Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

me neither. Just ordered this yesterday: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DY1UVB0

HALF the cost and specs are mostly better than new Mac Book Pro (unless you care about Retina display which I can't find any 'real' use for and it actually annoys me a bit). Hesitant about buying an HP (always happy with Dell in the past) but it's all the same and great deal.

Anyone konw what's wrong with our Macbook Pro 2011 early?APPLE should give us an answer.

Hi,

I also took the risk & started my Mavericks update,2 days ago.It started off normally(lucky me!) & then the same dreaded issues(Pics attached).I thg it will STOP installing & reboot/shut down automatically,but it did not & went on installing. Then it suddenly it became normal again & rebooted to complete the installation. After the update,when the OS was loading,it froze when gfxcardstatus was loaded.It happened 3-4 times & I thought my MBP Pro is finally dead.BUT...by God's grace I tried again & somehow the gfxcardstatus after loading changed the GPU to Intel HD 3000 & its working OK now.I am not shutting down,just putting it to sleep & enjoying the new OS in Intel HD 3000 Graphics which is decent for web browsing & running Virtual Box for Win 7.Thanks.

Congrts,I am also looking to buy a new one since have lost all hope that Apple will respond.I am looking at Asus NV550 & Lenovo Y510P. Also looking to 'utilise my MBP' by replacing the Motherboard & going for a Intel Based MB ..with Integrated Graphics. Have to look at ifixit for the internals.Will loose all the Apple stuff but hopefully the drivers for the trackpad,Webcam etc can be re-used from the Windows drivers set provided by Apple!I am in Shanghai & hope the local chinese technicians can help.

I'll personnaly get my MBP 2011 fixed again and than sell it (hope this time the logic board will be stable enough because I don't want to sell a bad unit) to get a new MBPr 13" without any discrete graphics.

I had too much issues with discrete grahics on laptops (being PCs or Mac), I'm not confident anymore in discrete graphic chips on laptops they are not reliable enough. I made myself a custom PC for tasks requiring a good GPU, my laptop will be for development (Objective-C and Web) and standard multimedia and everyday use (an Intel Iris is far enough for that).

I'm fed up of all these issue even if I'm confident that Apple will get a solution in the future for it (and a replacement program will than be created), but it will probably takes months before really fixed logic board are available at Genius Bar. For now they seems to replace with existing logic boards that consequently can show this issue too.

As a work around, but that mean no external display, forcing the use of Intel HD 3000 graphics only using gfxCardStatus does avoid the machine to crash. And so can be used as a workaround until a real fix is found.

If the machine doesn't boot, I found that waiting for the machine to shutdown itself (when it freezes after the apple logo and loader screen, just keep it on and wait for it to shutdown by itself), it generally makes the machine start correctly when you turn it back on.

Another workaround to pass a boot freeze would be to move the AMD*.kext files from /System/Library/Extensions to a backup place so the system doesn't load the 2750M discrete graphics drivers at all (this can be down in single user mode (Cmd + S at boot time), for machine that are already freezing at boot).

A solution for me (for now until I actually find an authorized place to repair my MBP) is to set my graphics to iGPU via gfxCardStatus, and my fan at a higher RPM keeping my MBP >45degC. And then manually switching to dGPU when I need to use apps which require the AMD (I use iMovie in my line of work and I cannot open it without the AMU), and raising the fan speed as high as possible and closing all other apps.

I haven't swtiched off my macbook since getting it to start though... (after resetting PRAM and rebooting from safemode, with all USB and firewire ports empty)

Wonder if changing the board and AMD is the 'best' or 'only' solution now...

I went into the new Shanghai IAPM Apple Store today -

I knew the outcome would be recommending a new logic board but at 4000+rmb (US$700) I don't want to take the risk on having it die again... I also don't want to fix it just to sell it and leave someone with a risky purchase...

Anyway in the Apple store we ran the extended tests which said everything was okay - but the fact it wouldn't boot to any OS of theirs shows there is a huge issue...

I mainly wanted to go there so they are now aware of the issue and hopefully it pops up in the system with everyone elses!

Update: Just to add, mine happened recently too around mid October. Snow Leopard.

Verified the temporary workaround: Boot into safe mode, copy the kext files ATI*.kext from /System/library/extensions to my desktop. Delete the copied files from /System/library/extensions. Reboot to normal mode. Use integrated only(maybe a redundant step).

Update. After nealy a week of no wierdness (after upgrading to the latest ML patches and turning off automatic graphics switching and upping the leftside fan to 4000rpm) I thought I would take a chance and try plugging in my 2011 15" MBP into my 27" display. Worked fine for about 30 minutes then just went blackscreen on me. I noticed that the leftside was very hot even though the temp status only reported around 140°F. Seems to me that the GPU overheated but the fan did not kick in and the result was the system shut down to protect itself.

While I'm not happy on losing the ability to plug into a larger monitor, I am somewhat optimistic that the laptop now seems "stable" even when using heavy-duty GPU programs like DxO Optics Pro and certain Photoshop filters.

It seems to me that part of the confusion is that we are all experiencing sligthly different things -- some of which are GPU hardware, some of which are likely software releated, and some of which appear to be non-GPU hardware related (e.g. the cooling fan is not kicking in when plugged into an external monitor, resulting in overheating resulting in shutdown)

Michael

Here is another case from Beijing, China. It's MBP 15" 2011 early.

But luckly, I have bought apple care. This is my 3rd macbook, while I already bought a new Macbook Air, and prepare to get new 15" rmbp on Nov, 1st.

Back to the topic. When I went to apple genius bar 3 days ago, I hadn't seen this thread yet. And I was guessing it's due to the discrete graphics, since when I plug off the power, usually it went back to normal. It's quite easy to reproduce&show the problem, and they kept my mbp, and from the paper, that they said would change the logic board. But at that night, they called me. And told me that when they open the machine, they said there was full of dust inside it, to make the fans doesn't work well. You know, the air quality is really bad here..

Anyway, I took back my mbp yesterday. And from the final confirmation letter, they didn't change any thing inside. But when I went back home, and reinstall OSX 10.9, it happened again. In fact, even worse.

So, today, I choose another Genius bar to repair it. There're 3 apple store in Beijing now. They promiss that will change the  board this time.

By the way, @PCJ- , it's 3866RMB + 259RMB labor costs.

I have stupid question here, is there anyway to make the new replaced logic board bad again?..

My first mbp, that bought in 2005, was broken in 2008. I sent it to the genius bar, and they repaired it 3 times, but all with other new problems. May because of the apple store was just opened not long time at that time, they were not familiar with that. So, for the 4th time, they just give me a new MBP, even new model.

So.. from this thread, I guess even with new logic board, it will still go broken after several months, am I right?

I just don't want it to be broken after my apple care expired. It's better to make it broken faster, to change again and again, then maybe I can try to ask for a new one again.

That doesn't sound like a very good strategy; a little dishonest too. If we want Apple to respond appropriately, we need to behave appropriately. I believe that the sheer number of failures and any media exposure we can bring to the situation, will work just fine. Have patients. Also, if you are no longer covered by Apple Care, consider sending your logic board out to be repaired. That is what I'm doing. The repair is $299 and comes with a 6 month warranty. And if the GPU is replaced, the new one will be attached to the board with the appropriate quality solder (I had read that the solder used in manufacturing contained a low percent of lead in order to be environmentally friendly). Hopefully Apple will reimburse me, should they decide to take responsibility for the failure of the early 2011 MacBook Pro line.

Besides, for all we know this posting is a fishing attempt to determine if the Apple lawyers have a "way out" should a class action suit be files. If Apple can prove that the problem can be "forced" or artifically created AND that the information on how to do so was published to a large audience, they could use that in a court of law to weasel out of doing the right thing ––which is to take care of their loyal customers. Am I right?

If you got this issue, I strongly advice you to got o Genius Bar and get it diagnosed. Even if you don't accept the repair (because you are not under warranty for example and don't want to pay), this will help to make this issue recognised by Apple and so to get a replacement program for it.

The more people go to the Genius Bar for getting their MacBook Pro diagnosed, the more chance Apple will make a replacement program.

This will also help people who already paid for getting their MacBook Pro fixed for this issue, as they'll be eligible to a reimbursement of all the amount they have paid for the repair(s) concerning this issue.

So even if you are fine waiting with a workaround like disabling AMD*.kext kernel extensions or forcing use of Intel graphics only via gfxCardStatus, I really suggest you to go to the Genius Bar (even if you don't want to accept the repair for now), at least to get your unit diagnosed and so added to the list of affected unit in Apple's database.

I had the same problem here in Brazil.

Runing on Lion, (not mountain)

I moved the ATI files to another folder, and since that I had no crash or any problem except the external monitor wich still dosen´t work. And perhabs slower graphics wich dosen´t bother me. (music production)

This solved most of the problem for me and i think it can solve it for a lot of people too.

My question is

Is it possible to do the same on Mavericks?

Anyone here tried it?

And Apple TV AirPlay morroring? Anyone tried that?

I have already done so. Took it to Genius Bar and recieved a inconclusive diagnosis. Because they wanted to charge me a flat rate of $310 to repair, I wanted to do my own diagnosis before deciding to blindly pay out a significant amount of cash. My problem appeard almost 2 months ago, and there was hardly anyone complaining yet. I had to do quite a bit of research, as well as troubleshooting and analysis to confirm the research. When I finally arrived at the conclusion that it is likely a manufacturing defect, I figured it would be stupid of me to pay Apple to fix it, mainly because they would likely replace my logic board with an equally defective defective one ––and possibly even one that has already been used! Waiting for a replacement/repair program or getting it repaired by a third party are the most viable options for me. I found a reputable shop and am overnighting the logic board to them tomorrow. I already have a workorder in.

Personnaly the first time I brought it to Genius Bar, they almost wanted to give my unit back without any repair as they couldn't reproduce the issue in front of me.

I had to insist for them to make a stress test (running during up to 72H straight with various scenarios), and they did reproduce it during that test and so replaced the logic board.

Sadly the replacement logic board does suffer the same issue, so I had to bring it back today. Hopefully the genius guy of the first time was here and was very comprehensive and sorry for me.

I'm confident the repair will be fine this time, and I hope it will last enough until a replacement program is in place or before the apple care expire (end of february in my case) or the replacement logic board warranty (anyone know how long is it? 6 months?).

In any case, I'll report here if I got mine fixed finally or if the issue reappear again.