Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Keep trying. I swear it took me 20 one time. It'll eventually get there.

Thanks, I will keep trying. Did you ever get a permeant solution for your macbook pro?

No. Thought I did by switching around my hardware and reinstalling OS X 1.8.2 to Mavricks. Worked perfectly for a week (after glitching to the point of unusability for a week) but yesterday morning it started again. I think that Mavricks is better about keeping it on the integrated GPU than ML was so it doesn't "seem" as bad.

I kept trying to find little things that would set it off. Sunday AM I turned on TRIM for my Samsung 840 Pro and then it started up again. Turned it back off but that didn't fix it. I might just be looking for coincidences where there are none.

I'd had a genius bar appointment but cancelled it - need to save the money for the fix and even with a logic board replacement - the experiences of others on the thread have me convenced that it won't get fixed. When it gets unusable, I'll take it in.

Forcing the MBP to only use the discrete GPU causes it to crash when using programs/websites that demand more from the GPU such as Netflix. If you are having this issue with you MBP it is guaranteed to crash when using Netflix and the MBP is using the discrete GPU. Once it crashes it can take several attempted to get it to reboot (probably because the system is stuck using the discrete GPU, until it resets itself).  My computer is only stable when it is forced to use the integrated GPU.  Apple is on my bad side until they acknowledge this issue and take responsibility.

nudoru wrote:

 

Keep trying. I swear it took me 20 one time. It'll eventually get there.

That's what I thought - the next restarted needed 50 attempts, and I gave up after 100 attempts the third time. Don't restart your computer - always sleep (and it's time to double check your backups!). good luck.

If you comfortable, take off the back cover and pull out the RAMs and unplug the battery. Let it sit for about 15 minutes. Put back everthing and attempt to start the MBP up. Basically your restting the PRAM and the SMC

wrg_ wrote:

 

Forcing the MBP to only use the discrete GPU causes it to crash when using programs/websites that demand more from the GPU such as Netflix. If you are having this issue with you MBP it is guaranteed to crash when using Netflix and the MBP is using the discrete GPU. Once it crashes it can take several attempted to get it to reboot (probably because the system is stuck using the discrete GPU, until it resets itself).  My computer is only stable when it is forced to use the integrated GPU.  Apple is on my bad side until they acknowledge this issue and take responsibility.

You bring up a good point, my macbook pro is probably stuck using the discrete GPU. Anyone have any idea what could trigger a reset so it use the integrated GPU?

Update: thanks wrg_. I will try that.

*I apologized to everyone for spamming but this forum wouldn't let me delete a repeated message*

Anil SF wrote:

 

nudoru wrote:

 

Keep trying. I swear it took me 20 one time. It'll eventually get there.

That's what I thought - the next restarted needed 50 attempts, and I gave up after 100 attempts the third time. Don't restart your computer - always sleep (and it's time to double check your backups!). good luck.

Yea I made that mistake. I shut down my computer cause I was having a combination of stoke/heart attack. I think if you can start your computer and force it to stay on the integrated GPU it should be more stable.

Mine got unsuable, - 10's of reboots before it would come up, crash as soon as the discrete was engaged and then I rebuilt it all the way up. At that point I sat in discrete all day long, ran Unigine Heaven Benchmark for hours with absolutely 0 issues. And then it stopped working yesterday.

If this is a 100% hardware failure issue then I don't think it would behave like this. Maybe it is, the behavior seems strange to me. To go from completel failure for a week, working for a week and then back to failure doesn't seem like it.

Mine isn't that bad. (yet?)

Crashed on discrete yesterday, took 5-10 reboots to get it back. I have't crashed it since but I've rebooted since with no further issues on restart. It's unpredictable.

yes once you start using gfxStatus and always make sure it is using the intergrated Intel GPU it will stay stable. Doing a PRAM reset or if PRAM reset does not work, and SMC reset should reset you system and get the MBP to use the default intergrated intel GPU. It worked for me and has been working for me. I formed a habit of making sure it is using the intergrated GPU via gfxStatus.

That's interesting. Mine is equally stable whether i force integrated or discrete. It's unstable with switching on.

On top of that, forcing integrated makes a lot of apps misbehave. Transmit, for example, triggers a switch to discrete for some of its superfluous animations.

Forcing integrated makes Transmit crash. As does a lot of other apps.

It's not a solution (for me at least).

That said, i'm now on day 2 of using DISCRETE ONLY, no glitches, no crashes (yet). I've tried provoking it on purpose, running various OpenGL apps, games etc. Still nothing. So far, from everything i've seen, it seems that *once you have discrete working, IT WORKS until the next switch*. If you get discrete to work, and prevent switching (and no, gfxCardStatus does not seem to always prevent switching, but the option in Energy Saver does), it continues to work just fine.

I tried only using discrete and after 20 sec of a youtube video is crashed my computer. When I only use the intergarted GPU everything on my computer works fine. I am guess some programs crash becasue they are programmed to switch the GPU, and because the program is denid chaning the settings it has no exceptions to handle it. I have also notice that tapping the area where the AMD GPU is while is is crashing causes the screen to flicker/change its state. Therefore, it appears that the AMD GPU is faulty on my computer, (The AMD GPU heats up quickly before it crashes). I guess the only ultimate solutuion to this problem is to replace the motherboard (which Apple should do for free, as this is a wide spread problem). 

wrg_ wrote:

 

I tried only using discrete and after 20 sec of a youtube video is crashed my computer. When I only use the intergarted GPU everything on my computer works fine. I am guess some programs crash becasue they are programmed to switch the GPU, and because the program is denid chaning the settings it has no exceptions to handle it. I have also notice that tapping the area where the AMD GPU is while is is crashing causes the screen to flicker/change its state. Therefore, it appears that the AMD GPU is faulty on my computer, (The AMD GPU heats up quickly before it crashes). I guess the only ultimate solutuion to this problem is to replace the motherboard (which Apple should do for free, as this is a wide spread problem). 

Apple is known for its inability to handle flash. I noticed the CPU and the GPU heats up quickly(from the temperature gauge app) as soon as I start running flash related program. Did the program change the GPU when you are using gfx and on integrated only setting or are you not running gfx?

Also this seem to be a heating issue too so I started using a healing pad. Anyone else thinking the same thing?

I've been using a coolingpad all this year as i noticed the laptop gets hot - doubt it makes any difference though.

What I've found is that mine has issues booting but once booted it can be quite stable, so I just don't power off. Last time I powered down I was at around 19 days on without any crashes. I do see artifacts a few times a day but swiping between spaces cleans them up.

I have to run the discrete graphics as I run dual monitors, single monitor my productivity drops way too low to even bother.