Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Same problem as the thousands on here. But I just called the call center (I am in Tokyo) and asked what Apple planned to do about this. I got a call back 30 minutes later saying they would come and pick up my MBP and exchange the logic board free of charge. I'm not sure if it's the global pressure making a difference or if I was just lucky after pleading my case (3rd mac in around 6-7 years, each dying at around 2-3 year mark).

Keep up the pressure anyway! It is obviously a faulty component and consumers should not have to foot the bill for this, esp after paying such a large sum for a "premium" product. And give the call center a call. You just never know. 

My only question is, before they come and pick up my MBP, would I be advised to switch back my memory chips since I upgraded from 8gb to 16gb using Crucial rather than a Mac product. I'm a little concerned that they may come back to me and say, "sorry but since you have installed non-Mac hardware this may be the cause of your faulty logic board."

Any advice would be much appreciated. I've got around 48 hours before they come to collect.

It's Apple.

Anything not installed by them is regarded evil and causing the problems.

Better put the original ones back to avoid problems.

Seriously, think it depends who takes it in or fixes it.

In this case think they are starting to get they do have a problem that in the end might blow in their face if they keep ignoring it.

Would play safe and put the original back in if you stil have it.

(Regardless what some claim, Apple still seems to earn more on computer sales compared to their phones and tablets.

Probably a much higher profit on it.)

When I took my MBP in the first time, I asked if the 3rd party memory might be the problem, even brought in the original memory in case they wanted to switch it back. They weren't concerned at all about it. But, YMMV, maybe give them another ring?

D3us wrote:

 

(Regardless what some claim, Apple still seems to earn more on computer sales compared to their phones and tablets.

Probably a much higher profit on it.)

Complete nonsense, read the numbers, they're not a secret.

Please stop with the maybe's and the probably's. Stick to what you know.

Late 2011 15" Macbook Pro owner here.

Started experiencing exactly the same problems yesterday and has rendered the laptop completely unusable now.

I'm a university student, the laptop's out of AppleCare by a few months and I can't afford a repair.

Two day ago my MBP crashed and since that it has red horizontal stripes all over the screen and displays a gray screen after the logon.

Took it to the official support here at Portugal, and they've said to me they're receiving dozens of units with this exact same problem everyday. It's with no doubt an manufacture flaw due to the GPU overheat. My laptop was used only for office work and stayed almost everyday at my well ventilated desk.

Contacted Apple Care, no solution for me.

There is no sustainable reason for an 2 year well-treated "premium" notebook to burn it's Motherboard.

I've been a proud owner of many Apple products over the years, but since this recent demonstration of lack of quality and support i'm seriously considering not buying anymore products of this brand.

I have a late 2011 15 inch MB pro with the Radeon 6750M graphics card and have been experiencing many of the same problems that many others have been reporting on this thread.  I am in the process of getting my MBPro repaired and am hoping it will work. However it seems that many have had repeat issues even after repair. It appears that Apple will honor my AppleCare warranty. My only concern is what happens when the logic board or GPU fails again in three months and I'm no longer covered by my AppleCare warranty.

My Mac Tech friend tells me that there is a pending class action lawsuit on 2011 MBP graphics issues and " Apple will eventually address the GPU issue."

MY LAPTOP SHOWS VERTICAL GREEN BARS ON LOGIN AND THEN A GRAY BLANK SCREEN THERE AFTER..STARTED ON NOVEMBER 6TH 2014. BOUGHT THE LAPTOP SOMETIME IN MID 2011!!!

OK folks....i am gonna add myself to this forum and say that i bought an early 2011 Macbook Pro 17 inch with 2.2 Ghz with Core i7 processor.

The laptop worked fine..until yesterday and all of a sudden ....the issue. Talked to AppleCare after 40 mins on wait...tried different boot options but nothing worked. I live in Maine and the nearest certified apple center is 58 miles away. Went to that store and checked in my laptop. KEEPING MY FINGERS CROSSED BUT NOT SURE HOW MUCH THAT WILL HELP IF THIS IS INDEED A MOTHERBOARD/GRAPHICS CARD ISSUE.

In the last 3 years (bought the laptop sometime in mid 2011)...i have never played games....or done any video-editing and/or intensive photo editing...i am a software engineer primarily involved in coding and research. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE given the price of buying a "premium" laptop. As an engineer i do understand that hardware and software problems can occur from time time to time including motherboard/display issues which is everyone's ultimate nightmare.....BUT IT IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE WHEN YOU LIST A PRICE OF ABOVE USD$2000 for a laptop that should work flawlessly for at least 2000 days. I have never dropped my laptop and treat it like a queen.

I am immensely disappointed with Apple that nothing has materialized in form of a formal response or help from the company regarding this issue...at least to my knowledge after reading as much as i possibly could without a functioning laptop after experiencing this problem.

Like everybody else...we have really important stuff that we can not afford to loose just because of a potential manufacturing defect...if money can not buy stability what will???....The only thing i can hope for now is some goodwill gesture from Apple to their customers who bought their products on the best of faith and belief that their "quality" products were built to last for the price you pay.

I am still hoping....but my patience will wear thin rapidly if there is no solution from Apple in the future. To Apple Inc....you are about to loose an admirer of your products and engineering.....and not only because of this issue..but by they way you are handling it thus far.

Oh...and bytheby....this issue started 4 days before i am scheduled to appear for a software engineering technical interview!!!

Is your data properly backed up?

Hello Csound1,

I have 2 backups...1 for my most important documents and a Sandisk external CruzerFit which i must say is a godsend as a synchronized backup drive. The problem is i also use top end software like Matlab and Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate on my Windows virtual machine which i got for free from the university i study at. The price on this software even with a student discount is in the hundreds! The data save for a few folders that include database-held research data which i was scheduled to synchronize is safe...but the software is probably gone if i can not retrieve the VM properly from my desktop. The VM was updated and backed up about 2 months ago but i recently installed new software....data is safe but the software...which i use on a daily basis for my work is something i am having a very very hard time doing without. Also i can not do my research work in any way without the laptop due remoting commands and customizations i made to my macbook to work easily from home.

I can easily remove the drive once i get it back from the Apple certified dealer..but i dont have a second computer to work with...as it is the Macbook Pro punched my wallet deep enough that i could not afford another secondary computer as backup incase this one failed....valuable lesson learned here!

Most importantly...i have an interview in 4 days and for which i was preparing on my computer. Now it seems my best chance is to read and hope i come through ok....which is tough...its like preparing for an olympic 100 meter dash by just watching the sport.

After 8 months since reballing on my MacBook Pro Early 2011 today I had only one artifacts and stripes with 3 BEEP concurrently sound when I was uploading a file. I reboot machine and now is working well. I hope that is not the GPU. Computer was running cooler (38 celsius) and in Console Log there is no error on the GPU or monitor. I hope....................

My MacBookPro 2011 is back since today, I payed ruffly 750 swiss francs and they replaced the mother board and the battery... they said to contact apple care if I insisted on a refund.

I have now also started backing up with TimeMachine and saving some important stuff manually. What is weird, copying stuff takes forever, to copy 30Gigabites it took nearly 1h. To delete 30 Gigabites another h and more. Is this normal? It got really hot while doing it. I'm somehow worried that it will die anytime again.

I've just received my MBP back from repair at a non-Apple repair service provider in Germany, near Hamburg. The GPU chip was replaced and soldered with a leaded solder and the VRAM tested (but not replaced since it turned out fine). The thermal paste was also cleaned and reapplied. It has cost me 160 euro. Everything seems fine after a couple of hours of usage. I am going to post once every week for the next six months whether I've had any problems after the repair.

I decided to go this way since I need my machine and I am simply not OK with giving Apple credit any more. I'd rather not lose my time with endless inefficient logic board replacements.

Cheers,

George

Hi George,

i´m living in Hamburg. Please send me the address of the provider.

Thanks

harry

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