Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

17' 2011 MBP - Not Sure its a GPU issue ...............

Alpal0301

Alpal0301

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 15, 2018
45
2
Cornwall
Hi everyone, would really like your help please. Recently I got stuck in some kind of loop when trying to access photos. I logged out and in again only to be faced with the same issue. I tried to do a restore and it was then it came up with the dreaded pink and grey horizontal lines.

Investigating online, it seemed that this issue was caused by the AMD HD6700 graphics card. More investigation showed that all was not lost and that I could switch to the Intel Graphics card, which was fine because all I would be doing is watching you tube, reading emails and surfing the web.

I tried various suggested ways of disabling the AMD graphics card to no avail. I was ready to give up when I decided to have another go at other things.....I pressed cmd R and on button as a last resort, don't ask me why?? At first it loaded up a weird blue patterned screen. I shutdown and to my surprise the familiar login screen with my partner and my login photos there. I logged in via her login and deleted my login, set her as admin, thinking it would give permission to erase the hard drive ( I'm thinking there may be a virus on here at this point ) It didn't.

Anyway I was able to do a factory restore and both logins all set up again. Problem is I shutdown and reboot to test and was shocked to see the dreaded pink and grey lines again ??? I went through the process of cmd R and shutdown again and managed to get back to the usual login screens. After I login everything looks as clear and fresh as the day I first used it. I am totally confused as to what the problem could be and more importantly how to fix it.I would really appreciate any constructive input please.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
It could be that your AMD GPU is failing or intermittent. Your model MacBook Pro is known for that problem. Next time it occurs I suggest using this free app to turn off the AMD GPU and switch to the Intel integrated graphics chipset: https://gfx.io/

And please... when you post, use paragraphs. Much easier to read. ;)
 
chscag said:
It could be that your AMD GPU is failing or intermittent. Your model MacBook Pro is known for that problem. Next time it occurs I suggest using this free app to turn off the AMD GPU and switch to the Intel integrated graphics chipset: https://gfx.io/

And please... when you post, use paragraphs. Much easier to read. ;)
Click to expand...
[automerge]1586584479[/automerge]
Hi there, you know I was thinking this looks a bit wordy whilst writing it ha ha ! Can I switch it off anytime ? ie before the problem arises again ?

thanks for your speedy reply 👍
 
That's pretty similar to the symptoms I got with my 2011 15" machine with the same faulty model of GPU in it.

Starts out with lines on the screen, then garbage on the screen and pretty soon after that it will boot to the apple logo and then continue booting in the background (so you can see it on the network, etc) but the screen stays stuck on the boot screen. Presumably when it changes to the AMD GPU, the GPU just doesn't update the screen and it keeps what the Intel GPU has on it. At least it did in my case.

In my case I got a couple of weeks between the lines that shouldn't be there on screen, and total GPU failure.
 
Hi, I have used the app and when I choose the intel chip it freezes each time. I was keen to donate if it worked but at the moment its not. Any suggestions ?
 
There's a way to disable the GPU from EFI. It's a bit of a hack job and if you go that route you need to do it after every update, etc.

If that's not something you're keen on (neither was I), it's time to call time on this machine and look at an upgrade.

Pretty much anything in apple's lineup these days will be competitive speed or faster so long as you order an i5.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back