Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card
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Sep 12, 2014 8:55 PMby Ryansaurus,Since my first hard GPU crash on Saturday, I've been able to keep my early 2011 MBP running for the past week by using PRAM resets. After another crash today, it's been running flawless, even after putting it through rigorous GPU testing. Has anyone else run into this finicky behavior? I ordered and received a new MBP today as a replacement. I'm not sure if I want to return it and press my luck with this current one if it's just a ticking time bomb.
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Sep 13, 2014 12:25 AMby AmWar,Another one bites the dust. Took my Early 2011 Macbook Pro 15" into the Apple Store today. The Genius ran the usual diagnostics and told me I needed a new logic board. I got the impression that he knew he was going to come to that conclusion before he even ran the diagnostics. He told me there is obviously some issue switching between the two video cards. Which of course we all know. It's costing me $300 for a new logic board. I asked him if I would get a refund if Apple do a recall and he told me only if it's within the 90 days warranty they have on the new board. I find that hard to believe and will fight tooth and nail to get my money back if they do a recall after the 90 days.
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Sep 13, 2014 12:55 AMby Steven Carter,I managed to get my MBP back to life last night after resetting the PRAM and doing two starts in recovery mode - wouldn't start from the recovery partition but when I went back to the main HD startup it fired up without a problem, after 6 hours of blue screens. This morning it's working OK but I'm obviously now very wary of it - judging from other experiences related here this could happen again at any time.
So now I find myself in this difficult position: all my Macs, over the 20+ years I've been running my own business, have been upgraded at some point to extend their useful life - HDD, RAM etc. I'm really reluctant to splash £1600 on a replacement laptop that will have no upgrade path... For the first time in my working life I find myself looking elsewhere than Apple for alternatives.
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Sep 13, 2014 1:16 AMby carl wolf,"If the US is not lawsuit happy, then why is Apple reluctant to address this issue"
You have it exactly backwards. If you - and, according to other posters, hundreds of attorneys - are so certain that Apple is liable, why hasn't a lawsuit been filed? Apple has been sued successfully many times. Apple has over a $100B in cash. Ipso facto chango ka ching...attorneys should be clamoring to sign up claimants for lawsuits...but they have not, and there are reasons why.
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Sep 13, 2014 4:24 AMby clintonfrombirmingham,I think he/she means that over 6 million people are having problems with the 2011 models?
Rupees? No, that would be almost $100, 000 USD....
(I was going to ask the same question...)
Clinton
MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS Mavericks 10.9.4, 16GB Crucial RAM, Crucial M500 960GB SSD, 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display
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Sep 13, 2014 4:32 AMby Arttei,I'm starting to experience issues. Seems like when the Macbook pro gets really heated, it starts to glitch. Same like my affected iMac did which fit the replacement program because of the same issue. They should make a replacement program for the macbooks too, it's only been like 2 years, and the computer is dying, that's pretty bad. :/
I have the late 2011 15" 6750M Radeon.
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Sep 13, 2014 8:33 AMby atomant,Hi, Ryansaurus,
I wouldn't press my luck. Mine has been getting more frequent over time and so has a lot of others. The problem typically seems to worsen. My first crash happened about a month ago. Then two weeks later, then 3 days later, then the next day, then the day after that twice. Yesterday it crashed on me 3 times within a 6 hour period.
Thankfully I still have Apple Care on this machine so hopefully the repair won't break me.
I use a lot of GPU. I film and edit HD and 4K video all day. Not to mention running Photoshop and After Effects all day along side it.
Go with the replacement. It's design to work with Mavericks and all the newer stuff.
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Sep 13, 2014 9:37 AMby sufia03,Just came from Apple Store and Genius Team... Worst scenario confirmed... Logic board replacement... more than 500 € budget... can't spend that money on a new computer that in 2011 cost me 1800€... So, so disappointed with Apple right now... At the store that told me that they can do nothing about this, but that i should try to talk and complain directly with Apple Care... I will try... Even if i don't have any hope, that's the only thing i can do now... cannot afford this kind of repair costs... And even if i had it, it's not at all fair, Apple should listen to the thousands!!
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Sep 13, 2014 12:15 PMby eliaandrea79,Same problem here with a macbookpro 15 late 2011 (bought in the US) which had a GPU failure, but luckily I had it fixed for free. Here is my story.
I took it to the Apple Store in Bologna (Italy). I was showing to the genius that the laptop was booting, but when switching to the GPU with gfxcardstatus, the system was crashing. The genius told me that they were going to make some tests, then try a replacement. They asked me for more that 500€. I refused the fix, so they gave me back the laptop with the old failed logic board. But the laptop then was not even turning on. I was very very very frustrated, and asked to speak with a store manager. I explained everything: I took there a failed macbookpro which was working only with the integrated video card, and they gave me back my laptop which was not turning on at all. Luckily the store manager spoke to a polite genius, which again tested the laptop and told me that my logic board definitely died during the first test, so they were not able to restore it as it was when I took it to repair, and they were going to replace the logic board with a new one for free. The genius also told me that they were aware of the problem, even if Apple is silent about it, since that day three other customers were lamenting the very same issues. The Genius also told me to use the laptop as usual, without forcing the switch with gfxcardstatus, that it is possible that the logic board will fail again, and to wait for a replacement program from Apple.
During the days of the repair I got a call from an executive from Ireland, since I wrote a lamentation letter to Mr. Cook. But the problem was solved locally thanks to the guys of the Apple Store in Bologna. They kept me as a customer since I was willing to go back to pc and sell all the FireWire and thunderbolt peripherals that I currently use.
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Sep 13, 2014 4:54 PMby D3us,Cracktheskye wrote:
If there's anybody here that knows any store that can do the reball thing in Portugal, please let me know. I live in Viana do Castelo but i'm willing to ship it anywhere in the country if it will solve this problem.
Sorry for my bad english.
Sorry for the late reply, was on vacation.
If you still need someone in Portugal, have a contact there doing reballs/replacements.
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Sep 13, 2014 7:43 PMby kendalljfleming,Look at Senhor Computador in Portugal. They have a YouTube video which describes their capabilities - quite aptly I must say.
