Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Hello,

I have the same problem with my Macbook Pro Early 2011. I bought it 3 years ago, but 2 months after running out of ACP, it showed

the typical graphic failures. Because I didn't want to spend 600$ for a new logicboard, I decided to assign a repair-service with

reflowing/reballing of the GPU. Now, three months later I have the same issues again, this problem really *****.

I want to deactivate the AMD GPU permanently, can anyone send me a link to a tutorial how I can do this?

Shame on you Apple, 3 years durability for a 2500$ MBP is just ridiculous, including the fact that we have to pay for YOUR failures is even more.

<Edited By Host>

Has anyone tried Retronix reballing service in Singapore?

<Link Edited By Host>

I took my MBP into the Apple store today, and had a chat with the guy there. He kind of dismissed it as being just a problem with the age of the machine, although I countered that it was odd that a significant number of these exact models having the same issues. I ran through what this thread has covered, the problem with the GPU overheating, the Apple hardware tests not failing the board and so on. They're going to replace the logic board for me, but couldn't say whether it'd be a new or a refurbished board. tbh, I think I'd prefer a refurb, as long as the chip is working, since at least they'll have replaced the thermal paste. They also said they'd run a long high temperature test on the board as well to check. Hopefully that might force the issue to surface.

He was also pretty dismissive of reballing services - he was aware of the NVidia issue on the 2008 machines, which was due to the connectors, as pushing the chip down would make it work again, but that this issue was something different (I kind of got the impression that he had more information about this than he wanted to let on)

Owen

for sure, this is not a users behavior cause but was forced to suffer in it...

what a punishment to users for just has warrenty expired.

and guess what, you pay more for sugfer more as discrete model is the hightest price range in all classification in each period.

I wonder how does thunderbolt work in this circumstances?

so far I know that computer will switch to discrete GPU, aka the problem of cause, when minidisplay port is pluged.

then, all of us recognized what will happen...

Will it be the same sympton if thunderbolt drive pluged without external monitor

I bought a Belking Thunderbolt Dock Express shall receive it at the end of NOV, might in a case of " you have it but you cant use it" situation i worried.

yeah i accept that i was a lucky one and im from thailand probably its less people who try to contact them in this country that why!

i also worry in the future it might got the same problem about GPU again after few years , hope they can find the way to resolve for all of us.

good luck guys

there's no way we can explain how you got a free logic board swap, too many possibilities.

but anyway, since your 'new' LB is no different from all the others in the way they been manufactured, you should at least use your computer normally and even push it more than usual so if it fails again, it does while you're still under warranty.

would be too bad having to pay for a second swap since the harder to get for free is the first one..

good luck

I bought my Macbook Pro 15inch in March 2012. It is a Late 2011 model and I have been experiencing problems since 2 weeks. After check up, they told me I needed a new graphics card, which costs me 500Euro!! I think that is crazy!!! After doing some research, I realised that the Graphics cards in the 2011 models 15 and 17 inch often break. I think this is not acceptable that Apple charges us this much for the repairing of the macbook, even though it seems obvious that there is a flaw in the GPU's! I find this totally unacceptable!!

My 2011 Mac Book Pro 17' started to show the gray screen from yesterday!... Apparently it is a graphic card issue because the system cannot boot in iOS as well as Windows. In Windows after showing windows 8 logo it displays a weird distorted screen  with mixture of colors. In iOS it starts to boot and shows the apple logo working after 40 seconds it shows white screen of death.

I tried to boot with Linux Mint live CD to recover my data and it shows the same distorted screen. The only way I could recover my data was using Hirens boot CD and choosing a special menu item to fix black/white screen issue!

I cannot install new OS because of this graphic card issue and my book could no longer work and is completely useless now!!

** I haven't upgraded to Yosemit, and the problem appeared on its own!

existmep wrote:

 

…the system cannot boot in iOS as well as Windows. In Windows after showing windows 8 logo it displays a weird distorted screen  with mixture of colors. In iOS it starts to boot and shows the apple logo working after 40 seconds it shows white screen of death…

Just to clarify: no Mac runs iOS-anything. iOS only works on Apple's mobile devices (iPhone, iPad).

Sorry I was distracted ! I meant OSX. Anyway I couldn't edit the message. Thanks for mentioning.

I don't know if I'm seeing the same problems as others on my early 2011 15" MBP. I see artifacts in Safari sometimes when I have automatic graphics switching enabled. Disabling the check to force always using the AMD GPU prevents the problem from happening.  My system has never crashed but the random glitches are annoying.

ricky_tang, you explained exactly how my macbook started giving problems. After 2-3 months, it will give you a big headache.. I hope I am wrong and you will never have the problem.

Tip for Yosemite users:

This should reduce the reliance on the GPU.

Last week my MacBook broke down. Went to the Apple Store in The Hague. First thing they did was cover themselfs in, by saying they dont need to replace anything if they didnt want to. But well, i left my MacBook there. They made a ticket that i could cost me 515 euro's.

Yesterday i got a call it was replaced for free by the Dutch Consumer Law. IMO, just go there, give them a link to this post, and tell them others have the same problem and got there fix for free and you demand the same

Did a full format and reinstall of my MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011) with 10.9 and then an upgrade to 10.10.

System would first flicker on screen and then screen would go blank.

After running gfxCardStatus and making sure  "integrated Only" modeis ticked,  the system seems stable. Ran final Cut Pro X and 2 hours of Handbrake. CPU got to close to 100degreesC without a crash. Also running smsFanControl to increase base fan speed to 4200rpm but don't think it would help much( fans at 6200rpm when CPUs get over 80 Deg C anyway).

Only a few days in and I have heard the problem progressively gets worse.

and yes, gxfCardStatus works under Yosemite(10.10)