Repair Programme for early 2011 MBP Graphics Issue

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Level 1

10 points

Repair Programme for early 2011 MBP Graphics Issue

I've had the logic board on my early 2011 15" MBP replaced for the second time free of charge by Apple. This is a known issue and Apple now has a specific programme for this repair. http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

My concern is, how do I know that my MBP will not need another logic board in the future? This first repair lasted about a year before the issue re-appeared, culminating in a total crash and grey screen on start up.

When I raised my concern with the Apple Genius staff member, I was told that the new logic board is a revised, Version 2 part and the issue (which some say was down to lead-free solder) will not return. Sounds good, but I've no way of knowing if this is just wishful thinking.

My question is; does any one know for sure if this is true? Has this part truly been re-designed? Does any one have first hand knowledge that these logic boards are now a new, trouble-free part?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Feb 14, 2016 12:19 PM

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Answer 1

steve359

Level 6

17,169 points

Feb 14, 2016 3:04 PM in response to wulbert

Mine was swapped ... no evidence of the issues I had seen before.

As to the future ... who knows? I do not believe Apple is intentionally putting bad parts in, but it is always possible bad parts will get in anyway. I do like my system that can still run Snow Leopard, but am prepared now to bite the bullet and move to a new system.

Save up for a new one or a more-recent Apple-refurbished if "an Apple computer" is critical to you, and learn how to migrate your data to a system running ElCapitan, as MountainLion does not natively run on recently-released systems.

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Answer 2

wulbert Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 15, 2016 1:31 AM in response to steve359

Hi,

Thanks, yes only time will tell. I am running El Capitan on the MBP and it seems to be fine. (Can't seem to find a way to change my hardware info in the profile settings). I was thinking if it is the same part then it will fail again (it has already failed twice) and I may wish to think about selling the MBP, (probably not for a great price given this known issue) and putting the cash towards a new laptop. I suppose there are no guarantees that a brand new machine may not have a lurking issue though. maybe best option is regular back-ups and fingers crossed.

I wondered if anyone with knowledge of the repair world would know if this part has been updated.

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