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

thank you for your help

Hello,

My late-2011 15-inch MacBook Pro has also been diagnosed with a logic board failure and is unusable.  The local Apple Store has quoted me a 650 CAD + tax repair price.  Considering I purchased it refurbished online from the Apple Store in December 2012 (sans Apple Care), getting about 2.5 years of use, it would seem to have been quite a foolish purchase.  Unfortunately for me apparently the diagnostic tests at the Apple Store concluded that it wasn't my AMD GPU, but rather the logic board itself which caused the failure.  I should add that I haven't noticed any graphics issues, only frequent restarts / failures-to-boot-up and applications constantly quitting "unexpectedly" (getting less unexpected all the time).

Have others had the experience of a logic board failure not covered by the February 2015 Repair Program?  It sounds odd - as a long-time Apple customer (had my first iPod in 2002) I really wouldn't expect such a total failure of their premium product, and the existence of a Quality program that sounds potentially common-cause (the AMD and lead-free solder heat problems?) makes this sound suspicious.  I could add that the Genius reported "no major cosmetic issues" and no one has suggested this may be user-caused.

@Duspin: It is worth trying to call Customer relations in Cupertino?  My only interactions so far have been with very firm Geniuses and Apple Support over the phone.

@carl wolf: What's this about a fixed-rate repair plan?  Does this work in America Junior also?  They didn't mention it at the Apple Store, should I ask them about it, or call Apple Support?

Thank you very much!

Oh, also has this thread been branched over to a new discussion?  The link provided on the front page didn't work for me.  (Using Safari :-p)

https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

So the symptom list includes:

"Computer restarts unexpectedly"

" Unfortunately for me apparently the diagnostic tests at the Apple Store concluded that it wasn't my AMD GPU, but rather the logic board itself which caused the failure."

Where's your Apple Store? Is there another in the area? What was the failure code they got?

"Does this work in America Junior also?"

What's America junior?

The fixed rate plan is called a "Depot Repair" and has been running around $310 here in the US.

Yes, I'm aware of that link which includes "computer restarts unexpectedly" as a symptom, just as I've been experiencing.  It was a pretty big disappointment when the Genius told me it wasn't AMD-related and so not covered after a couple days of diagnostics.  They didn't tell me the failure code they got and I didn't ask.  I feel foolish now...

My Apple Store is in Halifax, NS, Canada (aka American Junior - silly reference :-P).  There's no other around, though there are Apple Authorized Service Providers.

Depot Repair sounds a lot better then my current options - I hope it's available and as economical over here.  I guess I'll try Cupertino first though.

Yes try Cupertino or the direct line mentioned in the recall.

"Call Apple and request a postage paid box to send your MacBook Pro to the local Apple Repair Center."

https://getsupport.apple.com/ServiceOptionAction.action

There was an earlier recall due to a similar GPU problem w/ the  iBooks. I ran the ASD for a client for 4 hours before it kicked out the correct error code. She took that to the Chicago Apple store and had the free repair done.

Call Apple in Cupertino, SpoiledBarrel.  Sounds like the Apple Store is hosing you.  I'm on my 3d logic board--all replaced free of charge.  There is a program in place and for some reason your local Apple Store isn't paying attention to it.  Probably a financial incentive to avoid the $500+ repair, but it has little to do with their bottom line and all to do with yours.

Did you ever get this taken care of? I had my logic board replaced under the program in middle April. Now this month(July) I had the same issues and last night the macbook shut itself down and won't even boot to the start up chime. I took it into apple today and the guy told me it's past the 90 day warranty. He would charge me $300+ to send out to be repaired, or he could charge $600+ to be repaired in house. He also tried to tell me that because it won't boot they can't test it and that since it doesn't boot, it's a different video issue. I even showed him a picture of when the screen was scrambled. So they replaced my faulty logic board with a faulty one... and now won't fix it. I bet they get a lot of people with this one. It's tempting me to stop using apple even though I've loved and pushed them for 15 years.

Hey, well the latest is it just got resolved!  I tried to call Apple Support one last time before Cupertino, and the guy (I guess he was a supervisor?) completely solved the issue.  After some prolonged discussions (was on hold for 20 minutes), I was offered the full logic board replacement, free of charge (somewhat unexpectedly, because it was made clear once again that my AMD GPU was fine, and this was the subject of the Repair Program).  The Customer Service rep did note the existence of the lawsuit in California over the entire 2011 MacBook Pro 15-17-inch logic board, though.  Seeing as I'm in Canada where they don't offer free shipping, they got my local Apple Store on the line, which did the repair in house in a day! 

Overall the whole issue probably lasted 3 weeks to diagnose and repair (mostly because near the beginning symptoms were intermittent, so they seemed repaired), and I would've been on the hook for a pretty penny had I not declined the initial Apple Store repair.  In the end I'm satisfied, it's too bad it took so long to diagnose but I would've been ready to pay a reasonable amount for the repair - no Apple Care, 2.5-year-old computer...

I just hope the new logic board lasts, or that it fails within 90 days for the warranty.

Anyway - pleased with Apple, feel comfortable continuing to pay them bushels of money.  I was quite upset thinking I'd have to get a different notebook because their proposed repair was uneconomical, giving their product an unacceptably rapid depreciation.  I'm also wondering just what happened internally in this case - was the Apple Store really wrong to not offer the repair immediately?  I'm leaning more towards that it was up to their discretion, and a Customer Service rep working directly for corporate Apple is more likely customer-focused than the store, which has its own profitability targets.

Thank you very much for the sound advice, Duspin and spudnuty, here and elsewhere on this quite informative forum.

I have had two repairs done on mine this year. Unfortunately, after getting my logic board and new top case/housing, the same issue has resurfaced. It initially started about two weeks ago and now the display is causing problems everyday. Fortunately I have taken a few photos each time to log the issue.

Getting an appointment is a total impossibility though and I will probably have to spend all day in a shop waiting around like I did previously.

Hi everyone!

Im from argentina and my 15 inch early 2011 MBP,  suddenly just turned off about a year ago. I bought it in March 2012

I haven´t noticed any graphic issues neither.

In the local apple store they told me the logic board was "dead".

Im trying to find out if i can have a new logic board in the actual repair program, but as the MBP doesn´t start, they can´t report the issue (in the store).

Does anyone knows if there is an email adress to contact an international apple support? Here in Argentina i don´t have another place to go and as my warranty expired can´t get to chat with anyone!

Thanks for your help!

I'm revisiting this thread to clarify my experiences.  Fall of 2013, while on the road, vid card failed on my early 2008 MBP.  Thinking I was quoted $400 or so for repairs so I decided to wait and get a brand new MBP in the spring.  Received new MBP (late 2013) through local Apple Store, went home, hooked up cable and transferred data - HD failed on 2008 unit immediately afterwards.

Winter of 2015 vid fails to display while on the road.  Take cab to local Apple Store in Chicago suburb.  Genius states I need new logic board, still covered under warranty.  Get home to North Carolina several weeks later and make appointment with my local Apple Store.  Genius states I shouldn't be having video problems with this logic board/ video card as this is the 'all new design' to replace the problematic boards of yore.  He promptly starts the MBP through the PRAM function, video returns and haven't had a problem since. 

Bought my 1st brand new iMac in 14 years at this time (late 2013 model) and haven't looked back.  I'm on my 3rd Apple desktop computer since 1997 and my 3rd Apple laptop computer since 2000.  Thanks Apple, it's been a great ride - one that I hope will continue for many more years.

UUseful reading. My 2011 2.2ghz i7 15" MBP was left into today. Sudden shutdowns and a screen that's goes crazy. I just hope the test that will be run will support that it is indeed the videocard and its replaced Or I will be charged 69 euros for my troubles and i will have a defective machine. Fingers crossed.

My daughter was offered a "$300" logic board repair by Apple, but once they saw a small crack in the glass cover over the screen-not the screen itself, the price went to $1,200.  Needless to say, it is not getting fixed.  I've pretty much had it with Apple products.  They look nice, but their functionality is about 15 years behind a decent PC.  Repair-ability is horrible.  Pricing is ridiculous-to add a SSD to a MacBook is $600-you can buy the same SSD unit for $125-but if you add one, they will charge you $600 to put in a disk drive before they will repair it.  Sad!

I had the same problem today at the apple store in Toronto. My macbook pro has been giving me problems for the last 5 to 6 months, it would reboot itself automatically, even worse the last 4 weeks. My laptop is mid 2010. I go to the store and the technician tells me that it is a a graphic card failure and because it is integrated with the logic board that I need to replace the board at a cost of $700 plus taxes.

I had a problem with that in the case where should I the consumer pay the extra money, on top of what I paid for the laptop, to replace the heart of the computer when it is not something that I installed or placed in the laptop myself. It is the manufactures problem to install faulty logic boars or cards into the computer. It does not matter if the warranty expired, it is a malfunction of the main component for the computer to work, we as consumers should not be forced to pay extra money that was not caused by my negligence. I have contacted Cupertino and I am hoping that this will be resolved soon, because if not it will leave a bad taste in my mouth in purchasing any other apple products. They look at themselves as the rOOLS royce of computers, than perhaps they should behave like one and look after customer service the way it should be.