Frozen macbook pro, late 2011 model, rebooting to a blank white screen

I´m having the same problem since 3 days ago: Macbook Pro (15" early / late 2011) horizontal lines on screen and not booting...

In Argentina the cost for this repair (logic board change) on an Apple Authorized Service is USD 2500. This is more than the costo of a new one!!!

Same issue for me. Late 2011 model Macbook Pro exhibiting all the same issues as mentioned here.

Screen goes psychodelic like the colours are out of alignment followed by reboots to both white and blue frozen screens.

I have had the logic board replaced twice already by Apple and whilst it solved the issue for a short time it has come back again.

Agree with others that this is obviously an issue with this particular model and am comforted to see that others are experiencing exactly the same malfunction.

It also cost me a shedload of money a few short years ago and I am not at all happy at the prospect of replacing this dud product with another Apple product.

Have been an Apple user for nearly 30 years but this experience has really shaken my faith in what used to be a brand that never missed a beat and was renowned for its excellent engineering.

Not good enough Apple!!

Annd another one to add to the list.

I have an early 2011 15" MPB.

This exact thing has just happened to me.

I try to boot from the restore partition or an external drive...I get blue and black vertical bars.

I try to boot normally, I get a grey screen and then nothing more.

I am about to take the mac to the local mac store and I have a feeling they are going to tell me to replace the logic board - which I cannot afford to do.

I think this is the last Mac I buy, I cannot afford to spend 3k on another brick.

Damo

SSame here for me. Just happened couple of minutes ago For my late 2011 15" MBP

greenish gray horizontal lines and OS X doesn't load.. Hangs at white/gray screen.

I have the same problem as everyone described. So what to do ? What is the best approach ?

. boot Normally (result: no boot, gray screen);

. boot in Safe mode (result: no boot, blue screen with vertical black lines);

. boot in Recovery mode (result: no boot, blue screen with vertical black lines);

. boot in Internet Recovery mode (result: no boot, gray screen / can't access router (no Internet access));

. boot in Single User Mode (result: no boot, gray screen);

. boot from Pen Flash Drive with latest version of Ubuntu OS (no boot: black screen);

. boot from DVD with Backtrack 5 (r3) OS (no boot: black screen);

. boot from original OS X install DVD (no boot: black screen);

. boot with different combinations of commonly used peripherals (normally and in safe mode without any luck);

. reset NVRAM / PRAM (result: no boot, gray screen);

I have the same problem as everyone then what to do ?

. boot Normally (result: no boot, gray screen);

. boot in Safe mode (result: no boot, blue screen with vertical black lines);

. boot in Recovery mode (result: no boot, blue screen with vertical black lines);

. boot in Internet Recovery mode (result: no boot, gray screen / can't access router (no Internet access));

. boot in Single User Mode (result: no boot, gray screen);

. boot from Pen Flash Drive with latest version of Ubuntu OS (no boot: black screen);

. boot from DVD with Backtrack 5 (r3) OS (no boot: black screen);

. boot from original OS X install DVD (no boot: black screen);

. boot with different combinations of commonly used peripherals (normally and in safe mode without any luck);

. reset NVRAM / PRAM (result: no boot, gray screen);

Add one more. Late 2011 MacBook Pro purchased February 2012 gone down with same issues discussed here. I hope Apple does the right thing.

2011 15 inch model, same problem.

tried the reset techniques, boots up sometimes (luckily so i can rescue files),

but always dies within 10 minutes of MAYA(3D software)

people spend good money on Apple for the word "reliable"

i didnt spend 50% to 80% more money to buy a laptop that becomes a brick after 2 years.

ive seen those old macbooks (not made of metal) that can still get the job well done after 5 years or even longer.

come on Apple, i know your revenues drop but trust me,

dropping the quality will be like a landslide that you wont even have time to look at the numbers.

Same here. Early 2012 MacbookPro running Lion (10.7). First appeared randomly about a month ago. During normal (not heavy) use the screen will go a solid blue colour and the machine requires a restart. The first few times it recovered straight away, more recently it's become the 'white(/grey) screen of death'. Boots to usual Apple logo with spinning timer, but then progresses to the white/grey screen (no pointer or anything) instead of the login screen. Tried all the usual recovery methods:

Reset NVRAM/PRAM : boots to white/grey screen.

Reset PMU : boots to white/grey screen.

Safe Boot (Shift at startup) : boots to blue/black vertical stripe screen

Hardware Test : booted to white/grey screen for first 20 attempts, then eventually boots to the test app which reports no problems.

Recovery Partition : boots to white/grey screen.

Internet Recovery : finds network and runs the process, then boots to white/grey screen.

Boot from Snow Leopard on a USB stick : boots to black screen.

Boot from Ubuntu on a USB stick : boots to black screen.

Netboot : boots to white/grey screen.

Boot from MemtestX86 CD : boots into app. Left tests running for 72hrs - no errors detected in RAM.

Boot in single user mode, run /sbin/fsck -fy (some minor repairs completed) and reboot : boots to white/grey screen.

Boot in single user mode, mount the volume, create a new temp directory and copy all NVidia drivers there then reboot : boots to white/grey screen.

Boot in single user mode, mount the volume, move NVidia drivers back to their original directories and reboot : SUCCESS (for a week, then screen goes blue and we're back to square one)!

Last thing I'm about to do (when the FW800 cable arrives) is to target boot and use another Mac to drag the data from the drive.

Come on Apple, fess up and acknowledge this known issue with the NVidia GPUs. It's a heat problem primarily, and it needs to be resolved in the first instance by replacing all the faulty hardware you sold and have continued to sell since this problem first came to light in 2008 as this article shows: http://www.tgdaily.com/hardware-features/39045-nvidia-gpu-failures-caused-by-mat erial-problem-sources-claim

Mac user since 1986 and I'm thoroughly brassed off about how cheap and shoddy the hardware has become over successive recent generations. I'm still running a Powerbook G4 at work which is soldiering on relentlessly not to mention a Mac IIVX which is controlling some very very old hardware. Neither of those Macs have suffered such poor component and build quality issues.

See also this thread and in particular the discussion about the Sales of Goods Act for anyone in England and Wales and in Scotland :

Re: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Same here. It just died on me, lines on screen etc etc. Google led me here.

😟 😕 😟

It's a growing issue. See also this thread to get some idea of just how big an issue it is:

Re: 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

Yep, same exact issue here. This is clearly a design flaw and I wish Apple would just repair my notebook for free as a sort of mea culpa. 2011 MBP...Here's hoping they don't charge me a ton to get this fixed. Heading to the genius bar tomorrow.

Same issue here with Macbook Pro 2011 (early)

History is:

- Running fine Snow Leopard -> Mountain Lion (2 years) doing graphic design in Adobe CS6

- Mavericks update...battery instantly dead after only 103 cycles and system reports it to be healthy and at 93% design capacity. Swollen after 2 days, ruining touchpad. Told I need to pay for a replacement by Apple.

- Used Macbook as "desktop" about 10 times over the next year, but mainly just to browse the web as it was so slow I couldn't use it properly.

- Update to Yosemite, Macbook slightly faster but still unusable for one boot. GPU fail on next reboot.

- Cannot see what I am doing anymore except at the apple logo as GPU isn't being used there.

- Taken to Apple Store. Told I need a new battery & logic board, and after 3 years of life (but only 2 of proper use) I shouldn't expect Apple to cover the costs.

From what I've heard, if I do go down the path of replacing the logic board, the next will break soon too as it is a factory defect. Apple has no parts to replace that work, but will gladly charge you to take more junk off its hands.

Only fix is a replacement Macbook 2012 or above of equivalent hardware, the 2011 line are dropping like flies especially since September 2014. Would affect Apple's share-price so good luck there.

Apple would rather a short-term fix of ignoring this issue and risk potential future repercussions such as hundreds of thousands of MBP 2011 owners never purchasing premium Apple products again. Quite obvious they are mobile/tablet focused now and gave the hardcore designer market the finger when they announced the "PC was dead". Only ones I see dying are theirs.

I am moving back to custom built desktops and premium windows laptops. I scoff at my mate with a $400 7 year old toshiba laptop held together with sticky tape who mocks me about this situation and my $2000 paperweight.

The worst part of all this? Watching the official Macbook Pro 2011 commercial.

Here is a half hour phone conversation with an Apple Technician who has my Macbook in front of him. Half hour of baiting and he side stepped everything but you will rage at how much they are denying anything.

My Macbook is so slow it is close to unusable and he is telling me the whole time it's fine and only a software fault. He would have to also be using an external mouse as the touch-pad is raised from the battery swelling instantly after Mavericks update last year.