Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Hi Steven,

      First you need to be reasonable in order to be able to find someone who is willing to help you, Apple gives 90 days warranty on a replacement logic board, Reballing warranty 90 days to one years depends on the place that will reball the GPU for you and how good their results are, no one will give you the ten years that you are asking for. Your 1998 computer worked until 2003 because it wasn't running any of todays heavy graphics applications that you are running on your 2011 computer.

       I tried too many times to correct the wrong understanding of this problem and still people are comfortable to wrongly believe that it is a manufacturing defect or a design flaw and you seem to believe that too which makes you in my view at the wrong side of the equation.

       The X-ray inspection machine is a very expensive machine so in order to find someone doing reballing and inspect it with a x-ray machine you need to be prepared to pay over a thousand dollars for the reballing not just two hundred.

      There is also a wrong understanding that the problem is caused by a defective GPU chip and I have explained too many times that a defective GPU chip will not work for three minutes not three years. Some chips will not work the way they should after reballing for some reason or another and those are the only ones that have to be replaced, the percentage of those is not more than 5% 

       I consider  the 17"  MBP a very valuable computer and that is why I tried to help you to find where you stand and what you need to do, so good luck.

PS3specialist, why do think apple has a replacement program for the same problem in iMac? moreover, there are cases reported in thread where people don't use graphics heavy application but still suffering. take my case, the most graphics heavy software that I use is lightroom, why did my 17" macbook "Pro" lasted for 3 years?

heavy graphics applications is just one reason not all the reasons, there are many environmental factors like temperature and humidity and also dust in addition to normal heating and cooling cycles that a computer go through every time it turns on and off and cause the solder to crack causing bad connection on BGA packages all over the board within three years and sometimes less depends on all these factors, Three years is actually a very good life specially for people who use high graphics applications , the problem for Apple users is that they expect more just because they paid more and they disregard the fact that they did not just pay more because of the hardware and the way the computer looks but they also paid for the software and the operating system that comes with the computer which actually make the high value for Apple's computers. Apple is free to recall any product when they see a reason for it  and they did that like you said with the iMac which actually has a stand alone graphics card and that should make Apple an honest company that serves their uses very good when they see a manufacturing problem in their products. I am not trying to defend Apple because the graphics problem doesn't happen only with Apple products , it happens with all computers regardless of the manufacturer name or the product price , people here don't want to see this reality and its up to them. I am trying to give honest Advise for the people who need it, don't replace your logic board if it has only a graphics issue, find someone who can reball the graphics chip for you , if you choose to replace the logic board the replacement might have a lot more problems than a Graphics problem and you will never be able to get your back. Most people here want to get back to their business and that is the best way to do it without getting into the endless cycle of logic board replacements, it is also the cheaper option for most people.

I sincerely hope you are trolling here.

The os is he most closed one and come from a free base. They just turned a free and open source is into a totally proprietary one. Even try to install the is on a spair machine is considered as illegal. Not to mention the awesomely limited amount or hardware the is can actually support.

All the software you talk about still cost, Apple don't provide anything for free. Nor any alternative ( for example developers who want to develops on ios or Mac is )

And about the 3 years ... All my pc ( yes all ) laptop or not still alive. My Dell vostro 1500. Paid 800 euros in 2007 still runing perfectly and have a 8600m gt that I did really stressed for game, work and even overclocked ... So please

So you are right and everyone else - including numerous specialists, like yourself - is wrong?  Just do the reballs, take the cash and shut up.

Ps3specialist, My macbook went faulty just last week. I am in sydney and the weather is cold here so that excludes another reason that u mentioned. Moreover, i work from home so my macbook is literally sitting on a table all the time. If the machine is so fragile then tell me how much more carefull a whole lot of owners of 2011 model should be? Yes any laptop can go faulty but consider the amount of people with the same problem, exact same problem, doesn't it ring any bells for ur honest but biased opinion? Why don't owners of macbook pro 2010 or 2009 or 2012 report the same issue???

the particular problem which everyone is discussing here proves a fundamental problem which this particular macbook was manufactured with and that shows that it was actually faulty on arrival. Apple is a honest company, i am not doubting that but sooner or later they will realize that it is really a problem.

it seems that ur running a reballing company named as ps3specialist so u do benefit from getting the machine reballed but u should honestly inform people that if they do choose to reball then they would loose the entitlement to get their macbook replaced if apple ever introduced a program to replace this model.

u should honestly inform people that if they do choose to reball then they would loose the entitlement to get their macbook replaced if apple ever introduced a program to replace this model.

       Thank you for the great advise, I just don't think that the people who want to get their computers running again today care much about that great entitlement that doesn't seem to ever happen so don't worry about them , they care more to have their computers working today rather than waiting for ever.

ps3specialist

I have no doubt your reballing service is efficient and I respect your opinion on leaded vs. lead free and all but I have to admit that your logic about Apple products is beyond me.

We, as Apple customers, are expecting solid products, bottom line. And if it ain't that means they made an error somewhere and we expect Apple to deal with it.

And I'm not talking about an hardware failure that can happen, and will happen, to everyone like with their HD, screen, memory, keyboard, you name it.

Even worse scenario here, and definitive proof of the design flaw that keep denying, they can't even fix the computer when paying 500€, 650$ or whatever they ask for a logic board replacement.

Now, like many pointed out many many times, when thousands of machines component are failing we have the right to consider there is a problem with the way it had been manufactured, obviously not to Apple, yourself and a couple of persons here but to the thousands of others that testified.

And regarding the software and OS we are paying for with the computer itself, it is only free since the mavericks release late 2013 and even when you had to pay for the OS, the hardware was still pretty expensive regardless.

Before Apple became so hyped, people chose to buy their products because it was way more reliable than PC products in the first place, the design was a bonus, and if Apple starts to make products with such a little life span, I doubt it will stay long on the highway of success they're on.

ps3specialist wrote:

 

u should honestly inform people that if they do choose to reball then they would loose the entitlement to get their macbook replaced if apple ever introduced a program to replace this model.

       Thank you for the great advise, I just don't think that the people who want to get their computers running again today care much about that great entitlement that doesn't seem to ever happen so don't worry about them , they care more to have their computers working today rather than waiting for ever.

since you are running a business, you should not be so sarcastic about the point Farazlarik made because, and I don't wish you anything bad like that, if Apple was to make a recall then one of your so happy customer could easily turn his back on you and take you to court because you did not stipulate that your intervention would break their Apple warranty.

that is something they should agree on and you should have a proof of it to protect your a**.

just saying...

PS3Specialist, i wonder how did u assume that it is not going to ever happen? Has it never happened before? Perhaps you want people to loose hope and not to fight for their right becoz of-course it is good for ur business

Opinion is just opinion, they are not facts and that is why everyone is entitled for that and I only help people who wants help, other than that its all talk that doesn't change facts, the facts for the people here is that their computers are broken, the other fact is that Apple did not issue a recall and no body knows if they will ever do or when, the most important fact is that most if not all the people here wants their computers back to life so they can get back to their business, another fact is that the people who took the matter in their hands and send their computers for reballing got their computers back working and no one heard from them since, another fact that the people who choose to wait for Apple recall have been waiting for a long time and they might continue to wait for ever, everyone can decide for himself according to these facts if he wants to continue waiting or can not wait and once again I only help people who wants to get helped.

ps3specialist wrote:

 

u should honestly inform people that if they do choose to reball then they would loose the entitlement to get their macbook replaced if apple ever introduced a program to replace this model.

       Thank you for the great advise, I just don't think that the people who want to get their computers running again today care much about that great entitlement that doesn't seem to ever happen so don't worry about them , they care more to have their computers working today rather than waiting for ever.

Maybe they do, maybe they don't. But they deserve to be told the facts, or do you not agree?

the thousands of others that testified.

Can you post a link to the 'testimony of thousands' please.

"apple has a replacement program for the same problem in iMac"

Same symptoms, but a different video card.

ok so let's just stick to the facts and stop pretending it is nothing wrong with thousands of 2011 mbp failing for the exact same component problem and "we" won't argue with you that it is.

computers are failing, you can fix it at a low price somehow and that's it.