Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

buddhaauthor wrote:

That said, if there's a replacement program and I'm excluded from it entirely, I'll be ******.

[Edit: Off topic question. Wow, I submitted this post and my last word (a mildly ribald expression of anger, related to micturition, was censored in less than a minute. Is this an automatic function of the board?]

it probably is, having a bunch of keywords and some automation to replace those with * is pretty basic stuff and since it was that fast, it makes no doubt.

mine today was censored entirely because of its content so that one has been read and judged inappropriate by a human being, kinda fast too.

sounds great, 65$ seems really cheap though, you're sure it's not a reflow but a reball?

make sure they're qualified, wouldn't risk to make the situation any worse than already is..

@nyco75: Whoa, that is seriously cheap! I've seen prices go up to about $250, with $150 being average.

Just make sure that, in this case, you don't get what you pay for. As I understand things, to re-ball the GPU the repair person needs to remove the CPU and GPU, take them apart, clean them off, resolder the GPU (that's the re-balling per se) and replace them in the MBP. That's a lot of stress and heat on the parts, plus the actual re-balling needs to be extremely precise to work well. My re-balling was done by machine, though I suppose a really good solderer could do it by hand (though it would take forever). Anyway, make sure your repair person has the experience and machinery necessary for the job.

Good luck!

I'm glad the reball worked out fine and it's running cooler, it is the cheaper option but I replace the GPU as a norm which is more expensive.  I repasted a 2010 15 inch MBP this morning which was running a bit hot, it had been one that had the new GPU on the recall. I looked at my AS-5 tube and it looks like it's almost empty but I put such a tiny, minute amount on the dies after polishing the plate shiny I reckon I could do another 2/3 more MBP.  Not only because AS-5 is conductive do I use less, this one dropped 12c on idle and after 200 hours will improve on that. If I compare what I put on the die to what the guidelines say it's probably about 10% or less.

I've found through experiment less is more and it lasts - my sony xl301 media center I done its e6700 CPU about this time five years ago when I got Windows 7 via technet and the temps are still great. I've had a mid 2008 first gen unibody that I repasted 3-4 years ago that was running too hot recently. Just removed the fluff from the fans used compressed air to blow any dust off and those temperatures went back to where they should have been - cool.

So you can imagine why when I open up any MacBook Pro and take the heatsink off I always frown and these 2011's the most!

500 PAGES !!!

For 65 bucks I would expect a heat gun or an oven involved somehow, that's less than what I would charge for purely a repaste job!

I emailed all of Apple's top executives last Tuesday, the next day (last Wednesday), I received a call from Apple's corporate executive relations.  They listened to my problem with my early 2011 MBP and offered to replace the logic board for $310 including next day shipping to/from.  I thought about it over the weekend, called the guy from Apple who contacted me yesterday, I received a call back today.  I asked for Apple to cover the cost of the repair, after reading many threads here, knowing the GPU will eventually go out again.  Apple wouldn't budge on repairing it at no cost, but insisted I pay the $310.

Apple is well aware of the problem, yet does nothing about it.  I am disturbed that they sell a premium product with an expiration date on it.  I highly advise everyone to contact Apple directly on this issue until they fix the problem.  They've made a lot of money off us for a pretty paper weight.

<Edited By Host>

@mderer: I agree you should not have to pay a single penny for this repair. Paying anything (even shipping) is not acceptable for this issue.

For those not in the U.S. (assuming you meant NPR here in the U.S.), NPR stands for National Public Radio and can be heard throughout the United States.

<Edited By Host>

500 pages of complaint would seem excessive enough that Apple should step up.

But I wish so many of them were not taken up by arguments over reballing vs logic board replacement, or leaded vs. lead-free solder. While interesting, I think they clog the thread and make it a bit easier for apple to ignore the numbers because of all the repeat off-topic posts.

My logic board was replaced 2 times before I'd emailed Tim Cook, an Apple Care executive called and agreed to takes up the cost for 3rd time replacement after diagnosis from authorized service center. Waiting the 'new' parts shipped and get the replacement job done by end of this week, let's check how long this board will stand.

I just wanted to add my voice to the choir.  My late 2011 MacBook Pro (model A1286) with the AMD 6770 graphics chip just started having this problem this week.  I hope Apple decides to issue a free fix.  I understand the warranty is one year, but for $2,200 one year is a very short period of time.

Hola a todos otra vez.

Despues de haber escrito una carta sincera a Tim Cook, en solo 24 horas recibí una llamada desde Irlanda, de alguien del departamento de Relaciones Ejecutivas, consternado por la situación, asegurandome que los ingenieros de Apple tienen la ultima palabra y estan estudiando el problema, y realizando estadísticas del suceso. Es MUY importante que TODOS escribamos contando nuestro caso. Me asignaron un número de incidencia, y un contacto para cualquier cosa.

<Edited by Host>

Now I turned my bricked MBP on!

Through CMD+S startup in console moved "ALL" AMD and ATI files (kext and bundle) to other folder.

Rebooted - started up - sort of.......

Now gfxCardStatus 2.3 now uses dynamic switching (Automaticly HD6750M card) and doesn't allow to switch to Integrated HD3000 'cause I use External Display. That's kind a silly but - it works at least for an hour.

AS far as I read the information - now Mac in this state is usable for "easy" use - no video, no CreativeCloud - no working - now my mac is weaker than 300EUR PC crap. And to get it back in order I have to spend 600EUR with 90 day warranty?

So I have a question Apple Inc. ?

IF we all know that this is Problem with hardware and we have a workaround to turn it back on and show that "this" is the problem. Are you still gonna ignore it?

Sincerely,

Disappointed mac user from Latvia.

MBP Early 2011 17" 2.2-i7/4Gb/750Gb/ AMD 6750M/ OSX 10.9.4

Serial C0*******F92

<Edited By Host>

WE have almost identical comps. Mine is a 2.3 and has 10.7.5 lion. Otherwise I think they are the same. I bought mine in June 2012 on sale. It quit on me almost two years to the day. I did get it to boot after a trial and error period and with gfxcardstatus, it works as long as I go easy. i ditched flash so no videos and the screen gets jittery when I try to do certain things but so far it hasn't quit again. I haven't shut it down in a month, just sleep.

Same issues with Mac Book Pro 2011.

1.  The display get jumbled (vertical strips, horizontal bars , split screen etc)  when the system load increases and the there is a transition from integrated graphics to discrete graphics

2. system  has to be hard booted after that and no way to work or save your work. This can happen any time when you run softwares that increases the system load. I experienced this behavior roughly 10 times a day ( and booting takes 5 min  with all the other troubles) so on an average loss of over an hour  every day + countless accounts of data/work loss (when you don't have the options to save your work).  Mostly, the biggest embarrassment of my life: Mac shutting down during a professionally important presentation in my carrier.

3. some time, the system automatically shut downs and the booting long time. It has to shut down the mac once more to get it correctly initialized before it can be rebooted again.

4. I went to the service centres, and informed the symptoms but that had no clue how to resolve it. They suggested and upgrade to the software but this also did not solve it.

5. It's now clear a hardware bug existing in the cpu-gpu transition and required hardware /board change or change in the gpu board.

6. All I am looking for is, if Apple will take the responsibility of this design bug in stead of passing the responsibility to the users?