Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Blocked ports due due to dust. The computer has been used a lot but I will check this every couple of years.

As you can see there is too much thermal paste on the CPU and GPU. You will notice that the contact points had lots of gaps particularly on the GPU.

After cleaning and  preparation.

Fortunately the blocked ports can be easily cleaned by simply removing the fans, obviously changing the thermal paste requires a complete removal of the logic board and heat sink - this much more involved and would only recommend to those who are confident and have no warrantee. Otherwise I would let apple fix it.

The computer appears to be operating perfectly now so fingers crossed. I use this computer daily for my work and up to now has been faultless, we have a lot of other apple computers and they have all been reliable With no heat issues.

Hope this helps.

Csound1 wrote:

 

D3us wrote:

 

In fact, I didn't even read them. Who does?

And you can comment on that, I don't care.

Comment would seem to be superfluous.

Absolutely everything you have said on this thread has been superfluous.

Replacing the thermal paste doesn't fix any thing , its just a matter of time before it starts to show the graphics problem again, The dust that you cleaned is not just around the chips, its under the chips and under the solder also , the damage has been done and only reballing will fix it. you just wasted some time, wasted some money on the thermal paste and put your computer at risk by taking it apart yourself, a simple touch between two points by the screw driver is enough to short the board and make it unrepairable. I don't recommend this solution which is not a solution to anybody.

Hi,

Where exactly is this local repair shop? I'm trying to find someone that can fix my early 2011 MBPro for some time now.

best regards,

Tlynyrd

I Had my MBP 2011 re-balled with a new GPU chip after experiencing 'our' problem and it worked just fine. However, another problem occurred with which I need desperately some  help.

In the past years of use the MBP occasionally rebooted by itself and I sometimes returned to the log-in screen. It was not bothering me, I assumed the computer installed some updates and had to reboot.

recently the frequency of crashes increased, to the point where the MBP already crashed during startup. For some weeks it eventually went through with booting, sometimes it continued to run stable, sometimes it would crash again after some minutes, hours.

there came the point when I spent several hours   hitting the start button, listening to the HD spinning and after a few seconds you could hear the HD stopping. Eventually the computer would start, start booting, re-booting etc.

About 2 weeks ago and after trying for ~4 hours I gave up. Fortunately I flew back to Europe that week (I currently work and live in Africa). First thing I did was to install a brand-new SSD, assuming the HD was faulty in its boot partition. No effect, same crash.

i Took the MBP to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store in Stuttgart, Germany. To make the whole story short, they called me and said they stripped out all components, since they couldn't find anything wrong with any of them, it must be the logic board, which is the only thing left. I was quoted 650 Euro and declined The repair.

when I picked up the computer the next day, I asked if they would install a new or refurbished logic board and if I could have my old logic board back. The genius just smiled and said 'I would not know' to the first and 'a definite NO' to the second question. So, I should pay 650 Euros for a used logic board , and I don't get back my old board? No thanks!

HAs anyone come across this problem of the MBP not starting anymore and what did you do? Obviously I went through all the start options and can't get to any start option anymore. Thanks for any help!

ps3specialist wrote:

 

Replacing the thermal paste doesn't fix any thing , its just a matter of time before it starts to show the graphics problem again, The dust that you cleaned is not just around the chips, its under the chips and under the solder also , the damage has been done and only reballing will fix it. you just wasted some time, wasted some money on the thermal paste and put your computer at risk by taking it apart yourself, a simple touch between two points by the screw driver is enough to short the board and make it unrepairable. I don't recommend this solution which is not a solution to anybody.

I don't think he's wasted any time, if competent at the task more like he's given himself some more time before it does need to be reballed which if he's started to see artifacts is inevitable.  I've seen worse under the heatsink than what this user has just took photos of and the fact when done properly the heat doesn't build up as quickly and also as importantly cools down quicker which I don't think is a co-incidence prolonging the life of the GPU in these 2011's.

alexfromheilbronn wrote:

 

I Had my MBP 2011 re-balled with a new GPU chip after experiencing 'our' problem and it worked just fine. However, another problem occurred with which I need desperately some  help.

In the past years of use the MBP occasionally rebooted by itself and I sometimes returned to the log-in screen. It was not bothering me, I assumed the computer installed some updates and had to reboot.

recently the frequency of crashes increased, to the point where the MBP already crashed during startup. For some weeks it eventually went through with booting, sometimes it continued to run stable, sometimes it would crash again after some minutes, hours.

there came the point when I spent several hours   hitting the start button, listening to the HD spinning and after a few seconds you could hear the HD stopping. Eventually the computer would start, start booting, re-booting etc.

About 2 weeks ago and after trying for ~4 hours I gave up. Fortunately I flew back to Europe that week (I currently work and live in Africa). First thing I did was to install a brand-new SSD, assuming the HD was faulty in its boot partition. No effect, same crash.

i Took the MBP to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store in Stuttgart, Germany. To make the whole story short, they called me and said they stripped out all components, since they couldn't find anything wrong with any of them, it must be the logic board, which is the only thing left. I was quoted 650 Euro and declined The repair.

when I picked up the computer the next day, I asked if they would install a new or refurbished logic board and if I could have my old logic board back. The genius just smiled and said 'I would not know' to the first and 'a definite NO' to the second question. So, I should pay 650 Euros for a used logic board , and I don't get back my old board? No thanks!

HAs anyone come across this problem of the MBP not starting anymore and what did you do? Obviously I went through all the start options and can't get to any start option anymore. Thanks for any help!

Could you post up your kernel panic logs?

OS X: About kernel panics if you're a newbie to using them. If you have another mac you can start in target mode and access the logs.

<Edited by Host, Fixed link>

Hello,

I just wanted to add my name to the thread. My MBP 15", purchased in April 2011, has all of the symptoms and problems highlighted here. It always looked to me as if it was overheating and now it completely crashed (blue screen, lines etc etc)

I was proposed to replace the Logic Board (total cost 615 euro)... I would eventually do this as I have no other solution now (and no money to buy a new one...) but certainly I will not give up in  hoping that Apple will finally agree to replace the defective products 

Hi Mardenta,

good luck!

<Edited By Host>

MARDENTA

Instead of having your logic board replaced by Apple, you should look into getting your GPU BGA reballed onto your logic board. Not only is it cheaper, it's a surer fix and comes with a longer warranty than Apple's 90-day warranty with a new logic board.

Good luck,

Clinton

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS Mavericks 10.9.4, 16GB Crucial RAM, Crucial M500 960GB SSD, 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display

I would strongly recommend to replace the chip, and not with a one that is 2010 production year but 2013.

I got my chip reballed in OCT 2013 - it failed after 1 month.

I got my chip replaced with a new chip (production year 2010) in MAY 2014 - it failed after 1 month.

I am about to buy 2013 PY chip replacement, but still not sure to use leaded or unload solder.

It is also possible that some other chips nearby GPU need to be changed or reflowed.

Check the post from jensgoehler here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?start=1815&tstart=0

I didn't find that he would report back again with graphic issues.

I would also like to know where to find on a logic board GPU Vcore and SMC chip - anyone?

Unleaded solder and tin whiskers are still debatable - anyone?

ps3specialist wrote:

 

Replacing the thermal paste doesn't fix any thing , its just a matter of time before it starts to show the graphics problem again, The dust that you cleaned is not just around the chips, its under the chips and under the solder also , the damage has been done and only reballing will fix it. you just wasted some time, wasted some money on the thermal paste and put your computer at risk by taking it apart yourself, a simple touch between two points by the screw driver is enough to short the board and make it unrepairable. I don't recommend this solution which is not a solution to anybody.

Not sure whether it will be a long term solution - time will tell.

I would say that saying it doesn't fix anything is not necessarily correct - the reasons will depend on many many thermal issues and variables with the individual computer system and whether components have been damaged, thermally compromised (such as solder or board damage), or whether the components are simply failing because of temperature rising too quickly and causing temporary issues. Obviously some boards and components might have a mixture or all three.

Currently the computer has been running intensive graphical and CPU tasks - fan speeds are greatly improved so I can definitely say that the heat sinks are working better. Also temperatures at idle appear to be around 10C less - at around 59C/62C (GPU/CPU) before they were around 71C/70C. Also when CPU load is reduced to Idle temperature reductions are very quick in around 10 seconds from 83C Fans @ 3500 to 63 Fans @ 2000.

I was getting a crashes pretty easily by running on a large second display with HD video running - so far I have not been able to cause the issues experienced before.

I would agree that this is not for the casual user to fix - you need to be confident and have all the right tools and equipment available and it would be very easy to break a connector or worse. However the computer is out of warrantee, $15 for parts, I'm pretty confident with computer hardware. Also should the fix not work then it would be a new logic board anyway - so I've wasted around an hour and half - and that has been already repaid by a computer working fine for the past day - as I said it will depend on each individual computer system.

Obviously both power supply and battery were disconnected before any metal implement was used on this repair.

If you are unsure then seek a professional computer engineer or go to Apple who will I'm sure do their best to help.

Do you have an email that I can discuss my MBP 17" repair with you?  I tried to contact via website where I am logged in. Thank you.

kendall fleming

kendalljfleming

Try -> http://www.ps3specialist.com.

Clinton

Thanks!

Sent from Tlynyrd's iPhone!