Bluescreen after 8h use of Mavericks, MBP bricked

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Bluescreen after 8h use of Mavericks, MBP bricked

I installed Mavericks on my MBP Early 2011 15" on top of ML latest version. Things went smooth but when using it for work it started to first show strange images in a two screen setup. I restarted an switched off graphics accelerator switch (between integrated and separate graphics card). This worked fine then.

Tonight I had a FaceTime call and after a while the system got stuck completely with a black screen. When turning off and restarting the system booted, after showing the Apple logo, and got stuck right a afterwards just showing a white screen.

When booting into safe mode, the screen shows blue vertical stripes after a while, stuck too.

Booting into recovery mode does not work either.

I am really upset how Apple can create such a poor free upgrade bricking my whole system.

Any ideas?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Oct 23, 2013 12:38 PM

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Answer 1

michaeli14 Author

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Oct 24, 2013 2:03 AM in response to michaeli14

After calling Apple Support, I at least got the machine running again (using recovery mode and a re-install), BUT:

once I reboot with an attached external monitor, I get strange image artefacts after a boot, the system hangs and reboots. So still a big problem of system stability.... Hope that it does not ruin my installation as before... I think we need a quick fix here, Apple!!

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Answer 2

Oct 26, 2013 8:12 PM in response to michaeli14

I have a late 2012 iMac 27". You explained my issues exactly in your original post. I had three crashes and have yet to be able to get the system to make it to the desktop since. Really ****** about this. I'm going to call Apple tomorrow and explain the situation to them. Did you have Apple care or find they just assist?

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Answer 3

Oct 27, 2013 6:03 AM in response to ThyForsakenOne

Sorry I meant 2011 iMac.

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Answer 4

michaeli14 Author

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Oct 27, 2013 7:16 AM in response to michaeli14

I ultimately set up the machine from scratch after I was lucky to get into recovery mode without bluescreen.

One hint: just create a second partition if your harddrive has plenty of space, save all user files to the second partition, and then delete the main partition from recovery mode and install it again.

The system works nearly stable, but I had one crash with reboot without any identifiable reason... at least the system runs again.

Before, especially with graphics intensive apps like iMovie and maps, Mavericks crashed and went into this above "bricked" mode. Let's see if this is more stable now...

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Answer 5

Oct 27, 2013 8:42 AM in response to michaeli14

I think u might end up being in the same boat as me in the long run. Failing AMD cards is the problem. Apple currently replaces the iMacs free of charge but the MBP's are just starting to show the exact same issues. I believe your card is from the same family as mine. I bet you'll see a recall soon.

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Answer 6

michaeli14 Author

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Oct 28, 2013 9:13 AM in response to ThyForsakenOne

Probably you are right. After a full set-up, the same issue occured today again after a couple of hours use. Only if I wait a little, the systems seems to run again. If I don't wait, the notebook gets stuck either before the login screen or latest on the login screen. Again bluescreen when booting into safe mode. It's really inacceptable - my problems only started to occur since I upgraded to Mavericks - though, AppleCare does not have any clue any more on the software side and recommends me to consult an Apple Store for hardware help (1 week waiting for an appointment).

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Answer 7

michaeli14 Author

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Oct 28, 2013 2:02 PM in response to michaeli14

Just an add-on remark as these coincidences are really noteworthy:

- My problems just occurred after I upgraded to Mavericks

- The very same problems that I have (blue screen with vertical blue lines one black background, display images with shadows and black stripes or just a black screen) have occurred with 2011 iMac as you described, ThyForsakenOne, and they have an official replacement programme already.

I talked to a senior technician at Apple Care today who was surprised about these coincidences but took note of them. Tomorrow I'll go to an Apple Service Dealer, I'll keep you posted. If there are further people with these problems, please post here, may be this is indeed a production problem with AMD.

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Answer 8

michaeli14 Author

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Oct 28, 2013 2:05 PM in response to ThyForsakenOne

Sorry forgot to answer to your post: they just answered, I did not have Apple Care. Due to Mavericks update they expanded the support for me.

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Answer 9

Nov 10, 2013 2:24 PM in response to michaeli14

I have a MacBook Pro 15-inch, late 2011 and the other day I upgraded to Maverick and everything went smooth.

Then over the next couple of days my Mac became slower and slower. I made disk repair constantly until today where it went completely down. The screen kind of got pushed to one side and got stuck there and then it froze. I had to force it to turn off.

After that I could not get it up and running again.

First I tried to start up in safe mode and it did start up once, but after five minutes I got a completely blue striped screen.

I then tried resetting the NVRAM and PRAM several times to no avail.

I have tried to use recovery mode and reinstall but I never get past the blue screen. I have made a boot USB with the latest upgrade, but the USB never get past the blue screen.

I am out of ideas ... have no clue what to do apart from sending it in to be repaired ... gah ... again. Just had my battery changed and the track pad repaired. No computer for almost a whole month ... *sigh*.

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Answer 10

Jan 21, 2014 7:18 AM in response to michaeli14

Hello, michaeli14

I'm having the exact same problem with my late 2011 iMac 27" and I can't find a solution.

Have you found a final fix for the problem?

Hope so and, if you don't mind, pelase share it here...

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Answer 11

Jan 23, 2014 8:20 PM in response to michaeli14

I'm in the same boat here, guys. I just wanted to contribute my symptoms.

I have a Macbook Pro late 2011 17" running Mavericks. Out of the blue it freezes with a black screen. I am forced to power it off manually. From there it proceeded to get stuck just after the Apple Logo on a grey screen. I couldn't boot into any of the various modes (Safe, Apple Hardware Test, Internet Recovery, OSX Recovery Partition, USB stick, etc.).

Then it eventually booted after some Single User Mode trickery (fsck -fy). But I doubt that was anything more than timing because it eventually froze up again. Powered her off like last time and some of the same situtations presented themselves. This time a bright blue screen was in the mix after the Apple logo. Then the same blue screen but with vertical lines.

I took it to the genius bar where they were unable to run the drive diagnostics. They basically said they didn't know what the issue was. They speculated maybe the drive or the flex cable from the mainboard to the drive. Their options were $310 to send to the service center or I could try to replace the drive and cable myself in the hopes that it solves the problem.

I'm definitely feeling left in the dark here.

Let's start this conversation up again folks and try to figure this out. If it's an issue that Apple needs to own up to then we need a fix so that we can all get back to work. This spotty behavior isn't going to cut it.

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Answer 12

Jan 26, 2014 5:16 PM in response to michaeli14

I too just experienced the unthinkable Mac blue screen of death on my early 2011 MacBook Pro. I was in the middle of watching an animation in Cinema 4d when the screen went completely blue with verticle black lines. On reboot nothing seems to work. The apple logo will come up but even in safe mode it either gets stuck on gray or goes to the horrible blue. Major bummer indeed.

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Answer 13

Jan 26, 2014 5:30 PM in response to devenjames

Sorry to hear that. Not sure this will make you feel any better but there is about 190 pages worth of others in distress here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?start=0&tstart=0

Maybe you'll find some peace in reading the comments. I haven't found a viable solution to the problem yet but hopefully it's only a matter of time until Apple gives us a fix. Some people at that thread I linked are discussing having the GPU re-soldered. I don't like the sound of it but you may be in a position to stick-and-move on a choice like that.

I wish I could say it gets better but my 17" MBP has gone from perfect to glitchy and booting intermittently to not booting at all over the course of 3 days. What a disappointment. Top of line model in its day and now it is back in the box it came in. Prepared to catch dust until Apple recalls this horrible flaw.

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Answer 14

jaybo107

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Jul 7, 2014 7:32 PM in response to cmorgannorris

same problem here with my late 2011 15inch macbook pro. change hard drive to a samsung 840 pro 256 from the 512gb work for about a week now to the same old thing when running Imoive or final cut pro X. blue screen with lines or the split double screen.

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Answer 15

Jul 8, 2014 12:15 AM in response to michaeli14

Since I posted in November 2013 I have had my Mac repaired ... twice ... both times the screen went blue and both times I got a new motherboard, so that is three times in total my Mac has been repaired now. If it happens again before the guarantee runs out I can get my money back (that is the rule here in Denmark). I hope it will happen because then I can buy another model.

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