I posted this as a reply to another post but it seems to have gone unnoticed and I'm really in need of some advice on what to do - looking for others who have experienced these problems, dealt with Apple, had parts replaced...ANYTHING related to the issues would be helpful. I KNOW I'm not alone here, this seems to be a known issue with this model. I've found tons of people talking about it, but I have yet to find anyone that has FIXED this...below is my copy/pasted post from another thread. It's kind of lengthy, but if anyone can help that'd be amazing. I'm in worse shape now than ever and I am afraid to just go to Apple out of warranty.
Thanks! Here goes...
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I have been having strange video card issues since installing Lion the week it came out. It seemed to come and go, sometimes worse than others but last fall things got bad. Kernel Panics galore (I have kept logs of all 25 of them since November-ish) along with several straight up freezes forcing me to restart.
This was all AFTER Lion was installed so it seemed that it was software related. Needless to say, I haven't been a big fan of Lion because of it.
Someone recommended installing gfxCardStatus which I did and it was helpful. The graphics card switching was usually what caused me problems, so having control of it kept me working okay for months. I actually left it using "Integrated Only" for a while now with barely any issues. Tonight, for some reason I was having issues with being able to drag and drop files. No idea what happened. I could move Finder windows around no problem but not files. I knew I had some software updates to do so I figured kill 2 birds with one stone. Instead of just restarting, I did a software update with a list of 8 or 9 little updates I had and let it restart when finished.
When it came back, it came back to a glitched up looking screen pretty bad (picture below). a little more than half of the screen was just lines, and the left side I could see my desktop and move around. I tried 2 restarts and it kept coming back to the same thing. I couldn't see the top bar enough to click my gfxCardStatus to see if that would do anything, so in a panic, I plugged in my external and started throwing everything I could on it.
While files were transferring, I kept clicking the top bar hoping to get access to my gfxCardStatus menu - eventually I did and was able to click "Discrete Only", and BOOM, my screen went back to normal. If I switched back to "Integrated Only", the glitched screen came back.
So that's where I'm at now. Before, leaving it on "Integrated Only" was the only thing that kept things running smooth for me - with no freezes or kernel panics, and using dynamic which would switch between integrated and the nvidia was causing the problem - now it seems I've gotta use my nVidia ONLY and Integrated is giving me that glitch...what the heck?!
Whatever updates were done that night caused some new issue with my video and it looks like someone else, quoted below, had the same thing happen! This computer ran flawlessly up until installing Lion. I don't have Extended Apple Care...so obviously at this point my warranty is up. I know sometimes they work with you and sometimes they don't when it comes to warranty being up. It just depends on the issue - this seems to be a pretty known issue with this model, everyone with the computer seems to know about it, but does Apple acknowledge that there's a problem and help with it? I can't find any info on that.
I honestly haven't had to go to the genius bar often in my decade of using Mac's. Usually it has been iPhone things. Once or twice I had to bring one of my iMac's in and they helped me out of warranty...so to me, I just never found it worth it to buy Apple Care. When I had a hard drive failure on my iMac, they replaced it out of warranty at no charge. They also chipped my screen when they did that which was awesome, and they had to replace that as well. Since then - it sometimes gets fogged up which is just great - but that's a whole other issue.
What I'm wondering now is, since this seems to be a known problem with this model - will they attempt to help out of warranty? Sounds like some of you have had logic boards replaced, done complete formats, had other things replaced and "fixed"...but it doesn't sound like ANYTHING 100% seems to fix it which just doesn't make sense. How is this completely "unfixable"? Everything I've read has just been work arounds or things of the sort...I don't know what the hell to do! Before it was my integrated card that worked, and now it seems it's going to be the nvidia for however long..until something screws that up - then what? If BOTH video cards end up with issues, I'm screwed!
Sounds like its an issue specifically with these models? I have a 15" MBP 2.66 i7, 4GB of RAM with the integrated intel HD Graphics and the NVIDIA GT 330M with the super amazing/super infuriating graphics switching problematic BS.
Looks like in the NEW MBP, they're back to using ONE - so I'm assuming that's proof right there that they realize that 2 isn't a good idea, more specifically with Lion - which is when my problems began.
I know there are more of you out there, I'd love to hear your stories. Can anyone help? Has anyone successfully overcome this issue and "FIXED" it completely? Any suggestions on what to do? Should I take it to Apple or am I just looking for a costly repair bill out of this that isn't going to actually "fix" anything?
Sorry for the lengthy post - if anyone can offer any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. What happened tonight has really thrown me off completely. I thought before that the nvidia was the card causing trouble, more specifically the switching back and forth with Lion, but now it seems it's the integrated that is the issue - it seems like it might be shot after whatever updates happened...so I'm just lost...all I know is that gfxCardStatus is one of the best tools ever created. Without that, many of us would have been a lot MORE screwed than we are...but I'm still not in good shape at all. I feel like this is going to completely go leaving me without a computer if I don't figure out what's up and get it taken care of ASAP!
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I didn't even see your post before posting my own - but it sounds like we're in the same boat and your post is from just a few days ago - so some recent update caused this...I just don't know which one. I wasn't really paying attention to the updates I did...but with the timing and what you said happened, its pretty clear that some new software update did this...CRAP!
Thanks! Here goes...
------
I have been having strange video card issues since installing Lion the week it came out. It seemed to come and go, sometimes worse than others but last fall things got bad. Kernel Panics galore (I have kept logs of all 25 of them since November-ish) along with several straight up freezes forcing me to restart.
This was all AFTER Lion was installed so it seemed that it was software related. Needless to say, I haven't been a big fan of Lion because of it.
Someone recommended installing gfxCardStatus which I did and it was helpful. The graphics card switching was usually what caused me problems, so having control of it kept me working okay for months. I actually left it using "Integrated Only" for a while now with barely any issues. Tonight, for some reason I was having issues with being able to drag and drop files. No idea what happened. I could move Finder windows around no problem but not files. I knew I had some software updates to do so I figured kill 2 birds with one stone. Instead of just restarting, I did a software update with a list of 8 or 9 little updates I had and let it restart when finished.
When it came back, it came back to a glitched up looking screen pretty bad (picture below). a little more than half of the screen was just lines, and the left side I could see my desktop and move around. I tried 2 restarts and it kept coming back to the same thing. I couldn't see the top bar enough to click my gfxCardStatus to see if that would do anything, so in a panic, I plugged in my external and started throwing everything I could on it.
While files were transferring, I kept clicking the top bar hoping to get access to my gfxCardStatus menu - eventually I did and was able to click "Discrete Only", and BOOM, my screen went back to normal. If I switched back to "Integrated Only", the glitched screen came back.
So that's where I'm at now. Before, leaving it on "Integrated Only" was the only thing that kept things running smooth for me - with no freezes or kernel panics, and using dynamic which would switch between integrated and the nvidia was causing the problem - now it seems I've gotta use my nVidia ONLY and Integrated is giving me that glitch...what the heck?!
Whatever updates were done that night caused some new issue with my video and it looks like someone else, quoted below, had the same thing happen! This computer ran flawlessly up until installing Lion. I don't have Extended Apple Care...so obviously at this point my warranty is up. I know sometimes they work with you and sometimes they don't when it comes to warranty being up. It just depends on the issue - this seems to be a pretty known issue with this model, everyone with the computer seems to know about it, but does Apple acknowledge that there's a problem and help with it? I can't find any info on that.
I honestly haven't had to go to the genius bar often in my decade of using Mac's. Usually it has been iPhone things. Once or twice I had to bring one of my iMac's in and they helped me out of warranty...so to me, I just never found it worth it to buy Apple Care. When I had a hard drive failure on my iMac, they replaced it out of warranty at no charge. They also chipped my screen when they did that which was awesome, and they had to replace that as well. Since then - it sometimes gets fogged up which is just great - but that's a whole other issue.
What I'm wondering now is, since this seems to be a known problem with this model - will they attempt to help out of warranty? Sounds like some of you have had logic boards replaced, done complete formats, had other things replaced and "fixed"...but it doesn't sound like ANYTHING 100% seems to fix it which just doesn't make sense. How is this completely "unfixable"? Everything I've read has just been work arounds or things of the sort...I don't know what the hell to do! Before it was my integrated card that worked, and now it seems it's going to be the nvidia for however long..until something screws that up - then what? If BOTH video cards end up with issues, I'm screwed!
Sounds like its an issue specifically with these models? I have a 15" MBP 2.66 i7, 4GB of RAM with the integrated intel HD Graphics and the NVIDIA GT 330M with the super amazing/super infuriating graphics switching problematic BS.
Looks like in the NEW MBP, they're back to using ONE - so I'm assuming that's proof right there that they realize that 2 isn't a good idea, more specifically with Lion - which is when my problems began.
I know there are more of you out there, I'd love to hear your stories. Can anyone help? Has anyone successfully overcome this issue and "FIXED" it completely? Any suggestions on what to do? Should I take it to Apple or am I just looking for a costly repair bill out of this that isn't going to actually "fix" anything?
Sorry for the lengthy post - if anyone can offer any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. What happened tonight has really thrown me off completely. I thought before that the nvidia was the card causing trouble, more specifically the switching back and forth with Lion, but now it seems it's the integrated that is the issue - it seems like it might be shot after whatever updates happened...so I'm just lost...all I know is that gfxCardStatus is one of the best tools ever created. Without that, many of us would have been a lot MORE screwed than we are...but I'm still not in good shape at all. I feel like this is going to completely go leaving me without a computer if I don't figure out what's up and get it taken care of ASAP!
----------
I didn't even see your post before posting my own - but it sounds like we're in the same boat and your post is from just a few days ago - so some recent update caused this...I just don't know which one. I wasn't really paying attention to the updates I did...but with the timing and what you said happened, its pretty clear that some new software update did this...CRAP!
