Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

"I suspect it's just a fob off from the service advisor (Brent), but here's too hoping!"

Perhaps it's simply a fop off from the poster, hoping to start a feeding frenzy.

carl wolf wrote:

 

"I suspect it's just a fob off from the service advisor (Brent), but here's too hoping!"

 

Perhaps it's simply a fop off from the poster, hoping to start a feeding frenzy.

It could well be, but nothing like the fob off the service centres are giving us by claiming they don't know about the issue. A story that has been told time and time again in this thread....

In Quebec, we have several laws to protect the customers, like this one:

http://images.apple.com/legal/warranty/docs/Quebec_Consumer_Warranty_Notice_text .pdf

Defining reasonable might be difficult, but there is some judgement history.

In a like the forum doesn't want me to paste in here, there was a judgment for an HP laptop that broke after 18 months.

My laptop is 3.5 years old, but in the judgement, there is :

" Le consommateur qui a contracté avec un commerçant a le droit d'exercer directement contre le commerçant ou contre le fabricant un recours fondé sur un vice caché du bien qui a fait l'objet du contrat, sauf si le consommateur pouvait déceler ce vice par un examen ordinaire."

Which says that is there is an hidden defect that I do not know about when I buy the computer, it is not me that have to pay for it. And with all the data on this forum and all the other webpages, there is probably enough data to have a good case.

Still, a global recall would be way better than fighting with laws.

I always use my MBP connected on my Apple Display 27", but it uses the external (ATI) video card on that mode, which will crash in the minutes/hours when in use... No problem in "laptop" mode with the internal (Intel) video card...

Hi guys,

for few day i posted a "maybe" solution, and was happy that it could work. I cleaned my MBP Fans and after that the computer was running perfectly for less than a week. But now it´s all the same again. So, my Graphic Card is also broken.

I contacted Apple and the only solution they give is to go to a Apple Store and let the laptop checked. I will not invest more money in a computer who was misconceived.

When we see how this thread is growing everyday more and more, it seem to be clear that Apple did a big mistake by building the laptop this way.

So now my next move is to try to become the fix for free.

And my next computer will maybe a Hackintosh or something like that, but not Apple anymore.

Cyu,

Yashime

Hi there,

I just got my laptop fixed for free. The quote was £416.40 but they offered a complimentary fix.

It was out of a 3 year protection plan for about 2 months.

Good luck everyone!

Hello everybody,

Another 2011 MBP user affected by the GPU failure. In my case my MBP won't boot unless I deleted the drivers for the discrete GPU using the "kext delete method" explained in this discussion (thanks to whoever posted it , I cannot find it right now).

I have somewhat good news. I sent a polite e-mail to Tim Cook explaining my problem and pointing to the fact that this is a known and spread issue (as can be seen in this discussion) and that they have launched replacement programs in the past. I received a call from someone at Apple the next day who asked me some questions about my issues and said he would talk to technical support and call me back.

Like itsjosh, the guy at Apple called me back again today and said that this is an issue that is known and being investigated, they do not have enough information yet and they don't know when the investigation will be over. When they do, they might launch a replacement program for the faulty machines.

I guess right now our best chance is to make sure Apple becomes aware of every machine affected by this issue. This forums are for users to help each other and are not a reliable source Apple can trust (I understand that, anyone could create fake accounts and complain about this problem without it being true). In my opinion, the best way to make Apple notice how many faulty 2011 MBPs are out there is to take our 2011 MBPs to an Apple Store (or Official Support Centre) and have them checked, making sure they are officially reported to Apple. In case you don't have access to an Apple Store or Support Centre I would encourage you to, at least, phone Apple Support and describe them your problem, making sure they count your machine as one more faulty one.

Remember to always be polite to the people at Apple, it will get you further.

My machine will be going back to Apple for repairs now for the third time.  I worked with an advisor through online chat support and then with a senior advisor on the phone and was told that since my machine has already been through the repair process more than once, that they have noted my repair and that it will be handled by a specialty team to make sure the issue is fixed.  I chose to have the machine sent in for repairs (Apple sends a pre-paid box for me to ship the product back to them) as I did not want to deal with the waiting at the Apple Store even with an appointment.  I did also email Tim Cook and was again contacted by the same individual from Executive Relations who contacted me back in April. 

Here's a brief summary of repairs performed so far:

• April - Was not covered under warranty (did not purchase AppleCare) so was given the option for $310 flat rate repair.  Main Logic Board (MLB) was replaced.
• June - Still covered under the 90-day warranty from April repair.  Main Logic Board, both memory modules, and both fans were replaced.
• July - Still covered under 90-day warranty from either the April or June repair.  Will report back as to what parts they end up replacing.

Are you located in the US?

公司共计3台电脑都这样。

In India the local Apple service center asked me to pay Rs. 58000 or $1000 for the logic board repair. They admit that, this is a GPU issue.

I visited Unicorn Solutions (Apple Authorised Service Center) in Ahmedabad, India and I was asked to pay Rs. 45k for logic board replacement. The guy straight away told me that this is a logic board issue and they have had many complaints from several Macbook Pro users based in Ahmedabad and nearby towns that don't have Apple Authorised service centers, but there is nothing they could do unless Apple asks them to repair it for free or Apple starts a recall program.

Hence, out of luck here.

There is one more Apple authorised service center in Ahmedabad, which I plan to visit this weekend. Lets see the response of that guy.

BTW, I am kinda shocked why was 1 person quotes 58K whereas other quoted 45k? Anyways, do keep reading your email notifications that you might be receiving whenever a response is posted here as I have observed that on quiet a few posts after I read the post and then try to reply to that post, it has been removed from this discussion.

I hope some proper resolution comes to this and this struggle of genuine Apple products users comes to an end.

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Just another update on my progress. I picked up my Macbook Pro from the Apple store on monday after the logic board had been replaced (free of charge). Asked a few questions to the guy that repaired my computer and I confirmed that the logic board had been replaced with exactly the same thing, he mentioned there were issues with the first batch of Early 2011 Macbook Pro's. I laughed at him, rolled my eyes and said if it's been replaced with the same flawed part I'll be back again soon when the new one stuffs up.

LESS THAN 5 HOURS AFTER I PICKED UP MY MACBOOK PRO FROM REPAIRS THE NEW LOGIC BOARD FAILED AGAIN!

Yet another email back to my dedicated customer relations rep. Again I requested a replacement Mabook Pro as this was going to keep on happening and I'm sick of having to take my computer in store. No deal, I was told they already bent the rules for me to repair it out of warranty. Looks like I'm going to be popping into my apple store to keep switching logic boards every week for the duration of my 2 year warranty on the replacement logic boards. Would be cheaper to just give me a new model... so far its cost Apple AUD $1400 in replacement logic boards. A new Macbook Pro would cost them $2700 (the amount I paid for current MBP) and I said I'd pay an extra $700 to get a better model.

I wonder how long this is going to continue and how much the are going to throw away on logic board replacements?

Mine is a newer Late 2011 2.4/i7Q-UVS/6770 GDDR5 1GB version. That's why the  cost is more. I am from Bangalore. I have also sent a letter to Apple and got a reply. I will talk to the representative today. By the which model do you have ?

I am using Early 2011 15" Macbook Pro with the following configuration:

2.2GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7

4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB

750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm

SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen Display

I don't think the price should change for such a major replacement across different cities in India may be a max of few taxes here and there. A difference of over 20% (13K) is too high.

You are thinking in terms of cost to the customer, not the cost to Apple!