Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Csound1 wrote:

 

Eliza who?

This Eliza:

http://psych.fullerton.edu/mbirnbaum/psych101/Eliza.htm_

Maybe have a chat with her?

She'll never get bored of you...

She just wants to talk about you,

Thanks anyway.

Well, my laptop died some weeks ago. Replaced logic board and battery. Didn't work. Another logic board (no cost). And another...Only then I searched the web. And I felt so stupid. Nobody at the store told me what was happening. I paid over 700$. Logic board in Spain is much more expensive than US.

Waiting to get my laptop back with the fourth board on, and wondering what to do if it breaks after 90 days.

BTW, mine is 13' i7 from march 2011. It seems most issues refer to bigger ones?

Now I reported apple and have a case # they can add to the list.

Hello,

Here is a short update on my “case”:

As mentioned in earlier post, first logic board on my machine purchased end of 2011 failed only after 1.5 years. I paid ridiculously expensive logic board replacement to the official Apple retail store, which failed after only six months - same symptoms, same GPU fault. As it was out of warranty, I sent it for reflow/reballing (not sure what it was), but did not work for me.

Outcome of my initial call to Apple Care to find a solution was a complete disaster. (I spoke to Senior Advisor who was polite but arrogant at the same time who said he can’t do anything for me). Pretty much frustrated (see username) and facing the choice between trashing a “premium” machine, or getting robbed for the second logic board replacement, I taught that only reasonable solution for me would be to try to make a win-win deal: ok, pay to Apple, but only for the reliable “upgrade” and not for the same rubbish.

I called to the Apple Care again (couple of times) and offered to pay the value for the repair, however, for “another type of board”, or “swap to a newer/used machine”, or whatever solution they can offer me that would fix the problem permanently… but definitely refused to pay for the same logic board rip-off as a “solution”. In a very long call and lot of call transfers within Apple Care, I managed to get transferred to the “Apple Customer Relations” (a “3rd line”, in Ireland - who actually also had to call someone else for the advice). I did not manage to get the “upgrade”, however I got the "exception" for the free repair. I guess I was lucky to reach a right person at Apple, who really listened and understood.

Free repair is obviously better than trashing the money, but personally I would still preferred to pay for the "swap" to something better, because I do not have a peace of mind - yes, I got the free repair and it is not JunkBook Pro any longer… but now it is JunkBook Plus - a completely unreliable machine for me (I easily measure 95°C on the GPU stress test). I do not want to sell it, because I can’t put someone else in a misery… will have to figure out what to do.

In any case, I do not know how it works in all countries and cannot guarantee success, but I would strongly recommend you to call Apple Care and try the same, if you are willing to do the same… take the phone, be more persistent, do not give up that easily.

If it does not work, then I guess you can still try GPU “reballing” process.

(what an ironic name… I do not remember if there was any huge warning in the box not to use MBP in the lap, especially for male users - but for MBP’11 this should seam really obvious, as even its GPU becomes castrated because of the internal overheat)

a special thanks to GavMackem for brilliant posts

Hi all, I have a late 2012 17" MBP. A month ago I put a Samsung 1Tb EVO SSD into the machine and the speed difference was phenominal. A week or so later I started getting the GPU glitches talked about here. Original I thought it was a bad Yosemite Beta, but after reinstalling an older version they still occurred.

I eventually reinstalled Mavericks and when they still occured, found this posts online and took it to Apple.

The "genius" said it was a GPU issue as I told him and the MBP failed to boot right on que. A couple of days later they rang me and told me that the problems was not the logic board, but the power drain of the SDD.

I've got the machine back now and am running with the original HDD to see what happens. But really ! Can a SSD draw enough power to effect the GPU that much?

thoughts appreciated.

drekka wrote:

 

Hi all, I have a late 2012 17" MBP. A month ago I put a Samsung 1Tb EVO SSD into the machine and the speed difference was phenominal. A week or so later I started getting the GPU glitches talked about here. Original I thought it was a bad Yosemite Beta, but after reinstalling an older version they still occurred.

 

I eventually reinstalled Mavericks and when they still occured, found this posts online and took it to Apple.

 

The "genius" said it was a GPU issue as I told him and the MBP failed to boot right on que. A couple of days later they rang me and told me that the problems was not the logic board, but the power drain of the SDD.

 

I've got the machine back now and am running with the original HDD to see what happens. But really ! Can a SSD draw enough power to effect the GPU that much?

 

thoughts appreciated.

I have installed lots of 840 EVO in all the Apple range and not had a single power drain issue.  At peak power on Anandtech doing a specialised stress test random write benchmark it's maximum power consumption is 4.33watts absolutely hammering it.  The SATA power rating is 5w, and spinning 2.5 drives like stock can draw sometimes even more than 5w that during spin-up.  That MBP chassis used to have a 7.2k HDD as an option and having stuck one in an external case they require 2 usb ports to spin up.  Which means the port can handle more than 5 watts!

Yet another case of smoke and mirrors from a 'Genius' who hasn't got a scooby doo what he's talking about.  But they always blame after-market upgrades such as SSD and ram if you take it in, the golden rule to avoid scapegoats is to put all the original parts back!

The EVO 840 uses about 100 miiliwatts, it is a fairly low power device. It should not cause heating of the Mac any more (in fact rather less) than the original drive did.

Here is Samsung's Specification for the drive (all 5 versions)

Csound1 wrote:

 

The EVO 840 uses about 100 miiliwatts, it is a fairly low power device. It should not cause heating of the Mac any more (in fact rather less) than the original drive did.

 

Here is Samsung's Specification for the drive (all 5 versions)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7173/samsung-ssd-840-evo-review-120gb-250gb-500gb- 750gb-1tb-models-tested/11

That's the relevant part of Anandtech's exhaustive review about power consumption.  I doubt in the real world that with hard use you will ever get near the levels they stress test the drives too.

The edit expired before I could add that I have the 1Tb Evo in my own late 2011 17 inch.  It transforms it completely in terms of performance. My house is totally spinning disk free on the boot drives, aside from my old server (not needed), Vaio XL302 Media Center (not needed) and my daughters old 2006 iMac which is stuck on Lion, has screen glitches and will go in the bin when it dies. Every other of the 10 computers, Macs and PC's boots off SSD and I wouldn't have it any other way. Booting for use they are defunct and the difference in a 2011 is probably the greatest Mac boost performance wise since floppies along with the 2011 imac's and Mac minis which have SATA 3 interfaces.  From 1-2 mins boot to sub 20 seconds - once you go solid state you never go back!

The Trim enabler app is needed at activate TRIM, and has to be reactivated with every OSX point upgrade.

Gav who are you responding to, I don't see anyone of importance in these replies. It's like your replying to nothing. save your energy for those who are worth it =)

LMAO nice =D

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7173/samsung-ssd-840-evo-review-120gb-250gb-500gb- 750gb-1tb-models-tested/11

 

That's the relevant part of Anandtech's exhaustive review about power consumption.  I doubt in the real world that with hard use you will ever get near the levels they stress test the drives too.

 

The edit expired before I could add that I have the 1Tb Evo in my own late 2011 17 inch.  It transforms it completely in terms of performance. My house is totally spinning disk free on the boot drives, aside from my old server (not needed), Vaio XL302 Media Center (not needed) and my daughters old 2006 iMac which is stuck on Lion, has screen glitches and will go in the bin when it dies. Every other of the 10 computers, Macs and PC's boots off SSD and I wouldn't have it any other way. Booting for use they are defunct and the difference in a 2011 is probably the greatest boost performance wise along with the 2011 imac's and Mac minis which have SATA 3 interfaces.  From 1-2 mins boot to sub 20 seconds - once you go solid state you never go back!

 

The Trim enabler app is needed at activate TRIM, and has to be reactivated with every OSX point upgrade.

Yes, I read that review and the consumption figures fit with Samsung's average. Certainly I would not expect an increase in internal heat to arise from replacing an HDD with an SSD

I never reboot (unless an upgrade forces one) so boot times are meaningless to me, I slap the kbd or open the lid and the Mac is ready instantly, what is of interest is the extremely low noise level as compared to an HDD and fans running. I only have 2 MBP's with Samsung drives, both are 850's and as they are barely out of their boxes I have no idea how they will be, but the reviews are good. Most of the machines I use daily have SSHD's in them, the platters are usually stopped with the things I do so they too are silent (most of the time)

By the time I replace them with SSD's (I have a lot of internal drives that are not yet SSD) the price/capacity ratio should be better.

LovedJames wrote:

 

Gav who are you responding to, I don't see anyone of importance in these replies. It's like your replying to nothing. save your energy for those who are worth it =)

I'm responding to a poster who's making a valid contribution. Grudges are not and have never been my thing, life is too short

My early 2011 MBP’s GPU completely failed in July, exactly 3 years and 2 days after I purchased it.  I called Apple Care the next day, they wouldn’t do anything for me.  I then wrote an email to Tim  Cook and the whole executive team.  The next day I received a call from AppleExecutive Relations.  They offered me to replace the logic board for $320.00, I explained to executive relations why shouldn"t I have to pay for a repair that is clearly defective.  He wouldn’t budge from the $320.00 repair.  I declined and 2 months had passed. 

I finally decided to get the repair done, as I can’t afford a new Mac right now, so I called the guy that I spoke to previously in theexecutive relations department.  He was out on vacation, I received a voice mail the same day from one of his co-workers saying I should call Apple Care.  Icalled Apple Care, spoke to a guy who seemed like he actually cared about the customer and the problem.  He transferred me to another person who works on the technical side of things.  He said this should have been taken care of months ago when the GPU went out, he gave me an unrestricted repair free of charge.  I took MBP to a local Apple repair shop, it was repaired in less than 24 hours with a new logic board and a new battery, since my cycle charge was around 835.

Moral of the story is maybe I got lucky and Apple took care of me like they should be taking care of everyone who has had their GPU fail.  Persistence pays off.

Understood, but when you waste your time responding to nothing, your fill up this tread with useless augments that are not on topic. so please don't let useless people divert your attention. because when you engage them you end up being part off the internet noise. and I know you have a lot of useful knowledge to contribute. 

Csound1 wrote:

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7173/samsung-ssd-840-evo-review-120gb-250gb-500gb- 750gb-1tb-models-tested/11

 

That's the relevant part of Anandtech's exhaustive review about power consumption.  I doubt in the real world that with hard use you will ever get near the levels they stress test the drives too.

 

The edit expired before I could add that I have the 1Tb Evo in my own late 2011 17 inch.  It transforms it completely in terms of performance. My house is totally spinning disk free on the boot drives, aside from my old server (not needed), Vaio XL302 Media Center (not needed) and my daughters old 2006 iMac which is stuck on Lion, has screen glitches and will go in the bin when it dies. Every other of the 10 computers, Macs and PC's boots off SSD and I wouldn't have it any other way. Booting for use they are defunct and the difference in a 2011 is probably the greatest boost performance wise along with the 2011 imac's and Mac minis which have SATA 3 interfaces.  From 1-2 mins boot to sub 20 seconds - once you go solid state you never go back!

 

The Trim enabler app is needed at activate TRIM, and has to be reactivated with every OSX point upgrade.

Yes, I read that review and the consumption figures fit with Samsung's average. Certainly I would not expect an increase in internal heat to arise from replacing an HDD with an SSD

 

I never reboot (unless an upgrade forces one) so boot times are meaningless to me, I slap the kbd or open the lid and the Mc is ready instantly, what is of interest is the extremely low noise level as compared to an HDD and fans running. I only have 2 MBP's with Samsung drives, both are 850's and as they are barely out of their boxes I have no idea how they will be, but the reviews are good. Most of the machines I use daily have SSHD's in them, the platters are usually stopped with the things I do so they too are silent (most of the time)

 

By the time I replace them with SSD's (I have a lot of internal drives that are not yet SSD) the price/capacity ratio should be better.

I used to use the old Momentus XT hybrids as they offered a better price/performance ratio, but for the past 18 months I've gone SSD only as they've become worth it.  Not tried any of the 850's yet, I prefer to wait a while for the firmware glitches to iron themselves out before jumping on the newer models.  So for larger drives its still the 840 EVO, and budget is the Crucial MX100.  With iMac's and Mac Pro models they get hosted in a Newertech 3.5 adapter which is by far the best 2.5-3.5 there is unlike the plastic cheap junk icybox models.  It's not only booting its tranformative, opening apps is also amusing as my selection is far bigger than the 8Gb stored on say the Seagate SSHD. Using Photoshop/Indesign/Fireworks/Quark, a bit of Final Cut and lightroom a true solid state batters the SSHD into submission.

I have yet to see an SSD produce anywhere near as much heat as a spinning 2.5 running at 5400 rpm, never mind the toasty power hungry 7200 models you could slow fry an egg on.  A bit cooler than the left speaker side on the first 15 inch unibody MacBook Pro's though!

This SSD boost, and the option to fit 16GB ram and the prospect of 1.5 or even 2TB solid state disks in the future mean this is one of the primary reasons why I want my 2011 17 to last for years, the thermal system to cope with aplomb and the GPU to not fail.  They are brilliant upgradeable workhorses despite Apple's stupid engineering guidelines so as per usual like with bootcamp, Windows 7 and AHCI mode I have to make my own modifications to make it as near perfect as I can get it.