Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

What an embarrassment. MBP crashed when I needed it most!

MBP Mid 2012 seems to have similar issue.

Wow that's not good news that the 2012 units are also starting to see similar issues.

I just had my early 2011 logic board replaced due to having same problem everyone else is having.

By looking at the new board the model is still 'AMD Radeon HD 6750M' but it appears to have some new updates, does anybody know?

Paid GBP 416.40 (inc. VAT and labor)... hope to get the money back after the recall and not reoccurring anytime soon.

I feel so much better knowing more people are experiencing the same issue as my laptop. I edit using motion and fcpx on the go and now i don't use them anymore because I'm afraid of the graphics card to go out. Apple please address this.

What updates exactly are you talking about?

Well, that's the thing not sure. I should have taken pictures of old board before the replace, the new one has Samsung chips and wasn't sure if old board had the same ones. It just look different than what I sued to see (the new one has more solid look sort of), but may be only cuz it's new.

More details on the replaced logic board, may be someone who has he original board can compare for any diffs:

Intel HD Graphics 3000:

Chipset Model:                                      Intel HD Graphics 3000

Type:                                                     GPU

Bus:                                                       Built-In

VRAM (Total):                                    512 MB

VRAM (Dynamic, Max):                  10

Vendor:                                                Intel (0x8086)

Device ID:                                           0x0126

Revision ID:                                        0x0009

gMux Version:                                   1.9.23

Displays:

Color LCD:

Display Type:            LCD

Resolution:                 1680 x 1050

Pixel Depth:               32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)

Main Display:             Yes

Mirror:                           Off

Online:                         Yes

Built-In:                        Yes

AMD Radeon HD 6750M:

  Chipset Model: AMD Radeon HD 6750M

  Type: GPU

  Bus: PCIe

  PCIe Lane Width: x8

  VRAM (Total): 1024 MB

  Vendor: ATI (0x1002)

  Device ID: 0x6741

  Revision ID: 0x0000

  ROM Revision: 113-C0170L-573

  gMux Version: 1.9.23

  EFI Driver Version: 01.00.573

With so many affected customers, it certainly is disgusting that apple refuses to take responsibility for this issue. For the price of my MacBook Pro I could have bought 3 dells, each of which would last longer than the 2.5 years my MacBook has been with me. This will most likely be my last Apple purchase unless Apple stands by its product and provides some level of support to its customers regarding this issue.

It only makes sense that the same defect would also affect mbp 2012 and perhaps 2013.  That's what happens when one ignores defects.

i think we can eliminate the discrete gpu card as being the culprit since the 2012 mbp's use the Nvidia cards

Thus narrowing down the problem to inferior solding, inferior boards, poor ventilation, excess heat, improper application of thermal paste, etc.

This is probably gonna' mushroom into Apple's biggest financial nightmare ever. That's propbably why Apple's pretending the defect doesn't exist.

Who know's it may even affect 2014 models.

I have the original.  The only difference I see is that mine is VRAM (Total): 384 MB (but that is probably the option I chose when I bought the system).

I'm torn as to whether even bothering to take it into my local Apple Store.  I want Apple to know I am one of the ones whose system is having this problem, but I don't want to waste my time since it seems to be for naught.  I'd really like an official response from Apple instead of this blowoff.  Even if they're going to say, "We're not going to do anything," at least give us an official answer.  An official answer would help me make a decision as to whether my next system will be a Mac or not.

I'd like to comment once again on this issue as it still seems to be unresolved. When I first encountered this problem I posted in this thread (when it was about 300 pages long) explaining my situation around October 2013 (sudden flash to white screen - no graphical issues before that at all - and unable to boot my Macbook again) but somehow I can't find the post in my account activity anymore...

Anyhow my logic board has been replaced twice (in October 2013 and around March 2014) by my authorized Apple reseller (for free thanks to their 3 year warranty policy) and in those cases my screen just suddenly went black and my machine became unusable. Now however I'm starting to occasionally get the graphical glitches this thread was based around (the screen split http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img26/9898/screenshot20130201at758.png) that freezes my MBP and forces me to reboot (and somehow the power button takes very long to respond when the system has frozen). After the reboot everything seems fine for now though, but I'm afraid this 3rd Logic Board seems to be having the same issue as the others and will 'die' soon.

What I still don't understand is that my first logic board lasted for well over 2 years and the other two seem to be getting the issue after several months. Since I've got my MBP fixed for the second time I've been keeping track of the GPU temperatures (and manually set the fan speed to full capacity when I'm using graphics heavy applications) and force it to use the integrated graphics chip only with gfxCardStatus. When I had the screen split just yet the temperature was around 60 degrees celsius… I thought this issue was heat related and that's why it only showed after a couple of years but that doesn't seem to be the case at all? I would have peace with having my logic board being replaced and having it freeze up after two years like with the first one, but the two replacements I've had now seem to be lasting even shorter?

Yesterday I had the grey screen of death, and moving the AMD drivers in single user mode got me back and running.

(I put the drivers back, to get my machine like it was)

I understand its only a time game until my GPU dies, but in the meantime I have downloaded the free app Macs Fan Control.

It allows you to alter the response to different temperature sensors. I set my fans to run a little higher directly in response to my GPU chip temp.

So far so good - I'm aiming to keep it below 40 degrees C and at least diagnose a temperature when it might fail.

Oh yeh, I also did a formal feedback, and signed the change petition.

Come on Apple, we need a solution! Make my day! (And the thousands of others who are rowing the GPU boat of despair)

I bought my 15in MBP Early 2011 model as soon as it came out Feb 2011. A few weeks later, the logic board had to be replaced due to GPU crashes when gaming. So far, no problems since then.

xslippery wrote:

 

It only makes sense that the same defect would also affect mbp 2012 and perhaps 2013.  That's what happens when one ignores defects.

 

 

I can't agree with that.  The architecture changed significantly in 2012 and (conjecture, I know) I suspect changes were made specifically to address the issues with the Ivy Bridge/AMD configuration. Also, the symptoms are a bit different.

I was going to post earlier when Jhay-ar first linked to the other thread.  I've read through it and there are clear Kernel panics noted. Also, apart from one possible occurrence, no-one seemed to experience the myriad video problems seen on this thread or the inability to boot; it's freezes and grey screens for them.

I think on the whole, the Retinas have proved more reliable, though time may prove me wrong.