Late 2011 MPB 17" & 15" video lines and reboots w/ 10.11.5, 10.11.6, 10.12.1 or 10.12.2

I have two MacBook Pros, both Late 2011 models, one 17" and the other 15", one running 10.11 El Capitan and the other 10.12 Sierra. My problems started just after an upgrade to 10.11.5 and 10.12.1 respectively. What I would notice is that the machine would start to get really unresponsive when certain applications were open before/after hibernation. If I was patient, I could shut down applications to figure things out.

The 17" has a Dock program called gfxCardStatus, which indicated that when this problem occurred, the machine was running against the Discrete Video Card. When the machine would come out of hibernation and the problem occurred, the status would go from Discrete to Integrated to Discrete Video. If the applications requiring Discrete were not loaded (Skype, YNAB or iMovie), this problem would not occur. The Discrete is the AMD chipset and the Integrated is the Intel chipset.

The 15" started this same issue when I upgraded from 10.12.0 to 10.12.1. I thought it was strange that both machine started to show video problems at the same time. Neither of these machines, had video problems prior to the upgrades.

I saw that there were some rumblings about some AMD fixes in the 10.12.2 release for 2016 MacBook Pros. I updated the 15" to 10.2.2, and now if I start any program any of these programs which caused the problem before, the machine will give me a blue screen, reboot, then white/pink lines on the screen. The Apple logo will appear and the loading bar will get 2/3 full, and the screen will turn grey (white/pink lines gone). Nothing happens at this point but the machine starts getting warmer. I then force the power off. After startup, I get a bunch of weird lines on the screen, which will clear, and the machine will load normally. There is nothing in the console log about the machine crashing, and I get no message that the machine had to reboot, just a normal power up process messages.

I had made the mistake of upgrading my 17" to 10.11.6. It has the EXACT same sequence of events now after that upgrade.

Both machines also have the same problem now with any mini-port adapter I plug in the port. I have tried two different VGA adapters, a HDMI and a DVI adapter. All of these adapters cause the instant crash of the machines. Both machines are reacting the same way.

I have found, that if I go into the System Settings, Energy Saver, I can switch the Discrete Video on full time (uncheck "Automatic graphics switching". When I do this, the machine behaves normally. I can then run all the trouble programs, and all the mini-port adapters work without a hitch.

Both machines have passed the Apple diagnostics without a complaint.

I am starting to think that this is a problem with the kext for the video switching. Like I said earlier, I believe that Apple just placed a fix for the 2016 models with video issues into the latest updates. I am starting to think that they may have attempted to fix the 2016 models, but broken the Late 2011 models.

Does anyone know where I can get a complete set of 10.11.4 kexts for the video systems on these machines? I assume they are the Intel and AMD kexts, but I have a feeling it isn't with the video cards directly. I say this because the Integrated Video works fine, and the Discrete Video works fine, it is when the two are switching that both machines have a problem.

I am going to see if I have an old Lion or earlier HD. I may boot that up via USB to validate my assumption that these "hardware" video problems are really just driver issues.

Message was edited by: TonyPlack to be more clear on where to make the change in the System Preferences.