Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Csound1 wrote:

Then how can this be a hardware problem?

 

Thanks

Good question. I hope someone who knows or thinks they may have a good idea will speak to this. My guess is that I'm using more of, or all of, one GPU than the other. Just a guess...

The fact that I was experiencing similar issues as most folks here -- (not necessarily in this order) reboot loops, horizontal lines at boot, thick and thin vertical lines of varying colors, graphic distortions during post and after logging in, hanging at a solid blue screen, hanging at a solid gray screen -- of course does not mean I have the same core issue, but it appears similar.

So I didn't even try to start up my MBP for over a month due to the frustration. Most times I couldn't get to the login screen, or past it, but I tried again the other day and it worked, it seemed just enough to allow me to upgrade to the Yosemite OS. Probably a good thing they signed me up for the stupid-fast download speeds with my internet provider. Watching the upgrade process it still experienced some of the graphical issues, namely the thin horizontal lines, and sometimes chopping the screen up vertically, but I let it go and it made it through.

Day 2 after upgrade, still no repeated issues.

DynMOS

Yosemite seems to have helped my issues subside!

 

I had been experiencing the common issues stated in this discussion for a good number of months now, and have been watching the discussion here for a while, hoping something surfaces, but I haven't seen much hope here.

 

So I decided to go for the upgrade. Amazingly, I made it through the process without the dang thing flipping out!

 

First thing after loading the upgraded OSX a message appeared stating a graphic/GPU error had been detected... I hit "report" and carried on, and so far I have been running smoothly.

 

My machine is running quite normally, not too hot compared to before the upgrade, and with no graphical errors or reboots, but I'm still on day 1... My fingers are crossed... I hope that Yosemite has some engineering to help with this issue.

Yosemite may have reduced the the use of your discrete GPU or complely blocked it, but it could not repair hardware damage, if this damage was there at first place. Software can create physical damage on hardware components, but it cannot repair/reverse physical damage. Period.

If you like to see if your discrete GPU is really ok, you can try to play demanding 3D game for example, or make the FurMark test. It will be really interesting to know how Yosemite really works for you, because it could be that Apple made some efforts to detect the faulty GPU and trying to fix the problem by avoiding it.

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I don't know if this will really help anyone, or if it will even fix my issue, but I was able to get Apple to cover the repair of my Early 2011.  After going to the Genius Bar and arguing with the genius and a manager for a half hour I gave up and just planned on using gfxcardstatus until the end of time.  Still annoyed though I figured I'd shoot this email to Tim Cook

I am writing, as I am sure many others have, about my 2011 Macbook Pro 15" laptop.  As an apple user with the original iPhone through today, 4 Macbooks, 1 iPad, and countless iPhones I have come to love the quality and reliability of Apple's products. 

 

However, my early 2011 Macbook Pro 15" has been a real disappointment.  My graphics card (AMD/ATI) has failed making any graphic intensive computing near impossible without a computer crash and failure to restart.  I have found a workaround (gfxcardstatus) that allows the integrated graphics to run, which helps, but it is simply an inferior card as far as processing power.  Go to the discussion here to see that over 9,000 comments have been made with the same issue I am having. 

 

I went to the Apple store today in hopes of some resolution but was turned away since I refused to pay the $310 to send the unit out to the service depot.  Their explanation was simply that Apple does not acknowledge that this is an issue with the 2011 Macbook Pro units.  See the petition on (link removed) with over 17,000 signatures (link removed) and please explain how this is a coincidence or not a design flaw.  The Genius I spoke with said "I wish Apple would allow a free repair, but unfortunately the do not."  Simply put, it is both irresponsible and unethical to allow so many dedicated users to go through this issue without any sort of statement or resolution on the matter.

 

PLEASE do something to help me.  I just want Apple to stand behind the product and reputation you have worked so hard to develop.  Apple in my mind always stood for excellence, quality and great customer service.  In this particular case, Apple has definitely failed me and is seriously making me consider your products going forward.

 

Thank you for your time regardless, and please let me know if there is anything you can do to help me.

A few days later I got a call from the Apple Store manager saying he got word of my email.  They agreed to send the laptop out for a free repair under the condition that I would be responsible for any subsequent repairs.  This may not fix the problem but hopefully some issues were addressed as far as thermal paste and other things that may have caused failure.  I hope this can help someone else out there.  Good luck!

Agreed. Just installed Yosemite as a last ditch effort before I sell to Amazon as a clunker.

When I switch to discrete graphics in Yosemite, I get the same issues as before (dead pixels, lines, eventual crash). However, in Yosemite, I can set gfxCardStatus to "Integrated Only" and all applications will now run off of the Intel chip. Even Photoshop.

On previous OS, opening Photoshop would always force a switch back to discrete graphics whether gfxCardStatus was set to "Integrated Only" or not.

So my conclusion is the same as yours in that Yosemite at least will ignore the damaged GPU more effectively. Yay?

Just got told that after testing they decided screen needed replacement and are sending back. So they know ttheother stuff is about to fail but my warranty ended 2 days ago and these weasels know full well. So ******, I bought this Mac for school just as i STARTED MY 4 YEAR PROGRAM AND IT MADE IT ONLY 3, Really 1000$ per year for a **** disposable laptop huh. Well shame on me for ever going Mac. I just built a PC that smacks the **** out of the POS Mac I just want my money back now, Apple died with Steve Jobs PERIOD!

It might be helpful for those who have not upgraded to Yosemite. Mine, the MC723 was dead with Yosemite.

wow. impressing how quickly apple can react to things they don't like. apparently a link to a website with photos of broken mbp´s is seen as a poll.

this is getting so ridiculous.

I just upgraded to Yosemite and am starting to get a graphics glitch whenever the OS switches graphics card. I dunno whether its the OS that's at fault or whether my GPU is on it's way out.

POSSIBLE FIX!!!

I already wrote this in a smaller thread about the same issue and didn't read all pages here, but maybe no one here has posted the method I used:

So I have had the exact same problem, which started about 3 months ago. My GPU failed, and my MBP didn't work anymore. Crazy lines on my screen, crashes, and often it didn't boot at all. Fortunately, I had Bootcamp installed with a windows partition. Somehow Windows 7 was slightly more functional than the Mac OS. I downloaded the AMD automatic detection and driver update software here:http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

I uninstalled current drivers, then had to try 3 times to reinstall the latest version, because the first 2 times my MBP just crashed during the dowloading. But eventually it worked! I rebooted windows, and somehow after that my Mac OS was working perfectly fine too! To be sure I was using the AMD card, I played some video games that only the discrete GPU (the AMD Radeon card) would be able to handle. (There is also an integrated Intel HD card).

The problem occurred again unfortunately, and the second time was worse than the first time. I ran a check at the Apple store, and according to the test my GPU was broken and had to be replaced. However, I could not fix it for free and did not have the 560 euros required. So I tried to fix it myself, and it worked! I did almost the same as before. Here follows my description of what I did:

Windows could not boot at all, and if I wanted to boot my Mac OS all I got was weird lines and then a grey screen. The solution was to boot Mac OS while holding Shift+cmd+V. It allowed me to boot my Mac OS in an unstable but functional way. Note that I had to boot a couple of times this way to get the mac OS to work. Then I downloaded gfxCardStatus here:https://gfx.io

The gfxCardStatus allows us to turn off the faulty AMD card and run the Mac OS on the integrated GPU. This works just fine for many tasks, and it is stable for me. But definitely not desirable, because now the MBP has very weak GPU. After this I could reboot in Windows again, to be sure I used safe mode. It told me that there had been problems, and asked me if I wanted to return to a previous version of my Windows partition. I said yes, and rebooted Windows. I reinstalled the AMD drivers again, and after that Windows told me that the GPU was working properly. To be sure I tried an intensive video game, and it was working perfectly! I rebooted, and Mac OS worked perfectly again too. With gfxCardStatus I can turn on the AMD Radeon card, and it is perfectly stable!!! I think that if the problem happens again, I can just repeat this process and it will be fixed again.

Most people here probably don't use bootcamp, and it is ridiculous to need it for a functional GPU. But if you manage to run your Mac OS on the integrated card via gfxCardStatus, you can probably try to install bootcamp and windows. It takes some effort, but I believe this way you can consistently bring the problem under control.

I hope this helps some people!!

hello, very interest. Did the new AMD drivers install any firmware updates? does mac system profiler report any new video card info? thx , stu

How that its possible this is a hardware problem? (The logic board its not attachment to mother board)

Just wanted to give an update on my situation.

About 6 months ago I started getting the same problem as most of you are experiencing (early 2011 macbook pro) to point where it would only get past the start up screen once every 50 or so restarts and still it would be unstable when switching graphics card and even with gfxCardStatus running in integrated mode, it would only be a matter of time till it crashed. I took it into repair, at a place in london. Not exactly sure what they actaully did but it worked! I know they had to order a part. I've emailed them to find out.

4 months later and the problem came back.. couldn't boot up again. When I finally did manage to get into it, I thought let me update to Yosemite. Knowing that it could make the problem worst but I thought at this point I've got nothing to lose! Well it did actually make it worst at first. But when i did mange to complete the update and restarted it twice my system has been ok for 4 days now which is the longest it has been for a while. So while i know this is a hardware problem, so far Yosemite has seemed to solve it. Might just be a coincidence though because this problem does seem to resolve itself randomly then again totally crash out at will.

Hey Apple, it’s time you acknowledged and solved your MacBook Pro problem

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I bought a Macbook Pro in March 2011. In February 2014, the graphics card fritzed, making the screen show a bunch of thin green horizontal lines, giving the screen a greenish glow. I had to have it repaired at an Apple Store for $570.38. At the time, I told the "Genius" that many people had reported the same problem with the graphics card, and his response was that I shouldn't believe what a few random people might have posted on the Internet. Now I've found this discussion, and I'm angry. There is no way Apple and its employees can deny that this is a widespread defect.