Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

I'll add myself to the ever growing list of early 2011 Macbook Pro owners with logic board issues.  When I took my computer in to the Apple store, I opted for the depot repair.  I picked up the laptop yesterday, and I was told that the 3rd party RAM I had installed may have been faulty and could have contributed to the issue.  They installed the standard 2x2GB sticks of Apple RAM in the laptop to get it up and running, and did return my 2x4GB sticks of 3rd party RAM to me.  My question now: is my 3rd party RAM from OWC a legitimate concern, or was Apple just trying to evade any possible claim of responsibility for faulty manufacturing of the logic board and graphics chip?  Is it safe for me to go ahead and re-install my 3rd party RAM which had been running fine for over 2 years?

Just in case it's of help to anyone:

My 15" ground to a halt about 2 weeks ago after months of limping along on a strategy of gfxCardStauts and moving the ATI and AMD kernel extensions around. Finally, however, the machine became unbootable - and the HD was a complete mess.

So, I put the Mac in Target Disc mode, and used a second Mac (my business computer - a 2011 17" MBP that, luckily is still working...) to completely wipe the drive and install Yosemite.

Once that was done, I disconnected the two Mac's and started up the 15". I had to zap the NVRAM to convince it to get up and running - but the stripy-apple-to-grey-screen behaviour was back. So, I restarted in Single User mode, moved the ATI kernel extensions out to a DisabledExtensions directory and rebooted.

This did the trick well enough that the computer is back up and limping again. It crashes occasionally, but at least it restarts on the 2nd or 3rd try instead of the 40th or 50th - so in my opinion, it's an improvement.

All I have to do now is to recover all my data and re-install my apps.

Reinstall the RAM, and see if the problem reoccurs.

Ok folks...back here....sent my MBP early 2011 17 inch 2.2Ghz core i7 to an Apple certified tech store. They ran diagnostics and concluded it was a "logic" board problem and required a logic board replacement amounting to about USD 629 bucks. I asked the tech company rep what exactly the problem was and she kept mentioning a logic board problem but would not specify the exact cause either because she did not know or was not in a position to conclude on behalf of the tech store.

I have ditched this computer for the present moment. I had to borrow money to buy a new computer...switching to good ol PCs...at least i can believe in freedom and hope that for the money you spend you get what you want....never going to buy an Apple product again....ever....overpriced piece of metal junk now.

For those of you who are out of warranty...you are better off spending your hard-earned money on a cheaper alternative rather than be duped by Apple to buy theirs. I ended up buying a Lenovo machine....hopefully that will last!

Again folks... a big big lesson learned here.......Apple is an expert at creating a screen of illusionary marvel to suck the money out of your pockets...here is my 2-cent advice to Apple...focus on your CUSTOMERS AND QUALITY OF SERVICE!!!!!

@#%& Apple 2014!

I Agree. The cost of hardware has gone completely down yet the cost of apple machines are far cry from the level of support you get. It has been over a week yet I still have not received my computer from Apple depot repair. I have been using my HP with windows 8 and to be honest performance is better with SSD drive and 8 gigs of memory. Only hassle is making sure all virus and spyware and malware programs stay up to date

No solutions, just one more in the long row:

MacBook Pro (early 2011), Intel Core i7 (2 GHz), 8 GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6490M + Intel HD Graphics 3000, Snow Leopard...

Sometimes booting works normally, sometimes ends with white screen. Starting certain programs (all Adobe, Samsung Kies, Sony Bridge, ...) or trying to reinstall OS (both Snow Leopard and Yosemite) always lead to complete hang-up (screen freezes).

I have been trying to post a query for advice regarding my 15" early 2011 Macbook Pro logic board but my posts keep getting removed for being off-topic or being non-technical. I've been following this thread and it seems like this issue is even bigger than I originally thought. If nothing else, at least it is good to know I am in the company of many others who are just as frustrated by and disappointed in Apple's lack of response to this problem.  I've been an Apple product fan up until this Macbook logic board issue. Definitely having doubts about continuing to support the Apple product if I don't see any response or solutions offered to all of us who've been left out to dry...

Add my Macbook Pro to the list of failures.  Mid-2011 15" MBP bought during the Black Friday sales that year.  I do not use the machine for anything particularly GPU-straining.  It first happened to me 5-6 weeks ago, on a Saturday morning.  I didn't know what was happening, so I thought it might be related to a virus.  Eventually, after turning it off for a while, I was able to turn it back on again, and I installed Avast!  It took about 6-8 hours to do a full scan, and it said that it had found some stuff.  I removed it and rebooted, and it was fine for the next few weeks.  Well yesterday all the problems were back.  After digging around more, I came across the threads about the faulty GPU, and the descriptions I've been reading of the problems describe my issues exactly.

I'm torn about what to do.  I'm lucky in that I live in Manhattan, so there are multiple Apple Stores nearby.  My question to the forum - has anyone had any luck at a particular Apple Store in NYC in terms of getting a free or reduced repair?  If so, how did you go about getting it?  I don't have Apple Care.

What's killing me is the timing of this.  I had been holding out to upgrade until after the Broadwell chips came out.  Having to buy a new laptop now would be a huge disappointment.  This machine was otherwise fine for being 3 years old.  It was my first Mac, and I loved it.

My 17" MacBook Pro, purchased July 2011, has been slowly acting strange.  However, today came the blank screens, blue stripes, pink stripes, black/white zig zags, ect.  I am absolutely sickened about this, as I am starting college classes in less than two months and cannot affort an expensive fix, or new computer.

As many have mentioned, this was my first Apple product and I absolutely loved it.  My only option is to take it to the Apple store and pray for help.  Hopefully Apple will do the right thing. 

I got my early 2011 MacBook Pro in June 2011.  It has been developing the graphic issues since last month.  So I took it to Apple Store, the staff in Genius Bar told me my MacBook Pro is almost 4 years old.  My only option is to sent it in for repair at the flat rate of $310 befor tax.  I don't think there is any free replacement from Apple once you are out of warranty. According to the staff, he has been instructed to suggest depot repair only.  I told him some reports indicate it is only a temporary fix. He responded that he has been told the depot repair will fix the problem.  He even suggested that I should do GPU stress test when I got my machine  back.  I guess Apple is much aware of the issue.  But you just need to pay for repair if your laptop is out of warranty. 

My early 2011 Macbook Pro has just developed the symptoms and I'm utterly disappointed. I use my computer for work. So far, gfxcard status has been helping and it's definitely better than nothing but I would like to see a solution to this problem.

Has everyone here signed the petition? I'm sure most of you here have but if you haven't, please sign it and share the link with anyone you know who is having

<Edited by Host>

Hi All,

Another post here as my SECOND!!  17" MacBook Pro has now all the signs of the logic board issue    - (Read that APPLE - two 2011 Mac books ! ).   Apple should change the name if this really is this how long "professional" hardware lasts in their definition.

The early 2011 17" MacBook pro had its original Logic board replaced after 2.5 years under apple care,  7 months later the "new" logic board  has failed and needs a third (out of AppleCare)

The late 2011  17" MacBook pro now has all the symptoms of the AMD / Logic board issues and will not run for more than 5-10 minutes before freezing (also just out of Apple care)

These particular Apple products are 100% FLAWED BY DESIGN

I have a Macintosh SE30 from 1990 that still runs fine and has never needed its logic board replaced .. come to think of it I have never had a motherboard replaced EVER !   Except of course on 2011 MacBook Pro's where so far (once the latest diagnostic confirms it ) between the two 2011 MacBook Pro's I own they will have had 4 Logic (mother) board failures since their purchase and / or repair.

Cases raised with Apple - I will post after my Genius bar appointment (I hold out ZERO hope of a suitable resolution but I'm prepared to be calm and try)

Another addition to the group! Mine was a late 2011 MBP 15" (from India) and the local dealership quoted $600 for replacing board. I didn't buy the apple care support either, thinking macbooks don't fail within 3 years and here I stand corrected. And after reading this long thread, I believe replacing the board won't help for long either. Maybe selling it off is the best solution for now but I'll only be putting someone else in trouble

Hello all, Just adding my voice and complaint to this ever growing list. I too have the exact same issue and interesting enough so do colleagues of mine who got the same model in the same batch and became faulty at pretty much the same time. One of us was lucky enough to happen inside the 3 year apple care but two of us were not as fortunate with the problem becoming critical just a few months out of warranty.  took my MacBook into Apple at the weekend here in the UK to see what the damage was, both physical and financial. I was told it is not a "known" issue but that they have seen a few with the same problem But that is what I would have expected to be honest as a "known issue" would require a recall. So they told me I could replace the logic board for £416 all in but it would only be guaranteed for 90 days and it could reoccur. Frankly for a product you pay a premium for on the back of it supposedly superior engineering and reliability I am really really disappointed. I expected better from apple. Maybe they will look into it if the numbers swell enough and the publicity becomes negative. I just hope my iMac, iPhone and ipad don't go the same way ;-)

Under European consumer law you could claim it is not fit for its contracted purpose up to six years since purchase.

Has anyone else tried this approach in the EU ?

This is the route I plan to take for the Early 2011 Macbook Pro with the logic board replaced under AppleCare once already.   The "Repair" was not fit for its contracted purpose (it is reasonable to expect a logic board to last for more than 7 Months - all my Motherboards over the years have lasted for at least the 7 years I had the devices without failing once )

There are plenty of other premium laptops out there - I Transferred to apple in 2011 after a reasonably long absence but I have no need to stay with Apple .. and if they do not satisfactorily address this issue I will happily give apple no more money and go back to Windows 7  and a premium laptop from a more reliable vendor.

ProTools and Adobe products run on many platforms and the reason I transferred to  Apple (premium hardware ) is a shattered and distant dream!