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2011 Macbook Pro possible GPU failure

R

Redstoneq42

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 13, 2013
25
0
Hello guys,

My Late 2011 Macbook Pro 17 inch seems to be having some problems the past day. I'll start at the beginning. I was just browsing the web on Chrome with about 3 or 4 tabs open and my display suddenly went black. I'm not sure if it turned off or just displayed black. The only other apps that were open were iStats Menu, Memory Clean and Finder. I tried holding the power button to turn it off and then tried turning it on again. There were these faint lines going vertically down the screen at the Apple logo boot screen. It brought up the little loading bar that seems to be there since I install Windows 8 and the Yosemite Beta a few weeks ago. Then the screen went a solid light grey and the Macbook started getting hotter and hotter in the middle.

I recently upgraded from the original 8GB 1333MHz of RAM to 16GB 1600MHz of RAM. I also installed a 250GB Samsung 840 SSD last year. I tried replacing the RAM with some older modules totalling 4GB from my old 2009 Macbook Pro, but that didn't do the trick. I noticed that there was a lot of heat coming from the middle of the logic board. I cleaned the two fans and reinstalled the 16GB of RAM. I tried reinstalling the original 750GB HDD. It seemed to do the same as the SSD, only it managed to get to the login screen after the grey screen, but after logging in, it went back to the grey screen.

I also tried booting into recovery mode, which would result in a grey screen and I tried going into the Apple Hardware Test mode, but no good. Same with safe mode. I don't really know what to try next. There doesn't seem to be any burned components on the top of the logic board and I haven't tried flipping it over yet since I've never attempted that before.


Does anyone have and suggestions on what I could do, or am I screwed? The only Apple repair center near me is only an apple authorised place and has been really poor in the past. They've tried to con me out of money twice and I don't want to have to do business with them again.

Here are those blue lines. Sorry about the abysmal picture quality.

Thanks guys.

JAecFpd.jpg
 
To fix it at zero cost? No.

Depending on where you live you may have protection under consumer laws. That's what I used for to get a free initial repair.

Otherwise send it off to a 3rd party repairer for GPU replacement and a reball, for a few hundred.
 
Ok guys, Is there any way to move files from my Macbooks SSD to my windows PC? I've still got the Sata to USB connector from the SSD packaging, but when I plug it in, only the bootcamp partition seems to be visible.
 
I've been experiencing this with my Early 2011 MBP recently too. Seems to be more and more common as these particular machines age, but Apple hasn't admitted a widespread problem yet. 8280 replies to this thread disagree.

I'm wondering whether the warranty-extension that American Express cards include would apply. I'm past my AppleCare expiration date, but American Express claims to extend warranty protection beyond the manufacturer's warranty period if you purchased the machine with that card.

Under "PURCHASES NOT COVERED" they list:

11. additional service contract or extended warranty coverage for a computer, computer component or part that You buy which already comes with an original United States of America manufacturer’s warranty, unless such coverage is provided and administered by the original manufacturer.
​
In Apple's case, the coverage is provided by the original manufacturer.

So if Apple won't cover it, might AMEX be obligated to step-in and cover the repair/replacement costs?
 
Redstoneq42 said:
Ok guys, Is there any way to move files from my Macbooks SSD to my windows PC? I've still got the Sata to USB connector from the SSD packaging, but when I plug it in, only the bootcamp partition seems to be visible.
Click to expand...

Easiest option is another Mac with a firewire port. Sling a cable between them, and put the busted Mac into Target Disk Mode. It'll then mount your hard drive on the other Macs Desktop as if it was an external. It does work with a broken GPU - I used it to backup all my data.

Windows is more of a problem - it can't read Mac HFS+ formatted discs as standard. I believe there's a product called MacDrive which does, but it was like $50+.
 
Similar issue. My GPU failed multiple times, each logic board lasted 6-9 months, and after the third logic board failed my 2011 MBP was replaced with a mid 2014 rMBP at no cost. Apple Care was only somewhat helpful, they authorized the most recent failure to be done out of warranty, but the store manager just 'returned' my 2011 MBP and gave me a brand new one with Apple Care.

It's a widespread issue IMO. I'm really surprised there hasn't been a recall yet.

Lots of info here:

http://action.mbp2011.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2011mbp/
 
Redstoneq42 said:
Ok guys, Is there any way to move files from my Macbooks SSD to my windows PC? I've still got the Sata to USB connector from the SSD packaging, but when I plug it in, only the bootcamp partition seems to be visible.
Click to expand...

Apple's own bootcamp driver should allow you to see the partition (read only). https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1368010/ That thread is old so I'm not sure if the links are still working but you might be able to find them elsewhere. Or there might be other free drivers available. If you have access to a linux machine, they typically can read mac (and are sometimes better at mounting damaged drives in my experience).

If you don't have reliable Apple service near you, you can call Apple and send in your machine. However, 2011 MBP GPU problem is not truly curable. You'll probably have to shell out for a new motherboard and the new one should be just as prone as the old one to fail. Look into consumer protection law in your country as well. I know that in the UK they're typically covered for 5 years.
 
jocamero said:
Similar issue. My GPU failed multiple times, each logic board lasted 6-9 months, and after the third logic board failed my 2011 MBP was replaced with a mid 2014 rMBP at no cost. Apple Care was only somewhat helpful, they authorized the most recent failure to be done out of warranty, but the store manager just 'returned' my 2011 MBP and gave me a brand new one with Apple Care.
Click to expand...

Similar here, but mine was out of warranty. I encouraged Apple to repair it initially under UK consumer protection laws. The replacement logic boards were failing in a few weeks, after the 3rd attempt they replaced the Mac.

paolo- said:
If you don't have reliable Apple service near you, you can call Apple and send in your machine. However, 2011 MBP GPU problem is not truly curable. You'll probably have to shell out for a new motherboard and the new one should be just as prone as the old one to fail. Look into consumer protection law in your country as well. I know that in the UK they're typically covered for 5 years.
Click to expand...

6 years technically ;).

Issue with the AppleCare route (chargeable or not) is that the parts in the system now are all refurbished. In my experience they're not reworking them properly, hence they fail in a few weeks/months in many cases. It's a $300+/£450+ gamble as you only get 90 days warranty on the repair.
 
Hi,

I was wondering if its safe/ good idea to download the new Yosemite update on my Macbook Pro 2011 which has recently started to suffer from graphics card failure?

The problem is especially evident at the start up, generally my mac will shut down when asleep and when I attempt a normal startup I will get a pink screen.

I have found that this can only be resolved by attempting multiple different startups (verbose, sing user reboot, NVPRAM, SMRC...) until it switches on again to a blue/ grey scree.

Do you think I should attempt to download Yosemite? or will it only cause further problems....
 
Probably won't make it any worse - but you could really wind up in a bad state if your machine were to fail mid-update.
 
My 17" MacBook Pro Late 2011 just turned into a brick.

Before it totally crashed, it started doing a lot of oddball screen nonsense, then fully overheated and now it won't boot. It starts up with vertical pink bars over the logo, then turns grey and stays that way.

I took videos of it while it did the crazy video stuff to show to Apple, but from what I read on these links, this problem is very widespread.


http://time.com/3545723/apple-macbook-lawsuit/

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/mac/widespread-2011-macbook-pro-failures-continue-petition-3497935/

http://www.BreakFree.cc

I know they can fix it for about $700, but the fact is, unless they do a free recall with better components, that repair is doomed to fail too. Repairs are only guaranteed for 90 days.

So, I ordered an iMac Retina 5K with the 4Ghz i7, 512 GB Flash Storage and the upgraded GPU. Since that will take a couple of weeks, I also bought another $499 Mac Mini to use until I get the 5K.
 
CouponPages said:
I know they can fix it for about $700, but the fact is, unless they do a free recall with better components, that repair is doomed to fail too. Repairs are only guaranteed for 90 days.
Click to expand...

They can't fix it, you'll get a crapily refurbished board that will likely fail in the same way. If the refurbished boards keep failing within 90 days then you'll get a replacement rMBP after three attempts.

Personally I'd get the GPU replaced on your original logic board by a third party, as Gav_Mack advocates in the other thread.
 
My high end 2011 Macbook Pro had early symptoms of the AMD GPU failure under Apple care but the Apple Genius bar could not find any issues with it using their diagnostic tool. So long story short My Apple care expired in May 2014 and now it's been acting up and freezing. Right after I discovered the major gpu failure I called a Apple care senior advisor and explained him the situation that I attempted to fix this earlier in the year but the genius bar kept saying there was nothing wrong it. After explaining the situation to him he decided to fix my laptop for free. He put a code under my account and made me an appointment at the local Apple store and dropped it off. I just picked my Macbook Pro this past Thursday and so far its been running good. If it fails again within 90 days I guess I will have to fix it again and if it fails again I will demand a high end Retina Macbook Pro. So my word of advice speak to a senior care Apple Advisor and be friendly and polite and ask them if they can fix your laptop as a one time courtesy.
 
Redstoneq42 said:
Hello guys,

My Late 2011 Macbook Pro 17 inch seems to be having some problems the past day. I'll start at the beginning. I was just browsing the web on Chrome with about 3 or 4 tabs open and my display suddenly went black. I'm not sure if it turned off or just displayed black. The only other apps that were open were iStats Menu, Memory Clean and Finder. I tried holding the power button to turn it off and then tried turning it on again. There were these faint lines going vertically down the screen at the Apple logo boot screen. It brought up the little loading bar that seems to be there since I install Windows 8 and the Yosemite Beta a few weeks ago. Then the screen went a solid light grey and the Macbook started getting hotter and hotter in the middle.

I recently upgraded from the original 8GB 1333MHz of RAM to 16GB 1600MHz of RAM. I also installed a 250GB Samsung 840 SSD last year. I tried replacing the RAM with some older modules totalling 4GB from my old 2009 Macbook Pro, but that didn't do the trick. I noticed that there was a lot of heat coming from the middle of the logic board. I cleaned the two fans and reinstalled the 16GB of RAM. I tried reinstalling the original 750GB HDD. It seemed to do the same as the SSD, only it managed to get to the login screen after the grey screen, but after logging in, it went back to the grey screen.

I also tried booting into recovery mode, which would result in a grey screen and I tried going into the Apple Hardware Test mode, but no good. Same with safe mode. I don't really know what to try next. There doesn't seem to be any burned components on the top of the logic board and I haven't tried flipping it over yet since I've never attempted that before.


Does anyone have and suggestions on what I could do, or am I screwed? The only Apple repair center near me is only an apple authorised place and has been really poor in the past. They've tried to con me out of money twice and I don't want to have to do business with them again.

Here are those blue lines. Sorry about the abysmal picture quality.

Thanks guys.

Image
Click to expand...

I made mine "work" by disabling the GPU entirely. It now renders everything using only the CPU and can't even render YouTube at 144p. It works though.

Tried haggling a free repair out of Apple and Humac today.... No luck. I thought I was quite convincing though. Guess I'll just have to buy a new one... The bloody repair would cost me $400 (Danish money converted)
 
Last edited:
MagicBoy said:
Similar here, but mine was out of warranty. I encouraged Apple to repair it initially under UK consumer protection laws. The replacement logic boards were failing in a few weeks, after the 3rd attempt they replaced the Mac.



6 years technically ;).

Issue with the AppleCare route (chargeable or not) is that the parts in the system now are all refurbished. In my experience they're not reworking them properly, hence they fail in a few weeks/months in many cases. It's a $300+/£450+ gamble as you only get 90 days warranty on the repair.
Click to expand...

Hi MagicBoy,

Mines is starting to fail as well and would like to get it repaired under UK Consumer law. However, I'm not sure as to how to go about this. :confused: Also, I bought mine brand new, sealed from a reputable eBay seller and fear that that may disqualify me from going to Apple?

Would really appreciate some advice as to how best to go about this. I really can't afford another MBP and was hoping this would last at least a couple more years having spent a lot of money and time saving up for my Mac.

Thanks ;)
 
Hustler1337 said:
Hi MagicBoy,

Mines is starting to fail as well and would like to get it repaired under UK Consumer law. However, I'm not sure as to how to go about this. :confused: Also, I bought mine brand new, sealed from a reputable eBay seller and fear that that may disqualify me from going to Apple?

Would really appreciate some advice as to how best to go about this. I really can't afford another MBP and was hoping this would last at least a couple more years having spent a lot of money and time saving up for my Mac.

Thanks ;)
Click to expand...

Your contract is with the eBay seller and not Apple. Sale of Goods Act will confirm this.
 
cjmillsnun said:
Your contract is with the eBay seller and not Apple. Sale of Goods Act will confirm this.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The retailer are your first port of call, not sure quite how that translates with an eBay auction. I purchased mine via the Apple Store. If you purchased directly using a credit card the card issuer are jointly liable under the Consumer Credit Act. Note - that doesn't include credit card funds loaded onto Paypal.
 
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