Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

kosovar1 wrote:

 

I just tried to post the following “fix” but I see that Apple’s censors have blocked me from communicating in one other forum and probably soon on this one. I started out a nice guy, writing polite letters to the Tim Cook address (twice), but got no reply. Apple is now censoring criticism and ignoring their faults with the best of the big, faceless corporations.

Anyway, for those of you whose PGU has not yet failed or started to fail, you might try installing the excellent utility, gfxCardStatus, which will allow you to switch from the discreet to the integrated GPU. My early-2011 MBP 17" failed and had to be replaced, but once I got it back, it was running hotter than ever. I switched off the discreet chip and the heat level dropped and the fans come on a lot less often now. It's an unfair kludge, since we all paid for superior graphics processing, but it might save your computer and you $310 (w/o tax) until such time that Apple comes to its senses and issues a recall or they are forced to through the AFM lawsuit.

 

I wonder at what point the “Insanely Great!” Apple turned into a big, mean old Microsoft?

The gfxcardstatus isn't a fix, it's more of a crippling the performance of your MBP and has been posted here hundreds of times.  High heat inside your MBP will certainly shorten the life of the AMD GPU, but try the disk permissions fix first or take it back to apple and say the temperatures are too high and could they remedy that.  Ask for less paste and polishing the die plates. Unfortunately their engineering guidelines prevent them from doing that at this moment in time, hence my suggestion to seek out an independent engineer to re-paste your heatsink cooling system optimally - which is not the way Apple recommend

Hi,

So, I'm joining the party. :-(

Today my Macbook Pro early 2011 died completely during converting pictures in Aperture.

The screen suddenly has become gray.

After a reboot I see only this:

1. Glowing red apple boot screen (No idea why the pictures are upside.)

2. Then only a grey screen....

I'm using a Samsung 830 Pro SSD  since 3 years

I'm really disappointed.

I've just been looking at the Apple Store (UK) site and I've come across the page describing consumer law, and how long goods are covered within the EU. It may be useful for those in the UK and wider EU who wish to place a claim with Apple through the sale of goods act.

http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

I actually bought my Late 2011, 15" MacBook Pro through Currys (as they had a 10% discount code on all laptops at the time, including Macs) so I'll be pursuing this route with them and see what happens. I've asked for a full replacement rather than a repair due to all the issues with repeated logic board failures.

Thanks for the link, I have an early 2011 model and have been having problems for the last week, after a bit of research and installing the gfxcardstatus app I'm pretty sure I have the same problem all of you do. I'll be booking an appointment at the store next weekend.

FWIW, my 2011 15" MBP began experiencing this issue last week.  More and more, the system would freeze, and my screen would turn blue or red with vertical lines.  I found this thread and started reading up on it.  Long story short, I fixed the issue as others have suggested, by replacing the thermal paste.  My AppleCare ran out so I decided to take a chance.  I wouldn't do this unless you're ready to void your warranty, and\or risk killing your hardware.

1. I took apart the MBP (following steps from the ifixit teardown guide, though it skips a few steps)
2. Removed the heatsink from the CPU and GPU
3. Scraped\cleaned off the thick paste with rubbing alcohol and lint-free non-abrasive wipes
4. Re-applied a thin layer of Arctic Silver Alumina ceramic thermal paste (using this method)
5. Re-attached the heatsink
6. Put the MBP back together
7. The entire process took about an hour
8. Allow 36 hour break-in period of thermal paste - NO FREEZES AFTER THIS

What's interesting, is ifixit foreshadows heat issues in their teardown guide:

Holy thermal paste! Time will tell if the gobs of thermal paste applied to the CPU and GPU will cause overheating issues down the road.

They say thermal paste should be replaced every 2-3 years, so I'm convinced if you identify the issue soon enough, you can fix it before the chips are damaged.  Only time will tell if my machine is truly fixed, however after running graphics intensive programs and games for hours, I have not gotten one crash in 5 days.  Before, it was crashing after minutes of turning on the discreet GPU.

For as much as I'd like to say the re-pasting is a fix, it isn't, if you have seen artefacts the solder joint cannot strengthen it's dry joint bond and it will eventually will fail and a new GPU will be required.

Re-pasting and polishing the plate is however an excellent preventative measure though. With the reduced amount of better compound, the improved thermodynamic efficiency by making that plate smooth aids heat transfer massively and prevents excessive heat build up with nowhere to go apart from break the solder balls and make the case very hot.   If the engineering guidelines were changed a year ago with a 'maintenance' program', the depot refurb boards pasting methods also changed there would be thousands less falling and this thread wouldn't be half as huge as it is. The current guidelines have proven to be a failure, plain and simple and if there is to be some kind of legal action it would be a very cheap way for them to respond to it.

As for thermal paste renewal - I have PC's and Macs running for pretty much the end of their service lives 8+ years after using my tiny sliver of AS-5 method and once the dust is removed they still remain cool.  Old Macs stuck on Lion are still running fine. My Sony XL media box next door is just over 5 years, a month before Windows 7 was released to the public and still idles at 37C with a Core2Duo E6700, the highest clocking and hottest chip of that generation of Intel CPU.

I have enough empirical evidence backed up by years of work and I am still amazed that there's no-one in Apple engineering who agrees that this will not only save Apple but their users millions too, as this pasting method improves efficiency applies across the board to every single Intel Macintosh type they've ever built cos I have torn down every single major variant and re-pasted them.  Even the both retinas and the new Mac Pro.  Though with this 2011 it will also save a bit of their reputation, but it would also be nice to see if Apple were as perfect between their heatsinks and chips like everywhere else, because as an engineering company I admire so much they blooming well should be.

I have a mid-2012 15” MacBook Pro Retina (10,1), 2.6 GHz Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, 500GB SSD (stock), OS X 10.9.5

Integrated Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB

Discrete Graphics: nVidia GT 640M (sometimes disappears from the “System Report” until I reboot the computer.)

The upshot of my description below: Since I don’t get any GPU panics or crashes when the nVidia 640M (discrete graphics card) does not show up in the “System Report”, is there a way of forcing that condition to avoid the crashes?

Symptom 1a: Gray error screen “Your computer restarted because of a problem” (in multiple languages) and then reboot (gray screen with apple). I always submit the error report, for .

Symptom 1b: Screen goes blank but back-lit keys were still lit (perhaps the computer was still running but the graphics card had quit). I would do a hard reboot (hold down the power key until the back-lighting went off.) The error report seems the same as above:

Thu Sep 25 19:38:15 2014

panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff7f8ff4cf7c): "GPU Panic: [<None>] 2 0 a0 99 0 8 5 3 : NVRM[0/1:0:0]: Read Error 0x00137310: CFG 0xffffffff 0xffffffff 0xffffffff, BAR0 0x102e00000 0xffffff8200014000 0x0e7150a2, D3, P0/4\n"@/SourceCache/AppleGraphicsControl/AppleGraphicsControl-3.6.22/src/Apple MuxControl/kext/GPUPanic.cpp:127

Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address

0xffffff81fb7530e0 : 0xffffff800dc22f79

etc., etc. …

I know many on this thread are having the same problem and I am new to this Apple Support Community thing. Am I posting in the right place or is there another thread “2012 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card?” I would imagine if, the problem was not taken care of by 2012, owners of 2012 MacBook Pros will start seeing the same thing and a year from now perhaps that thread will be as large as this one.

Even though I have a 2012, many of the temporary remedies in this massive thread have been helpful. Thank you all very much for suggesting things to try until I can take it to a Genius Bar (1hr away in Ann Arbor Mich.)  I took it to the local Toledo Ohio Apple shop and they charge $41 for initial diagnostics, which I have yet to do. They said that they have had others come in with this problem and it turned out to be the logic board. I am out of warranty and have no AppleCare. Before I shell out the $300 or $400, I would like to find a more permanent remedy than having the logic board replaced with another faulty one. Putting together some of the suggestions on this thread, I think I will:

1: Visit the Genius Bar and have the run the diagnoatics (maybe pay the $41) but not have them put in a (possibly equally faulty) logic/graphics board.

2: Have the problem registered with Apple so they can add my case to what must be a huge file by now and in case they do come out with a recall I’ll be in the loop. (But most of this thread is about mid-2011 MacBook Pros so I might not benefit from that.)

3: I will try (as some on this thread have suggested) upgrading the graphics board but I would like some assurance (beyond the 90 day warranty) that it is a permanent solution.

4: Until I can get around to all that, I will try to force the integrated GPU with gfcCardStatus and while the nVidia 640M does not show up in the “System Report” I will try not to reboot the computer.

5: When I do need to reboot, what seems to work is: set the fan on high (smcFanControl), shut down the computer, allow the computer to cool off, and when I reboot get off of the discrete graphics cards as quickly as possible.

My question for this forum as stated above: Since I don’t get any panics or crashes when the nVidia 640M (discrete graphics card) does not show up in the “System Report”, is there a way of forcing that condition? I seem to remember way back in this thread something about moving the driver files into a temporary folder so they are not found when I restart the computer (I think). I realize that will cause some other problems like: slowing down graphics processing, not allowing me to use an external monitor and not being able to use some graphics software, but those would be acceptable until I can work out a more permanent solution.

Add me to the chorus of disgruntled (understatement) MacBook Pro owners who thought they were investing ~$3K in a state- of-the-art portable graphics powerhouse that would last far into the future. I am a professor of geology and rely (relied) on the graphics capability for remote sensing image processing, display of numerical modeling results and displaying images and graphics in lectures and colloquia.

Another disgruntled customer checking in here. Early 2011 MacBook Pro (2.0 GHz Intel Core i7, 4 GB RAM) running OS 10.8.2. Bought brand new in June 2011. It's always been kind of buggy. I had to reinstall the OS within a month of buying it, then it seemed to work a bit better. Never upgraded to Mavericks.

Two weeks ago, it was sitting on my desk at work, idle. No intensive tasks or anything. A colleague actually noticed it and said "Oh! You have a Mac? I'm thinking of buying a Macbook Air this weekend, can I have a look?" I said sure and went to use it, but it was frozen solid. Nothing. Nada! I powered off by holding down the power button. Not a great look..... anyway, ever since then it will not boot into OS. It will only boot to either a blue screen with vertical stripes, or to a grey screen. I cannot get into the OS.

I am part of the Facebook group regarding this discrete graphics card bug. I am also going through this post (https://people.cam.cornell.edu/~zc227/extras/early2011mbp_graphics.html#tempfix) and following the suggestions, one of which being to post here. Hopefully Apple will eventually dig into their $170 billion coffers instead of treating their customers like jerks.

Come on Apple. Seriously, this is disgraceful. I was considering replacing my HTC One M8 with an iPhone 6 and getting an Apple Watch next year, but at this pace, I'll certainly never, ever be buying an Apple product again. Apart from iMovie, which I loved, I can live without the rest of it. If Apple mans up and sorts this out, I may reconsider my position, but at this stage, they have lost me as a customer.

You know, what makes me even more sick is that my Dad has been an Apple geek for decades. Seriously, when I was growing up he was an Apple salesman. He stuck by the company through the bad times. The first computer I remember in our house was a Macintosh Classic. I remember Prince of Persia and Brickle. Even my Dad now says Apple have lost their way. The arrogance of being the richest company in the world has gotten to them and they treat customers like dirt.

When I bought the Macbook Pro, I was initially reluctant, given the price. In the end, I decided to buy it, instead of a PC, because I thought that the extra cost was made up for in build quality and customer service. Boy was I wrong. I expect a $2000 machine to last more than 3 years. Seriously, what a complete joke. Now I do not have a laptop for work. I am a 5th grade teacher and I used it all the time for preparing materials.

Looks like I'll be in the market for a Surface Pro 3 (or 4, when it's released).

/rant

Same Problem here, common Tim!

Its Time to Say we make it!

As AppleInsider first reported in October, a significant number of early-2011 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro owners saw system crashes and graphics failures seemingly related to the laptops' discrete AMD-built GPUs. A follow-up report in January found an escalation of reported problems with one Apple Support Communities thread covering 157 pages with 206,237 views and 2,348 replies.

It seems the problem is getting worse. Now being referred to as a "club," the group of users affected by the apparent hardware malfunction is growing by the day.

As of this writing the main discussion thread regarding 2011 MacBook Pro GPU-related issues has swollen to 338 pages with a massive 538,585 views and 5,061 replies. The latest entries are dated May 13 and come from the U.S., UK, the Netherlands and Japan.

While Apple has yet to officially respond to affected MacBook Pro owners, some have found luck in taking their faulty computer in for service. During the extended AppleCare Protection Plan period, which is quickly approaching its three-year limit, some customers were able to get their logic board swapped out. The procedure is reportedly hit-or-miss as there is no official standing order to replace the part, though unconfirmed reports claim a few specialists have said the problem is known to Apple. In any case, instead of paying the price to switch out the component, some users have chosen to simply abandon the laptop as broken.

With no response from Apple, affected owners have started a Petition addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook and SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi in the hopes of shining a light on what they call a "manufacturing defect." The petition has 2,726 signatures of a required 5,000.

Apple has in the past issued product recalls and initiated replacement programs for malfunctioning parts. Last August, for example, the company opened up replacements for certain mid-2011 iMac models that shipped with faulty video cards. Coincidentally, a variation of the component — AMD's Radeon HD 6970M — happens to be one of the GPUs early-2011 MacBook Pro owners are finding defective in their computers.

Symptoms usually present themselves during graphics-intensive operations like watching high-definition video, editing large photos in pro-level apps or merely running computation-heavy operations. Many users see their screen go blank unexpectedly, while others have experienced visual artifacts and banding indicative of a GPU failure.

A number of forum users have seen constant system reboots that arrive at a blue or gray screen upon restart. Apple's own documentation suggests that restarting an affected Mac in Safe Mode or resetting NVRAM/PRAM will solve this particular problem. In severe cases, a clean install of OS X is recommended.

Temporary workarounds have been suggested, but few have had lasting impact. For example, owners have seen success in rebooting to single user mode and performing a fsck to check and repair possibly corrupted files sometimes works, while forcing an affected MacBook Pro to use its Intel integrated graphics chip also helps for a short time. After extended usage, however, most systems revert to an inoperable state.

I faced the same problem too! Symptoms exactly what many have described.... the apple turned red! Followed by blue screen.

Brought it to the Apple Service Centre, the customer service person was nice and polite. She knows exactly what's happening. I reckoned she's been seeing lots of similar cases. Advised me that the graphics chip is gone, and replacing it is too costly. Luckily still managed to retrieve my hard disk and all my contents.

Since this is a problem that lots of Mac users are facing, Apple should do something on this and offer some replacement programme.

My MacBook has officially died... RIP.....

This is my third or fourth post on here. It is currently 8:40 am here in Dallas and I've been trying to get my Late 2011 MBP to start up since 7:20. Reset the PRAM, start in Safe Mode... all that stuff. At one point it worked just long enough for me to offload about 6 hi-def video files from my camera before it crashed.

I'm so, unbelievably, disappointed in the way Apple is treating its Pro users. if they aren't careful there will be a mass exodus to other brands just like we saw with the whol Final Cut Pro X debacle. Adobe made a killing from new sales of Premiere because of the way professional editors felt shafted by Apple.

By the way, I'm having to write this from my phone because my laptop doesnt work well enough anymore. Sad

Don't forget if you can get access to another mac with a fire wire port you can connect your graphically challenged MBP using target disc mode.

In this mode you can rescue your data and also remove the AMD graphics drivers. This will prevent access to the affected GPU and thus provide a temporary fix.

If your MBP has just started having these problems do try clean installing 10.9.4, this has different drivers for the GPU and appears to bring on the fans much earlier helping to keep GPU temp down. On A MBP I repaired this kept GPU temp down at 80 C much lower than previously. This will delay the worsening of the dry joints responsible for your issues. It is not a complete or even very satisfactory fix but may keep your MBP alive for longer.

If your MBP is a 2011 model it will also benefit from a fan and air duct clean out. Dust and such will have built up limiting the efficiency of the cooling system.

Looks like I'm checking out of this club - after going to the store for this issue again on my 3rd replacement logic board I was offered a replacement computer. Really nicely spec'd retina - I'm very happy with this outcome!

This board died just at the end of the 90 day warranty for the replacement. Apple Executive Relations was going to offer me another free logic board replacement, but couldn't give me a replacement (but he could sell me one ). The genius I saw was the same one that I had worked through these issue with 3-4 months ago and was well aware of my issues/pain/etc. I think my attitude though out it all and his familiarity with my case were the primary factors in the replacement.

BTW, I'm in Charlotte, NC USA

+1 here. GPU begins to fail last week, on a late 2011 brought in February 2012. I am managing to use the computer through TG pro and GfxCardStatut but limiting myself to office work and internet (no more photo/video editing!)

Now I am really considering if I'll buy another mac or not.

first changing a 500$ computer every 2 years and half is quite not the same as changing a 2000$ computer every 2,5 years.

second, the new retina MBP doesn't have ethernet port, nor the possibility to upgrade the HD which are both serious issue in my case (I upgraded up to 2Tb)

My purpose in buying apple product was to have a trouble free totally integrated system. If I switch back to a PC, well, I also will reconsider buying an iPhone and an iPad.