Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Here is another case: my MBP early 2011 with 15" and 2.0 GHz (6490M GPU) showed the very same problems, interestingly only after I upgraded to Mavericks.

After a couple of re-installs of OS X, also with a fresh hard disk, nothing changed:

I once in a while, especially with graphics intensive apps like iMovie, FaceTime or maps! I get a black screen! or vertical blue lines! or a distorted Picts with horizontal black stripes an shadow images.

Tomorrow I go to a service partner, let's see what happens...

And another case: Same problem here.  MacBook Pro early 2011, started giving problems where it could not boot and gave a blue screen if I could get it to boot.  Took it to the local Apple authorized support dealer and they confirmed the logic board need to be replaced.  But, what if I pay all the money to replace and it happens again (as it seems it would)?

Same problem here ..  MacBook Pro early 2011 (France) . Screen Freeze, blue screen with vertical line. The problem happens before Mavericks and continue with Mavericks ... Yesterday I wasn't able to boot once ! I had Always a white screen with vertical line + Apple logo with low color ...

APPLE : WAKE UP AND DO SOMETHING

I tried moving the ati kernel ext and it seems worst than before I can't adjust brightness or get the integrated gpu to activate anymore I moved the extension back And it doesn't help. Any clue on what I did wrong I'll post some pic of the screen when went to the Apple store last night

This seemed to make my issue worst..was there something else I was supposed to do?

As a public service - will anyone that HAS had their logic board replaced and it HAS solved the issue and continued to work add a comment? I believe that I've seen one person attest to this - anyone else? I get mine back later this week and I'll update the thread.

I have a late 2011 and asked for a depot repair and the genius said "no problem." That's a flat $310 + tax fix in the US - not a $800 thing. The only "gotcha" with that is that the laptop has to be 100% as you received it with all origional parts and it takes a few days.

Also - please realize that this forum is for savy enough people and people with problems - I'm sure that many people have had this issue with a logic board repair and it was completely resolved. If you have this problem the only fix is a new logic board or a physical GPU repair not software or driver. I also believe that the majority of these models in circulation don't have a problem - in which case Apple won't do anything.

PLEASE make it to an Apple store or other dealer and get it looked at so that the issue is reported to Apple. They need the data to take any action. Right now it's a "standard repair" issue not any kind of widespread epidemic. Posting here will not draw their attention to this matter - but a spike in diagnosis or repairs for a common issue might.

Thanks

lovely isnt it...thanks apple..i know have a 2500.00 paper weight..

nudoru wrote:

 

As a public service - will anyone that HAS had their logic board replaced and it HAS solved the issue and continued to work add a comment? I believe that I've seen one person attest to this - anyone else? I get mine back later this week and I'll update the thread.

 

I suspect you have under-counted. And who could blame you? This thread is now 53 pages long, with hundreds of people having participated. But I'm pretty sure that several of us now have working "Early 2011" MBPs after a main logic board replacement.

In my own case, I had 3 main logic board replacements (and an LCD replacement) over the course of a month, and my MBP is now working correctly.

Now I need to sell it quick, before it fails again. I can't get rid of this steaming turd fast enough, which I never thought I'd say about any Macintosh computer.

nudoru wrote:

 

As a public service - will anyone that HAS had their logic board replaced and it HAS solved the issue and continued to work add a comment...

It's early still, but I had my logic board replaced a coupe of weeks ago. No problems yet.

Of course, since Apple hasn't acknoledged the issue, I imagine my new logic board is a refurbished one that very likely has the same Achilles heel.

Did you stress tested it? running some 3D game or similar...

I have an early 2011 MBP with this problem, and I can run it forcing the use of the discrete graphics. It runs OK until I try to run some heavy cpu program, or game.

Whe the MBP locks, I cannot boot it until I reset the PRAM and re-start it with my external display connected (so that the discrete graphics is forced to run), and then I have to re-configure the energy savings feature of "non-switching graphics".

Another cause of freezes is if I run the machine with both monitors.

nudoru wrote:

 

As a public service - will anyone that HAS had their logic board replaced and it HAS solved the issue and continued to work add a comment? I believe that I've seen one person attest to this - anyone else?

Well, I sort of fit into this category - logic board #4 has been performing without issues since I got it back from depot repairs in early September.  I've loaded thousands of websites, watched hundreds of streaming videos, and used gfxCardStatus to watch it switch regularly between the discrete and integrated chips.  No glitches, and none of the things that previously caused trouble (booting, Photo Booth, FaceTime) have had any issues. 

That said, logic board #1 lasted about two years, #2 barely made it home after repairs before it had issues, and #3 was freezing and glitching within a couple of weeks of repair.  So I don't consider myself to be totally out of the woods yet.  It seems like these boards can last days, weeks, months, or years before failure. 

I have a late 2011 and asked for a depot repair and the genius said "no problem." That's a flat $310 + tax fix in the US - not a $800 thing. The only "gotcha" with that is that the laptop has to be 100% as you received it with all origional parts and it takes a few days.

It's worth noting that the depot repair service is tiered in price, depending on the physical condition of your laptop when they receive it - $310 is the Tier 1 price, for units in pristine condition.  Because I had a single dent in the case, my flat rate repair rate jumped up to Tier 2 at $610 plus tax.  Tiers 3 and 4 are for machines with more damage or signs of unauthorized repairs or tampering.  So I always add a disclaimer to discussions of depot repair service that people may not be offered a $310 flat rate repair if they have any damage - Apple's dent detection tool can measure dents below a millimeter in depth and the condition is reassessed at the repair depot after they open it up (if the Tier is changed, Apple will contact you to ask if you want to pay more or cancel the repairs). 

I agree that it's good to bring it in and get your problem recorded by Apple - if they claim they aren't seeing enough affected machines, we actually have an opportunity to affect that!  You never know if they'll be able to do something to help you, and you're under no obligation to accept whatever service option they offer you.

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I had ms MBP Early 2011 with the very same GPU error checked by an official Apple service provider who couldn't find anything. He said he had put GPU load on the system, did not check any log files etc.

When I got to him and showed him the log file errors, and then put massive load (Apple Maps 3D + iTines visualization + iPhoto) he ultimately believed me...

Unfortunately, the Apple senior technician told me today he could not grant free repair yet - but the service provider would contact another department tomorrow. This really makes me a*gry - it is the second device with clearly a production failure which shows just after guarantee ended (the other my iPhone 4 with a yellowish display that they exchanged once for free, and the exchange device showed the same error after the guarantee period ended again). My MBP of 2007 still works without any problem...

I have the same issue with my MacBook Pro early 2011 after upgraded to "Mavericks". It runs fine for 2 - 3 hours after upgrade it suddenly started spliting disaply screen. i have hard reset it for 3 time and now it's not starting at all and stuck at white screen. It looks like and issue with MBP early 2011 and Maverick upgrade. Guys, let work together to notify apple on this to get it fixed for free beucase it's more likely to be apple issue.

I have a late 2011 and asked for a depot repair and the genius said "no problem." That's a flat $310 + tax fix in the US - not a $800 thing. The only "gotcha" with that is that the laptop has to be 100% as you received it with all origional parts and it takes a few days.

Well, this plan is not available in Germany. Gravis charges €590 for the logic board replacement. And to add insult to the injury it took them 1 week to figure out that the logic board needs to be replaced and send out the quote. It also took them another full day to let me know that they'll need the order signed and faxed in before they could even order the parts... It's almost as if they're trying to beat the lousy service quality of Apple who would have had to schedule an appointment at the Genius bar at least 9 working days in advance...

As if it's not like any other major PC vendor offers 3 days replacement service in the worst case.