I have just lost access to both OS X and windows bootcamp with the exact issues noted under the AMD Radeon 6970M Video Card Replacement Program. Has anyone else experienced this outside of the 4 years timeframe? Is there any possibility I can still claim it under warranty, I purchased May 2011. Has anyone done a replacement themselves?
iMac (27-inch Mid 2011)
Hello Chaddycop,
I too have this problem. I faced this issue a week ago. I went to service center. They said they won't even check my machine whether it would come in replacement program or not without paying them basic amount. Then after a lot request they checked. I don't know what they tried but they said they have taken the diagnosis report and sent to Apple. Once they get the confirmation that whether my machine comes under Replacement Program then i'll have to pay basic amount. I said fine. And today I got the message that my machine won't come in replacement program and i'll need to replace Mother Board for which they charge 40% amount from New Machine. It's like i am in ****.
May I know what you did for the problem?
iMac (27-inch Mid 2011)
I take it you didn't go to an Apple Store?
You should read this: iMac (27-inch): AMD Radeon 6970M Video Card Replacement Program - Apple Support
Yep, my 27" Mmid 2011 iMac's GPU just broke as described by the article. I guess 4 years wasn't long enough. At the time I'm posting this, 22 people have hit the "I have this question" link on your question, so it seems a fair number of people are having their cards fail outside the replacement program window.
I to have fell victim to same video card failure in time. My mid-2011 27" iMac is 7 months past the honored date for free replacement.
I am surprised that Apple is not taking care of each and every graphics card GPU failure with this signature. Clearly,
they identified a board-level reliability problem. Interesting that when the replacement program first came out
the coverage was 3 years and now it is 4 years. The reasoning for doing this is as more and more failures are reported
their models need to be updated and now predict failures out to 4 years and beyond. Fail rates typically are highest
at beginning of life < 6months and at end of life ~10 years for a consumer product. Failures in between this timeframe
should be on the order of 50 DPPM. Most likely this problem triggered a threshold and is an indication of a poor
qualfication during development or a process that got out of control. My basis for calling this a board-level reliability
problem is that I found info where the fix is to remove the GPU, re-ball the interconnects, and re-attach original GPU
to the PCB. This is consistent with a BGA interconnect failure. I am not surprised as these cards draw a significant
amount of power generating heat where thermal cycling hot/cold progressively separates the interface. Many things will
cause this and it is difficult to predict fail rate and fail time unless the product can be qualified. Well guess what,
the consumer is doing the qualification and time will only tell how many failures and in what timeframe. Meanwhile
Apple has already been compensated by the Graphics board manufacturer and Apple is trying to manage the situation with
the least out-of-pocket expense and tarnishing of image. Apple sold ~7M iMacs in total between 5/2011 and 10/2012,
typical replacement cost for the graphics card is $500. At a 1% fail rate, the retail cost to replace all graphics cards
would be $35M or 0.2% of reported record earnings of $18.4B for the most recent quarter.Apple knows the right thing is
to keep their return customers happy. Will Apple do the right thing........
I'm not sure how everyone else went with this. I disabled my GPU so I could still access and back up
my data. I actually used the iMac ocassionally for minimal things like text documents while it was running graphics via CPU and I searched for somewhere local I could send the Video Card for repair. As I found good reviews for a place in USA: https://www.ebay.com.au/ulk/itm/161996365564 (I'm in Perth, Western Australia)
In the end there was nowhere local, after months and moving house in that period I once again ensured all my data was backed up and re-instated the GPU with the plan to go to the local Apple store and quote some Australian consumer law they have listed on their page and see what happened. Since the GPU was re-instated I haven't had any issues with the graphics. I'm not sure what's happened, maybe in the move the soldering somehow realigned? Anyway I did some vigorous use and left it running for a long period and no issues.
So I put in extra dollars and upgraded the RAM to 20G and was happily getting back into some design and some audio recording, then bam another issue. Intermemittent slow issues appeared overnight clicking the apple icon can take 5m, after some effort to locate a way to get Apple Hardware Test (here: How can I start the Apple Hardware Test when holding D doesn't work and I don't have the installation disc? ) appears to be HDD failure, though I had it replaced under another Apple Replacment Program early on in the picture.
Now I'm sorting through best options for a fix which looks to be a SSD in place of the optical drive, and hoping the video card holds on.
Hi:
So, after you re-installed your GPU the problem is "gone"? Do you have the same problem recently or something?
Same problem here, ironically my mid-2011 27-inch iMac was a replacement model for a 24-inch iMac with an unrepairable graphics card failure. There have been examples of Apple Support replacing this past the 4-year timeframe:
http://www.i4u.com/2016/06/111968/2011-imac-has-graphics-card-failure-after-four -years
Mine is currently being evaluated. I relly hope Apple comes through for us unlucky users with this problem after 4 years. WIll update!
Apple refused to replace my graphics card for free. Frustrating to read about other users that were granted a replacement past four years. They want approx $800 to fix my Mac.
Hi:
Why they did that? We have read about people who can be accepted in the program... What did they tell you?
I'm still in the "evaluating" process.
Red 5.
They say the program has ended. My iMac is >5 years old and no longer covered by consumer law (Norway).
Past 4 years timeframe for AMD Radeon 6970M Video Card Replacement Program
