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Dead MacBook Pro 17 inch early 2011

I finally figured out my computer was overheating, long story. I went on to ifixit.com and tried to do the repair by putting new thermal paste on the heat sink. I am fairly adept at such things and it was a textbook fix. Fans were dirty, wasn't moving air, heat sink paste was dry crumbles. Easy fix. Or so I thought.


My computer will not start now, locks up about half way to log in screen. Tried forcing the start from my bootable external drive, same results. Now it won't turn off unless I unplug the battery from the logic board. I am afraid I have killed my computer. I am fairly certain the logic board is fried.


Here is my dilemma: I can't find anyone who will touch it to repair it. Certified Mac repair shops will not touch it, Apple doesn't want to touch it, and I don't know what to do. Evidently my putting in my own memory and hard drive in prior seasons was a mortal sin to all concerned. Lesson learned.


Apple was nice and suggested I go to a website called crucial.com, but it isn't a repair site. I had her spell it for me, not sure the disconnect there.


any suggestions for repairs? I've decided I don't want to do anything more to it myself unless yall can convince me of a cheap or straightforward repair. I'm willing to pay for repairs, but the shops I called all say the repairs will cost about as much as replacing it. They seem so reluctant to repair a modified Mac.


I do realize it is a four year old laptop, but it was doing everything I wanted sans the overheating issue. Fine computer. I have been preparing to get a Mac Pro down the road, realizing this can't last forever. I'm recovering from intensive chemo and a stem cell transplant, on disability temporarily. Needless to say, now isn't the time to drop $3,500 on a desktop.


Any suggestions on repair options?


Thanks

MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jul 6, 2015 11:05 AM

Reply
6 replies

Jul 6, 2015 11:55 AM in response to Texas_Man_Luvs_His_mac

"heat sink paste was dry crumbles"

That could have destroyed the GPU or CPU.


There is a recall on this model:

Apple Recall

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


"They seem so reluctant to repair a modified Mac"

How much modification did you do? It would void the warranty and possibly make you ineligible for the recall if there was evidence of your having worked on the machine.

Jul 6, 2015 12:02 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

@Ralph thanks for the info. Unfortunately, apple and apple certified support techs will not touch it because I have modified it with non Apple parts and attempted self repairs. Both disqualify me from any sort of official apple support. Tried twice today, got the same answer from independent apple certified repair people. I also tried the Apple store, and they gave me the same answer. They will not attempt any repairs or have anything to do with my computer since I attempted to do my own repairs and put non-Apple products inside the computer.


@Ogel my computer is dead and I cannot start into the operating system. I also have done the command option P R several times before it died completely. I attempted to launch my computer into Internet recovery mode, that won't work. I cannot get to the point of disk utility. I also tried to launch my computer in safe mode, it won't do that either.


Thanks for the suggestions!

Dead MacBook Pro 17 inch early 2011

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