I am located in Spain, my closest Apple Store is 200 km away, so I e-mailed an Official Support Centre and after they told me a logic board replacement would cost 600€ I e-mailed Tim Cook. The person from Apple that contacted me was located in Ireland, in the Apple Europe headquarters.

However I believe it is not really important where we are located, the important thing is to make Apple notice all the faulty 2011 MBPs all over the world and launch a replacement program.

Hi MacIndia. It is good that the person at the Apple Authorised Service Center admitted that there are several users with this problem. I would suggest that in your next visit you ask them if they are reporting all these problems to Apple. If not it would be great if you could ask them to do so. In this moment what we need is to report to Apple every affected 2011 MBP, and this can only be done through an Apple Store or Apple Authorised Service Center, posting on this forums is not a reliable reporting method.

Hi nachoE,

Yes that's infact the prime reason why I am again going to visit Apple Service Center this weekend, because I want to give it an attempt that the issue is reported to Apple and doesn't just go unreported if I do not agree to get it repaired.

One more thing that I have noticed is, when I last visited Apple Service Center, I was told that I would receive a call from them telling me the exact cost of repair because they need to get the quote from Apple Bangalore for this problem, hence I believe that the problem is reported to Apple in my case as they had to first get the quote from Apple Bangalore before they informed me of the total cost for replacement.

Anyways, I will make a visit this weekend and try my best to get it reported to Apple via Apple Authorized service center.

Hi,

Just a short note to say I think I've joined the 'club'

My early (Feb) 2011 MBP 15" i7 has just failed.

Got home from work and it would not wake from sleep.

Hard rebooted and the screen had slight lines accross it but the real noticable difference was the Apple logo was green.

The screen then went grey.

Tried booting into safe mode which produced a deep blue screen with vertical black lines.

Booked into the Milton Keynes Apple store genius bar where, after a short test in a back room, the genius confirm that it was a graphics compontent failure.

As this is part of the motherboard it would be expensive to repair quoting £347.

I decided to go with the repair which should be ready in 5 days.

I then found this forum thread.

Apple have in the past been very good in looking after me and have given great service.

As this seems to be a problem affecting a enormous amount of MBP customers is there any advice about the approach I should take with the store?

Ideally I would like the repair FOC or some discounted repair rate.

I guess I can only ask.

Thanks for any help.

James

<Edited By Host>

****  SUMMARY OF THREAD SO FAR ****

Based on 450 pages of input, if you are seeing graphical "weirdness" that gets worse over time and eventually shows a split or wrap-around screen, vertical purple lines or blockiness and noise around cursor that results in a freeze or kernel panic, you likely have this issue.

Issue Facts

1)  This is NOT software related.

2)  This is an issue created with many heating/cooling cycles of your MacBook Pro that results in deterioration of the solder holding the discreet GPU to the logic board.

3)  This is a design flaw since the machine produces more heat than it can reasonably dissipate.

4)  Users who tax their machine on a regular basis are more likely to expose this design fault than those whoa re casual users.

There is a piece of software call (gfxCardStatus) that IF YOU CAN BOOT your MBP can be used to try to force the integrated graphics and avoid the issue from occurring.  HOWEVER, if you use an external display with your MBP, you are ALWAYS using the discreet GPU and therefore can't use this software. Also, the integrated graphics card much slower and some software won't operate (correctly) when forced to used the integrated GPU.

Apple's only official repair is a replacement of the logic board. This will give you a "fresher" set of solder points, although some suggest these boards are refurbished.

Third-parties will offer reballing (REPLACEMENT of the solder points) or reflowing (re-melting of the solder points). Both are likely better "repairs" than the logic board swap (because so many users have mutilple swaps and failures), HOWEVER, Apple will likely not support machines that have been altered by others.

While this thread is an excellent exchange of information, it is MORE IMPORTANT to create a case with Apple and get a case # with your machine's serial number attached.   Apple is "investigating" and can only use officially registered cases to decide on a more global course of action.  P.S.- The Apple Store Geniuses are the first line of defense and are at a pay-grade below where this issue is being investigated.  If you go to the Apple Store, BE SURE TO CALL OR EMAIL INTO APPLE CORPORATE, so that the case is escalated and tracked.

jamesfromnorthampton if you choose to have your logic board replaced, in case Apple launches a replacement program in the future they would give your money back (I was told this by the guy at Apple who phoned me yesterday). In your case I believe the best thing is:

1. Make sure someone "important" at Apple is informed about your issue. When you go back to the store you could ask to talk to the manager or make sure they communicate this to someone in Apple Headquarters: this is a common problem and we want Apple to know it. The previous answer by Hal Feldman has very good advice.
2. Keep your receipt for the repair and stay informed about Apple replacement programs (http://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/). In case Apple launches one you would need to contact them to have your money back (so the receipt would be required, I guess).

My fiancée's 15" early 2011 MBP stopped booting last week. I immediately recognized it as a graphics card issue due to the pink vertical lines right before it died. I'm a former electronics engineer specializing in hardware design and this is a common issue, but before you all buy new logic boards I implore you to try a simple heat gun repair. If your going to replace the logic board anyways, there's very little to lose. I can write a quick how to if anyone is interested. I had my fiancées mac up and running in a leisurely 3 hours while I was watching netflix on my ipad.

This repair isn't for everyone and it is not a permanent fix, but if like me you think another few years out of your laptop is good enough than it could last a while.

RenEH01

I don't agree on doing a heat gun (reflow) repair, as evidence seems to show this only last weeks, or if your lucky months...

You are also giving Apple the opportunity to deny accountability if a repair plan materialises, as well as risking screwing up the laptop completely.

If people do want to choose a repair outside of the bounds of Apple, I would think a leaded solder reball by someone with proper kit is a better long term bet.

Obviously a reball is the permanent solution,but we have some people here spending over $700 on a logic board replacement or sending these parts overseas to china. The $30 heat gun repair is a lot less costly or risky then these options.

Also, if anything the anecdotal evidence is pointing to the logic board replacements only lasting weeks or months if you're lucky. My guess is apple is reflowing the boards themselves and doing a **** poor job doing it.

Sorry but what do you mean by "This is an issue created with many heating/cooling cycles of your MacBook Pro that results in deterioration of the solder holding the discreet GPU to the logic board"?

RenEH01 wrote:

 

My guess is apple is reflowing the boards themselves and doing a **** poor job doing it.

Can't disagree with you there!!! 

destinationpsp wrote:

 

Sorry but what do you mean by "This is an issue created with many heating/cooling cycles of your MacBook Pro that results in deterioration of the solder holding the discreet GPU to the logic board"?

You turn the laptop on and work the GPU - It gets hot.

You shut the machine down - It goes cold.

So the solder that holds the GPU on, suffers thermal stress much like fatigue. And due to the lead free solder having less or a lower ductility than leaded solder, eventually it cracks and the GPU connections break. This hypothesis is supported by users saying that getting the machine warm/hot can eventually allow them to boot and disable the GPU drivers in the Mac OS, as when hot, the solder expand fractionally and makes the connections.

Also stated earlier in this thread, the whole issue is possibly further compounded by the thermal paste being poorly applied during assembly, and drying out over time.  

So, just a quick update of someone who just went through this. I can't emphasize enough; go with a flat rate repair.

For just over $300 I got a new logic board, a new magsafe board, a new hard drive, and a fresh battery.

Would've cost over $550 in store for the logic board alone. Good luck!

So doing graphic intensive work and then putting the computer to sleep will basically mess up the GPU?