Macbook Pro (15" early 2011) horizontal lines on screen and not booting...?

My MacBook Pro's graphics card just failed for the third time... it held on a lot longer than I thought it would. I was starting to get worried it would last until after the repair warranty period ran out, but I've still got until December 22.

Interestingly, this time the GPU failure happened in a different way than the previous two times. This time, instead of the screen going bonkers and freezing up, the system acted just fine during the final shutdown. And when I started the laptop back up, it wasn't the grey screen of death I'd gotten the past two times, but a black screen. The monitor didn't even turn on. Nor did the Apple logo on the lid. But I know there's nothing wrong with the display itself, because it flickered for a fraction of a second when it booted into OS X. Maybe I could run an external monitor through to do stuff until the logic board is replaced again.

The problem with the Macbook is described below.

After following the recommendations to reset the PRAM I now have a blue screen instead of the gray screen on start-up. Its become worse not better.

I have a early Macbook Pro 2011 which has stopped functioning 3years 8 months years after it was bought. It had full 3 years apple care. In those three years I had to get my screen changed once because the apple logo had 'burned through' the screen and was visible all the time.

Now the Macbook starts-up with gray lines. The startup logo screen appears and in a short while it is replaced by a grey/white screen. The fans kick in at full speed and after some time the machine shuts down. The laptop has not been used continuously as I use a MacPro normally. If I had used the Macbook as my main machine I probably would have suffered this problem a lot sooner and within my Applecare warranty period. Given the number of Apple users who have experienced this the company should acknowledge the problem and find a solution for it. I have been a Mac User since 1988 and have been through a fair number of Macs. It is disappointing that Apple has chosen to ignore its customers who have, given the number of complaints, a very genuine manufactuing fault.

Hi everyone! Just wanted to add my story to the masses. I bought my macbook pro in 2011 and haven't had a problem until about 5 months ago. 5 months ago, my computer started to randomly produce a few loud beeps, horizontal lines would appear and the computer would turn off completely. Fast forward a few months. My computer started to start up with horizontal lines. I was able restart a few times and still use my computer at this point. Eventually, my computer could not get past the apple loading screen. It would sound as though my fan was trying to blow through the laptop. I tried numerous remedies including resetting the PRAM/SMC, attempting to call it up in all of its modes and completely wiping my drive. Once I completely wiped the hard drive, the lines ARE STILL THERE. Now I am unable to reinstall the OS and it has turned into a giant paperweight. Hope Apple takes responsibility soon! I'm a broke college student who can't afford to pay the repair cost and now I don't have a laptop. I thought Apple could be trusted but I know better now.

-Christy

The problem with the heatsink thermal paste is NOT new. Dell have had similar problems and i've been merrily replacing that on all the machines we have and it does cure the problem. Same thing with their Alienware range. Sometimes, the thermal paste is so dried out that it is impossible to seperate the GPU from the heatsink without the GPU detaching itself from the board it is soldered to. Ultimately the paste becomes so dried that it insulates more than it conducts and the GPU or in some cases the CPU cook themselves to death. On some of the Dells, the machine throttles the performance so much to keep cool that the machine grinds to a standstill.

If you can get in and get it in bits - Arctic Silver thermal paste is the stuff you want to use.

However there is a but.

If you don't replace the thermal paste in time, eventually the overheating damages the board and the connection of the GPU to it permanently and at that point, it is beyond fixing. When you take a MacBook apart and look at the thermal design, the reason for the problems is immediately apparent - personally I won't have one and will dissuade any colleague from buying one unless they purchase the extended warranty and keep it up to date.

I have some good news. My graphics card failed for the fourth time (yeah, no surprises here).

But when I took my 2011 MacBook Pro up to the Genius Bar this time, they decided to just keep my laptop and give me a brand new 2014 MacBook Pro with top-of-the-line specs... for FREE. It turns out it was going to be more cost-effective for them to do this than to keep giving me new logic boards over and over again.

So since I bought the 2011 MacBook Pro for $1,000 and paid $310 for the repair, I actually ended up paying only $1,300 for a BRAND NEW MacBook Pro. VERY HAPPY!!!

I'd recommend anyone suffering this problem to do what I did -- bite the bullet and take the laptop to the Genius Bar for repair. Then when your new logic board fails (which it probably will, otherwise your problem's solved), take it back under the 90 day warranty (none of my logic boards lasted more than about 60 days) and get a new one. Just keep doing this until the Apple guys give in and give you a brand new laptop.

I'm glad I bought a defective laptop now! I'm an Apple boy for the rest of my life.

good news. Could you please tell us which city and country that you have the service?

also, i would glad to see if apple has a plan to replace these surely faulty products or it's just yours store tired of replacing logic board. lol

Well, if you take it to the Apple Store enough times, they'll realize that they're losing money by not giving you a new laptop. Even though a new top-line MacBook Pro is going to cost about $2,500, Apple doesn't pay nearly that much to produce it. But the $310 repair bill (that's the price at the Greenville, NC Apple Store in the United States that I've been going to) is pretty close to the price of producing a new logic board. Multiply $310 by 4 and you've got a $1,240 Band-Aid for the MacBook's broken leg.

As soon as any Apple Store realizes this, they'll realize that they're going to come out better by sending the defective MacBook Pro to the engineering department (to research what's causing the problem) and giving you a new laptop that probably didn't cost much more than $1,240 to manufacture. They're also saving a valuable customer that way. Hey, I'll probably end up buying my next laptop from the Greenville Apple Store once I get out of college and get on my feet. I probably wouldn't do that if the Apple Store forced me to keep making the hour drive to and from their store every two months to get my computer fixed.

I also want to note to everybody that if you go this route, you must, must, MUST continue to stress your graphics card. Don't try to baby it in an attempt to make it last. You want it to break so you can take it back to the Apple Store. That way even if the store doesn't give you a new laptop, your warranty period won't run out. If the warranty runs out, the Apple Store doesn't have to replace your logic board again for free. They may still do it out of kindness if the warranty just recently ended, but they might not. So use Photoshop, play video games, or just download gfxCardStatus and set it to use the AMD Radeon chip all the time. I really didn't have to do anything I didn't normally do to make the laptop mess up again, though.

Cheers, and good luck Tu Lu! You'll probably need to make a reservation for the Genius Bar if your Apple Store is set up the way mine is. I didn't know that the first time I went down and there was a two hour wait.

Hi Guys

I have the late 2011 Macbook pro, had the exact same issues as you guys.

Start chime and logo that loads halfway and then goes to the white screen.

also had fine blue line running across the screen, definitely a graphics issue.

I found this tut on youtube by a guy named Nahush.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyDu-Y_G1D8

One you follow the instructions in the video, your machine will be able to boot properly but will probably lag, because the proper graphics drivers wont be used.

Then back up you machine, and then reinstall the os, not necessarily clean install just a re-install.

Thats what I did yesterday and the problems been fixed. Im at work, machine running better than ever.

That's great idas007! Keep us posted on if your machine continues to work properly. It's a shame that solution doesn't let you use your graphics card though. If you ever have the need for the graphics card, you can take it to an Apple Store and they'll replace your logic board. It was $310 at my Apple, but I went through four logic board failures under the limited repair warranty over a period of about 5-6 months, so they ultimately just gave me a free 2014 MacBook Pro that had better specs than my old laptop. I would imagine they'd do the same at most other Apple Stores because it ends up being a more cost-effective option for them after three or four replacements.

Digital Glasses wrote:

After that Turn it on again, After Apple logo on the grey blank screen Press Option+Command+SPACE+R+P YES SPACE ALSO (Press all together for 5 seconds then leave then again press for 5 seconds), Then leave all the buttons and turn off your Macbook forcefully and Turn it on Again It should Work

Hi everyone.

Same issue here with a late-2011 15" Macbook Pro running Mavericks 10.9.4. This happened to me this morning, tried a few PRAM and SMC resets before it magically started working again. Then this afternoon it happened again and I couldn't get it back on for ages. Of everything I tried the suggestion above was the only thing that worked and it's been working fine since. PRAM reset WITH THE SPACE BAR. Would be interested to see whether this works on other machines.

Still no idea what the issue is so I intend to back up and then take it into the Genius bar if the problem comes back. I really can't be dealing with an unreliable laptop as I use it for live music. I could end up travelling the length of the country for a gig and have it die on me! Really anxious now, particuarly as so many people have had the problem.

This was the only thing that worked for me as well. Have ready each and every post in all the forums and the above fix is what did it for me.

Thanks!

Just wanted to add we're in the same boat here. Early 2011 build, OSX 10.10.1 with maverick.

This is my Fiance's laptop, uses it for her own business (aka moneymaker) and this is the second time it's had this issue in the last 3 months. The first time, it was intermittent and we brought it to the closest genius bar (100+miles away...). They replaced the logic board for the flat $300 rate. (December 14)

One month later, the problem persists. However not to the extent that it was extremely detrimental. (would always come back within a few restarts, or with PRAM reset/etc). Now, it's done for. NOTHING gets rid of the lines. Not even holding the power button down forever, nor PRAM with space, nor cmd R Disk recovery (although that was working a bit before).

However...I can still start in Single User Mode (CMD+S). Also in Verbose (CMD + V) but Verbose goes to the same white screen one it tries to switch over to the aqua desktop.

So my question is, what can I do in single user mode to fix this? I looked for ways to force it to use the integrated GPU but it looks like there is now way to do so in Single user mode.

Any ideas? We need a few pieces of artwork off of it so she can continue using illustrator ON MY $400 WINDOWS LAPTOP THAT HAS NO ISSUES while her $3000 paperweight is overnighted to the closest Apple workshop....

PS - the class action lawsuit has been printed out and is being enclosed with the paperweight to let them know the public is aware of this issue.

lol, any halp is appreciated.

-Eric & Danielle

I took the one I was given to bits, removed the heatsinks and replaced the thermal paste ( it was dried to crumbling powder as usual) with arctic silver thermal compound and now ( after rebuilding it to OSX) it is back to working fine but using the low powered intel HD card.

My theory is that the longer the machine spends using the high powered ATI gfx card, the less life it has and if you use the machine with Bootcamp and Windows you shorten that life ever further because there is no gfx switching available.

I'm afraid i'm not sold on Apple products, especially not this one - the build quality of the thermal components and the quality of the thermal layout of the machine is well below par - good job it looks nice.

HEY EVERYONE! THE 2011 MACBOOK PROS ARE BEING RECALLED!!!

Apple just publicly announced that they are issuing a global warranty and repair program for the 2011 MBP's. The program includes ADDITIONAL WARRANTY COVERAGE for the affected models and COMPENSATION for the out-of-pocket expenses spent on repairs with Apple related to the graphics defect.

Woohoo!!! Thank you all for your hard work and dedication through this process! I'm so happy for all of you!