2011 Macbook Pro Logic Board Failure

Question

Level 1

86 points

2011 Macbook Pro Logic Board Failure

I have an early 2011 Macbook Pro running 10.10.2. I have not had many issues with the computer since I have purchased it except the occasional blue/gray screen issue. While I would be using the computer as normal, the screen would randomly go blue or gray and I would have to force shut down the computer. However, after a force shut down and a reboot, this would usually solve the problem.

A few months back, this issue occurred again and the usual force shut down and reboot did not work this time. I ended up looking up some troubling shooting techniques online and ended up resetting the SMC and it seemed to do the trick. Now this is where my problem occurs. About a week ago, I was using the computer as normal, and the same issue happened. Again, this time the force shut down and reboot did not work. So I tried the SMC reset again but this time it did not solve the problem. So again, I went online for some trouble shooting techniques to see if I could solve this issue on my own. I had no luck this time around. I decided it was best to contact apple to see if this issue could be better assisted by them. I ended up spending multiple hours online with phone representatives working through various troubleshooting techniques (most of which I had already tried on my own) and could not get the computer to boot normally. It would simply boot into a gray screen with a apple logo with a loading bar beneath it, and then would slowly load until about half way, and then the screen would just go to the gray screen of death.

After many hours, they decided it was best to take it into an apple store to have them diagnose the problem. I scheduled an appointment at my near by apple store the following day and had them review my Macbook. After a few hardware tests, they determined that the problem was a logic board failure. They then proceeded to tell me that because my Macbook is early 2011, it is now considered 'vintage' and they are not able to work on such a computer. They then gave me Apple certified repair centers that were in my area to contact to repair this issue.

I ended up calling the repair centers that night to see how much this repair was going to cost and how long the process would take. After speaking with the repair centers, and explaining my issue, all of the conversations ended at the same point. I stated that I had a early 2011 Macbook Pro logic board failure and I would need to get it replaced and installed. Each and every single repair center stated that they are unable to perform this for two reasons. 1) It was a known issue that early 2011 Macbook Pro logic boards were faulty and 2) They do not make a practice of carrying or installing faulty parts.

Now this is where I began to get confused so I did some research online and came across this

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?start=13395&tstart=0

and this

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

I began to release that this problem occurred because Apple manufactured faulty logic boards, knew about it, and created an extended repair programme for this specific issue. Now you would think that this works out well, a repair programme extended for this specific issue, so whats the problem? This programme expired 12/31/2016. That's right, just a month after my laptop decided to break down.

I am writing this post because I have read through the other post and noticed that there are many others just like me that are experiencing the same issue just a month after the programme has ended. We should not be out of a laptop that we spent good money for expecting a premium product, just because our laptops decided to last just a bit longer than what Apple deemed was necessary for this problem. I made sure to keep this product in pristine condition throughout its life to make sure that I would get the most out of this product and it has, except for the one piece of hardware that Apple created faulty. Apple, you need to fix this issue, as myself and many others included are having this problem, and its not going away. Anyone else that is having this problem, please post and let me know if you were able to get this problem solved. In this day in age, it is very hard to be without a computer and this is a very long and frustrating process to go through in order to get my working computer back.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.2), null

Posted on Feb 27, 2017 2:37 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

133,243 points

Aug 4, 2017 12:42 PM in response to drimbro

Outside the US, the MacBook Pro 2011 models are so old they are considered Obsolete. In the US, they are vintage, soon to be obsolete.

Vintage and obsolete products

Owners of iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Mac products may obtain service and parts from Apple or Apple service providers for 5 years after the product is no longer manufactured—or longer where required by law. Apple has discontinued support for certain technologically obsolete and vintage products.

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)

MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011)

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011)

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)

MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)

from:

Vintage and obsolete products - Apple Support

I am sorry you did not get as much benefit as you think you deserve from any recall programs that were in effect.

Electronic and mechanical things do not last forever. They break.

Now I strongly recommend you get over it and move on.

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Answer 2

Oct 1, 2017 3:50 PM in response to andrewj44

Submissions

Stay on topic. Apple Support Communities is here to help people use Apple products and technologies more effectively. Unless otherwise noted, do not add Submissions about non technical topics, including:

Speculations or rumors about unannounced products.

Discussions of Apple policies or procedures or speculation on Apple decisions.

Be polite. Everyone should feel comfortable reading Submissions and participating in discussions. Apple will not tolerate flames or other inappropriate statements, material, or links. Most often, a "flame" is simply a statement that is taunting and thus arbitrarily inflammatory. However, this also includes those which are libelous, defamatory, indecent, harmful, harassing, intimidating, threatening, hateful, objectionable, discriminatory, abusive, vulgar, obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit, or offensive in a sexual, racial, cultural, or ethnic context.

Post constructive comments and questions. Unless otherwise noted, your Submission should either be a technical support question or a technical support answer. Constructive feedback about product features is welcome as well. If your Submission contains the phrase "I'm sorry for the rant, but…" you are likely in violation of this policy.

Do not post polls or petitions or links to same.

... and so on

Full terms of use are here:

Apple Support Communities Use Agreement

.

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Answer 3

Nov 4, 2017 10:32 AM in response to ThomasD3

it says so here:

Submissions

Stay on topic. Apple Support Communities is here to help people use Apple products and technologies more effectively. Unless otherwise noted, do not add Submissions about non technical topics, including:

Speculations or rumors about unannounced products.

Discussions of Apple policies or procedures or speculation on Apple decisions.

second section what you agreed to:Apple Support Communities Terms of Use

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Answer 4

Arepoli Author

Level 1

86 points

Feb 27, 2017 4:42 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

I'm entitled to what I pay for. I did not intend to pay for a faulty logic board and I would imagine you would not have made a purchase like that if you were informed ahead of time that a computer you are spending a lot of money for, is faulty. I understand that computer parts fail over time and that is not what I am trying to get at here. If for instance, the hard drive failed, that is a completely different story. It would have served well past its life expectancy, and I would not be wasting my time on here. I would simply go out to the store, purchase a new hard drive or ssd, and install it on my computer. I think you are failing to realize that my computer is completely useless because of the fact that it was installed with a faulty logic board. Apple as well as repair centers refuse to complete the repair work BECAUSE OF A FAULTY LOGIC BOARD that was installed on early 2011 Macbook Pros and all logic boards for that model were known to be faulty (hence the repair programme). Even if I was skilled enough to uninstall the faulty logic board, and install a new faulty one myself, I would essentially be wasting my time and money because that logic board would also be faulty. I expect Apple to stand by the fact that they sold these faulty logic boards and reimburse their customers who spent good money for a supposed top quality product. If I wanted a computer that was only going to last me 6 years, I would have purchased a PC laptop for college.

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Answer 5

Arepoli Author

Level 1

86 points

Feb 28, 2017 6:09 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you for your input, but if you had read my posts, you would have understood that I have already taken my computer to the Apple store, after many troubleshooting steps on my own as well as on the phone with an Apple employee. The Apple store determined that the logic board failure was a cause of the manufactured faulty logic boards, known by Apple to cause GPU problems and heat up significantly more than usual, and would have been replaced by the extended repair programme. If you would have read my post, you would have understood my frustration with this issue, as they then proceeded to tell me that this programme ended just a month earlier than when my computer broke down. The reason for this extended repair programme was due to the 40,000+ complaints Apple received as well as a law suit about this problem, so I know I am not the only one. So again, the reason I am posting here is because my computer failed because of faulty logic boards produced on my model MacBook Pro, Apple acknowledged this defect, created a programme to repair this issue, and now they are stating its not their responsibility. You can imagine my frustration as this defect caused the failure of my computer, and yet I fail to understand how if my computer decided to spark this problem just a month earlier, I wouldn't have to go through all of this, and would be repaired with no questions asked.

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Answer 6

Arepoli Author

Level 1

86 points

Feb 28, 2017 8:38 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

Not sure who you are referring to with "our posts" seeing as you were the only one who stated that. Again, I have contacted Apple and seeing as that is not a public forum, I decided to create this post in the hopes it would get as much visibility to other posts on here that received so much attention it lead to law suits. I posted on the 2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card forum (link in the original post) and was recommended to create my own post as that one had over 800 pages, and was unlikely to gain the visibility it deserved. Clearly, there is nothing YOU can do for me, as you keep restating the same information. You clearly are unable to put myself in my shoes or are a consumer willing to purchase faulty products and simply accept it when the product fails. While, yes, six years is a long life-span in terms of technology, I would be able to replace other parts on the computer, and have it last even longer. What you are failing to understand is that this computer has completely failed due to the faulty logic boards. This isn't an issue where the HDD simply failed, that would not be a problem. Like I had stated, I would go out and buy a new one and install it. In this case, I am stuck with a $3000 paperweight due to the fact that I was sold a faulty computer. Now, I am stuck with a $300 useless retina display, as well as various other hardware that is specifically manufactured for an early 2011 MBP. I am posting on here to speak to all of the others in the same position I am in, if they were able to solve the problem, or if they were able to accomplish anything with Apple. I find it funny that because my computer has lasted six years, in your head, you think I should simply accept the faulty product I was sold, and move on.

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Answer 7

mabtng

Level 1

9 points

Apr 12, 2017 4:53 PM in response to Arepoli

I DID have the logic board replaced about 18 months ago in 2015. Apple did the repair. Guess what just happened yesterday? Exact same thing. But now, Apple won't back up the 2nd faulty logic board they installed. They won't even touch my laptop. Of course, no one told any of this, that we'd never get support again for our Macbook Pros. I am so ticked right now. Been a Mac customer for 30 freaking years.

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Answer 8

Feb 27, 2017 2:58 PM in response to Arepoli

You got six years use out of your now vintage computer. How much use do you think you are entitled to and what do you expect Apple to do with respect to vintage computers?

Apple is not here, we are users like you. If you want to tell Apple about your issue please contact Apple http://www.apple.com/feedback/

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Answer 9

Arepoli Author

Level 1

86 points

Feb 27, 2017 6:14 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

Thanks for the suggestion, I filed a complaint the day I returned from the Apple store and as those posts are not public, I figured this may be a better approach to the situation considering that this (2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card) received so much attention that it brought Apple to create the extended repair programme for this specific issue.

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Answer 10

Feb 28, 2017 7:33 AM in response to Arepoli

Arepoli wrote:

Thank you for your input, but if you had read my posts, you would have understood that I have already taken my computer to the Apple store, after many troubleshooting steps on my own as well as on the phone with an Apple employee. The Apple store determined that the logic board failure was a cause of the manufactured faulty logic boards, known by Apple to cause GPU problems and heat up significantly more than usual, and would have been replaced by the extended repair programme.

<snip>

If you had read our posts you would know that you are not talking with Apple here in this community. You are talking with other users like you. There is nothing we can do for you. Once again, if you want to complain to Apple then contact Apple.

Also, you did get six years of use from the computer. This is a long time in terms of technology. Your computer is a vintage/obsolete computer, Vintage and obsolete products - Apple Support, and Apple does not provide parts nor repairs for vintage computers.

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Answer 11

Apr 20, 2017 2:53 PM in response to Camila77

Camila77 wrote:

Faults are unrepairable as proven, production failure and no solution to it, or is there any Apple?

OK, I'll try once more. Apple is not here. We are users like you. Asking Apple a question here is a waste of time. Contact Apple, https://www.apple.com/contact/ if you have a question for Apple.

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Answer 12

Dolie28

Level 1

4 points

Jul 5, 2017 5:22 PM in response to Arepoli

Hey guys....running into the same issue here. Logic board hasn't quit just yet but it is on it's way out for sure. I found this and it seems to be a thing. Let me preface this with I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS. I thought I would share this regardless. Let me know if anyone tries this and it works.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-repair-the-Macbook-pro-logic-board-at-hom e/

Cooking the MacBook Pro Logic Board

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Answer 13

Jul 16, 2017 11:44 AM in response to matthewhobley

You are "preaching to the choir" when you post such stuff here, matthewhobley!

This is a User-to-User forum. Apple makes no promise to read these posts, and never responds here. Your post would be more effective here:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/

.

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Answer 14

Oct 1, 2017 4:19 PM in response to BergoniaC

BergoniaC wrote:

Grant,

Here are couple interesting tidbits from Apple Support Communities Agreement:

7. Apple may offer you benefits and award privileges for your participation in the Site. 19,000 post... you get anything for that yet?

2.1.2 Discussions of Apple policies or procedures.... So I guess this post will be deleted and your post should be deleted.

2.4. Do not post polls or petitions. So suggesting that a petition should be started is the same as posting a petition.

5.3 Apple reserves the right to delete any Submission, or take action against any account, at any time, for any reason.... I like this catch-all. "For any reason".

1. Nothing and won't get anything except Levels and Perks

2. Don't know what your point is. The TOU are very clear.

3. That is a call for the community hosts. They are the only ones who can take any action.

4. Apple's servers Apple's rules. If you have some property I assume you make the rules for tenants or visitors.

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Answer 15

Oct 2, 2017 3:07 PM in response to Klokento

Klokento wrote:

Good evening apple. <snip>

Apple is not here. This is a user-to-user community. As previously stated many times in this thread, if you want to contact Apple you can use either of these links:

Contact - How to Contact Us - Apple

Product Feedback - Apple

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