2011 MacBook Pro graphics card failure?
Hey Guys!
I have a 15" 2011 MBP that died on me tonight and I'm trying to find the cause of the problem. Earlier tonight I was using Google Maps when my laptop became very warm and my screen started to flicker, a minute or two later the screen became distorted with random lines across the screen. Once I quit safari, the problem went away instantly. Suspecting it was something with my graphics card, I booted up League of Legends and sure enough the issue came back. Once my game started, the computer randomly restarted.
I thought it was a typical random restart, but noticed something right away. The startup sound would go off, then the Apple logo would appear with the progress bar. The progress bar would get to ~30%-50% and then would go directly to a plain white/grey screen. I left the computer on for about an hour and it did not move off the blank screen. I decided to restart if via the power button and the same problem happened.
When researching the issue, I seem to have had a few symptoms that the 2011 MBPs have had with their graphics card failures (I can attach pictures of the lines on my screen if that will help diagnosing at all). I chatted with Apple tech support and they said since it was out of warranty, they would charge me to chat online, at which point I politely declined. They also informed me that although it was one of the affected models (Late 2011 15" MBP), it was not covered under the recall due to the fact that my serial number was not one of the affected machines.
My question is, does this seem like a graphics card failure? If so, what do you think it would cost me? I think that the graphics card is directly attached to the logic board, which would mean a very expensive fix to replace it. Do you just recommend me saving my money and buying a new machine?
Thanks in advance with the help, I'll respond ASAP!
OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)
