Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

It's 100% normal that an official Apple repair prevents from upgrading the GPU. Apple does certainly not permit this !

DMC440 wrote:

 

Well, that destroys my argument as well.  What is this physical damage?

Still stick with my explanation before:

D3us wrote:

If it's not an intern GPU fault, it's probabably bad soldering of the BGA.

Not all balls got fully liquidus or long enough TAL, not giving a 100% soldered connection.

It makes contact but is not really soldered, doesn't havea  real intermetallic bond.

More "glued" instead of soldered.

It's the mechanical stress caused by heating/cooling cycles, making it expand and contract.

Breaking the "glued"  connection, like the head-in-pillow photo posted."

Still stick with that (I do BGa repairs)

You can have a point that Mavericks uses the GPU more = more heat resulting in faster failing.

But if it is bound to fail, it will even without upgrading to Mavericks.

There are also other possibilties like cracks in the solder at production stage.

Or it cracks later due contracting/expanding.

The main reason imo is the production soldering process or used solder.

And the mechanical stress caused by the heat cycles's expanding/contracing breaking it.

SkyFoxXP wrote:

 

It's 100% normal that an official Apple repair prevents from upgrading the GPU. Apple does certainly not permit this !

Who cares if Apple permits this or not?

I don't ....

If it's broke allready and they don't want to fix it, what should you care about Apple's rules?

It's YOUR computer, not Apple's anymore.

You paid for it.

yes but it could cost the "Apple official repair center" to the specialist... I guess.

And what do you think affect the solder on the GPU? It's the heat of CPU! In the long run ruin the solders of the video card and broke it!

You're seriously implying that the heat from the CPU is moving through the heatpipes and the package/die into the BGA of the GPU? Perhaps even without the sensors noticing that the temperature of the GPU is far too high? Still nonsense. It's very close to impossible that the CPU is able to emit enough heat to destroy the connections of the GPU without the CPU damaging itself.

Looks like the soldering failing is the most accepted theory, but there is something that I still don’t understand. Why just the GPU?

I am monitoring the temperature of my computer since I bought it, exactly 3 years ago. The temperatures of the CPU are always higher than the GPU. Working in Photoshop the CPU get closer to 85 ~ 90C while the GPU is 75C. In this case the fans are at 6000 rpm.

In the picture below I tried to show how the heat spreads through the heat pipes, and where the cool zone is. Of course the heat of the cpu would go through the GPU, but I don’t believe that it can cause any harm since the GPU is closer to the cooler side of the pipe. In fact, the GPU probably worsen the heat on the CPU side.

Is it possible that the solder compound (balls of solder) used in the CPU be different of that one on the GPU?

The same problem wiz my early 15' mbp. Not it even can't boot it. Hope Apple can solve the problem.

Looks like the soldering failing is the most accepted theory, but there is something that I still don’t understand.

If it wasn't the soldering then baking and reballing wouldn't help.

Of course the heat of the cpu would go through the GPU, but I don’t believe that it can cause any harm since the GPU is closer to the cooler side of the pipe.

Most of the heat is exiting the package through the metal plate and there's no intended heat transmission to the BGA so even if you manage to heat up the top only little heat would end up at the bottom where the problem lies.

Is it possible that the solder compound (balls of solder) used in the CPU be different of that one on the GPU?

It's not only possible but very likely since each chip manufacturer has a different source but usually the components on a PCB are chosen to have similar reflow temperature profiles so the boards can be soldered in fewer steps... the crux -- and where I expect this problem to be coming from -- is that if one or several reflow maschines are detuned with respect to the necessary temperature profile then everything will seem alright during the tests and for a while at the customer but regular tear and wear will wreck the device sooner than anticipated.

So it goes...

I'm another one affected by this issue.

Proof: http://imgur.com/a/jwpF8

The GPU has cooled down, and it seems everything works as expected now... but I feel as if my head was on the guillotine waiting.

Apple has to step in and be responsible about this. They sold us defective computers and Apple has to replace the defecttive hardware.

Well I have the same issue as started this thread . I shouted and ranted at Apple until they finally agreed to change the logic board under Apple care. They tried to get me to set up boot partitions, restore full back ups etc etc etc but I stuck to my guns. Since they replaced the logic board (3 weeks ago) I have not experienced one crash. before that I was getting 3 a day.

It is clear that they will do just about anything to avoid having to spend money on parts and labour - they will waste as much of your time as you will let them doing "fault diagnostics" like setting up boot partitions and restoring full 500Gb backups. they will tell you the fault is down to your non standard RAM or the non Aple software on your computer. The truth is that the answer is hardware related and is solved (at least temporarily) by a hardware fix. Fingers crossed

Since yesterday I have barely used the GPU. I connected an external monitor and here is the result.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGgKmH-CBGI

Since the thunderbolt output requires the discrete card to be used now I can't use an external monitor which really affects my graphic design and photography work.

Thanks to gfxCardStatus I can force MacOS to keep using the integrated card. Is this a long term viable solution? Has this worked for you or will my computer become unusable after some time?

this thread is more than 1 year old. this is simply amazing!

#goodjobapple

Jhay-ar wrote:

 

this thread is more than 1 year old. this is simply amazing!

 

#goodjobapple

And it would be even bigger if posts weren't deleted by 'moderators'. My last two have disappeared.

Yea really.. I've had about 6 posts deleted. Most of which didn't violate any rules. And imagine how many other people in the world have the problem and haven't found this thread... And how many others have the problem and didn't seek help at all (they just accept that their laptop is broken and get something new or something). It is so sad indeed.

It seems Apple is just waiting for us all to get so tired of waiting..

It is funny... Apple doesn't mind that they not Only cheated us out of our money and Our product.. But also, they don't care if we sound like crazy people complaining about a problem that they refuse to acknowledge. This is the worst customer experience I have had ever. And i live in a third world country where service isn't even expected.

Good job apple. Good job making a defective machine and selling it at prime price. Good job embarrassing your loyal customers. Good job making your buyers sound like lunatics. Good job setting a new example of service "excellence"...

This whole experience has made me lose all faith in Apple. I can no longer trust in Apple. Bad product, plus bad or non-existent service, plus ignoring customers. That is not a good combination.

Well, today after having the logic board replaced by Apple about 80 days ago with the graphics issues, the problem has returned for my MacBook Pro early 2011.

I'm taking it back in again and going to demand that something is done about this.  I'm losing time and money.

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