Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

My experience today at Apple Store Odysseum Montpellier (France).

Even if my MBP 17" Early 2011 started normally, they acknowledged on-the-spot the problem by looking at PCIe lane width in System Profiler: x8 instead of x16. The girl at the Genious Bar said that it was a sheer sign that the 6750M was to fail soon. They said they'd change the logic board free of charge even if my Apple Care expired two months ago (April 2014). Which I accepted (needless to say).

Thank you Apple!

... they acknowledged on-the-spot the problem by looking at PCIe lane width in System Profiler: x8 instead of x16. The girl at the Genious Bar said that it was a sheer sign that the 6750M was to fail soon.

...

Very interesting...

However....I wonder why that would be? ...this indication of x08 or x016

Working ow on a good functioning MBP2012 (

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M) (my wife's while mine is now at Apple Premium Service Provider), and it also indicates x08....

Kirth_Gersen wrote:

 

... they acknowledged on-the-spot the problem by looking at PCIe lane width in System Profiler: x8 instead of x16. The girl at the Genious Bar said that it was a sheer sign that the 6750M was to fail soon.

...

Very interesting...

 

However....I wonder why that would be? ...this indication of x08 or x016

 

Working ow on a good functioning MBP2012 (

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M) (my wife's while mine is now at Apple Premium Service Provider), and it also indicates x08....

That "Genius bar girl" probably wanted to sound smart.

The discrete GPU in it uses only 8 lanes.

It's designed like that.

Not an indicator for failing at all.

Tells you how much in fact their personel ore geniusses really know about it....

Here's picture of my MacBookPro8,3 which I forgot to insert on previous posts:-

ABOVE is when the MacBook Pro crashes with a 'blue' screen (with thin stripes), when attempting to Power-up.

----------------

BELOW is also when the MacBook Pro crashes, however on most occasions it's usually a 'grey' screen when attempting to Power-up the MacBook Pro (the colouring on the photo looks slightly bluey-violet tinted, however to the eye it is grey)

The other third main type of graphical glitch-anomaly experienced with system freezes/crashes, is one where it happens when on Desktop and/or in a program and basically the display either goes stripy or the desktop shifts from the center of the screen to one side, or there's dashes running down the screen and even a combination of all three.

Looks very similar to what I had. Look at my post on previous page on how I fixed it. It's been running fine for the past 20 hours or so (knock wood....)

I visited the Apple store yesterday and they confirmed, bad GPU. replace the logic board. $310 dollars US, sent off to Texas for repair. It would have cost all most twice that if repaired in house.

I can't replace it, or buy a new laptop for that amount, so what choice do you have.

I don't recall the specs with my MBP, but I do recall the GPU didn't have much memory, maybe 256k or 512k. I asked if your going to replace it, can you upgrade the GPU? Nope, don't recall the reason, but that sucked.

I used my laptop like a desktop. Sits on my desk connected to external monitors and HDs, rarely goes anywhere. Since this is a heat issue, anything I can do to keep it cooler?

Also, I asked the Genius, if it the MBP were in perfect shape, what would it be worth on a trade in for a new one. I was told $200, maybe $300 US. Wow, my MBP went from $1800 to maybe $300 in almost 3 years?

It has an i7 processor, more computing power than most PCs sold today.

Another tidbit of information. The new MacPro desktop, they can't keep them in stock, if they can get them at all.

Oh well, good luck all.

papamiller wrote:

 

It has an i7 processor, more computing power than most PCs sold today.

 

Lol.... Really?

D3us wrote:

 

Lol.... Really?

D3us,

If you look at some of the DIY sites for building your own desktop model, the i7 quad-core's that are offered are right around the same specs as found in a 'new' Retina machine, so papamiller isn't saying anything too far-fetched at all, in my opinion.

Clinton

This design-defect issue is a real problem and is concerning potential future owners from considering a MacBook Pro, i.e. as with some of my friends and colleagues. In short, if a time-bomb design defect should 'possibly' arise to any mass of users for a certain model MacBook Pro now and/or in the future as has clearly happened with the version of MacBook Pro here, then they too are likely to suffer and be also left in the dark with a similar situation as each and everyone that's affected here being ignored and not taken care of by Apple in the proper sense with a defective number of MacBook Pro's effectively turned into a £2,500 paper weight - in stark contrast to the £2,500 premium bespoke prestigious mobile computer that they first initially was under the belief and impression they were buying.

However, if Apple instead turn around and outrightly re-call and resolve all affected units containing the design-flawed components, then confidence would be soon quickly restored and there image would revert back to that of being a manufacturer of prestige and bespoke products. There reputation wouldn't further suffer and current & future potential consumers for the high-end mobile Mac's would be even more encouraged and no longer put-off by the notion that if a similar scenario should happen to their incredibly expensive MacBook Pro then they would not be left in the dark with an expensive paper weight; after all we are talking about a genuine design flaw here that is being shown to be present and repeated with a vast number of users.

To be completely fair to Apple: any other faults such as isolated occasional random failures for different components and fault natures, wear and tear, accidental damage, etc. would indeed require either paid for repairs or to be covered by Apple Care Warranties - this goes without saying and is to be expected... HOWEVER, this scenario here that's being experience by the mass of affected MacBook Pro versions are clearly victims of a repeated design flaw/defect that consists of the same nature of fault - this warrants a recall and/or a special replacement program whereby the units either have their faulty design components changed to that of a fully revised version of the components responsible as to not have a repeat incident of the current failures, OR, have the units exchanged for other units that do not posses this design fault (sadly to many of us that would mean losing the legendary beautiful capacious size advantage of having a large and portable 17" display whereby some solace and compensation maybe a newer more powerful unit, although many will find a smaller screen tough at first).

Apple must realize that this defect is through no fault of the owners/users whatsoever; it is something beyond our control that falls into the category of being inevitable when and where it is an actual design-fault phenomenon. Its just that the nature of failure from this design-fault is random and intermittent with usually an initial 'fooling' period of good behavior for most; i.e. good behavioral factors that may make it seem more convenient for Apple to avoid, BUT now is the time for the manufacturer whom we hold in such high regard to finally step in and show they are a prestigious company with genuine intentions to manufacture bespoke products and therefore would and will be quick to put right and resolve any design-defect because they're not in the business of deceiving consumers with defectively designed products (hopefully).

SadChief wrote:

 

My experience today at Apple Store Odysseum Montpellier (France).

Even if my MBP 17" Early 2011 started normally, they acknowledged on-the-spot the problem by looking at PCIe lane width in System Profiler: x8 instead of x16. The girl at the Genious Bar said that it was a sheer sign that the 6750M was to fail soon. They said they'd change the logic board free of charge even if my Apple Care expired two months ago (April 2014). Which I accepted (needless to say).

Thank you Apple!

Could you please provide your case number (publicly or privately) so we could try to use your (apparently) luck to get a replacement for free as very few people here have been able to get without apple care coverage?

I'm from Paris otherwise I would have rushed to the same store but having something to give them that can identify your case would probably help our case in France, at least.

Thanks

And just in case you think Apple doesn't read these boards... I just got an email saying that they deleted one of my earlier posts because it contained information about unreleased software. Ofcourse, I didn't say anthing about that software, all I said was that I started having the same problem with the specs containing that software. But the point is - they read these forums, and keep quiet, which is even more annoying. They'll take action in a matter of minutes if you say something which doesn't abide by their terms, but they'll completley disregard 390 pages of users acknowledging this defect.

I hope they do something about it. I had a very good experince with a recall to my Time Capsule even though it was after its warranty period. I think this is even more critical.

Clinton,  sorry, I just react to fast sometimes, can't restrain....

Don't get me wrong. Apple does make some nice machines. Agree on that.

Allways find it funny Apple users often think they buy something so much better or faster than a pc or pc laptop. Where it is in fact based on the same hardware.

About this one:

clintonfrombirmingham wrote:

If you look at some of the DIY sites for building your own desktop model, the i7 quad-core's that are offered are right around the same specs as found in a 'new' Retina machine, so papamiller isn't saying anything too far-fetched at all, in my opinion.

 

Clinton

A mobile I7 allways runs slower than a comparable destkop model.

A desktop will allways beat any laptop in price/performance.

If you get a pc laptop with same cpu as in a macbook it will perform the same.

Apple vs PC really isn't that different in performance, only in price.

And unrepairabilty for Apple on their new stuff.... (Hope pc market doesn't follow that trend).

Before you say it:

Not the right topic to discuss this ;-).

 

Apple vs PC really isn't that different in performance, only in price.

 

Serious defect issue asside for one moment (which Apple may address & resolve soon), it would be realistic and fair to include at the end of the sentence above "and desirable, exceptional material build quality to the highest standard". It is a feature and attribute that contributes towards the devices long term structural performance and integrity over the years and therefore forms part of the products overal performance.

People I know including myself have had PC laptops in the past with some still using them and despite the fact many (not all) are as thick as two planks literally (excuse the pun); the mostly plastic built enclosures of many tend to warp, buckle, crack and creek over time as well as becoming defaced with paint coatings wearing-off, scratching and gaps widening at joints and one can even slightly twist some of them when gripping with their hands. All this is in stark contradiction to the unibody of a MacBook Pro which in time over many years, the entire body enclosure and non-plastic glass screen still look and feel like they did on 'day-one' with structural integrity maintained. I know it's also slightly of topic and I'm not trying to offend, but it is a fair and valid point to make for Apple products and it's acknowledging where credit is due.

@DIESEL-X I ment performance only, which I still stand behind.

But have to agree on what you wrote. Apple does make nice designs.

They are also nicely put together. Prefer opening a macbook over a pc laptop for repairing.

I guess I'm lucky enough to be on this ever growing list of failing 2011 MBP's. I bought my first MacBook Pro brand new from apple early summer of 2011. As a graphic designer I've always used Macs and was super excited to have a laptop at home to work from. It worked pretty great until January of this year, when it started to have glitchy issues (incredibly slow performance then sudden blue/green screen with black lines in the middle of use, white screen on reboot - you know, the usual). It took a couple of days but it eventually wouldn't boot up at all. Went to the apple store and they said it needed a logic board replacement. SInce I use it for my freelance work, I really had no choice if I wanted to get it back quickly. Apple sent it off for repair and I did get it back pretty quickly, 2-3 days I think. And truthfully, I was okay paying the $310 if that would have fixed it. It worked pretty well for a few months until last night when it crashed and died again, much quicker than it happened last time and about 1 month after the 90 day warranty on the first logic board replacement expired. Yipee!

Had an appointment first thing this morning at the Genius Bar at Fashion Place, in Salt lake city, UT. Spoke with the "Genius" and explained my frustrations and all the research I've done online saying this is a manufacturing issue. He confirmed that it needed another logic board replacement but after talking to the manager agreed that they would cover the cost of the replacement since it's only been 4 1/2 months since the first logic board replacement. He also mentioned that if it were to happen again, they would look for a different solution because I shouldn't have to keep bringing it in for that. From what I've seen online I'm fairly certain it will happen again because replacing a faulty logic board with a refurbished logic board from a similar laptop that was probably faulty as well, doesn't seem to be working very well for anyone.

While they didn't officially acknowledge that it was a manufacturing fault with the machine, I get the feeling they're aware of the situation with 2011 MBP's because I can't imagine the manager would be willing to cover the full cost of a replacement past it's warranty date unless they're being told it's an issue that apple's trying to figure out how to deal with. I can honestly say, while I wish it wasn't  happening, I have nothing but good things to say about the customer service I've recieved (so far) from my Salt Lake City apple store. If this continues to happen and they don't offer me any other solutions, that feeling may change but it seems that for now I'm recieving a better response than most so hopefully we can continue to pursue the issue (contacting apple support, sign the petition, tweet, email, go to the genius bar, provide apple feedback etc.) to get apple to issue a recall or offer a replacement program sometime soon. I have no disillusions that apple will do this out of the kindness of their hearts, but simply because, if the stores are having to regularly pay the $300 to replace a logic board every few months, at some point it will become financially beneficial for them to figure out a more permanent solution! So hang in there and keep voicing your issues!

Some of you may think I'm "drinking the koolaid" but I do think Apple products are good products (show me any other major brand that hasn't had manufacturing issues), it will just be a matter of how apple chooses to address this problem that will be key. I have several ipods, an ipad, I've had 3 iphones, my personal macbook pro, as well as my iMac and Mac Pro at work and I'd love to keep using apple products simply for the sake of continuuity. But I'm really hoping apple will make that easier to do by stepping up and doing the right thing, not just for me but the other 2011 MBP users as well!