgun at my GPU is not within any guidelines that any specialist or apple would recommend.  But on the other hand as far as I am concerned my valuabe computer is already broken as is, I am willing to risk breaking it further if there is a chance it will fix it.  I cannot afford a $200+ solution like reballing the GPU right now, I need it fixed yesterday. I am willing to cook this logic board knowing that at worst case scenario its $310 for a replacement board.

All options available to me right now are bad ones, from cheap to expensive:

$0:     wrapping MBP in a towel and cooking it like a red-ringed xbox in hopes of resetting soldered connections without frying components(high risk)

$20:     screwdrivers, thermal paste and heatgun(high risk)

$140-350:     reballing GPU by a profesional repair shop(low risk)

$310: replacement logic board with unknown heatcycles on it if it's a refurb, hope they pick u a winner(moderate risk)

$500-1500: preowned MBP with a different internal design (moderate risk)

$2000+:     new MBP(low risk?)

edit- it is my understanding on this particular MBP the logic board has the CPU and GPU hard soldered to the board itself so a replacement board would include all new(refurb) CPU and GPU as well.

Same issue here is Australia. MBP 8,2 early 2011.

Very disapointed Apple.

<Link Edited By Host>