Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

benedictros wrote:

 

sublimal08 wrote:

 

A $400 machine which lives longer vs a $2500 machine which is already dead after 3years of use? Doesn't make sense at all shouldn't it be more premium and should have a better technology?.

 

 

I just might try and look for someone here in the Philippines who does reballing or like what other suggest a graphic replacement.

 

Hey sublimal08, I know exactly how you feel.. I am in the same boat and I'm in the Philippines too. Please let me know if you find a service, because all I've been able to find so far is reflowing services, not reballing. And i definitely don't want a reflow. I want reball too.

 

Last resort is for me to send it to ps3specialist, but international shipping will cost a lot and I'm not sure how our customs will process it when it is sent back here.

I'm not from Phillipines but if you search www.olx.ph for "gpu reballing" then there are a few results.

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So for those of you who read and responded to my earlier reply. After emailing Tim Cook for the 2nd time I might add, a rep from Apple escalations team called me today and agreed the laptop being under 3 years old and experiecing this trouble was not acceptable and they would cover an out of warranty repair cost.

Lucky for me they called 1hr before I had a genius appointment so when I got in there I had a hidden Ace, i.e the rep told me the exception would be placed on my serial number just to quote it once the Genius confirmed a fault.

I got in the Apple store and didn't mention my free repair on file and allowed the genius to do his work and explained all my troubles. He was very receptive and was happy enough and listened to me explaining this issue and this thread having over 6,000 posts with hundreds of users experiencing the same issue but did not seem surprised or let on it was a common fault.

Eventually we got to a point where I felt I better mention the exception and not allow this to come to the point where he said I would need to be charged but it was evident that was the case. As soon as I mentioned my free repair on file he got a whole lot happier knowing he did not have to give me the bad news regards paying for a repair.

The MBP did crash when he plugged it in to an external device and scrambled the screen, but did not when not using an external monitor, probably needed time to warm up a little as it had been off for many hours. I also mentioned the Superdrive would not always eject and he said he would take a look at it.

My MBP is obviously still in the shop and he needs to order the logicboard in, doesnt have any in store so I will be without it for 3-5days probably and I have had to drive 30 miles to take it there and will do again to pick it up so this hasnt really been a free hassle less repair for me, but its much better than paying for a Logicboard.

No sooner had I walked out the door I got an email stating £316.00 for the logicboard and £24.00 for labor invoice with the obvious exception deduction to £0.00

Im very happy Apple have done right by me, not great news for some of you.

To answer a few questions...

I did Not have Apple Care on this product previously.

This was my 2nd MBP as the first 1 failed on day 1 of purchase back in 2011 with.... yes you guessed it Graphics error crashing (I did mention this in my email to Apple/Tim)

Tim Cooks email is easy enough to find for those looking for it.

Also worth mentioning me and the Apple Genius discussed the situation of where I would be if I had NOT got an Apple exception on file, basically he was fully prepared to give me the bad news and say I would need to pay as it was not within his powers to offer anything else. In his opinion I did the right thing by contacting Apple the way I did before coming in store.

Just got to wait to pick my MBP up now, im currently typing on my Apple bluetooth keyboard linked to my iPhone as the iPad is on charge lol.

Its a lot of hoops to jump through to get a repair done and to be fair if I didnt have this week off work for personal reasons I wouldnt have gotten round to writing the email to Tim or drive to the store so would have probably either chucked the thing in the bin and used a terribly old laptop knocking about or paying for a reball by someone. So glad I sent that email last night, sorry for rubbing it in or rambling on.

Cheers

Hey guys,

I'm from the Philippines too. I already got 3 logicboard replacements and I paid for the first one last November 2013 since I really need a machine to work on.  It failed after 4 months just 1 month outside service warranty but I managed to get a free fix when I called Apple Hotline. It failed again after a few weeks within warranty and yesterday I already experienced the first sign that it will breakdown again. I got stuck in blue screen after quitting photoshop. If Apple don't step up and offer a more concrete solution I might consider finding a local reballer as well or ship it to ps3specialist. Please update your status in case you find a good local reballer. Thanks guys!

Thought I'd share my find after countless forums and message boards with the same problem only to have apple genius tell all the same thing - that it's a logic board issue and that the graphics chip or processor is possibly damaged.

Well I found through other such cases that the logic board doesn't necessarily have to be replaced as the apple geniuses would have us all believing. Apparently pc users get the same problem too, and according to techs that fix pc's all the time, this screen problem and inability to boot is an easy and fast fix, it's generally related to a graphics chip problem where the soder that binds the chip to the logic board has softened due to overheating. If you take your mbp to a pc tech who also deals in fixing Macs, he will be able to do what's called a reflow, which is a process of rebinding or resodering any loose pins back to the logic board. According to them this is a simple fix. Only takes two hours max to complete! Do as I did, find yourselves a Computer tech in your neighborhood using yelp, mine quoted me only $80, and only need to pay if he's able to fix it and if thats the only issue! Of course, for some people, your chip may be cracked or fried, therefore only a new board would be advised, but please try this first before letting apple genius convince you to turn yours in for some rediculous fees and dollar amounts of up to $1200 in some cases I've read.

The logic board is repairable folks if it's only loose soder...just as long as there's nothing else wrong with the graphics chip and nothing else is cracked or damaged like the board itself, connectors, the drive, etc...there may be hope yet! So find yourself a pc tech who knows about doing a reflow...this may solve your problem!

Thought I'd share my find after countless forums and message boards with the same problem only to have apple genius tell all the same thing - that it's a logic board issue and that the graphics chip or processor is possibly damaged.

Well I found through other such cases that the logic board doesn't necessarily have to be replaced as the apple geniuses would have us all believing. Apparently pc users get the same problem too, and according to techs that fix pc's all the time, this screen problem and inability to boot is an easy and fast fix, it's generally related to a graphics chip problem where the soder that binds the chip to the logic board has softened due to overheating. If you take your mbp to a pc tech who also deals in fixing Macs, he will be able to do what's called a reflow, which is a process of rebinding or resodering any loose pins back to the logic board. According to them this is a simple fix. Only takes two hours max to complete! Do as I did, find yourselves a Computer tech in your neighborhood using yelp, mine quoted me only $80, and only need to pay if he's able to fix it and if thats the only issue! Of course, for some people, your chip may be cracked or fried, therefore only a new board would be advised, but please try this first before letting apple genius convince you to turn yours in for some rediculous fees and dollar amounts of up to $1200 in some cases I've read.

The logic board is repairable folks if it's only loose soder...just as long as there's nothing else wrong with the graphics chip and nothing else is cracked or damaged like the board itself, connectors, the drive, etc...there may be hope yet! So find yourself a pc tech who knows about doing a reflow...this may solve your problem!

mgrmn wrote:

 

Thought I'd share my find after countless forums and message boards with the same problem only to have apple genius tell all the same thing .... blah blah blah

This information has been posted over and over, there is no need for you to keep repeating it, and why do you need 2 posts for one redundant piece?

With 2.3 you can't force the Integrated Only mode when certain apps are running… 2.2.1 is the solution..

Quote: "This information has been posted over and over, there is no need for you to keep repeating it, and why do you need 2 posts for one redundant piece?"

Because i couldn't tell from my cell that i had posted to the same thread twice, and I was clearly trying to help where apple has clearly failed is why. Thought that part was obvious. So clearly a redundant question. And why should that bother you personally if it helps people. It really shouldn't matter to you if the same answer is posted ten million times, if it means people are more likely to find it on the web sooner and then run with it when after all their hopes and dreams have been squashed by apples team...then be it!

... So breath and Let it go. Lol! and fyi, I did not see any such advice anywhere other than everyone just relying on the apple geniuses to tell you sorry....bla bla bla bla then hit you with either a big bill or a lot of run-arround with corporate! Is that what you want or should expect for your $2000 machine that only lasted 3 years?! Me personally, I'd expect a lot more for my money, especially when you see pc's going for only a fraction of what an apple machine goes for, apple should be flawless, making me ham and eggs in the morning, and lasting a whole lot longer than only 3 years of service for what we paid for! or wouldn't you agree!  (that was a rhetorical question by the way. So no need to answer that or any of this reply for that matter!). If my redundant post helps even one then I've done my good deed for the day! So chill out and have a very nice day! Else I might even post this twice. Lol!

Hope this will be helpfull to dutch and european customers, as apple doesn't provide a solution but it will help the community to continue their work

I got it reballed at alfacom in rotterdam, it got reballed within 1 day (although it states 2-5 working days)...with leaded-solder, because of the lower temperatures so not to stress to much the other components out, and a different thermal paste......has been working flawlessly since a week now..no artifacts and whatsoever.....costs 155 eur...

Paid a visit to my local Apple store yesterday regarding my Macbook Pro late 2011 as it would now not boot up following the graphics issue and I was expecting to be fobbed off as it is out of warranty with no apple cover and I bought it second hand about 2 months ago.

the guy was great and did all the checks on it, he told me that as it was bought from an Apple store originally that they could stretch the warranty some what, he spoke to his manager and my macbook is now in getting repaired FREE OF CHARGE.  He showed me the cost and it should have cost me £460., for a new board and health check.

How shocked, surprised and very pleased with Apple am I.

Gaz3395 wrote:

 

he told me that as it was bought from an Apple store originally that they could stretch the warranty some what

Interesting, that.  I was told much the same thing, although in my case I had bought it from Apple online.  I was told it's different to having bought it from a re-seller.  I can't see the difference personally.  Apple is the manufacturer regardless of sales outlet.

same issue with my late 2011 :-( … won't even boot anymore. made an appointment at Apple genius bar… but I am sure i almost know their answer already.

When I decided to switch to mac I have decided to do it without compromise, it was 2011 and I bought the early macbook pro 17" 2,3Ghz 8 Gb with 250 Gb SSD   It was the top of the line and I have paid it 3000€ (with educational discount).

About a year ago it started to have the well known GPU issue, it started to freeze, to have kernel panic and at the end it didn't boot anymore. When I brought it to a premium reseller they asked me about 550€ for the logic board replacement but I preferred to brought it to a non-apple service in order to change and reball the GPU.  After 3/4 month of waiting  the reballing was successful, I have paid 250€ but after one month I have noticed two new issues: the service had stolen the cable that connects the superdrive to the logic board and they had damaged the left speaker (with the microphone). I have asked the service to fix the damages but after 3 months they gave me back the macbook broken and the 250€.

Now I have brought the macbook to an official apple service and they ask me 900€ for the repair because the logic board is broken and also the housing,  the top case with the keyboard.

Well, they say that in these conditions my macbook  has a value of 0€.

What should I do?

1) Pay 900€ ( so much!)  for the repair with the fear that in future the GPU issue could happen again ?

2) repair the macbook an sell it as soon as possible about at 1400€ ( it's a good price?)

3) sell the macbook parts on e-bay so I have to unmount manually the computer (how much I could earn?)

So after 3 years the computer of my dreams has become trash.

If I repair it I have no warranty that the GPU issue could't happen again but if I don't repair it I have to buy another mac or maybe a PC because a new macbook is too expensive, but after having used a top macbook there are non equals.

For example: the new retina 15" i7 2.0 ghz  costs 2000€  and compared with my old unibody  hasn't a discrete GPU, has less 300mhz, it's only 15" and the RAM and the SDD are not upgradable.

So i ask your advice, please, if you were me what would you do?

Thank you in advance and sorry for my grammatical mistakes, I'm italian.

Tiberio Galbiati

I did the same thing, but what they will do is to send it to LAN-Master and they will replace the logic board, which will have the same defected problem as your original logic board, because it is the same, but "new" so within 1-2 years you´ll have the same problem.

Because it is such a known issue

You should claim your money back.

That is at least  what I am doing.

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And if I replace the logic board with one of a late 2011 macbook?

It would be more powerful, but does it suffer the same issue?