Q: Early 2011 Macbook Pro 15' - Logic Board Failure

I had a thread deleted on this topic. I wrote Tim Cook today explaining the ongoing issues from day one with my MacBook Pro. I included the thread that was deleted and the response to me. I also included the response I got from the repair person who told me if it were him he'd sell and buy a new laptop. Next I'm going to make Mr. Cook aware of my issue contacting him on twitter.

I am in Ontario Canada so tomorrow I'm going to check and see what our laws are regarding a purchase of something that has repeatedly broken from day one. Depending upon that and what my response if any is from Mr. Cook's office email I'll see what I'll do next.

I've been thinking of writing to Apple as well.  Apparently lemon laws don't apply to computers.  Anyway I think it's dispicable to tell someone to sell a computer with known issues to an unsuspecting person.  My daughter was told to do that too.  They said to just bring it in to the store and the people interested in buying it could come, they'd run all the tests, verify it worked and the transaction would be done.  How dishonest.  First off no test can detect the issues and there is no guarantee the logic issue is solved.  I've just completed my second logic board replacement.  Dispicable.....

Tim Cook's office got back to me almost right away which was admittedly impressive.

Here's what is not impressive. After I got off the phone with Mr. Cook's office and his very nice contact person, I got a call from the repair depot *We are not near an Apple Store* I was told there was so called "debris" in my laptop and so they would not fix it even though it was under warranty and even though it is the exact same logic board failure I had before. So it IS the logic board but, this time the repair depot is blaming it on me.

Odd, no other device in our home has had any issues whatsoever including my husbands super cheap Sony laptop. We bought our laptops the same week. I opted for the far more expensive MBP and he got the cheaper Sony. Chides and jokes abounded at that time. Who is laughing now? He's never had to have his go in for a single repair and it is humming right along.

I relayed my experience with the repair depot and am waiting to hear back on Monday from Mr. Cook's office. In the meantime I will go pick up my DEAD laptop which was not dead when I took it in there. There are other depots here and I will never darken the door of that place again currently un named for now.

This machine has never "Just Worked" and when the first logic board was replaced I'm pretty sure it was replaced with refurbished one. I think Mac is just too rich for my blood. I thought I was paying more and purchasing a workhorse. Instead I got an old nag with a nice track pad.

Every other laptop I've ever had has lasted me six years or more with no repairs needed. I am going to have to pay out of pocket to fix this thing if something doesn't change and even if I do I don't expect this lemon to last another two years. If I had the money I'd just buy another computer but, you know when you lay out 3 grand plus and life gets in the way you just in the real world cannot turn around and do it again every two years.

The person at the repair depot *not Apple* was rude, abrupt and really upsetting to deal with. Apple is still looking into this. He was so rude I feel intimidated to go in and pick up my not fixed laptop so I'm waiting for my husband to get off work today and go with me. Seriously. When I get it back I'll make the two hour trip to an Apple store even though by then it will be off warranty. God, this is actually the worst experience I have ever had with any electronic device and we've had many.

I think I will go ahead and get it repaired elsewhere and as soon as that it done I will just sell it as the first intake repair person suggested I do. Really perplexed by this entire situation.

So far the only good thing is that if you do send an email to Mr. Cook's office you do get a reply which is to be fair, impressive.

It's dead right?  I would not take it to just any repair store.  When I called Apple about my second logic board failure they were going to send me a box to send it in to an Apple repair place.  Since I live a couple of hours from an Apple store I just took it back in.  I would urge you to pursue this avenue instead of just letting any non certified Apple computer repair place have it.  Hope that didn't mess up your warranty claim. 

It was just extremely slow when I took it in, lots of kernel panics, not recognizing battery, errors. The guy told me it IS the logic board but, he also said it is bricked so I don't know when he opened it up if that killed it totally now or what. He also said there was "debris" so I would have to pay for it myself even though this is the second logic board failure within a year.

I just called another authorized repair place and they too told me I likely had a refurbished logic board put in when the first one failed at one year old.

The repair depot is authorized by Apple but, I wish I'd known there is a far better one near me where all the techs are senior techs and they have a reputation since most of them have been around a really long time. Second place I called recommended taking it there. So today I have to go pick it up, wait till Monday to see what Mr. Cook's office says and then take it or send it in somewhere else. New Logic board is 650 dollars and I run out of Apple Care on the 11th.

I think you are right though, I think when I hear back from Mr. Cook's office on Monday I just might make the two hour trip *one way* or send it right in to Apple directly. I wish I'd been told directly when the first logic board failed it was probably a refurbished one that went into my one year old 3500 dollar machine.

So much about this is disappointing but, hopefully it will get somehow fairly resolved. We have three people in this home, two Ipad Airs, two Iphones, One Sony Laptop, one Samsung pad, One Samsung phone, One Samsung Smart T.V., One fifteen inch MBP and my 17 inch MBP none of our devices have had issues except my MBP and it has had them from day one.

I wish I could edit posts. At any rate I want to update and be fair about this. I called a second repair depot that was recommended to me. The one with all senior techs and spoke with a person there. I told him everything including the fact that the other place tried to say "debris" was an issue. He was extremely helpful and said "That shouldn't matter for something like this" and asked me to bring it to him asap and he will try to honour my warranty! Despite the fact this is my second logic board in two years I still feel better knowing I was listened to about these ongoing issues. You know most people will try to work with a repair no matter how many times it happens if they are treated decently after spending $$$ to buy from a company. I did, headphone power handling not working right out of the box, logic board failures. I tried to work with the repair tech and not go crazy angry over it as that does no good. This last issue though has been a head ache and the repair depot was abysmal at helping me. They shouldn't represent Apple.

I'm going to pick it up right now at rude person depot. I don't hear back from Mr. Cook's office until Monday but, there's no use leaving it at that one place. I hate to go in there, the guy was such a jerk I don't even want to face him.

At any rate, the second place has a good rep and the person I spoke to is going to try to work with me to get this fixed under the warranty. At least that is something better than I had. All this aside it is a shame that a machine sold as high performance *Pro* has had so many issues. I can understand that sometimes things happen but, I'd like to be treated like a valued customer when they do. Mr. Cook's office so far has, so has this second repair place so far.

I'm sorry everyone is having these issues. I just cannot afford to replace this laptop so soon after what I laid out for it. When it works I love the responsive track pad, the OS and other things about it but, I'm always on pins and needles wondering what's next to go wrong. That' shouldn't' be happening so often and if it does Apple ought to own that some of these machines didn't "just work" Hopefully, that will be the outcome for almost everyone on this thread.

Okay, heard back from Mr. Cook's office they are not going to fix my MacBook Pro logic board issue this time for reasons of "debris" Good bye Apple this was the most unreliable laptop I ever owned. Refurbished parts without telling me, things that don't work out of the box and I work  with it. When the shoe is on the other foot you bail.

No other devices in our home have had any repair issues except this one but thanks for investigating me with the rude tech.

I would advise anyone thinking they are going to get a work horse machine to think twice. IPad Air, going back to the store as I've had it less than 90 days. Fool me once.

Wow what a disappointment.  I mean it's not as if this mysterious 'debris' could have been put inside by you.  Don't they get that?  Maybe talk again to the second repair place and see if' they'll help you out.  It may be that they don't know what Cook said.

Second place said they have seen all kinds of "debris" from cat hair to everything else in all their time doing repair and that it should NOT have caused a logic board failure. They said it sounded like an excuse to them as I had this same problem once before and no mention of "debris" They were honest, and forthcoming and if I'd taken it to them in the first place my warranty probably would have been honoured.

Now that prospect is up in the air.

They also said they will fix it.

Because Apple got involved with the first weird place I don't know now if they will cover it but, at least second place seemed knowledgable and didn't blame ME for a lemon laptop that never has worked right. In fact they made it run worse.

Went to pick up my laptop at first place. When I took it in I said for them to put Maverick on it AFTER it was fixed. What did they do? They put Maverick on it and did not fix it!! So now the somewhat slow laptop I took in there is unusably slow. It just goes into kernel panic. NO wonder the guy couldn't stop getting kernel panic! They put Maverick on a laptop with logic board failing.

This just gets more ridiculous. I told Apple "Happy Mother's Day" at the end because they ruined mine. I'll get it fixed even if I have to pay because I cannot afford another laptop at this time.

Unbelievable! 

Yup. Same here

My

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)

Screen took its first dump yesterday.

Once i got it back i started rigorous back up which took hour and the mbp held up very well.

I got some work done this morning and then again.

Took it to Keane Mac Repair, (very nice guys) and it took me an hour to get to dump again.

I am told that this will cost me $800 and 8 days.

I so loved this machine and now it looks like i won' t be out of woods even after i have it repair. Really needed something reliable.

This really seems endemic.

They should really consider a recall on the parts. I will gladly pay for the labor.

Well I thought I would update my situation. I had my logic board fail on me last month. I took it into an Apple Store to have them take a look but was quoted $600 CND for a repair and decided against it. Well today I tried the baking technique that I've read about some people doing. I was somewhat skeptical about it but really had nothing else to lose and gave it a go. It was fairly straight forward getting the logic board out (I used ifixit's guide). I cooked the board for 7.5 min at about 375 F (very old non-exact oven) and then put it back together. After re-assmbly I booted it up and it's back to life again! Hopefully I'll be able to get a few more months out of it.

I had the same problem with a 2011 Macbook Pro 13". The Logic board failed 3 times. I was so angry and put my foot down and they replaced it.

Hi

My Macbook pro - early 2011 15inch model.. is not booting and display is all blank white and no luck despite network recovery etc. Apply guys say viedo processor failure and motherboard needs replacement and costs $700..unfortunate as this seems a manufacturing defect and I see so many posts about these inherent manufacturing defects even in 2011 models. Apple's relationship manager argues about lack of warranty and that the machine is old and ages. I dont understand how Apple can talk this language which we used to hear during 70's about electronics failure etc. I clearly see this failure being associated to a previously known manufacturing defect around video processor and mother board, notwithstanding the out of warranty situation that i am in and their typical and expected responses. Any ideas are appreciated and I am unable to reconcile Apple products despite their hype and supposedly high quality stuff can just fail like this, its so sickening unfortunately. Cheers.

Well, less than 7 months after spending 350 for a new logic board, my 2011 has failed again.  This will be the last mac I will EVER buy.