Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

From what I understand, the iMac recall was also video related:

iMac (27-inch): AMD Radeon 6970M Video Card Replacement Program

And while I would love to drive 2 hours to Jacksonville (the nearest Apple Store), or spend money with Apple phone support to identify a problem that thousands of users have already identified, I think I'll pass.

If you find my efforts insufficient, then you're entitled to your honest opinion. I'm just trying whatever I can to get an answer. I would hope, at this point, the question Tim Cook would be asking is "after thousands of emails and Genius Bar visits, why aren't we addressing this?".

This just happened to my Macbook Pro 15" early 2011 2.0.   Been a Mac user going back to 1996.   Very disappointed in Apple, especially having gone through the A1226 Macbook Pro 2007 NVIDIA mess (interesting note - even after that recall was announced, the "Geniuses" desperately tried to deny repairs to any MBP with even a minor ding).   Sent the following electronically to Apple, will probably followup with a hard copy (anybody have a good US address?):

My discrete GPU just died on my MBP 15" 2011 2.0 while simply running HD video on an external monitor.   It now won't get past a grey startup screen after a distorted Apple.

Apparently this is a known problem with the soldering of the GPU (see reports in the media and in a massive Apple support forums thread [deleted]. 

I sincerely hope that Apple will step up and repair these very costly, top of the line machines that are systematically failing at no charge so as to retain their premium customer base.   There is precedence for this sort of customer satisfaction program by Apple outside of warranty, like with the 2007 MBP 15" models that had their video fail.

I was told 90 days.

I have the same problem but here is some fixes I did a few months ago.  This is just an outline and hopefully I can track down the details.

The main problem is that after sleep, the computer would wake up with distorted video and be locked up. 

Fixes:

1) In terminal, forced Hibernate mode. (that mode when the computer wakes up and is all gray, and the dots at the bottom light up.  Keys and mouse will not wake computer, only power button.

2) Installed gfxcard status.  Basically leave in dynamic mode with 10.8.5

I think this is really a problem of the way the graphics card, sleep and memory interact.  Forcing sleep off and replacing with hibernate mode, is a decent work around but still a pain in the arse and I am not able really to use the discrete graphics card.  I wish Apple would just charge me $400 to let me upgrade the machine.

akamyself wrote:

 

@jasoprano, @LovedJames

he won't answer, tried before, his 2011 mbp is working fine and he got plenty others anyway, as he said.

he won't imagine being affected nor share what option he would choose because that would be speculating.

but whatever question you have about the TOU, he's your guy.

 

maybe I'm violating again now, might got this one removed...

No, you're not violating, just ignorant of the fact that the world has time zones, and we are not in the same one.

Why bother with insulting posts like yours?

"CSound1, one question, cause I see you have this: MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), 16GB 2011 SSHD"

Never had any issues with 2011 MBP graphics, but I have only one, and it's a 13"

MacMusician81 wrote:

 

From what I understand, the iMac recall was also video related:

iMac (27-inch): AMD Radeon 6970M Video Card Replacement Program

 

And while I would love to drive 2 hours to Jacksonville (the nearest Apple Store), or spend money with Apple phone support to identify a problem that thousands of users have already identified, I think I'll pass.

You're electing to do nothing about it ?

Good luck with that.

LovedJames wrote:

 

Yeah that's what I though. Nothing useful to say. How about you do that from know and not post anymore. It's a lot more productive then when you do.

I have no plans to get up in the middle of the night to assuage your shaky ego. I'll reply when I am awake!

Csound1 wrote:

 

akamyself wrote:

 

@jasoprano, @LovedJames

he won't answer, tried before, his 2011 mbp is working fine and he got plenty others anyway, as he said.

he won't imagine being affected nor share what option he would choose because that would be speculating.

but whatever question you have about the TOU, he's your guy.

 

maybe I'm violating again now, might got this one removed...

No, you're not violating, just ignorant of the fact that the world has time zones, and we are not in the same one.

 

Why bother with insulting posts like yours?

well I had posts removed when talking about you so I figured maybe...

don't jump too fast on easy conclusions, was not talking about the time it would take you to respond but rather what you would respond.

and yes, you don't respond to the question about what you would do if you were in same situation as all of us, point made.

insulting posts like mine?

in this thread, that's what you're known for.

stop wasting people time, we got enough on our plate.

Good, you don't want your time wasted (but you only speak for yourself) and I find your attitude offensive, so:

Don't reply to me and I will ignore you.

Done.

don't turn it all around and act like a poor victim, you're not fooling anybody.

usually people don't enjoy wasting time, I only speak for myself because I'm the one speaking, yes. I don't use the 'we' that much.

now I'm far for being the only one complaining about your attitude in this thread (and I'm following it for only 7 months), that should be enough for someone to leave it alone but for some unknown reason, you keep coming back and with the same speech with your TOU flag and how dumb is anybody that haven't read it top to bottom and so on.

it's not about you and me, it's mainly about you and the ones you respond to in this thread.

been told over and over, if you don't intend to help anyone here then just go somewhere else where you could, simple as that.

I'm sure someone else will step up and explain politely and with respect to people asking why their posts have been removed without judging them.

nothing more to say to you, sorry everybody for polluting this thread, once again.

(wish we were) done.

I'm sure there are thousands of other threads he can score helpful points on, I already did ask him to steer clear of any technical issues as he's no engineer which he has.

But persisting being the terms and conditions jobsworth isn't productive on this thread either, I'd actually say antagonising 2011 users with a busted GPU which I believe as an engineer isn't a fault of their own but apple's is more than counterproductive - many users are already on the verge of switching from OSX as a consequence means it isn't helping one bit.

i suggest to others if they are going to write to the 'boss' via email about their 2011 they inform corporate relations of this issue as well as their GPU fault.

probably just aiming at discrediting this thread…

anyway, except for little tricks to be able to boot the faulty computer, which can vary from one to another, and other tricks to keep it useable once succeeded, the most important thing is to be sure to have the problem registered to Apple so it gets counted.

so people, first thing to do it to let Apple know your pricey pro computer is down just like thousands of others, send Apple feedback through their site, call Apple Care (get an exception so you don't get charged) and get a case number, that's important.

If you have an Apple Store nearby and some time to spend, get an appointment and register your problem over there too.

If you want to talk to someone from executive relations, email the boss and you should get a call in a few days.

Google macbookpro 2011 and sign whatever you can find that's helping the cause.

now to get a functional computer back, go for a reball done but a good engineer with at least 6 months of warranty, the more warranty he offers, the most confident he is of his work.

Apple will only swap your logic board for another one, they don't have any new ones, so the problem could reappear sooner than later, and it is not cheap as we all agree.

personally, I was excited to see Yosemite, even got a link to try the beta but guess what, even downloading the installer is freezing my computer when it's done downloading and opens it automatically. had a nervous laugh.

obviously can't predict what is Apple's future but what goes up always comes down eventually, not that I wish they will either.

as much as I'm used to and enjoying a Mac OS, I'm starting to think that linux is a better option since it's way more stable and user friendly nowadays, depending on the distro of course, and can be installed on any computer. plus it's open source.

was trying to get used to using linux, this problem with the mbp just pushes faster to it, might not coming back from it, especially since their new laptops are as closed as their phones and tablets.

probably will always use a mac computer for many reasons but I will try real hard to make a hardware agnostic OS as my main one.

I'm not so sure, though the 13 inch model he owns doesn't have this issue unlike the 15/17 models.  Perhaps being in the shoes of an affected user may change his outlook somewhat.  All I see is there's loyal Mac users, going back as long as me that aren't happy and they don't need winding up any more full stop. I too would recommend a reball from a decent specialist in the users region and keep the invoice for future reimbursement.

Yosemite is great, but I wouldn't dare stick it on my cool running repasted 2011 MBP or even try it on any of my stable OSX systems yet. As always I prefer to wait for the .1 release for the undiscovered bugs firstly, and like anything high powered and high heat related it's a job for my beloved Mac Pro cheesegrater.  A Macintosh truly worthy of the pro moniker unlike others ;o) I have it setup running off it's own separate SSD in sled 4 and it works like a champ.  Dark mode is absolutely mandatory for my eyes and how it's not on IOS 8 at launch is quite maddening!

I will be on the Mac platform forever on top of nearly 25 years so far - there's not many of us Windows/Mac specialists around, in fact I only know of one - me

hard to figure out his purpose, it's not his TOU fixation or even his lack of trying to help but really his attitude that is a problem, but enough talking about Csound1. he'll be back anyway.

indeed, to sum up all that's been said in this thread by many people that knows what they're talking about, reballing if done correctly is the only valuable solution while not 100% guaranteed for every computer as some experienced for whatever reason.

was surprised somebody reported being told by Apple they could only claim for reimbursement from outside repair within a month in case of a recall action was to happen, though.

I hear you, yosemite's dark mode is what attracts me the most but that will have to wait until I got a working Mac computer, no hurry.

Mac OS is where I feel at home, won't knock on Windows systems, they seem pretty nice since 7, it's mostly a matter of habits IMHO.

It's been my third 15" from Apple, will be the last for specs reasons, a 13" probably some day, a Mac pro if I can afford it at some point or a descent iMac.

Will most certainly always rock a mac computer forever too, I'm only 14 years deep but that's enough to get attached to one OS I guess.

Just attracted to the way you make your OS your own with linux, what you install and how it looks.

In our particular case, just being able to disable the AMD and not having any problem to boot the system is a highly pleasant experience when struggling to start mavericks. wish it could simply be done on OSX and not having to manually move files or using a third party app that leaves the system unstable and doesn't deal with the startup problem anyway.

Nice having a regular chat, have a good day GavMackem.