Q: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

im an animator by the way,

what happens if it gives me the stripe screen on the night before the deadline?

(which is more than possible cos it being busiest time for the machine)

i did have a loss of work hour (about 6 to 10 hrs) when my mbp broke for the first time,

because i couldnt retrieve the file for 2 days.

my friend is a sound and effects live artist, who also happens to use a 2011 mbp.

and this topic scares the * out of her.

what happens if it happens during her live event?

are we just gonna go like yay its our THIRD time, lets get our NEW Replacement (of the same model?),

and just whistle while we headed for the apple store?

that could ruin her career. as she is relative new in the business.

shes undergoing a transition of software to a msi machine,

she doesnt like it but she could lose way more if she wasnt prepared.

brownsushi wrote:

 

im an animator by the way,

what happens if it gives me the stripe screen on the night before the deadline?

(which is more than possible cos it being busiest time for the machine)

i did have a loss of work hour (about 6 to 10 hrs) when my mbp broke for the first time,

because i couldnt retrieve the file for 2 days.

 

my friend is a sound and effects live artist, who also happens to use a 2011 mbp.

and this topic scares the * out of her.

what happens if it happens during her live event?

 

are we just gonna go like yay its our THIRD time, lets get our NEW Replacement (of the same model?),

and just whistle while we headed for the apple store?

 

that could ruin her career. as she is relative new in the business.

shes undergoing a transition of software to a msi machine,

she doesnt like it but she could lose way more if she wasnt prepared.

No, you won't get a replacement of the SAME model. They'll replace it with one of the latest machines.

If I were you and you're friend and have the funds to, I would go out and get a different machine altogether. Please don't wait for something drastic to happen especially when there's so much at risk. I've read at least 2 cases where some forum members had their laptop die on them during a presentation.. do not suffer the same fate.

My laptop died in the middle of a music project I'm currently working on. I didn't lose any files or anything since I have 2 backups and I work off an external hard drive anyway. It was more like I was sad that my very expensive machine just died on me, and it hasn't quite been 4 years. Also I was set back a day because I actually had to go out and buy a new machine, swap the RAM and hard drive and then do a clean install. I have an early 2011 Hi-Res 2.3 Ghz Macbook Pro.

By the way, stop trying to post any links, they will get deleted pretty quickly. I learned this the hard way.

roberto_sc wrote:

 

Are you guys having free repairs? I'd be happy if I could get one free repair...  I didn't go to the repair service guy yet but I emailed him and I was told I should expect to pay $1205 NZD to replace the logic board, or at leat pay $85 to do an assessment of what's causing the issue.

If you have Applecare or the laptop is still under warranty, then it's free. Otherwise, it isn't.

I just got VAST improvement on my macbook pro early 2011 with this issue.

Whenever I would try to go to the recovery disk when os x was booting I used to get a solid blue screen with black vertical stripes.  The fan would also start to spin really fast.  So I would just shut it down. But I let it sit for 5 or 6 minutes with the fan spinning and it shut itself down.  I booted it back up, and everything in os x looks NORMAL.  The system is still sluggish though.....

Edit 1: My bootcamp partition runs totally normal. YAY

Now, this is weird.

My computer has been totally unstable for the last week. Just trying to open any graphics intensive app would render the computer unusable instantly.

One hour ago I thought "what if I mess with my discrete card settings a bit, like screen resolution, check if drivers are updated, etc?". Changed screen resolution. Reverted changes. Then checked the Cuda drivers.

It turns out the Cuda drivers were waaaaaaaay out of date. I had version 3 something, and the latest version is version 6 something.

I Updated it and... bam.

Just played a whole hour of Kerbal Space program, machine running really hot, fans maxing out, and everything works fine. Still working now.

Probably a lucky strike and 100% certain it will fail again soon, but **** it, it was nice to see my mac working like it should again.

I wrote Tim Cook yesterday.

I expressed my thoughts as somebody who has owned Apple products from the 70s to today ]{, Lisa (Twiggy), Macintosh, Performa, G3, G4, Mini, Pro and iMac 5K, etc.

Among other things I made it clear to say that we would all feel better if we at least knew that any parts that are replaced were guaranteed for the next 3 years, instead of 90 days.  In 3 years... 2017 or 2018 many of us would move on from our 2011 model to newer models, but at least we wouldn't be forced to throw away our systems because of something out of our control, like a hardware flaw.

I also reminded him that the people who are upset now are Pro users.  The people who pay a premium, because we use these machines to earn a living.

brownsushi wrote:

 

im an animator by the way,

what happens if it gives me the stripe screen on the night before the deadline?

(which is more than possible cos it being busiest time for the machine)

i did have a loss of work hour (about 6 to 10 hrs) when my mbp broke for the first time,

because i couldnt retrieve the file for 2 days.

You cannot rely on Apple for a production machine. It took an Apple Store 2-3 weeks to replace the battery in my MBP, covered by AppleCare, and it took a premium AASP 7 weeks to replace the logic board. I mentioned this to Apple Benelux, Apple Europe and Tim Cook's office, and they all responded with a sheepish "Ow, we're sorry." Apple is no longer the choice of a professional.

A Macbook Pro 2011 advert  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSFbwdrQGjI   Apparently its design is ".. a testament to just how much we care"

Now that is surely false advertising - makes you sick

Well, after the short gaming session from last night I left my computer in sleep mode (closed lid). This morning it wouldn't wake up, so I restated it, and got the purple stripes again. Booted twice and then the system kicked in. I have been working the whole morning with no issues after that.

I am NOT using gfxcardstatus to prevent my mac from switching to discrete graphics.

I am a music composer, so I do not work with graphics intensive apps most of the time. Maybe this is helping. Or maybe the update on the Cuda drivers I did last night helped to make the machine more stable. It is hard to know, and the situation is unpredictable.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that for now things are working as they should. Not sure for how long though.

Obviously, there are many affected computers. Maybe the exact number helps Apple to understand the real proportions of this mess ..

<Edited By Host>

Hi, just replying here so that I can be added to the list:

Early 2011 MacBook Pro, 2.3 GHz i7, 15" High Resolution Display - running Yosemite.

Got stripes when booting, mostly going to the GSOD. Have Filevault enabled so the login

window appears before actually loading most of the OS stuff. After I enter my credentials

the loading bar appears and the screen goes grey afterwards. Sometimes I can actually

log in, but the system freezes about 30-45mins later (max).

Paid 3000 Eur for the machine to last my whole study - because I knew that I wont make

any money for that period of time. It didn't last - I have 2 more years to go. Neither went to the

apple store nor a certified store yet because I can not pay whatever a repair would cost.

At this moment this basically means I'm f****d. What angers me most is not that the laptop

broke - that happens - but that it seems like this is a systematical error in the whole product

line.

I must now decide what to do next: Go to a repair store and pay for something that I don't

think I must pay for. Buy a new product from a company that shows me the middle finger

or buy a product from another company with windows installed and using virtual machines

for development (what I can't afford anyways)... It's a lose-lose-lose situation.

Greetings from Germany.

I've been doing a lot of reading and I think this has not fully affected me so far since I always used gfxCardStatus. I notice the discrete card drains the battery way faster than the internal and since my battery went bad about a year and a half ago I started using it on integrated and got used to that. I replaced the battery early this year but guess I have got used to just leave it on integrated.

The Yosemite update to 10.10.1 made me restart... forgot to set it to integrated and when java kicked in the computer died.

Now that I managed to make it boot I set it to integrated and hope it will last and will be extremely careful if I need to reboot.

I think I won't take this one to an Apple store if it fails, I will probable take the logic board out and send it to someone to do reballing. If they use lead containing balls I don't think this problem will happen again.

Some places are extremely cheap (less than USD100).

This user forum has become swamped with so many posts that it's now impossible to find the posts with any solutions.   Can anyone point me to any posts that offers a solution to the white screen?  I used to only get vertical stripes, which resolved through restart, then i got the black screen, which I resolved, by removing connection to the battery, and reconnecting.  Then I had the "won't start at all, except for dim front light, l problem", which I resolved by letting the computer warm up, and then restart.  Now I get the gray/white screen, but can't get past it. 

Tried the following:

disconnect/reconnect battery

reset p-ram

restart command+v (not sure what that does)

let it rest for 12 hours.

Anything else?  Would love to just get in for an hour or so to access a document before I turn it in for repair. 

asge532ld wrote:

 

This user forum has become swamped with so many posts that it's now impossible to find the posts with any solutions.  

There are no solutions: this is a hardware problem which Apple refuses to acknowledge. You can get your logic board replaced, which may or may not be free, but it will buy you a new board with the same problem. The only theoretically possible solution is that Apple shells out serious money  to compensate ten thousands of affected users, but they have decided to sit it out, at the cost of a few thousand users leaving. Apple does not care.

Would like to try the whole turning off the discrete card thing. However I have a small problem, after my first call with someone from Apple they assured me it was a software error and that I should reinstall OSX. So I copied all of my files to an external hard-drive (to this day I have no idea how my Crapple was able to remain stable during that hour) and did a hard reset. Then when I did internet recovery (or whatever it is called), it started downloading and installing Mavericks but an hour into the installation I got the stripes and everything. Thus my question is: Can I turn off my discrete graphics card even though my Mac is still on hardreset settings and if yes, how?