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ctrlshft

macrumors member
Nov 3, 2010
54
15
MBP 8,3 Early 2011 17"...my Menu Bar will sometimes just be black, reboot fixes it. Started about 3 months ago.
 

StuLax18

macrumors 6502
Jul 21, 2010
434
37
Dallas, TX
I get a similar issue every now and then with my rMBP if Chrome crashes for example, and it switches from discrete to integrated. Screen starts glitching and stuff, but switching to discrete via gfxcardstatus stops it, or reopening Chrome and if it switches back to discrete.
 

shurcooL

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2011
938
117
Oh man. 15" Late 2011 MBP here with 6770M. It's been perfect so far, I hope it stays this way. I'm playing League of Legends at 60+ fps on it every week with no issues.
 

Kevsta26

macrumors 6502a
Apr 2, 2011
677
295
USA
I have an Early 11 MacBook Pro 15" AMD 6750M/8 GB RAM and I haven't experienced any graphical issues but I did have to have my entire logic board replaced cause it just wouldn't turn on any more one day, which I think may have been caused from a power surge in the charger :/ now I have had a replacement for about 4 months and all is good except for the fact that they scratched up the lid bad when they were fixing it :( it use to be in pristine condition, but there's nothing I can do about it now
 

brdeveloper

macrumors 68030
Apr 21, 2010
2,626
313
Brasil
If it's attached to the screen through BGA soldering, it was tragedy foretold. BGA+AMD GPU is a disaster doesn't matter the laptop brand.
 

Vodka

macrumors regular
Nov 9, 2008
185
1
Had this problem. Changed logic board. Now bought cooling pad/stand for my 17" and everything seems fine.
 

avanpelt

macrumors 68030
Jun 2, 2010
2,956
3,877
Thankfully, my early-2011 with the AMD 6750 (1 GB) GPU hasn't started acting up. I'm disheartened to read about this issue, though. My MacBook Pro before this one was an early-2008 which had to have the logic board replaced in 2010 due to the issues with the Nvidia 8600 GT graphics card. Apple has to get these GPU issues straightened out.
 

Boston007

macrumors 6502
Apr 9, 2010
458
145
According to POSTERS here.
Isolated incident.
Suck it up and buy a new one LOL.

YES typical fanboy responses.

After just yesterday these boards were plastered with people complaining that all of Samsung products are garbage and fail.

Because, well, you know, Apple products never have issues!
 

sfwalter

macrumors 68020
Jan 6, 2004
2,243
2,063
Dallas Texas
Does this happen in clamshell mode too? (using an external monitor)

How timely this article is. The past year I had my 2011 MBP in clamshell mode and never seen a problem. Yesterday I took it out of clamshell mode for the first time in a year and started to see weird artifacts on my screen. A reboot would fix the issue but it would come back a few minutes later.

I then put my MBP back into clamshell mode and everything is working fine again. So long story short I don't see the problem in clamshell mode.
 

generationyasky

macrumors newbie
Jan 17, 2014
1
0
I have an early 2011 MBP - 15in with 1GB Graphics card and the high res display. I have experienced the exact problem mentioned in this article, which has rendered the computer almost unusable. It sometimes requires 10 attempts to boot up without failing (in the form of glitchy gray lines). The issue seems to be "rectified" when using gfxCardStatus to force the computer to use integrated graphics only. I'm out of warranty, unfortunately. The Genius Bar offered to replace the logic board, but after reading through the thread mentioned in the article about so many users with the same exact problem, I have been hesitant to go forward with this. You will see, if you look through that Apple Support Communities thread, that many other uses have had this problem recur - if not immediately, then down the road - even after the logic board replacement... and even after multiple replacements.
 

jenwalsh

macrumors newbie
Jan 17, 2014
1
0
NOT getting taken care of

To those saying this is an isolated incident and that Apple is taking care of it - that is NOT true! There are many people suffering with this issue. Sure Apple is replacing logic boards at the CUSTOMER'S expense, Apple should be replacing them for free.

To those that say we should get Apple Care - why should I need an extended warranty to get a quality product? I have never bought Apple Care because I take excellent care of my Macs and in 20+ years have never had an issue that Apple has not taken care of. Like the battery recall on my last laptop. That laptop is now almost 10 years old and still powers up like a champ every day.

I love Apple and I love my 15" MBP but please stop saying this is isolated and they are taking care of it. Taking care of it would be a replacement program for the logic board.
 

RoastingPig

macrumors 68000
Jul 23, 2012
1,606
70
SoCal
is this due to mavericks because i was getting screen glitches in my 2011 15' with the 6750m and i downgraded to 10.8.5 and the problem goes away
 

advancewarsbest

macrumors regular
Mar 28, 2013
120
77
Gah!!! this problem follows me!
First got a MBP 2008 with the 8600M GT
now this!!!!

That's terrible, my friend had the 8600M GT issue, I have the 2011 pro I hope mine does not also poop out. Especially if Apple isn't going to cover it, if it was in fact their fault. Its terrible when they know the issue and it costs them nothing to replace* them but they won't.

*During the court room case of 8600M GT, it came to the attention t hat it would have cost nothing to apple to replace the bad chips because Nvidia was responsible for covering the replacement.
 

nazaar

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2008
577
298
No surprise here. My 2011 iMac screen started crapping out after the first year.
 

CausticPuppy

macrumors 68000
May 1, 2012
1,536
68
2008 MBP Nvidia'gate' redux :mad:
I wonder if it's from 'lead-free solder'...

I don't know if you're referring to the "blinking screen" problem with the nVidia 9400m chipset, but Apple actually issued a fix for that one-- a firmware update-- nearly 3 years later! I almost tossed my early 2009 MBP until that fix came out, now it's a usable machine again.

The issue affecting the 2011 models is clearly a hardware problem; I guess the only workaround (aside from motherboard replacement) is to force it to use the iGPU all the time, which is only an HD3000. Bummer.
 

G51989

macrumors 68030
Feb 25, 2012
2,530
10
NYC NY/Pittsburgh PA
Yep, this happened to me a month ago. Luckily it was under Applecare so I was able to get the display and logic board replaced for free. Otherwise, it would have been a $1000 repair.

Apple QA seems to have gone down in recent years....

I think the 8600 thing with an Nivida problem, it happened to pretty much every laptop model across the PC makers to, they all had the same problem.

The other issues like failed logic boards, or this new GPU issue I think might be due to Apples obsession with quietness, most Apple laptops I've encountered ( My newest Apple Laptop is a G4 Powerbook, am considered a rMBP at some point. Maybe. My new Macs are desktops ), but whenever I use one, they seem to run REALLY hot on the default fan settings, and as we know, Heat kills electronics. Have any PC laptop models with these same chipsets been having issues?
 

rishey

macrumors regular
Aug 20, 2003
116
141
Me too

I had this problem with my 17" early 2011 MBP.
I had to get it repaired twice. The first time it spent two weeks at my local apple store in Lincoln Park who did a phenomenally bad job and gave me a replacement motherboard with a bad RAM slot. Next I sent it by mail to the applecare and had it back fixed within 2 days.

I have Applecare, but let's be real: A product that costs this much should have a 3 year warranty included with purchase. Add it in to the price of the computer, but it should be included.

I one year warranty is insufficient for an Apple laptop. I have owned several of them and I don't think a single one of them did not require some repair after the warranty was over.
 

krye

macrumors 68000
Aug 21, 2007
1,606
1
USA
I took my sister-in-law's 2011 17" MBP into the Apple Store last week after I couldn't fix her problems. It locks up after simple things like launching iPhoto. It also randomly shows bars on the screen at startup, or just hangs at boot.

I installed all the updates, fixed disk permissions, upgraded OS X, ran all the hardware tests, reset the PSU. Everything. I concluded it must be the GPU. I took it to the Apple Store and the Genius put it through a battery of tests. He also concluded it must be a logicboard/GPU failure.

He said I'd have to send it to their repair center and pay $311 to have it fixed. It's most certainly a design flaw, and yet we have to pay to have it fixed. Sounds like a recall. You'd think a $3000 computer would last longer than 2 years of light usage. It's almost like they only give you a 1 year warranty in order to force you to pay extra for AppleCare.
 

neuropsychguy

macrumors 68020
Sep 29, 2008
2,354
5,533
I had it on my late 2011 MacBook Pro. It wasn't much of an issue until last year. I had the logic board replaced (out of warranty) and I've not had the problem since.
 

magbarn

macrumors 68030
Oct 25, 2008
2,956
2,253
I don't know if you're referring to the "blinking screen" problem with the nVidia 9400m chipset, but Apple actually issued a fix for that one-- a firmware update-- nearly 3 years later! I almost tossed my early 2009 MBP until that fix came out, now it's a usable machine again.

The issue affecting the 2011 models is clearly a hardware problem; I guess the only workaround (aside from motherboard replacement) is to force it to use the iGPU all the time, which is only an HD3000. Bummer.

Nope the 2007-2008 pre-unibody MBP had defective Nvidia GPU's. Something to do with the transition to lead free solder.

These GPU fiasco's are probably why Apple can't wait to dump dGPU's...
 

MattMJB0188

macrumors 68020
Dec 28, 2009
2,032
583
Nothing to see here guys. I don't think anyone uses a 2011 MBP with ATI graphics anymore anyway? IF they do, its time to upgrade.
 

cinder

macrumors regular
Jun 26, 2004
177
155
Seattle
I had this issue with my iMac before the fix came through from AMD.
Had the Video card replaced, then the logicboard AND video card.
And then finally, after the replacement plan was implemented, AMD had shipped cards with the flaw fixed and I got one of those. The problem was fixed.

The only thing that would prevent the crashes was SMC Fan Control.
As soon as I turned it off - it would invariably go back to crashing.
This might work as a temporary solution until Apple/AMD issue a fix for the cards.
 
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