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

Another one bites the dust. Late 2011 MBP 15". Froze in the middle of working on a dissertation for grad school. So...not great.

Got it booted back up after several dozen hard resets, got all my data off of it. Did my research, discovered this thread and all the other things like it. Took it to the Apple store (living in the UK presently) to have a genius spend 2 hours looking at it. Decided to run an in store "diagnostic" that took several more hours. When I came back to get it, they presented it to me with a smile saying they found no issues! I booted it back up and recreated the graphics failure. (Worth noting that the apple genius ran the diagnostics with the laptop hooked up to an external display...)

They did a clean install of the OS, which made it boot without a problem. Took it home, knowing full well it would fail, and within half an hour it did. Rebooked an appointment, took it back in, spent another two hours with a different genius, to finally be told it looked like a graphics problem, that the logic board would need to be replaced (you know...what I told them I suspected it was from the get go, 7 hours earlier). 500 pound fix.

To see how many people are being impacted by this is monstrous. As a student, I was anticipating this laptop would get me through my grad program...not even a full year into it and the thing is shot. Couldn't afford applecare when I bought it...but I thought I was getting an apple product because they weren't supposed to break like this.

REALLY hope someone in some position of authority makes a move to help us out. I want to continue being on apples team...but this is just the worst.

Same here. I have Early 2011 15in. Macbook Pro. Replaced Logic Board, Memory twice and got it working for 6 months. Now i started seeing signs of the same problem again once in a while. Looks like it is going to go bad again.

Hi all, I haven't read all of the above so excuse me if I am not giving you any news, I just wanted to give you an idea how this problem was handled in Switzerland. I had many problems with the GPU of my Early 2011 MacBook Pro and the MLB was replaced three times so far. The first time was about a year ago and I went to an authorised retailer and not to an Apple Store. They first incorrectly diagnosed the problem and told me that they had to replace the hard drive. After that, they still did not really find the problem but said that the MLB had to be replaced, which I did given that my computer was only two years old and running fabulously. About a month later the problem reappeared and the MLB was replaced again, this time by using the 3-months guarantee of the MLB. The first time I had to pay. A few weeks ago I again had problems (the computer was very hot and fans were running at maximum speed most of the time although I was running only Mail and Preview). I'm, I took it directly to the Apple Store and after about five minutes of looking at it they decided to replace in the MLB for free. There is no official replacement program but I think Apple has now recognised the issue and they don't charge you anything if you had the issue before (they call this a repeat repair). So good luck if you haven't solved your problem yet. If the problem reappears there should be no problem.

I've got to command you for your patience, and the Switzerland Apple Store for fixing the problem free of charge.

You probably already realize that this problem is likely to recur sometime in the future, all things being equal. This is fundamentally a heat-related problem (that's a simplification, of course), and the best thing you can do to stop it from happening again is to keep your temperatures moderate; your computer temperature should never exceed 160•F. (If I'm doing batch conversions that generate lots of heat, I turn the fans at maximum during the entire process.)

Unfortunately I'm joining the club as well. I have a late 2011 15" Macbook Pro. About a month ago it randomly started shutting down. An Apple support tech led me through the process of removing startup programs and deleting temporary files that might have caused the issues. It worked fine for about 2 weeks, then last week the shutdowns started again. A phone tech told me to erase the hard drive and reinstall the OS, which I did. As I was filling in the information to set up the account on my computer it shut down again, less than 5 minutes after reinstalling the OS.

I took it into the Apple store where the genius said it seemed to be a logic board issue. Its been sent off for repair now.

I didn't read the Apple Insider article about the similar issues until yesterday, the day after I'd sent off my computer.

Thanks, you do a lot of things when you have no choice. I am well aware that the problem might come back and I just hope that I can work without problems for another year or so. After that I will buy a new machine. If I am having problems before that it is probably a repeat repair and I will take it to Apple straight away.

I had the same problem on a macbook pro 17" 2011. I applied the Baked Apple Recipe which did its job for now. Mac is back to perfect working order, quieter and running my big external HDMI monitor through thunderbolt as well as few other Thunderbolt, firewire and usb peripherals. Since most of the repairs will suggest logic board exchange you really have nothing to loose. Try it. I put it in for 8 min at 190 degrees Celsius. Taking it apart and putting it back together is fun too. Also, you will find a number of service places that will replace the video card only for a much smaller fee. Here in Poland they do it for around 130$.

You did a good job on the bake, but I suppose you realize that the fix will probably last around four months before the LB problems reappear again. With each additional bake, there will be less solder, and the results will be less stable. But at least your machine is working again, and you have time to consider your options.

In the meantime, you can improve your chances by running your machine at lower temperatures; 160•F should be your absolute high, even if you have to crank up your fans full bore. I use iStat Menus to monitor my temps in real time. I use Fan Control to turn up my fans.

I hope you don't have any recurrences of the LB issue. But if there's a next time, consider a reball - which can actually fix the problem for a longer period of time.

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Good advice.  How do you control the temp?  How do you adjust the fan speed?  Mine is sitting up on a 'thing' that allows air to flow all around it.  I use iStat to monitor as well. 

clintonfrombirmingham wrote:

 

That's only for the 15" mid-2010 models with a known defect with the NVIDIA card. I'm sorry that you had to have the logic board replaced, but I'll parrot again what the Apple folks told you... if inly you'd purchased AppleCare, the repair would have been free. There are no known 'issues' with the 15" Early 2011 models.

 

Clinton

There are tons of reports of graphics failures in the 2011 models, including a discussion here that was over 300 pages long last time I looked. Apple has been pretending the problem doesn't exist.

How do you run the machine at a lower temp?  How do you "crank the fans up"?  Also, how do you find someone who will reball the laptop?  I'm anticipating another failure.  I'm on my third logic board.  I guess I have to count the one that came from the first fix that died within 7 days.

While I agree that AppleCare is a good deal many of these computers failed after the warranty has expired.  So in their case Applecare wouldn't have helped.  I got lucky....mine failed one week before my Applecare warranty ran out.

Yes. I realise that. In Poland the graphic chip can be changed for around 130$ and that is probably what I will do. As for now I am building a powerful PC (not enough money for the Mac Pro) and since all the music audio software I use for work is available for that platform I will give it a go. I have never used windows before so this will be an adventure ;-)

How do you run the machine at a lower temp?  How do you "crank the fans up"?  Also, how do you find someone who will reball the laptop?  I'm anticipating another failure.  I'm on my third logic board.  I guess I have to count the one that came from the first fix that died within 7 days.

Two economical tools can stave off LB issues. iStat is a reliable app, but you have that already. Fan Control is another app which actually allows you to turn up and down the fans.

Look for a vendor with a record of favorable fixes and a warranty.

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Hello everyone,

the only thing i can say about this problem is that you need to complain about it. I phoned with a CR and after a long call he ultimately accepted to replace the Logic Board for free. My MBP was out of warranty like everyone here. You need to complain, complain and complain.