Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

As I said, smc firmware update is my hypothesis about my problem. Three different logic boards all of them misbehaving after the mentioned update.

Is there any chance to rollback to the previuos SMC version ?

GregD.MacUser, i am french too but from Lyon. I was at the apple store from Lyon yesterday.
They said to me that they can't do nothing if apple doesn't recognize the problem.

Greg, je suis français aussi, de Lyon. Je suis allé A l'apple Store de Lyon Confluence hier soir. Ils n'ont rien pu faire pour moi a part me proposer le remplacerment de la carte mère... La nana m'a conseillé d'appeller AppleCare pour voir avec eux so je peux négocier une prise en charge.

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@rguerran

It's not SMC, Trust Me. It is a GPU Issue and Apple know that, and do nothing!

And this is fun:

sorry i meant my computer freezes when i try to use gfxCardStatus to switch to intergrated only....anyone experieincing this...sorry for the confusion earlier....

odarellmc

Yes, but sometimes works, Try a few times.

Ok, I'll regroup some infos about the computers and the problems so we can ease their research.

mine is SMC Version (system):    1.69f4

and for that past few days, it has been running flawlessly -- even with heavy GPU usage

M

P.S. I'm 100% sure it will start to act up again.

that i have, but now it freezes everytime i try to switch it to intergrated only....i'm very upset about this process i shouldnt to be doing this crap in the first place.

After 3 weeks (THREE!!), the Apple store tells me I need a new board. This will cost me 480€; they are not willing to extend the 90-day guarantee; they have apparently never heard of any problems with those MacBook Pros. Thanks, Apple. My Microsoft-employed neighbour will have a lot of fun with this one.

MJSfoto1956 -

I believe that if you use some high texture 3D game, or work with 3D software, you probably will suffer the glitch again. The processor chip is working, but it isn't using a bad cluster of memory.

Here are some examples of screen corruption and the probable cause of them:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/artifacts/artifacts.html

It is using PCs as examples but could illustrate what is happening with the mbp 2011.

I bought my mac on may 2011 and been using it mainly with Photoshop and HandBrake transcoding videos. Most of the time I use it plugged on my 27" Dell through a mini dp/ dp connector. The temperatures are always close to 80 C.

Even though I didn't saw any glitch, I still pushing it hard to see if the problem appears before the end of my applecare period.

yes, those are quite similar to the screens we have all been seeing on our MBPs -- in my case, it has been more than three months now. I agree that the bad video memory (due to heat-relatede wear) seems to be a good theory. However, I can't explain why it "suddenly" goes bad (sometimes for many days) then just as suddenly it plays nice (again for many days straight).

Note: I am using the same software in all cases: Photoshop, DxO Optics Pro, Photomatix, etc.

One thought: perhaps there are some new JavaScript libraries that some websites are leveraging that stress the GPU (or use or steal memory differently). This might explain the "randomness" of it.

Other thoughts?

M

I too was affected by this issue and am presently getting my Logic Board replaced. I alerted the Apple Tech online and the Genius at the Apple Store that this was an ongoing issue and even printed some of the discussions from this thread as proof.  They stated they will report it to thier supervisors and note it on my case number.

Im gonna push the system when I get it back as my AppleCare expires in March2014.  I read some have had multiple logic boards replaced for the same issue and hope not to be a part of that group.

to that point: one recent change I made to my system: I removed the DIVX plugins from Safari and since then, it has been behaving nicely. YMMV

m

Dear fellow macbook pro users,

Long story short, the baking method was my last resort. It was scary putting your logic board under this kind of heat but it works. I am typing this on my mbp. Since then I had been constantly using an external fan and had put my internal fan under a constant speed of 4500 RPM. Will update on anymore changes.

-Eric