Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Yes there was. I will not put a link here because it would be deleted.

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Just found this thread, but I joined this club without realising it existed in June, doing a large Aperture photo browse, first crash, then multiple crashes.  Took it to the "Genius" bar, I think he recommended some software changes and got it restarted, but it failed again. Back to the "Genius" bar. Recommended a repair costing over £400, nearly half the cost of a new MacBook Pro. We had a discussion about which way to go, but he assured me this should fix it. I agreed to the Logic board replacement, and the "repaired" Mac ran OK for a couple of weeks. Then the problem recurred. They replaced the logic board again, no charge. Since then it has been fine, until this week, another intensive photo browse session, another crash, and escalating problems. Now it won't boot at all. I can't even get a "Genius" appointment until next Tuesday, presumably with all the people queuing up with problems.

I'm fairly confident they will replace the logic board again, but the original repair only had a 6 month warranty, and 5 months of that has gone. What happens if... when... it fails again?

I have used Macs on and off in my professional life since the very first integrated Mac. This is the first one I have bought with my own money, and the very first one that has ever failed on me. Apple, my confidence in you is severrely dented.

If their policy is the same as it appears to now be in Canada, they will replace your motherboard for free, now that you've paid for it once, until 5 years from the purchase date.

Ask them when you take it in for confirmation of this policy.

And I suggest that all of us who have paid for new motherboards now put our machines to hard work, to test to see if the replacement boards have the same gpu heat failure issues.

Salut!

Je suis en Suisse et ai le même problème. Mais je l'ai présenté en Anglais sur ce forum. Je pense que les autres francophones font pareil.

Perso, mon MacBook pro 2011 à fait son premier crash quand je l'ai branché à ma TV. j'ai du l'éteindre de force. Ensuite impossible à le faire démarrer. La machine se mets en route mais se bloque à la pomme puis sur un ecran blanc, ce qui oblige à refaire la manipulation jusqu'a ce que le OS veuille bien se charger!

LEs les freeze arrivent parfois sur certains sites internet Demandant pas mal de ressources...

I have the same problem my logic board is being repaired now. The issue can be related to dust clogging the vents (on the bottom under the screen). Apparently you can't tell the vents are clogged unless you remove the fan, so you can replace the logic board over and over without getting to the core cause.

There are temperature sensors in the macbook that you can access with software. On the application store you will find at least two good programs "temperature gauge" ($ 5.00) and "sensor X" ($2.99). Both will alert you if the processor starts to get hot.

If you are running hot I've heard you can blow into the vents with a compressed air can (the stuff used for photo negatives). All of this is rumor, but it makes sense. Best of luck to all.

Had the same problem. MBP 2011 i7 2.2 Antiglare High-resolution bought in Israel on March 2011 for $3200, malfunctioned exactly 2 years after purchase. Luckily I had AppleCare, so the motherboard was replaced free of charge. Interestingly enough, the local reseller (we have no official Apple Store in Israel, only resellers) recommended I sell my MBP now, while the replaced motherboard is still functioning properly... Ouch! He also said they fixed hundreds of similar MBPs in the past year.

I decided I keep it for now, use it lightly (I recommend using Turbo Boost which cripples the CPU/GPU hence preventing the overheating), and hope Apple solves this issue before the problem arises again.

sorry johngz but so far you are the only one from Canada reporting such a policy so it might be slightly too quick to take your experience as a common and official policy/rule.

I mean, some reported having nothing to pay for their 'repair' in some stores without even having to fight their case, some had to finally speak to the store manager to get a special treatment, while the majority only hit a wall.

don't get me wrong, ain't saying you're lying or anything but there is a probability you just got lucky and the 'genius' was full of it.

some of them really are...

Where are you getting this information from? I took my macbook pro in last month and they did not tell me about any such policy. I'm in Vancouver.

je n'en ai pas lu beaucoup concernant des francophones qu'ils soient de France, de Suisse ou de Belgique, vraiment très peu.

mais quand je suis allé à l'Apple store en février dernier, j'ai tout de suite compris par l'attitude des employés que je n'étais pas le premier à venir pour ce problème, bien au contraire.

peut être que beaucoup sortent les € et font simplement changer leur carte mère, je ne sais pas.

mais au final je pense faire comme toi, éviter de le planter et lutter au démarrage quand il a fallu l'éteindre.

au niveau des plantages en visitant des sites, j'ai remarqué ça aussi, mais par contre il y a certains sites que je ne peux visiter avec Chrome ou Firefox mais qui passent en utilisant Safari, bizarrement.

akamyself and lebleu29:

I don't know if its official apple policy yet, I'm relating my experience and suggesting those with similar history (having paid for a new motherboard out of their own pocket) contact apple and see if it is policy.

Here's my story:

I have 2 of the same generation 2011 15" macbook pros, one I ran as a backup or to run shows. First one had the gpu failure last fall, when I bought the second as a backup used for while it was in the shop. I bought the first laptop new but without applecare since previously it had been the smart choice with apple. Switched out the drives and continued to work on the backup. When the first one came back I swapped the drives again and continued to work on the original laptop (minus the week or so of re-authorizing software, sigh). This fall the first laptop went blue screen from gpu failure a second time. I swapped the drives again and tried to work on the backup laptop, while also calling apple directly by phone and trying to talk to people at the applestore. I had no luck and apple was only offering to replace the motherboard at full price. I had to use the backup to run sound and video for a show but it crashed during a show and is now crashing every 15 minutes even with gfx. At this point I ordered a refurb 15" from the applestore with applecare in order to be able to reliably be able to continue to work. I called apple back to see if there was any chance at getting them to cover the repair or offer a discount for a replacement (my real preference). To my surprise, after giving them the full sob story with references to the online petition, class action suit and this thread, they agreed to fully fund a motherboard repair. Today I got the laptop back and asked the genius some questions. For the first time I got confirmation that they were aware of the issue, petition and this thread and that the genius stated that any further motherboard/gpu repairs would be covered until 5 years from the purchase date.

This is from today, and its the first I've heard of it myself.

So I do ask everyone who needs the repair to keep it in mind and call 1-800-apple to discuss this and see if it is official policy.

As far as I can tell, apple is covering gpu/motherboard repairs for those who paid out of pocket for a first replacement and see further failures for up to 5 years after the purchase date.

Please ask if this is policy, if it is just in Canada and if its only for those who paid for the repair.

thanks and good luck.

I really don't know what Apple managers are thinking?

Do they really want to push it at a level that the number of court cases becomes embarrassing?

Do they really think that everybody passing through all what we are living will easily get forgotten and everybody goes happily in a Apple Store to buy a new machine?

Do they really think that people even if they managed to get the MB temporarily fixed like to live in fear that the next day it will break again?

They don't realize that even if the machine will last a decent time, this complete uncertainty is creating very unhappy customers?

I really don't know where they want to push and how many thousands of angry customers they need to give a decent official response?

paying for a laptop that jus last for 2 years ? i mean OMG 2500$ jus like that gone down the drain

My Macbook Pro (early 2011) also had such problems several months. I searched online and find there are lots of people have same issue and the number is just keeping growing in China. It's very frusting experience for us. I use it for my work and all the data were saved onto it. Now it's only piece of metal with bited apple logo. All the methods to repair are only temporary ones, even if changing the mainboard, no one could guarantee it will not happen again. People use Mac for pleasant experience, not for such miserable situation. I was a fan of Apple, but not any more.

My family has been buying apple computers since IIe.

This MacBook Pro i7 has been crashing for months without rhyme or reason. Many hours have been spent trying to resolve it and many hours of work has been lost because of it. It is unacceptable. Apple needs to contact each customer in this thread and explain what they will do to address this problem. My wife wanted to upgrade her iphone 4 to the iphone 6. We decided she will wait until Apple resolves this issue.

Given the high number of motherboards broken, even after the first repair, I made the decision not to repair my Macbook Pro.

I can not work with a computer that can break at any time, are a professional and time that does not work is money lost! For me, the reliability and quality of my computers are fundamental, they are first of performance and design.

I decided to buy a new computer, but I'll sell it before the warranty runs out!

My confidence and esteem Apple is very low, with all of us Apple is not acting in a professional way: I am very disappointed by the conduct of Apple !!!