Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Although it is quite useless to write here because no one can help to solve this problem, (as mentioned by the moderator : "this community  exists to solve technical problems"),  I'm reading all the posts, noticing that when the problem occurred, many of us changed the HARD DRIVE and POWER SUPPLY  !  also !

Got the same poblem as everyone else on my early 2011 15" MBP. Started out of the blue, although I had issues with waking from sleep and some excessive heat sometimes but no crashes ever. Then the other day the MBP just crashed to black screen and then the boot to grey screen and all that started. I asked some service places here in Poland and they offered logic board replacement for $600-700. Probably not worth it based on comments here. One place offered reballing, not sure that's worth it either. Guess I picked the wrong model to be my first mac...Let me just repeat something that I read in a post here but that I think is worth saying again for the benefit  of the newest members of our "club" There is a way to get your MBP to boot. Just leave it in the grey screen to shut off from overheat (close lid, put blanket over it speed it up). After that boot again and it will start up with discrete GPU off. Once loged in, disbale discrete GPU via gfxCardStatus. The computer will run fine (mine does anyway) until next reboot is required (in which case you need to do the whole procedure again). Of course, this is a workaround and no-good if you need the discrete GPU. But it does suggest that if there was a way to set up the MBP to auto boot without discrete GPU, we would at least be able to use our computers sans-GPU. I'd probably be happy to go with that until I am ready for a new laptop (next spring) and of course woudl never, ever buy Apple again.

Same problem here with late 2011 MacBook Pro 15"

i didn't change anything (except more RAM - i ordered it like that at the beginning) i am even still running 10.6.8!

nevertheless: 3 logicboard replacements because of graphic card issue

it was surely the graphic card issue, for example i could crash my computer only by check and uncheck this (see picture "energy saver" sorry it's german) or by opening photoshop - and after this it would only boot to blue or white screen (only after many many attempts - pram, smc, "fsck -fy"… and stuff - it would eventually reboot so that i could run time machine at least…) typical is that when it starts (for example suddenly a black screen!) it is only sometimes (more like a defective contact) but after short time it will get worse and in the end you are not able to do anything that uses the gpu (it died)

CouponPages wrote:

 

My MacBook Pro is now officially a brick.

 

I turns on... Gives me the colored bars overlaying the Apple logo, and goes to the white screen.

 

If I try to boot from recovery, or another drive... Dead end, eventually a solid blu screen.   Trying to go to diag actually loads, except its almost unreadable with all the screen issues, but I can clearly see it passes the test.  They exhaustive test looks like it went into pass 2 then froze about 14 minutes in.

 

Now I'm posting from my iPad.  I need to be operational tomorrow, so my options are slim.  Either they offer a free fix or it's going to be tough justifying the repairs if the new logic board is likely to fail.

Well, sorry to read that.

Not surprising, though, experiencing crashes or just glitches when working the computer is just one of the symptoms, and one of the most irritating (to be polite) is the failing to boot.

If you need to get access to your data for any reason, just be patient and try to boot, it should eventually succeed at some point. If you don't get to the login screen just let the fans do their job and wait for the automatic shut off.

Now you do hear the fans running wild at that point, don't you ?

But in the end, you will only be able to use your computer partially if you want to avoid crashes, which is no solution and we all agree on that part.

The choice is yours in the end but what seems to be the most viable solution to have a working computer back is reballing, cheaper than Apple's logic board swap and at least, if done properly, should fix the main problem causing these crashes for a while.

While it's great that a class action in finally and officially on, can't be sure of the time it will take and what the outcome will be anyway.

Now I've just realised the irony of Apple's naming convention. As my MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011) model, is now the 'Late' MacBook Pro 15-inch (2011-2014) model. RIP.

So a word of warning to potential buyers, do not buy any Apple products with 'Late' in the title, as they will die an early death.

akamyself wrote:

 

CouponPages wrote:

 

My MacBook Pro is now officially a brick.

 

I turns on... Gives me the colored bars overlaying the Apple logo, and goes to the white screen.

 

If I try to boot from recovery, or another drive... Dead end, eventually a solid blu screen.   Trying to go to diag actually loads, except its almost unreadable with all the screen issues, but I can clearly see it passes the test.  They exhaustive test looks like it went into pass 2 then froze about 14 minutes in.

 

Now I'm posting from my iPad.  I need to be operational tomorrow, so my options are slim.  Either they offer a free fix or it's going to be tough justifying the repairs if the new logic board is likely to fail.

Well, sorry to read that.

 

Not surprising, though, experiencing crashes or just glitches when working the computer is just one of the symptoms, and one of the most irritating (to be polite) is the failing to boot.

If you need to get access to your data for any reason, just be patient and try to boot, it should eventually succeed at some point. If you don't get to the login screen just let the fans do their job and wait for the automatic shut off.

Now you do hear the fans running wild at that point, don't you ?

 

But in the end, you will only be able to use your computer partially if you want to avoid crashes, which is no solution and we all agree on that part.

The choice is yours in the end but what seems to be the most viable solution to have a working computer back is reballing, cheaper than Apple's logic board swap and at least, if done properly, should fix the main problem causing these crashes for a while.

 

While it's great that a class action in finally and officially on, can't be sure of the time it will take and what the outcome will be anyway.

You can of course use target Firewire mode to access your data if you have another Mac to hand (or a friend with one). I was successful making a full clone of my hard drive onto a portable drive before my MacBook Pro went away for it's alleged "repair".

obwianMacobi wrote:

You can of course use target Firewire mode to access your data if you have another Mac to hand (or a friend with one). I was successful making a full clone of my hard drive onto a portable drive before my MacBook Pro went away for it's alleged "repair".

Or simply put your internal hd in an external case so you can boot on it from another computer.

Whatever solution is chosen, never give a computer for repair with personal data, for privacy matter obviously, but in case they choose to wipe it out installing a clean system or changing the hd for another one.

Dear D3us,

I sent my email to the address given when I click on the blue "D3us" at the top of your posts. Mine is *******(not exactly a secret) - please feel free to email me in case I got your email address wrong somewhere!

<edited by host>

+1 Same deal here, though my 2011 15" MBP has been fine until Yosemite. I have been running my MBP with a Thunderbolt Display for 3+ years (ironically, my Apple Care just ended 2 days ago... seems eerily suspicious that now I begin to have problems). I have worked extensively in Lightroom, Photoshop, Final Cut, Premiere and other graphic intensive programs (no 3D stuff though) with no problems until Yosemite (though I can't discern if this was the culprit or just coincidence).

So, I had lockups, spontaneous restarts, the kernel panic screen, striped and split screen issues all that have been reported here. Seeing that I have just been upgrading OS X over the years, I decided to wipe everything and start over. I had Mavericks on a USB stick so I went ahead and installed that, then upgraded to Yosemite once Mavs was up and running.

I then proceeded to install my Creative Cloud apps, and attached my Thunderbolt display only to see the issue continue. I have not seen the kernel panic screen, but if I hook up my Thunderbolt, the Mac pretty much locks up with a "double exposed" screen image and I need a restart. I also see the attached dialog popup, so there's that.

The Mac seem stable now, but I'm just running Safari. I've turned off all the Transparency, Genie effects and other tips "to improve" performance on Yosemite.

I guess I'll look for firmware updates et al. I have an appt with a "Genius" on Saturday, they were booked 4 days out on Bar reservations.

$0.02,

Zach

Hmm.  The link was to a news story on CNBC.com showing that there is now a class action lawsuit for this issue. Not sure why that was edited...

I own a macbook pro 2011 15 ' . About a week ago there was a similar problem . Video card stopped working ! And I can not even load the OS !!! I'm terribly unhappy ! Red stripes on the entire screen and the laptop shuts down !

Evgeny

<Edited by Host>

I was golden until Yosemite. Now I can't use my Thunderbolt Display at all, and the MBP is subject to crash at any moment.

<Link Edited by Host>

The main issue I have experienced is the laptop locking up and shutting down or requiring a hard reboot to it. I have upgraded to Yosemite just recently hoping that the OS upgrades would assist in fixing the issue. I spent a lot of money on this macbook and it has completely turned me away from Apple products entirely. I want nothing more than to throw this thing against a wall for the waste of money it is. I have had to replace a cord and the harddrive in this thing already and I've never had to replace these things on my desktop in 10 years or more (granted I generally build a new rig every 3 or 4 years though, but all drives still function great).  I tell everyone how crappy Apple is and try to persuade them to go elsewhere with their money as it isn't worth this headache. Oh, I have also gone through a charge a year because these chargers suck so bad. I doubt Apple will do anything about it though. No Apple care spend a grand for them to replace the logic board and graphics driver. Absolute rip off.

Folks,

I ran into the same issue today and macbook pro only showing white screen after Apple Logo and Fan makes very loud noise with heated up.