Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

The same sceenshot!

i repaier once, but now i wold like to do alone!

So yeah, yesterday my MacBook Pro Early 2011 15 inch got this well known issue with the GPU.

It's basically dead now, since it won't even boot. Well... It kinda does, it "somewhat shows" the Apple logo at boot, but then hangs while the screen is obviously displayed really weird.

For a couple of weeks my MBP 2011 has gone to gray screen with vertical stripes, that I was able to get back up by force shut down.  Today, screen went blue, then black.  Now it's completely dead.  pushing the startup button I get the dim strip of a light on front of case to turn on, but nothing else.  force shut down turns this dim light off.  no sounds.   I just want to figure out how to recover data from there at this point, before I drop it off for repair...  I was in the middle of book keeping, with documents that has all sorts of confidential bank information, and don't want to drop the machine off like this. 

Does anyone have any tips of how to access the desktop when a MBP 2011 is completely unresponsive?  won't' even turn on?  

Maybe with a firewire cable connected to another mac,
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode

The most effective way of extracting your files would be to simply remove the hard drive, put it into a USB case, and connect it to another mac computer. You will need a phillips and a hex screwdriver. Look for a guide on iFixit for the exact steps and tools needed.

If it doesn't even turn on, that means power button is not responsive then try to do this to turn your computer on:

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/turn-on-macbook-pro-laptop-without-power-button-lo cating-power-on-pads/

If it turns on and it does not boot to OS and you are stuck on a gray/ black/ blue screen than do this:

Steps to force your MBP2011 to boot by disabling AMD/ATI .kext files;

1) BOOT IN "SINGLE USER MODE"

Press: [Power ⎋] button, then immediately hold down [CMD ⌘] + [S] while booting.

2) CHECK AND REPAIR THE BOOT VOLUME

Type:   fsck -fy

3) MOUNT THE BOOT VOLUME (ENABLE READ/WRITE)

Type: mount -uw /

4) CREATE A DIRECTORY TO MOVE DISABLED .KEXT FILES TO

Type: mkdir /DisabledExtensions

5) CHANGE YOUR WORKING DIRECTORY

Type: cd /System/Library/Extensions

6) MOVE ALL ATI/AMD EXTENSIONS TO THE DIRECTORY WE CREATED

** Depending on your model, you may have either ATI or AMD .kext files.**

Type: mv ATI* /DisabledExtensions OR

Type: mv AMD* /DisabledExtensions

7) UPDATE TIMESTAMPS TO REBUILD KEXT CACHE

Type: sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

8) EXIT "SINGLE USER MODE"

Type: reboot  OR

Type: shutdown -h now

I SOLVED IT!.  From finding another dude with similar problem in this thread.

SOLUTION TO NON RESPONSIVE MACBOOK PRO 2011:

LET IT HEAT UP.   THEN TURN IT BACK OFF.  THEN ON AGAIN. 

Was able to get it back on.  I had tried everything every key combination at startup, disconnecting battery, waiting 6 hours, etc. etc. Nothiing worked.   But read a post that a mac needs to be heated up to turn on, then cooled off to be logged into.  Tried it, and it worked!  now I can back up my stuff, encrypt the data, and turn it in for repair tomorrow, because this is bound to keep happening.   APPLE YOU SUCK IF THIS IS GONNA COST ME A DIME TO REPAIR!

Who on earth does business like this?

We do not monitor forums, have no idea about any early 2011 MBP problem, but we'll delete or sensor those that do??

So Apple DO know about the problem?

so Apple DO NOT want us to talk about it?

Are we not allowed to mention the name of Lord Valdemort?

Its not exactly subtle is it?

What exactly does disabling AMD/ATI .kext files do?  And how does this compare with using gfxCardStatus anyone?

Thank you rdbrwn!!

Ive got the same issue... kinda escalated drastically over the course of a week from horizontal lines on my 2011 Macbook pro to not being able to boot.  I followed your steps and am able to log back in.  Anyone have any luck with Apple fixing this at no cost?  Dont want to waste hours of my life at the "Genius" bar.

Does anyone know if 2012 and beyond MBPs are showing the same symptoms? because I'm debating just buying a used later version and cloning my HD to that.  I have expensive software on this machine and I just want to use my machine and not worry about this stuff happening a couple months down the line again.  So far it doesn't seem like dealing with apple will solve anything.

"sensor"

Touchy-feely is different from censor.

i love your name! lol

PLEASE EVERYONE

keep posting on apples feedback site again and again - until they hear us!

www.apple.com/feedback

don't give up - let apple be swamped with our complaints

it's just not ok!

Thanks rdbrwn. I may have to try that. Right now I am using the risky "heating up"-trick to boot.

Anybody had luck doing rdbrwn's trick?

Like lloyd708 I would like to know how the trick compares to gfxCardStatus (other than the obvious "advantage" of actually being able to boot!).

I would also like to know if the process is easily reversable? If so, How?

Also, will OS X try to undo the trick if you update it? (I was really looking forward to Yosemite before all this "failed 2011 GPU" started happening!). Could this possibly screw up said update procedure?

Thank you very much.

My MBP also died last week and AppleCare is not willing to offer me a cost-free logic board replacement. What a shame!