Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Closest that I can find is in Spain.

Sorry, I just can't find anyone in Portugal...

Clinton

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

<Edited by Host>

Have you tried this:

All my friends, i am writing this on a machine which suffers from the same problem. For more than 3 months between March and May I was not using the m/c since there was no way for me to get the machine started at times. I even sent it to Apple Support centre and they told me it will cost me Rs. 36,000 (US$ 600) to repair. I even wrote a letter to Tim Cook. It stays unanswered! Then very accidentally I stumbled on to a trick.

Whenever my machine hangs and I reboot I get thin green lines across my screen. The apple logo and the spinning gears are there and after a while I get a blank grey screen. What I do then is I overturn my m/c and keep some cloth over it to cover the exhaust vents and then let the m/c heat up. Once the temp reaches a certain level (if you touch the machine it is very hot and can burn your hand) the m/c automatically switches itself off. Now immediately restart the machine (it is advisable to keep it connected to the mains). The m/c starts off normally (touch wood). I have done this more then 25 times so far and it has worked. After the m/c starts, you can use the gfxcardstatus and set the gpu usage to integrated only. I think what is happening is that the high temperatures seem to be resulting in the machine not using the discrete GPU when it is starting off and therefore does not show the green lines and starts off smoothly.

The other thing to do is not to switch off the m/c, let it go into sleep mode when not in use (just put the screen down). I have been using the m/c like this for more then 3 months now. And it comes up from the sleep just fine.

Other tricks to keep in mind. Don't use iPhoto or any high end GPU s/w. It does result in the m/c hanging. Though I had many instances when the m/c switched from integrated to discrete and back without trouble once the m/c is on.

Even my new battery is working perfectly fine. It gives me 7 to 8 hours of uninterrupted use. I run virtual machines on it and no problem. Sometimes VM uses switches to discrete.

Nowadays I don't even have to let the m/c get really hot to restart normally. It does so after a few mins of the above trick.

So if you want to keep driving your early 2011 macbook pro without incurring the high cost of logic board changes or to do any reballing or reflow then the above trick is your answer.

Please respond only if it works

Good one. And while we continue our struggle to get Apple to replace the machine or the faulty GPU, use the trick given here

All my friends, i am writing this on a machine which suffers from the same problem. For more than 3 months between March and May I was not using the m/c since there was no way for me to get the machine started at times. I even sent it to Apple Support centre and they told me it will cost me Rs. 36,000 (US$ 600) to repair. I even wrote a letter to Tim Cook. It stays unanswered! Then very accidentally I stumbled on to a trick.

Whenever my machine hangs and I reboot I get thin green lines across my screen. The apple logo and the spinning gears are there and after a while I get a blank grey screen. What I do then is I overturn my m/c and keep some cloth over it to cover the exhaust vents and then let the m/c heat up. Once the temp reaches a certain level (if you touch the machine it is very hot and can burn your hand) the m/c automatically switches itself off. Now immediately restart the machine (it is advisable to keep it connected to the mains). The m/c starts off normally (touch wood). I have done this more then 25 times so far and it has worked. After the m/c starts, you can use the gfxcardstatus and set the gpu usage to integrated only. I think what is happening is that the high temperatures seem to be resulting in the machine not using the discrete GPU when it is starting off and therefore does not show the green lines and starts off smoothly.

The other thing to do is not to switch off the m/c, let it go into sleep mode when not in use (just put the screen down). I have been using the m/c like this for more then 3 months now. And it comes up from the sleep just fine.

Other tricks to keep in mind. Don't use iPhoto or any high end GPU s/w. It does result in the m/c hanging. Though I had many instances when the m/c switched from integrated to discrete and back without trouble once the m/c is on.

Even my new battery is working perfectly fine. It gives me 7 to 8 hours of uninterrupted use. I run virtual machines on it and no problem. Sometimes VM uses switches to discrete.

Nowadays I don't even have to let the m/c get really hot to restart normally. It does so after a few mins of the above trick.

So if you want to keep driving your early 2011 macbook pro without incurring the high cost of logic board changes or to do any reballing or reflow then the above trick is your answer.

Please respond only if it works

efix wrote:

 

For the sake of sharing everyone's pain: another MacBookPro8,2

 

it has served me well for more than 4 years.

Hey Efix, the 8,2 came out in 2011. 

Well my MBP 2011 late 15inch had the same issue but my screen went to black.

Thank's that i had Apple care and 90 days remaining on it i was able to get  it fixed they  replaced the Logic board.

The tech spec's for the video card before fixing of the Logic board.

Graphics and video support

• AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR5 memory on 2.2GHz configuration; or AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics processor with 1GB of GDDR5 memory on 2.4GHz configuration
• Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory5
• Automatic graphics switching
• Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors

My Mac Model

My Video spec'sof the Intel 3000 pro video card after Logic board replaced.

NOTICE!! The 512mb.

This means Apple must be aware of the issue they revamped the logic board with a newer video card with more ram.

Everyboard need to make Apple aware about this issue!!! We all need to to sign this petition to make apple know they need to fix this for free.

FYI I am Mac tech i work in Publishing industry and admin 200 Mac's.

Thanks Joey Jacobson

<Edited by Host>

The reason you have increased Intel 3000 VRAM is because you have upgraded RAM compared to a standard machine config. If you put the original 4GB in it will revert to 384MB

There are no changes to the board you have had fitted unfortunately.

Kind Regards

Sorry to double post.

I have also the same problem, a Powerbook 15 inch 8,2. Bought in juli '11. Did't find a solution jet. Need this computer for my videowork. Now using my old G5 not intel machine from longtime ago, but can't work with this for my videowork. And no money to pay a about € 600 or more for repairing. Specially as it seems that the risk is to big that it don't help. So was thinking to leave Apple after more than 20 years and go to PC, but that is to complicated with the projects i am working on. The only real solution for me is that it will be fixed for free. If impossible i was thinking to buy ( a big financial risk, but no good computer is even bigger problem) the  Apple Mac mini 2,5 GHz with Dual-Core i5 processor. But wil  Final Cut Pro 7 with snowleopard works on it? If someone has advice about this, i like to know it very much! So your comment is very welcome!

The best and cheapest solution is to get your MBP 2011's GPU reballed with a fresh AMD GPU by a competent local third party repairer in your location. Here in the UK cost is approx 230 euros.  In the UK we are fortunate to have strong consumer laws and are essentially covered for up to 6 years.  Unfortunately elsewhere you are at the mercy of your local laws otherwise.

Snow Leopard/FCP7 I do not believe will run on anything less than a 2010 mini, fairly sure the 2011 model Mini was launched after Lion was released. the 2011 MBP had a special 10.6.6 installer DVD iirc.  Though most of my clients still running FCP7/10.6 use Mac Pro and not notebooks or minis.

Same problem here, late 2011 15 inch MacBook pro with severe graphic failures as described in this thread. I bought it in Boston in february 2012. I took it to the apple store in Bologna- Italy, and they are asking me 500+ eur to replace the logic board. I am an affectionate apple customer, but this time I am dubious about Apple reliability. If apple will not start a replacement program, I will switch to pc.

excuse my ignorance, but should I accept the logic board replacement, or ask for GPU to be reballed with a fresh AMD GPU (I have no clue what that means).

I have a MacBook Pro late 2011 with the 6750M dedicated graphical card. some time ago I had a freeze with a blue screen that I only could fix by hard rebooting. Last week I got another one where the screen got blurred with the fans going wild and the computer heating up. After I shut it down I didn't manage to get it up and running again. The screen froze each time when the grey screen before the login screen appeared. After a safe boot I managed to reboot normally again. The next day the same thing happened. On the third day I didn't manage to get the computer running anymore at all. When trying to safe boot a blue screen always appeared.

Because I couldn't find a way to get my computer up and running again and I didn't wanted to spend a couple of hundreds of euros to repair a machine which has cost me almost 2000 without a 100% guarantee that the fix would work for a longer time than the 2.5 years I had it, I bought a new mbp.

I'm deeply disappointed by apple not recognising this problem though. If osx wasn't this more superior to other operating systems in my opinion, I never would've bought another apple computer. If the new mbp won't hold out for at least 4 or 5 years it'll be the last.

Lets hope apple will recognise this eventually even though it'd be too late for me anyway.

Trinorae you've just done the worst thing you could. People really should stand up and use their rights. Im off from this place as the annoyance of silliness is extraordinary in this topic. oh i got my 17" freely repaired, bye guys.

My MBP 2011 logic board died suddenly in July and I paid the Apple Store $571 CDN to replace it. The employee said that if Apple came out with a Quality Program for the logic board at some point in the future, they would refund my repair. Save your receipt and hope the pressure causes Apple to do the right thing. For me, it fried shortly after upgrading to 10.9.4 but I don't know if it's related.

My MBP 2011 logic board died suddenly in July and I paid the Apple Store $571 CDN to replace it. The employee said that if Apple came out with a Quality Program for the logic board at some point in the future, they would refund my repair. Save your receipt and hope the pressure causes Apple to do the right thing. For me, it fried shortly after upgrading to 10.9.4 but I don't know if it's related.