fsponciano
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: MacBook Pro (15", Late 2011) Start-up troubles

I'm having start-up issues with my MacBook Pro. Yesterday night it was working fine and I had no problems at all. I left it to go to sleep as usual, and this morning when I tried to start it up the screen started showing jittering grey pixels and seemed shifted to one side.

After that it shut down and when I tried to restart it I couldn't get past the grey screen after the apple logo and spinning indicator came on. It just stays on the grey screen and after a couple of seconds shuts down again. I ran a hardware diagnostic test and no problems came up. Also, when I try to boot up in safe mode I get the progress bar at the bottom of the grey screen, but after that a blue screen with vertical black lines appears and I have to shut down and restart again. The same happens if I try the recovery option (command-r). I can boot in single-user mode with no problems. Can anyone help me figure out what's going on?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), Late 2011, 15"

Posted on Oct 11, 2014 9:48 AM

by clintonfrombirmingham,Solvedanswer
clintonfrombirmingham clintonfrombirmingham
Level 7 (30,009 points)
Mac OS X
A:

You have the problem as discussed in this -> https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?tstart=0 thread.

 

Basically, the soldering process for the GPU on (our) models was faulty. Apple will want to replace your logic board. That may or may not provide a temporary fix. Some have gone through as many as four logic board replacements. The best temporary fix is probably a 'reball' - mine died in January of this year and, as I was (and am still) under AppleCare, the logic board was replaced gratis. It has remained functional since January 3rd of his year: but I got lucky.

 

Good luck,

 

Clinton

 

MacBook Pro (15” Late 2011), OS X 10.??, 16GB Crucial RAM, 960GB M500 Crucial SSD, 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display

Posted on Oct 11, 2014 11:13 AM

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fsponciano

Q: MacBook Pro (15", Late 2011) Start-up troubles

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Oct 11, 2014 10:03 AM in response to fsponciano
    Level 10 (271,811 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 11, 2014 10:03 AM in response to fsponciano

    You may have experienced a hardware failure of some kind. Give this a try:

     

    Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks without erasing drive

     

    Boot to the Recovery HD:

     

    Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

     

    Repair

     

    When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu.

     

    Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks

     

    OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X

    OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X

    OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X

     

         Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet

                     if possible because it isthree times faster than wireless.

     

    If this is not possible then you will need to do this:

     

    Install or Reinstall Mavericks, Mountain Lion, or Lion from Scratch

     

    Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.

     

    OS X Mavericks- Erase and reinstall OS X

    OS X Mountain Lion- Erase and reinstall OS X

    OS X Lion- Erase and reinstall Mac OS X

     

    Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible

                because it is three times faster than wireless.

  • by fsponciano,

    fsponciano fsponciano Oct 11, 2014 11:04 AM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2014 11:04 AM in response to Kappy

    Kappy,

     

    I've tried booting to the Recovery HD, but I get the blue screen with black stripes as well. I've checked to see if it was a hardware problem (started up holding "D" to open the Apple Hardware Test) but everything turned out OK after the extensive test. Right now I'm trying out the recovery using an ethernet connection (I've only attempted it using a wireless network). In any case, I'll post any progress or further problems.

     

    Thanks

  • by clintonfrombirmingham,Solvedanswer

    clintonfrombirmingham clintonfrombirmingham Oct 11, 2014 11:13 AM in response to fsponciano
    Level 7 (30,009 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 11, 2014 11:13 AM in response to fsponciano

    You have the problem as discussed in this -> https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?tstart=0 thread.

     

    Basically, the soldering process for the GPU on (our) models was faulty. Apple will want to replace your logic board. That may or may not provide a temporary fix. Some have gone through as many as four logic board replacements. The best temporary fix is probably a 'reball' - mine died in January of this year and, as I was (and am still) under AppleCare, the logic board was replaced gratis. It has remained functional since January 3rd of his year: but I got lucky.

     

    Good luck,

     

    Clinton

     

    MacBook Pro (15” Late 2011), OS X 10.??, 16GB Crucial RAM, 960GB M500 Crucial SSD, 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display

  • by fsponciano,

    fsponciano fsponciano Oct 12, 2014 7:14 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 12, 2014 7:14 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

    Clinton,

     

    I was reluctant to believe it a first, but after taking my MBP for a full diagnostic at an authorised service provider it turned out to be exactly what you mentioned. Unfortunately my AppleCare coverage ended a couple of months ago, therefore it's going to be and expensive repair. Hope it lasts.

     

    Thanks again,

     

    Francisco