Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

You can close the lid and MacBook Pro will wake up after that smoothly. But if MacBook will sleep by himself it won't wake up without rebooting. It works in my case.

Thanks.Yes, I close the lid & try to think as if it is off,but it actually sleeps(with the white LED light blinking).Don't know when will Apple wake up!

Same issue here with my 2011 Q1 MBP, had to sent to repair... the result: paid 230€ to replace the Graphic Card chip. They tried to re-solder it, but didn't work, hope Apple covers this defect which has affected lots of people.

Hello,Are the Apple Genuis folks changing the GPU unit by actually de-soldering it?When I went to the Genuis bar ,they offered me to change the whole Logic Board(for CNY 4800 flat rate + taxes) . If they are actually replacing the defective discerete graphics then it should be a less expensive repair.

No, this was a private repair shop in Germany... haven't contacted Apple Support yet.

China_MACer wrote:

 

Hello,Are the Apple Genuis folks changing the GPU unit by actually de-soldering it?When I went to the Genuis bar ,they offered me to change the whole Logic Board(for CNY 4800 flat rate + taxes) . If they are actually replacing the defective discerete graphics then it should be a less expensive repair.

Unfortunately, in the 2011 MacBook Pro models, the whole logic board is considered a single part.  So as far as I know, all that the Genius Bars and many other AASPs are doing is replacing the whole "part."

According to these discussions, a few third-party repair services (some authorized by Apple, most not) have replaced or repaired the GPU specifically.

saramwrap wrote:

 

Unfortunately, in the 2011 MacBook Pro models, the whole logic board is considered a single part.  So as far as I know, all that the Genius Bars and many other AASPs are doing is replacing the whole "part."

It's not just the 2011 models. That's the policy for all Apple products, except those with separate, discrete add-on cards. All that the Apple Service Providers ever do is replace the whole logic board. The level of service you will get from them is roughly equivalent to what you can see (and do yourself) on iFixit.

Anything more complicated than that would simply be unfeasible for them from a business / warranty point of view.

Day... 6? of running on discrete only (AMD).

Still no glitches.

Did a few reboots, again, no glitches.

But! I've figured out why rebooting can cause glitching even if you stick to a single GPU (discrete or integrated).

As it turns out, rebooting reverts to dynamic switching.

Even if you tick it off in Energy Saver. At least in Mavericks. You need to tick it off again after a reboot.

Wish I had your luck, but tried forcing it to discrete only (from Energy pref pane) and mine locked pretty shortly there after. Then of course you get the enjoyable task of rebooting.

I've got my Genius Bar appt in 2 hours. Already know how that is going to go.

I had the same issue about a month ago, I took to apple and they quoted me with the flat rate $310 to replace the logic board. I tried to complain to a manager and also had someone from Apple call me, but nothing that helped with the problem, as I need my computer I'm taking it to the Apple store today to get it fixed, not happy about having to pay for their "mistakes".

I'm just afraid that the problem might come back, keep you posted after getting it fixed.

hopefully Apple will do something about this issue

Hello! Is there any update guys???

Written by samCity123

I Just spoke to a senior advisor on chat who guaranteed me this problem and forum would be promoted and taken note of, and taken very seriously.

whilst Currys may swap mine for free, I want to make sure we all get justice and notice from Apple.

Writen by nudoru:

I wrote Tim Cook a letter and had a corporate relations exec contact me today - scheduled to speak with a tech mid morning tomorrow - hopefully something good will come from it - or atleast another data point for Apple on this issue.

All:

After reading through every single one of the posts on this thread, plus combining what I read and see with my own experience (early 2011 15”, 6490M), I’ve come to a few conclusions I’d like to share to, hopefully, further this discussion and, more importantly, help Apple towards taking some action. My conclusions:

(1) This discrete graphics issue is very real. Obviously, all of you reading and contributing to this Apple Support Community thread, which is now roughly 50 pages long, already know this…you wouldn’t be wasting your time otherwise. Yet, being realistic, at times end-users will vocally complain about something simply to try to get something ‘new’ for free, which understandably is something Apple needs to be concerned about. That said, there have been enough pictures shared and certainly enough testimonials for any reasonable person(s) to conclude there’s a REAL issue with the AMD graphics chips in the MBP’s of 2011.

(2) Event incidence is sporadic. I personally have found that the frequency and duration of graphics glitches and/or freezes is highly sporadic. And, despite the many, many comments in this thread, it is not at all apparent what the cause is. The only discernable commonality I personally see is that the issue occurs when the MBP switches over from ‘integrated’ to ‘discrete’ graphics. But the problem doesn’t occur each and every time the switch is made…so it seems impossible to isolate the cause or causes of the problem.

Example: While I was beginning to write this note, I casually plugged in my iPhone into my computer to charge (not thinking about what was going to happen), which stimulated the opening of iPhoto (as well as iTunes), which caused the change to ‘discrete’ graphics, which then immediately resulted in a pixelated screen and freeze. After a hard restart (which worked just fine–I had uplugged the iPhone), I then plugged in my external monitor (which I had not been using), immediately causing another pixelated screen and freeze. Prior to yet another hard restart, I unplugged the computer to start from the battery…but left the external monitor plugged in. Now everything works just fine (for now, anyway). Also after plugging back in to power.  I can’t seem to figure out exactly when the screen and/or freeze problems will occur and when they will NOT occur with identical steps. Sometimes there’s a problem and sometimes there isn’t.

(3) Changing motherboards/replacing the chip doesn’t seem to be ‘the answer’. Several posts in this thread refer to those who have changed out the motherboard or, in some cases, the chip itself…or “reballing” the connections and/or altering thermal paste and/or re-soldering. While it’s possible that these steps have actually solved the problem (and those people for which these approaches have worked, are therefore not represented in this thread), it seems to me there are WAY too many comments here about how these steps have NOT solved the problem in these 50 pages.

(4) There is no apparent software-causing commonality. The only observation I have from this thread is that a large number of posters refer to gfxCardStatus (which I also have installed). I suppose it’s possible this program might be the culprit…and after dropping this note into the forum, I’m going to eliminate it from my machine and will report back. But other than this program, I don’t see any other commonality OTHER than applications that cause the switch from integrated to discrete graphics (iPhoto, PowerPoint sometimes, occasionally Safari when I hit a movie-containing page, others)…and even then, the problem does not occur consistently.

(5) My greatest fear: A fundamental design problem. Replacing the chip itself or replacing the entire motherboard, as noted above, doesn’t appear to resolve the issue. That’s scary for two reasons: (1) If this is the case, it is highly doubtful that either Apple or AMD is going to redesign either the motherboard or the chip, which means there will be no ‘fix’…ever. (2) If this is indeed the case, then I suspect Apple will continue to remain silent on this issue, totally shattering my 25-year investment in Apple trustworthiness. I have no way of knowing how many 2011 (early and late) MBPs were sold, but it has to be in the millions…and the damage to Apple’s reputation, as a result, could be IMMENSE!

Final Note: I happen to be one of the unfortunate ones who purchased this machine to replace my previous, older MBP…which was experiencing graphics card failures, of all things. In that case, my model (3,1), as it turns out, was eligible for a free motherboard replacement. Ironically, however, I had ordered my brand new ‘early’ 2011 MBP in the morning, THEN discovered the ‘free motherboard replacement’ offer that very afternoon after I had already placed my order. I am NOT making the same mistake twice.

ctnovice wrote:

 

(4) There is no apparent software-causing commonality. The only observation I have from this thread is that a large number of posters refer to gfxCardStatus (which I also have installed). I suppose it’s possible this program might be the culprit…and after dropping this note into the forum, I’m going to eliminate it from my machine and will report back.

Er. You seem to have misunderstood some of the posts. gfxCardStatus (or, more appropriately, it's functionality) was proposed as a *solution* (temporary fix), *not* as a *culprit*.

Macbook pro 15inch Early 2011. Add me to the list.

I took mine to Currys today equipped with the form from Apple stating it is a graphics card issue, also saying the logic board needs replacing. With my proof of purchase he took details and my MBP.

It takes two weeks but hopefully it will return in working order. My worry is that the same issue will happen again because they will just swap the parts like for like. So I'm still hoping Apple says something.